(Austin, Texas) In this episode, Guest Ash Martian, a Tesla investor, computer engineer, FSD beta tester, and friend, comes along to explain details about the importance of attentiveness while using FSD beta.
FSD on the Freeway at Night
Using FSD beta on freeway journeys means increased safety. Enjoy the Podcast with this special guest, who has a passion for going to Mars one day. Find Ash on the X app at https://x.com/1stMarsColonist
Gail’s Tesla Podcast #4 FSD on freeway featuring guest Ash Martian. We discuss the current FSD and upcoming Version 11. Come drive with us to Georgetown, Texas. pic.twitter.com/3TTBCxJtCY
Gail Alfar, author. Exclusive to What’s Up Tesla – All Rights Reserved. My goal as an author and podcaster is to support Tesla (the most American vehicle manufacturer) and Elon Musk in both making life better on Earth for humans and becoming a space-fairing civilization.
(Austin, Texas) On this amazing drive, Gail shows you how smooth Tesla FSD beta runs in busy downtown East Austin. The car confidently slows as a person runs into the street. Gail also takes us through a high-crash intersection. This interesting thing about using FSD beta, as demonstrated in this episode, is that if the vehicle cannot (this may happen for many reasons) make a turn exactly where it should in order to reach a destination, then it will automatically correct itself. In this case, the car corrected itself by turning into a shopping center parking lot, moving through it, going back onto public streets, and then finding its way to the destination. This is how a human driving (who knew the area well) would do it. Unfortunately, as humans, we do not know every area of every city well. However, using FSD beta overcomes that obstacle. Enjoy the podcast!
Gail’s Tesla Podcast #3 FSD Shortcuts To Your Destination. Watch Gail make a mistake and then the Tesla corrects it by taking her through a little mini mall and around the corner. All on FSDbeta. pic.twitter.com/bVUqckwesO
Gail Alfar, author. Exclusive to What’s Up Tesla – All Rights Reserved. My goal as an author and podcaster is to support Tesla (the most American vehicle manufacturer) and Elon Musk in both making life better on Earth for humans and becoming a space-fairing civilization.
In this episode, Gail explains how easy it is to engage FSD beta on very curvy roads in a suburban area. She shows how easy and accurate the innovative software is and demonstrates its safety. Enjoy the podcast.
Gail’s Tesla Podcast #2 FSD On Curvy Hills. FSD works great in Austin’s Hills, kinda feels like magic. Enjoy the podcast. pic.twitter.com/2C0AJGZ191
Gail Alfar, author. Exclusive to What’s Up Tesla. All Rights Reserved. My goal as an author is to support Tesla (the most American vehicle manufacturer) and Elon Musk in both making life better on earth for humans and becoming a space-fairing civilization.
I asked 14 Tesla owners who use FSD beta three questions,
Did you purchase or do you subscribe monthly to FSD beta?
What made you decide to use FSD beta?
What do you like about FSD beta?
I was surprised at their answers and you will be too! This is one of my longer articles and I hope you’ll take time to enjoy it and even share it with others. It contains many heartwarming stories, among them are Nancy Larson’s, Jonathan Yokley’s and more. Relax and enjoy this good read!
Nancy is extending her ability to move about independently at age 78 and beyond!
Nancy Larson and Easy at 78 uses FSD beta, photo courtesy Nancy Larson
Nancy Larson helps people look forward to being independent longer through her story. She wrote,
“In 2016 we traded in our 2014 green Model S for one with the new Autopilot feature as I saw the increased safety it could provide. And when I purchased my silver Model 3 in 2018, it also included FSD in the purchase price because I wanted to follow the advancing technology forward. So when Beta testing began, it felt like one of those rare opportunities to make a contribution to the safety of the whole world through Elon Musk and the Tesla Mission.
As a 78-year-old, I also see a personal benefit by extending my ability to move about independently over time. While using Beta I can see some situations that don’t appear to be solvable with FSD, but for the most part, I am delighted by what my car, Easy, can do. What fun when she displays a new ability or makes what I thought was a mistake that turns out to be the right thing. Supervising her in town with heavy traffic takes extra effort, and being a part of a revolution is never expected to be stress-free.”
James Bond would drive a Tesla
Shawn Ξ s Model Y photo courtesy Shawn Ξ
Shawn Ξ from Granite Bay finds tough routes to challenge FSD beta. He enjoys contributing to Tesla’s data collection. Shawn explained,
“FSD beta testing is one way every Tesla owner can give back to humanity and support our children’s future. The positive disruptive impact FSD (all Tesla AI) will have on saving lives, via preventable motor vehicle accidents (MVA) has yet to be fully appreciated. Tesla FSD will eliminate the billions of dollars spent on healthcare costs contingent to MVAs.
What I like most about FSD is that it illustrates what mankind is capable of creating. Tesla’s engineers are implementing AI with a discipline focused on safety, prevention, humility, and caution. FSD is the epitome of caution when considering AI. They are showing us that AI can be used to aid mankind and help advance the light of consciousness, instead of controlling it. It’s also really cool. James Bond would drive a Tesla!”
This Texas Dad will be remembered as a beta tester
Jonathan Yokley uses FSD beta to take his kids to see Starbase, Texas. photo courtesy Jonathan Yokley
Jonathan Yokley of San Antonio Texas knows how important it is to Tesla’s mission to have people testing FSD beta,
“I’ve driven my 2019 Tesla Model 3 for four years and almost 80k miles. I’ve had beta since October 2021 and use it nearly 100% of the time. Prior to that, I used Autopilot and NAVoAP everywhere possible. I could never go back to driving manually. I use FSD beta nearly 100% of the time I’m driving. I purchased it back when it was $7,000. I’ve had FSD since the 100/99%ers got it back in October of ’22. I wanted to be part of the coming-of-age of autonomous driving. It’s been my way to contributing.”
“One day in the future when all cars are self-driving my kids will remember their Dad was one of the beta testers.” Jonathan Yokley, Texas
You’re safer using FSD beta than not using it
Robert McLaughlin purchased FSD to help advance the technology so he can remain independent as he gets older and for the advanced safety features to reduce the risk of getting in an accident. Robert says,
“I love that I can pull out onto my street, dictate a destination, put it in FSD beta, and the majority of the time it will get me to my destination with few or no critical disengagements. A critical disengagement includes the need to take control to prevent an accident or otherwise create a dangerous situation. I also find it necessary to take control to not hold up other cars. The most frequent intervention is hitting the accelerator in certain situations like phantom braking or advancing at an intersection. It has been fascinating to watch the evolution of technology.
With each new software update, FSD beta gets a little better. The visual representation of what the car “sees” gets cleaner and more detailed, and the ride quality is smoother. To really appreciate this technology you need to spend a few months using it. I also like that it has a 5-star safety rating and that it proactively tightens seat belts and pre-deploys the airbags if the software determines that a crash is unavoidable. Only Teslas’ have this capability. So less likely to be in an accident, and less likely to be seriously injured if you are in an accident. This is a significant increase in overall safety. As FSD beta technology keeps improving, the risk of getting into an accident continues to go down.”
FSD beta testing contributes useful data to Tesla
Dirty Tesla enjoys contributing data to Tesla AI team. Image courtesy Dirty Tesla
Dirty Tesla loves to contribute data to Tesla. He uses FSD Beta as much as possible for 95% of off-highway driving. He shares that,
“Being invited into the FSD beta program as one of the original testers was an honor and opportunity. I felt I had the chance to really do some good by helping feed data to Tesla to improve their self-driving software which would eventually lead to safer roads for everyone. I also love tech and find it all very fascinating. It makes driving fun and interesting.
I do a lot of driving and I enjoy using it to find edge cases and contribute data to Tesla. It also feels like an extra set of eyes while driving. It’s common for FSD Beta to see something that I do not and react to it before I do.”
FSD is underrated
Douglas, a Model 3 owner in New Jersey candidly explained he bought FSD without telling his wife because of the extra safety it provides. He says it’s underrated and unappreciated. It helped him avoid a collision with a deer. In Douglas’ words,
“The most dangerous thing that most people do is drive so often that they don’t think about it. I try to talk my friends into Tesla not just because they’re electric but because of the safety. People don’t realize how easily distracted they are even if for a few seconds whenever they’re driving. Obviously, everyone knows that texting and driving is dangerous and so is tinkering with your music stream or whatever. It only takes a few seconds for someone to drive in front of you unexpectedly or for a pedestrian to cross the road or a deer for that matter. Tesla FSD literally has your back, front, left and right. 360° coverage.”
“It’s like having a copilot to watch the road AND having people facing in a big circle around you watching the road on your behalf. It’s an amazing technology that is saving lives and will save many lives. I always say to my friends that the most dangerous thing you do is drive and if you love yourself as I love you my friend and you love your family, then this is something you should seriously consider purchasing.” Douglas, Model 3 owner, New Jersey
FSD beta is safer, acts like a chauffeur and makes driving enjoyable
Arash Malek uses Tesla FSD beta every day. Photo courtesy Arash Malek.
Ryan Cave of North Texas and dad of two used Autopilot daily for 3 years in his Model S and is excited about the future when cars will drive humans. He wrote,
“I can envision the day when those who can’t drive will be given a newfound freedom. Even those who can will be free to use their travel time more productively. Driving is fun, but I like that FSD beta makes driving enjoyable in a different way. It does most of my driving now, and using it is like watching your children learn. You get to see how far it has advanced, and how interventions generally decrease over time. I also feel more relaxed after long drives or commuting in traffic.”
Chris Barberich of Encinitas, California also told me he’s excited about the future of driverless cars,
“It’s fun to see the software make progress towards that future. Also, in most situations, I think FSD plus a human observer is safer than a human driver. I like that it’s there in case I want to use it and I can easily turn it on and off. I like that it often notices cars slowing down before I do.”
Dave Smith, a Model X and 3 owner in Arizona told me FSD Beta feels like a chauffeur. He said,
“It does 99.9% of the driving for me and the 0.1% is where I would intervene or take over. Using FSD makes my mind free up to focus on the real emergencies when driving rather than focus on how to keep the car in the lane, where is my next turn or next exit. The fact that it does everything and I just need to supervise saves you from a lot of mental fatigue. This is huge because it increases safety a lot and also you reach your destination without any fatigue from driving.”
Michael Phan agrees,
“I like that FSD Beta can be my chauffeur. It’s like having a personal assistant ready to take over driving duties as needed. What’s not to like about it? The hybrid mode of FSD Beta driving with a human over-seeing makes me feel like I can keep myself and my family safe in the car while we travel.”
Michael Phan tests FSD beta, photo courtesy Michael Phan
FSD Beta lets the public see development progress firsthand
Dan Burkland has been using and testing FSD Beta daily since October 2021 across every kind of road and weather condition imaginable in Minnesota. Dan told me his decision to use FSD Beta came from losing friends & family to motor-vehicle accidents that he felt could have been avoided if the proper autonomous driving technology had been active in their vehicles. Dan said,
“I’m a techy at heart and my curiosity peaked when Tesla came on the scene and described their approach to bringing autonomous driving technology to the masses. I recognized the heavy lift something like Autopilot requires not to mention the large operational domain it is expected to excel in. As a result, I wanted to do my part by extensively testing FSD Beta in Minnesota by establishing several test loops and regularly testing FSD against these test loops (in all sorts of weather conditions).
What I like most about FSD Beta is how the public has the ability to see the development progress firsthand. Confidence in creep behavior, path planning, unprotected left turns, etc. are things that immediately pop out at me when I compare my recent 10.69.25.2 videos against my early 10.2 videos.”
CONCLUSION
Tesla owners are closely involved in providing important data to the Tesla AI team and many are motivated by a sense of urgency to help future generations move faster toward a much safer and more autonomous future. When fathers tell me they are thinking of their children’s futures it reminds me of the impression I had when I met Elon Musk at Gigafactory Texas in June 2022. Elon radiates kindness and a strong sense of urgency. He’s kind to the people around him and when he speaks it is with a clear and well-thought-out vision of how we can advance humanity. This article and the people I got to meet through it really touched my heart. We’re in good hands with people like this who care so much about our futures.
Here’s a chart that contains all 14 owners’ responses and I also included myself, since I also love testing FSD beta!
Tesla owners share their opinions about Tesla FSD beta
Special thanks to these Tesla owners for making this article possible!
Gail Alfar, author. Exclusive to What’s Up Tesla – January 22, 2023. All Rights Reserved. My goal as an author is to support Tesla (the most American vehicle manufacturer) and Elon Musk in both making life better on earth for humans and becoming a space-fairing civilization. Updated 1/22/23 3:53 pm to correct statement on tax credits. FSD purchase does not impact the tax credit limit, its only added options like paint, etc. that count towards the limit.
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Gail’s Tesla Podcast #1 shows how you can start using Tesla FSD.
In 10 minutes, learn how to start FSD and go around corners and other hacks, including how to enjoy different colors for your Tesla on the vehicle’s screen!
Gail’s Tesla Podcast #1 Starting using FSD. How to start FSD and go around corners and other hacks. We’ll go get burgers together! Our first 10 minute video for you! pic.twitter.com/nuJmmtbdIO
We’ll go get burgers together! Our first 10 minute video for you!
Gail Alfar, author. Exclusive to What’s Up Tesla – All Rights Reserved. My goal as an author and podcaster is to support Tesla (the most American vehicle manufacturer) and Elon Musk in both making life better on earth for humans and becoming a space-fairing civilization.
Today, over a cup of hot Texas Pecan coffee, I began thinking about how great my Tesla is running on FSD beta, and I was wondering just how far away we all are from a Tesla Robotaxi.
My Tesla seems almost fully autonomous, so I wanted to find out about other peoples’ experiences. I did a little searching and came to find out there are many people all over the USA driving in many conditions with zero disengagements when they use FSD beta. I found out Tesla’s first concern is safety and that no other vehicle companies are doing it like Tesla. Let’s look further into these details, and come up with a smart estimate of how far away we are from full Tesla autonomy.
Three Tesla drivers (including me) experience near-autonomous driving on busy challenging roads
On a typical street in the suburbs in front of a typical Austin house, I got ready to do errands I put the Tesla in FSD beta mode –always remember that when you use FSD beta, your eyes must be constantly on the road and your hands on the steering wheel– and sat back and monitored the car’s driving as it began to wind around Austin streets, up and down hills and to a busy intersection where it made a right on red and merged quickly onto the 183. After a smooth change onto busy Mopac, the car exited onto a two-lane access road and a half mile down it slowed and turned onto a private drive and took us past parked cars, and stopped at the front doors of a medical clinic.
Several hours later, I was back in the Tesla. Tesla maps have a tab that says “hungry.” I used this to find a new place to get food and then pressed FSD beta and the car was off. We came to a 4 lane unprotected left turn –kinda an anxiety provoker for me– and the software found a break in the traffic and moved to the middle divider. After several cars, it made the left turn, moved over 2 more lanes, and then made a quick right. Taking a street I had never been on before, the car turned into a parking lot and stopped in front of the restaurant. We had a GREAT meal and talked about, you guessed it, Tesla!
People across the country, from California to Texas to New York, are essentially already experiencing supervised and safe autonomy on complex unmarked roads with turns, construction, and more.
Around the same time, in San Francisco, Omar Qazi of Whole Mars Blog, was testing FSD beta in his Tesla, he explains, “If you went and gave a few Uber rides using FSD Beta, the vast majority of the passengers would not notice that the car is being driven by software. Some people didn’t believe me so I ran an experiment… “ The first passenger had no clue at all that the car was driving itself, and when she found out she laughed with delight and called it cool!
The second passenger didn’t notice at first but then later noticed the car was stopping when Omar did not have his feet on the brakes, He said, “so this is like a driverless car?” He was clearly delighted and also thought it was awesome.
Meanwhile, in New York state, a similar scenario was playing out. Corey Aronson wrote, “Just did three Uber rides in a row. All zero takeover. All passengers on all rides had zero clue the car was driving itself. I can’t drive better than FSD Beta anymore, almost ever. Everyone is just on their phone getting driven by the robot.” Corey told me the most common things people ask first about FSD beta are if it “Works without the yellow road lines?” and “Will it put the blinker on?” Of course, the answer is YES to both!
What more is needed for full Tesla autonomy?
To try to answer this, I listened carefully to what Elon Musk said during the Tesla, Q3 2022 earnings call,
“The safety that we are seeing, when the car is in FSD mode is actually significantly greater than the safety that we are seeing when it is not, which a key threshold for going to wide beta.” – Elon Musk
Elon Musk explained that in Q4 2022, we should expect Tesla will release FSD beta to every single person that has purchased FSD.
This means that before we see full autonomy, more people need to use FSD beta, in order to contribute valuable data to Tesla’s AI team. The more use cases there are, the better!
Why is Tesla leading in this area and what’s the difference between what Tesla does and what other vehicle companies are doing for autonomy?
Tesla AI team has some of the best artificial intelligence researchers in the world, so the software evolves into sharper accuracy and greater safety over a short time. Elon Musk spoke about the great interest in Tesla AI at the Q3 2022 earnings call,
“Our goal with that AI Day was to push recruiting, and we’ve seen a massive influx of world class artificial intelligence engineers and scientists. It generated a tremendous amount of interest from some of the best AI researchers in the world.
I can’t emphasize the importance of this enough. Because I think, finally, it has become clear to the smartest AI technologists in the world, that Tesla is among the very best!” – Elon Musk
No other companies that aim to produce vehicles are like Tesla because they are relying on outdated, overpriced, and unreliable technology like Lidar and radar.
Elon Musk has stated before that Tesla will offer their autonomous capabilities to others. Thus far, I have not found any other vehicle manufacturer outside of China to be seriously mass-manufacturing electric vehicles.
No other carmaker in the world has scaled the production of EVs like Tesla has. Tesla aims to mass-produce autonomous-capable cars. Other manufacturers appear to be content with creating cars based on assembly techniques better suited to combustion cars and to employ “driverless systems” that are expensive, limited in speed, limited to where they are used, and cannot be scaled.
CONCLUSION
As shown in this article, Tesla vehicles are already capable of a high degree of autonomy in challenging situations including where there are no lane markings. If you define autonomy in the high-quality way that Tesla does, Tesla is so far ahead of any other company, and when they offer Robotaxi, it’s going to apply to every situation, and it will not be limited.
It’s hard to say if autonomy will be solved for Tesla in 2023 or beyond, but I do think that the larger the fleet of vehicles are, the closer we are to it.
As a Registered Nurse, I always advocate for maximum safety for humans, and this coincides with Tesla’s mission!
Currently, there has to be a driver in the seat supervising because the system still needs to be safer. When the driver detects an unsafe situation, that driver takes over and that data can be sent to Tesla
Tesla’s AI Team, the best of its kind in the world, strives to increase safety all the time. The smartest AI technologists in the world like to work for Tesla!
As safety reaches a point where it is above or equal to what the best human driver could do, we will start to see local regulatory agencies open the door to allowing Tesla to test Robotaxis on complex roads.
Who Will Benefit Once Tesla Autonomy is Solved? I believe a world where autonomy is the norm is closer than we realize. This article attempts to answer the question, who will benefit once Tesla autonomy is solved?
You can use Autopilot on your daily drives and disable it anytime during a drive
Images in this article of the Model Y Midnight Cherry Red are Courtesy of Tesla, Inc.
Article Exclusive to What’s Up Tesla – October 29, 2022. All Rights Reserved. “My goal as an author is to support Tesla and Elon Musk in both making lives better on earth for humans and becoming a space-faring civilization.” – Gail Alfar
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I’ve been using Tesla Autopilot with every drive since 2019, and testing Full Self Driving beta (FSD beta) daily since June 2022.
This article is for everyone who has ever thought, “I love my Tesla, but I will never do Autopilot, it’s too scary.” I am with you, it can be scary.
This article covers 3 areas,
Tesla Autopilot is safer than a human driving
Enabling Autopilot during a drive is easy
You can use Autopilot on your daily drives and disable it anytime during a drive
Tesla Autopilot is safer than a human driving
Elon Musk had a conversation on the Lex Fridman podcast about the processes that happen when a human drives,
"When you drive down the road, and try to think about what your brain is actually doing, consciously, it’s like, you’ll see a car, because you don’t have cameras, you don’t have eyes in the back of your head, or the side, so you say like, you’re basically, your head is like a, you basically have like two cameras on a slow gimbal.
And eyesight is not that great, okay?
Human eyes are… and people are constantly distracted and thinking about things and texting and doing all sorts of things they shouldn’t do in a car or changing the radio station, having arguments, haha.
Like, when’s the last time you looked right and left? Or rearward? Or even diagonally forward to actually refresh your vector space?
So, you’re glancing around and what your mind is doing is trying to distill the relevant vectors, basically objects with a position in motion, and then editing that down to the least amount that’s necessary for you to drive." Elon Musk
When Tesla Autopilot is engaged, all 8 cameras on the vehicle measure the surroudings without any distractions and use pure vision to drive as safe as possible. Looking into the future, Elon continues his conversation with Lex and says,
"The cars will maneuver with super human ability and reaction time, much faster than a human.
I think, over time, the Autopilot, Full Self Driving will be capable of maneuvers that are far more than what James Bond could do in like the best movie type of thing. It’s like, impossible maneuvers that a human couldn’t do." Elon Musk
“Tesla vehicles are engineered for safety and when Autopilot is engaged safety is enhanced.
In 2021, we recorded 0.22 crashes for every million miles driven in which drivers were using Autopilot technology (Autosteer and active safety features).
For drivers who were not using Autopilot technology (no Autosteer and active safety features), we recorded 0.77 crashes for every million miles driven.
By comparison, NHTSA’s most recent data shows that in the United States there are 1.81 automobile crashes for every million miles driven.”
Avoiding serious accidents when car is in Autopilot: 2 examples
In these 2 examples, major accidents were avoided because Tesla’s cameras and software slowed down the vehicle to avoid hitting cars that ran red lights. In both examples, the drivers did not notice the problem as quickly as Autopilot did.
Tesla’s software reacted quickly to avoid an accident at an intersection. credit @parzar1 on twitter who is testing FSD beta. Autopilot should react similar in this scenario.
Today @Tesla FSD beta driving, saw this guy and startled slowing down before I even knew he was there.
Best case would have been a major panic stop, I probably would have T-boned him. pic.twitter.com/lJ10mPlmb4
Watch this video as Tesla vehicle slows down to avoid an accident.
I am sharing a personal experience with you. After picking up a friend, I engaged Autopilot and we were waiting at a red light.
As the light turned green, my Tesla moved into the intersection and my car suddenly made a warning sound and came to a stop.
We did not see why until a Nissan zoomed right in front of us.
My Tesla resumed moving as if nothing at all had happened.
We were shook, but the vehicle was not, and Autopilot got us safely home.
My dashcam footage below shows the car pulling into the intersection while the light was red for them.
You can see the Nissan running the red light below.
Tesla’s software saw a car run a red light before the driver did, avoiding a major crash. credit, the author.This chart created by Tesla for their 2021 Impact Report shows how much safer Autopilot is.
Enabling Autopilot during a drive is easy
Now that you may be considering using your car’s Autopilot, here are my simple suggestions for your Model Y or 3
Start driving and then press down TWICE rapidly on the stalk. Take your foot off the gas pedal and keep your hands on the wheel enough so the wheel FEELS slight torque.
Practice also DISENGAGING the Autopilot by tugging on the steering wheel until you are comfortable with toggling between using it and not using it.
Use Autopilot as much as possible. You will get better at using it with practice. Like any new technology, it will soon become second nature to you and you will master it before you know it.
I recommend watching the Tesla videos that explain it, here. And always, pay attention and be prepared to take over when using Autopilot or testing FSD beta.
Tesla Youtube explains how to engage Autopilot by pressing down TWICE rapidly on the stalk.
Let’s go back to my example above where we avoided getting T-boned in an intersection. It is important to engage Autopilot as much as possible when crossing through any intersections. Accidents commonly happen in intersections so we all need maximum safety enabled.
There were 35,766 fatalities and 1,593,390 injuries from crashes in 2020. T-bone (angle) crashes led to 6,432 deaths in 2020. There were a total of 5,982 pedestrian fatalities from being struck by a car, NHTSA reported in their Overview of Motor Vehicle Crashes 2020. NHTSA reported a staggering 42,915 fatalities from crashes in 2021 in their September 2022 report.*
Having Autopilot engaged will protect pedestrians from harm. The 8 cameras on your Tesla capture images and weave them together to tell the computer the safest way to navigate when people are seen. Both pedestrian and T-bone type crashes cause the most deaths, and Autopilot helps us avoid these tragedies.
As you master Autopilot you will enjoy a higher level of safety.
CONCLUSION
Tesla Autopilot may seem scary at first, and it is worth getting over that fear. This is because if you drive a Tesla without using Autopilot, there are 0.77 crashes recorded for every million miles driven. But if you drive your Tesla with Autopilot engaged, there are only 0.22 crashes for every million miles driven.
To enable Autopilot, just press down twice rapidly on the stalk. I am thankful I did this before passing through an intersection where I was almost T-boned by a car who ran a red light.
In time, you will master using Autopilot as you learn to master any new technology. Toggling in and out of Autopilot is worth learning so that you can enjoy the highest level of safety for you, your family, friends and pedestrians around you.
Who Will Benefit Once Tesla Autonomy is Solved? I believe a world where autonomy is the norm is closer than we realize. This article attempts to answer the question, who will benefit once Tesla autonomy is solved?
5 Takeaways from Tesla’s 2022 Shareholder Meeting This article features highlights of what Elon Musk said about Tesla Gigafactories, AI, Cybertruck, Optimus robot, how we can help support the mission, and more.
Reasons Why Tesla Has the Best Factory Safety in the Industry This article will bring you along with me as we look into how Tesla has become a leader in job site safety in manufacturing. Our focus will be on statements about workplace safety from Elon Musk at the 2022 Shareholder’s meeting and the Tesla 2021 Impact Report.
Meet the author, Gail Alfar. Taken at Giga Texas Cyber Roundup, August 4, 2022.
Gail Alfar, author, with editing by Abraham Alfar. Thank you to Chuck Cook for consultation on this article. Exclusive to What’s Up Tesla – September 24, 2022 this article was revised on September 25. – All Rights Reserved. * NHTSA September 2022 report can be found at https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/813376
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Speed and handling were what originally pulled me into ordering a Tesla in 2019. Tesla Autonomy unexpectedly won my heart the day after I took delivery of my Model 3. I am part of a large group of delighted Tesla owners.
Autonomy Makes Traveling Safer
What makes a road trip more fun? Tesla Autopilot definitely does! Freeway driving is also safer when there are eight cameras looking out for your family’s safety. Michael from Boston explains,
“We took a road trip from Boston to Niagara Falls, 9 hours each way, to test out the Tesla Supercharger network and it was a great family experience. Planning our charging stops almost felt like back in the day when you’d plan a road trip with a huge unfolding paper map. We watched Mr. Beast YouTube videos with my kids at a stop or had dinner at the next. In the last hours of a long drive, Autopilot was an extra layer of safety.”
Tesla FSD takes owning a Tesla to the next level
Dylan shares FSDbeta visualization on Twitter, [credit: Dylan]
People with FSD beta in their Teslas often feel like they are living in the future. One owner, Corey who drives his Tesla for Uber, says
“Hop in the car with a nice coffee, click anywhere on the map, and click ‘Navigate.’ This works for me many times now at night. This is close to the future we dream of. I can’t wait till all my friends and family have a Tesla. There is no better product out there. This is what changes the entire equation: Once you drive a Tesla, you’ll literally never want to drive anything else. Doing Uber in the Tesla sells people on the car itself which gets more Teslas in my community which is a net benefit for all!”
Tesla Full-Self Driving
FSD Beta has improved over the past 6 months. Caleb told me that using this autonomous software in his Tesla has been such a unique experience and it makes him excited for the future!
“It puts a smile on my face every time I get in it because it is so thoughtfully designed. It’s so much fun to drive.”
A great example and explanation of Full Self Driving beta are made in this 10-minute video by Whole Mars Catalog here. Whole Mars asks the car to take him to different places in the video, “Director’s Commentary on FSD Beta 10.11.2.”
Another Tesla owner is wild over FSD beta!
Tesla owner, Marc Benton, shared his impressions of his first drive using FSD beta,
It is mind-blowing in the sense that this car is driving itself with just cameras because I think back just three years ago when I first started driving with autopilot when I first started using autopilot my mind was blown, it was truly blown because I could not believe a car was navigating in the lane.
You look where we’ve come now the car is reading the turn signal, it’s making a turn, it’s staying in the lane. Thats how I would turn!
“Wide-angle skyscraper pictures through Tesla glass roofs are the best!” Caleb’s photo in downtown Columbus, Ohio through the Tesla glass roof & Caleb’s white Model 3 is the featured image in this article [credit: Caleb]
My thoughts
Driving my Model 3 has been exceptionally enjoyable because of its ever-improving autonomous features. Tesla is the only company pioneering truly autonomous driving.
Interested in why Tesla is so good for our world? You can view the Tesla 2021 Impact Report here.
5 Takeaways from Tesla’s 2022 Shareholder Meeting This article features highlights of what Elon Musk said about Tesla Gigafactories, AI, Cybertruck, Optimus robot, how we can help support the mission, and more.
Reasons Why Tesla Has the Best Factory Safety in the Industry This article will bring you along with me as we look into how Tesla has become a leader in job site safety in manufacturing. Our focus will be on statements about workplace safety from Elon Musk at the 2022 Shareholder’s meeting and the Tesla 2021 Impact Report.
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