Tesla puts an end to the beta software for Full Self-Driving

Following a recall of the system that federal safety regulators warned could allow vehicles to act unsafely around intersections and cause crashes, Tesla halted the rollout of its Full Self-Driving beta software in the United States and Canada.

New or pending installations of the FSD beta software, an advanced driver assistance system that costs $15,000, will be halted until an over-the-air software update addresses the issue, Tesla stated on a new company support page. It’s free to update the software.

The company wrote on the support page, “Until the software version containing the fix is available, we have paused the rollout of FSD Beta to all who have opted-in but have not yet received a software version containing FSD Beta.”

Tesla announced earlier this month that it would be recalling some Model S and Model X vehicles from 2016 to 2023; 2017–2023 for Model 3 automobiles; and Model Y vehicles that are either yet to be installed or that are equipped with Full Self-Driving Beta (FSD Beta) software from 2020 to 2023. According to the announcement, the recall, which was made public on the website of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, has an impact on as many as 362,758 vehicles that are outfitted with the software.

Only vehicles in the United States and Canada are affected by this recall. Based on vehicle manufacturing, configuration, and software records, affected vehicles were identified.

Autopilot is the name of the driver assistance system that comes standard on all Tesla vehicles. Owners can purchase “full self-driving,” or FSD, for an additional $15,000, a feature CEO Elon Musk has promised will one day provide fully autonomous driving capabilities. Self-driving Tesla cars are not available.

Instead, FSD includes a number of automated driving features that still necessitate constant driver intervention. Summon, a parking feature, and Navigate on Autopilot, an active guidance system that directs a vehicle from an on-ramp to an off-ramp on a highway, including navigating through interchanges and changing lanes, are also included. Additionally, the system is expected to recognize and respond to stop signs and traffic lights as well as handle steering on city streets.

Notably, the support page for the company acknowledges that the system may occasionally violate local traffic laws or customs while executing these driving maneuvers under certain conditions before the driver can intervene.

On the support page, Tesla also calls FSD a Level 2 system. While this is obvious, it may disappoint shareholders and owners who agree with Musk that the cars will be “self-driving.”

According to standards developed by SAE International, there are five levels of automation. Level 2 indicates that two primary functions, such as adaptive cruise control and lane keeping, are automated while a human driver is always in the loop.