The wait is almost over for some Tesla Inc. customers to get access to driver-assistance technology the company has marketed in controversial ways -- as long as they’re on their best behavior.
Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk has said that on Friday, the electric-car maker will roll out an updated version of its Full Self-Driving beta software, which until now has only been available to roughly
Those with access to this ever-updating software -- a mix of Tesla employees and fervent Musk fans -- have for almost a year been honing a system the company has charged as much as $10,000 for customers to use sometime in the future. Tesla
It’s unclear how broad the wider release will be because of a curveball Musk threw earlier this month. The CEO
The expanded access and surprise condition are the latest twist and turn involving FSD and Autopilot, the driver-assistance system that’s divided Tesla watchers for years. Musk’s fostering of the perception Tesla is a self-driving leader
“This is another example of Tesla marching to its own drum. It’s like, damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead,” Gene Munster, a co-founder of investing firm Loup Ventures, said by phone. “Setting aside some of the regulatory concerns and pushback, Tesla is determined to move forward on its own agenda.”
NHTSA started probing Autopilot
‘Be honest’
Musk first announced his plan to sell FSD in
In
In March of this year, however, Musk announced Tesla had
The new head of the other investigator of auto crashes in the U.S., the National Transportation Safety Board, has taken umbrage with this sort of mixed messaging.
“Whether it’s Tesla or anyone else, it is incumbent on these manufacturers to be honest in what their technology does and does not do,” Jennifer Homendy told Bloomberg News in her
‘It’s terrifying’
Homendy has since called Tesla’s use of the term Full Self-Driving “misleading and irresponsible,” and expressed concern to the Wall Street Journal about FSD’s readiness to be used by more drivers on public roads.
“For investors, it’s terrifying,” said Taylor Ogan, the CEO of Boston-based hedge fund Snow Bull Capital, who has closely watched
Tara Goddard, an urban planning professor at Texas A&M University who’s
She pointed to a Tesla enthusiast’s recent
“People are already saying, here’s how you game the system to make sure you can opt in and use it how you want,” Goddard said. “I just worry that we’re going to see an uptick in this being used in places where it’s really not ready to be used -- and not by professional drivers.”