Tesla has released the ninth beta of its Full Self-Driving (FSD) software to vehicle owners who have purchased the not-quite-autonomous driving feature.
The Verge reported that the update was supposed to debut in August 2018, then Tesla CEO Elon Musk said it would be ready by 2020, and now it’s finally rolling out. FSD has become increasingly expensive in the meantime: A series of price increases raised the cost from $5,000 to $10,000 between April 2019 and October 2020.
The feature’s name is also a bit of a misnomer. Tesla said in an FAQ that all of its cars “require active driver supervision and are not autonomous.” People currently using the company’s Autopilot and FSD capabilities are essentially providing the data necessary for the company to train a truly self-driving vehicle.
That didn’t change with FSD’s ninth beta. YouTuber “Tesla Raj” shared the update’s release notes on Twitter, and they said that FSD “may do the wrong thing at the worst time, so you must always keep your hands on the wheel and pay extra attention to the road.” They also issued a warning to testers: “Do not become complacent.”
The release notes shared by Tesla Raj also mentioned updates to driving visualization, which offers information about the conditions around the vehicle, as well as a change that will see the rearview mirror’s camera “determine driver inattentiveness and provide you with audible alerts” when the Autopilot feature is active.
The latter change is likely meant to address concerns about the safety of self-driving vehicles following numerous accidents involving Tesla Autopilot users who fell asleep at the wheel, played games on their smartphones, or left the driver’s seat totally empty with the assumption that the car would drive itself.
Tesla owners have started to share more information about (and their impressions of) the ninth beta of FSD on Reddit.
