Full Self-Driving is a promising technology and Elon Musk has bet Tesla's future on it, although in its current form it is not very useful or very advanced. Nevertheless, Tesla makes progress with every iteration of the system and a recent video shows it has gained some serious cab-driver skills.
Gone are the times when people believed automated driving systems would be easily bullied by fellow human drivers. Recent videos of Tesla FSD performance show the system has gained some new abilities that are not far off those of seasoned human drivers. If anything, humans should be afraid that artificial intelligence behind full self-driving would one day bully other drivers in aggressive maneuvers on the road.
The guys at the Tesla Chauffeur YouTube channel were testing the latest Full Self-Driving Beta 10.9 when the system pulled off an impressive unprotected left turn. They named it “the ballsiest move” they've ever seen FSD doing. That's because an unprotected left turn is one of the most difficult maneuvers even for human drivers. It was even more complicated this time because the road was blocked by a line of stopped cars.
The video shows the FSD system guiding the car through a gap in the line of stopped cars, stunning the “driver” who supervised the driving. But he was more curious than scared and let the FSD have its way. It then performed an impeccable, but pretty aggressive unprotected left turn, unfazed by the traffic coming from at least two other directions.
The move shows the FSD has learned new skills with the latest updates. Because the system uses machine learning for training, everything it learns comes from the actual humans who drive a Tesla every day throughout the world. So don’t be surprised if you’ll see such risky maneuvers performed on a regular basis in the future, eclipsing even the most aggressive humans behind the wheel.
Let it be known that only because this time Tesla FSD emerged victorious from this situation, not all drivers in Tesla cars share the same luck. The autonomous system developed by Tesla is often criticized for beta-testing human safety and even putting the car’s passengers in danger. Only recently Consumer Reports deemed Tesla FSD as unsafe and the NHTSA took notice and started a thorough investigation.
We’re curious what would you think about this maneuver after watching the 25-second video below. Would you be confident and let FSD complete the turn or would you take over and do it yourself?
After his childhood dream of becoming a "tractor operator" didn't pan out, Cristian turned to journalism, first in print and later moving to online media. His top interests are electric vehicles and new energy solutions. Full profile
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