Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced Thursday night that the firm aims to provide its “full self-driving” beta software to all North American customers who paid up to $12,000 for the contentious version of its driver assistance system this year. During the Tesla Cyber Rodeo, an event to commemorate the grand opening of the company’s facility in Austin, the CEO made the announcement while wearing a black cowboy hat. “The Tesla Autopilot team and AI team have done a great job establishing real-world AI,” Musk said during a livestreamed address. “We’re able to move to wide beta for all complete self-driving customers in North America this year.”
For years, full self-driving, or FSD as it is commonly referred as, has been a possibility. Tesla automobiles, on the other hand, are not self-driving. Autopilot is a driving assistance technology that comes standard on Tesla automobiles. FSD — a capability that Musk has often claimed will one day give complete autonomous driving capabilities – is available for an extra $12,000. Summon, a parking tool, and Navigate on Autopilot, an active guiding system that navigates a car from a highway on-ramp to off-ramp, including interchanges and lane changes, are both included in FSD. It’s presently up and running on city streets.
Tesla has made FSD available to some, but not all, of the product’s customers who have paid for it. Last year, the business introduced a “safety score” tool to decide whether or not owners are eligible for the beta version of its “Full Self-Driving” software. 60,000 Tesla owners have gotten access to the FSD beta software, according to Tesla’s Q4 shareholder letter. Since the beta software was originally published, a slew of videos have surfaced, showing owners either pushing the system’s capabilities or, in many cases, demonstrating its shortcomings, such as making unexpected turns, attempting to drive the opposite way on roadways, or driving toward people.
Musk mentioned nothing more about the FSD deployment other than one line when he could get a word in edgewise, what with so many passionate fans shouting their heads off and even sobbing. He also didn’t provide many concrete details, simply implying that next year will bring “some great stuff that we haven’t even talked about yet.” He did, however, give a few statistics regarding the new plant. The $1.1 billion complex, which will be Tesla’s sixth gigafactory and new worldwide headquarters, will build not just Model Ys, which are now the company’s most popular car, but also the Semi, Roadster, and the widely awaited Cybertruck starting in 2023. In addition, 4680 battery cells will be produced.
“This year is all about scaling up, and then there’ll be a tremendous surge of new things next year,” Musk added. New items include a “dedicated robotaxi” that would appear “very futuristic” and the first iteration of Tesla’s humanoid robot, Optimus, which was shown as a concept last year. “Optimus will obliterate the concept of an economy,” Musk stated. “Basically whatever that humans don’t want to do, Optimus will be able to perform.” It will be an age of wealth… it will, I believe, revolutionize the world to a degree even greater than automobiles.”
Musk did not indicate whether Optimus will be built at the gigafactory in Texas, which he described as “the most sophisticated automobile factory on Earth.” The Austin facility differs from Tesla’s other five facilities in that it houses everything required to manufacture a car, according to Musk. “The thing that we felt made sense is to conceive of it as a chip, as an integrated circuit,” Musk explained. “Combine all of the elements into a single bundle.” This is a situation where raw materials enter one side, are formed into a cell, and then are made into a pack.
The front and rear bodies were then cast. The pack is structurally sound. After that, a polished product emerges. So raw materials come in one side and automobiles come out the other.” Tesla will be able to achieve “really gigantic scale” thanks to this building design, which is part of Musk’s aim to develop the firm to “extreme magnitude.”
Many expected Musk to announce upgrades to the Cybertruck during the event, and some on social media claimed to have seen the back glass slide to aid transport freight, upgraded side repeater cameras in the front fenders, and a mid-guard to divide the bed and passenger seats, but he didn’t. The Cybertruck will have no door handles because “the automobile can recognize you’re there and it just knows it has to open,” Musk said on stage. “Here at Tesla, we believe in hosting fantastic parties, so let’s get this party started,” Musk concluded his brief statement at the Cyber Rodeo.
