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Tesla's Rolling Out a Revised Version of 'Full Self Driving' After Recall

tesla autopilot
Tesla Rolls Out Updated Autopilot After RecallTesla

Tesla is pushing out an updated version of its "Full Self-Driving" beta, its semi-autonomous driving system that was recalled earlier this year for behavior that regulators deemed unsafe.

The system is not fully autonomous, as it relies on human supervision, but is designed to navigate to its destination without human input, assuming it encounters no issues. As the recall highlights, however, that's easier said than done. Countless videos on YouTube show different versions of the system driving the wrong way down one-way roads, crossing onto the wrong side of the road, pulling into perpendicular traffic lanes, blowing lights, and more.

As we reported in February, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said that the "Full Self-Driving" beta software "may allow the vehicle to act unsafe around intersections." Examples include going straight through a turn lane or not stopping for a stop sign. NHTSA also cited issues with the beta's speed, noting that it often failed to notice changing speed limits or didn't account for drivers adjusting the speed above the posted limit.

In the release notes for its newest Autopilot update, shared by the website Not a Tesla App, Tesla's section on the over-the-air recall addresses these points. It says the company has adjusted the system's behavior at yellow lights and stop signs, updated how the system handles exceeding the speed limit, and addressed situations where the vehicle tries to proceed straight from the turn lane. Interestingly, Tesla has not focused on avoiding this issue, but instead programmed the vehicle to treat going straight from a turn lane as a lane change, prompting a signal and a merge into the other lane.

The updated beta also merges "Full Self-Driving" with the highway version of Autopilot. Before this release, Autopilot on the highway was largely a legacy system, using a different core software than what the car uses for low-speed maneuvering around cities. The company says the new version relies less on lane markings thanks to its "next-gen planner." The update includes a variety of updates to the core software, which should make it handle dense traffic and cut-ins better.

It's worth noting, however, that new versions of the "FSD" beta have been known to introduce unpredictable bugs. Merging the highway driving stack with the "FSD" stack will likely drastically change how Teslas behave on the highway. It is important, as ever, to note that this is unfinished software that drivers are legally responsible. Use with caution.

Via Autoblog/Yahoo Finance.

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