Tesla Pauses ‘Full Self-Driving’ Beta Rollout Amid Latest Recall

In advance Tesla Investor Day on March 1st Event, the company faces new challenges and questions about the safety of its driver assistance technology.

Tesla drivers who haven’t yet downloaded the company’s “Full Self-Driving” beta software officially can’t now. The EV automaker has temporarily halted the rollout and availability of the driver assistance feature following a recall earlier this month, as stated in a new update on Tesla’s support page and reported first by TheVerge.

“We have paused the rollout of FSD Beta for anyone who has signed up but has not yet received a software release with FSD Beta,” the company continued in an FAQ section his website. The move to end FSD downloads comes less than two weeks later Tesla announced its recent recall in connection with driver assistance technology

In November, Tesla opened “Full Self-Driving” (ie especially not fully self-propelled) to all eligible customers in the USA and Canada who have chosen to pay the Fee of $15,000 or log in a $199 subscription. Now those who paid for it but haven’t yet installed the software or signed up will not be able to access the FSD beta feature for an indefinite period of time. And those who have the technology installed in their vehicles should probably consider disabling it until potential safety issues are addressed.

In mid-February, the company recalled about 362,000 vehicles in the US (plus additional cars in Canada) equipped with FSD Beta because regulators feared the feature could lead to accidents. The recall affects the Model S, Model 3, Model X and Model Y vehicles.

Tesla cars with the FSD Beta enabled can fly over deprecated yellow lights, roll through stop signs, violate speed limits or change lanes before a driver has a chance to appropriately intervene, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recall report. “Certain driving maneuvers may violate local traffic laws or customs, which could increase the risk of a collision,” the agency said.

NHTSA said it first notified Tesla of its concerns on Jan. 25. The company agreed to conduct a voluntary recall on February 7 “without agreeing with the agency’s analysis,” the safety agency said. So Tesla denied the need for the recall, but went ahead with it anyway, according to NHTSA. Tesla resolved its Public Relations Department back in 2020, so it’s difficult to get more explanations for the reason. However, Elon Musk’s Twitter is always a reliable place to get a sense of how the Tesla CEO feels about regulators. “The word ‘recall’ for an over-the-air software update is anachronistic and just plain wrong,” says the billionaire published on February 16th.

Contrary to the process usually thought of when recalling a car, Tesla owners don’t have to take their vehicles to a repair shop to have a part replaced. Instead, the solution to the software recall is an over-the-air update — as is often the case with recent recalls in high-tech computer-controlled cars. However, Tesla hasn’t said exactly when the required software update will be released, meaning the pause for FSD beta downloads is currently indefinite. Bloomberg reports that NHTSA expects the automaker to fix the problem by April 15. Still, Tesla didn’t offer a timeline in its newly released support update.

That is a far cry from the first software-focused Tesla recall that the company has been going through lately. In fact, it’s not even the first time Tesla has done this halted its FSD beta rollout. NHTSA and other federal agencies like that The Justice Department continues to investigate Tesla and its various driver assistance features. Tesla reported more driver-assisted collisions than any other automaker between August 2021 and June 2022.

Though Musk and his company have hinted as much at different times FSD Beta is almost completely autonomous It’s not a driving experience. “Autopilot, Enhanced Autopilot and Full Self-Driving Capability are intended for use with a fully alert driver who has their hands on the wheel and is ready to take over at any time. While these features are intended to become more powerful over time, the features currently enabled do not make the vehicle autonomous.” says Tesla on his website. A California law enacted in December prohibits the company from calling the feature “Full Self-Driving.”‘ until it actually is. However, Tesla has yet to change its language for the feature.