(soft music)
- [Narrator] This month, Tesla plans to release
a major upgrade to its driver assistance software FSD-beta.
That upgrade is expected to extend public access
to a feature intended to help vehicles navigate cities.
Despite its name, FSD or full self-driving,
still doesn't make cars fully autonomous
and Tesla instructs drivers
to remain alert with their hands on the wheel.
- Tesla began selling a driver assistance package
that it calls full self-driving capability
about five years ago.
And so this feature that's expected to help
drivers navigate in cities is part of that package.
- [Narrator] This expands upon Tesla's existing
FSD system of driver assistance tools
that were designed mainly for highways.
- Tesla has taken an unusual approach
to rolling out access to this upgrade.
A small group of users has been testing
this city-driving feature for quite a while
and using it on public roads,
often recording videos of those experiences
and posting them.
- Ooh, okay, wow.
That was awesome.
- [Rebecca] That has helped to drum up a lot of interest
and also invited scrutiny as well.
- [Narrator] Tesla owners can buy full self-driving
for $10,000 or use it through a subscription
of up to $199 a month.
But the wider public hasn't been granted access
to the city-driving tool yet.
Tesla has been preparing to release
its city-driving tool beyond that small group of people
who have been testing the software.
Drivers have now been able to request the feature,
but CEO, Elon Musk, said they would only be granted access
after having their driving habits evaluated.
- Tesla has said it's taking into consideration
a variety of factors, including things like hard breaking
or aggressive turning.
And it's using those inputs to come up
with a safety score that will be used
to prioritize who gets access.
Tesla plans to release this upgrade
to drivers progressively around a thousand a day
based on their safety score,
but it remains unclear what happens
if you get caught in this space
where Tesla doesn't think you're driving is good enough.
- [Reporter] The Tesla crushed
after slamming into an overturned semi.
- A Bay Area Tesla driver was playing video games
at the time of a deadly crash.
- [Narrator] Tesla's latest upgrade
comes in the wake of a series of crashes
that have heightened scrutiny
of the company's driver assistance software.
- The new chair of the National Transportation Safety Board
has been critical of Tesla's driver assistance systems,
and really, specifically the language
that the company uses to describe its tools,
but the agency doesn't have regulatory authority.
This really is a space
that is not tightly regulated in the US
and so automakers have a wide degree of latitude.
(soft music)
- [Narrator] Tesla's driver assistance software
comes in two bundles.
Autopilot comes as a standard system
on new vehicles and primarily assist highway driving.
The second package is what Tesla calls
its full self-driving capability,
which is essentially an upgrade that adds more features,
but it's only available to customers who buy the package.
- Tesla drivers have identified
a variety of tricks to make
autopilot believe they are focused on the road
even if they are literally asleep at the wheel.
- [Narrator] For years, Tesla's faced criticism
from some lawmakers about its driver assistance software.
- You can take a water bottle,
take an orange and put it right into the steering wheel.
And then that tricks the system
to believing that your hands are on the wheel.
- [Narrator] Last month, the NTSB launched
an investigation into a fatal crash
involving a Tesla vehicle in Florida.
And in August, the National Highway
Traffic Safety Administration said
it was investigating Tesla's autopilot system.
- But it's likely going to take quite a while
for that investigation to play out.
We're just in the early stages.
- [Narrator] In recent months,
even Musk has expressed mixed views
about the full self-driving system.
- [Elon] We need to make full self-driving work
in order for it to be a compelling value proposition.
Otherwise, people are kind of betting on the future.
I mean, right now, it doesn't make sense
for somebody to do FSD subscription.
I think it's debatable.
- [Narrator] Tesla did not respond
to a request for comment.
(soft music)