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My Tesla did this on FSD (Supervised) v14.1 and the internet went crazy

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My Tesla did something on Full Self-Driving (Supervised) v14.1, and it garnered quite the response from the internet.

I received access to Tesla’s FSD v14.1 on Tuesday night, and by Wednesday, I was already using it and seeing all the progress the company had made from v13.2.9.

Tesla Full Self-Driving v14.1 first impressions: Robotaxi-like features arrive

However, there was one thing that it did during the drive that I shared on our social media accounts, and it really got a lot of interesting reactions from people from all corners of the world.

I’ll give some background about the situation: I was driving on Main Street in Dallastown, PA, and the route was about to take me left onto Pleasant Avenue. It is a tight and usually very congested intersection; Main Street is a popular route for many construction vehicles and even some tractor-trailers.

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It is a pretty tight intersection for full-size trucks and larger passenger vehicles. It is not super tight for my Model Y, but it gets to feel congested at times, including with what happened yesterday.

The light when I approached the intersection was a green yield; there was also a solid green arrow at the beginning of my light cycle, but I had arrived after that had already turned into the green yield. Oncoming traffic had a green light.

My Model Y got out into the middle of the intersection, and the light turned yellow, then red. Most people, including myself, would have probably made the left turn after the light turned red since the car was already out in the intersection.

The Tesla, using FSD v14.1, did not. Instead, it chose to back up to the “Stop Here on Red” line, which is further back due to the tight turn the perpendicular traffic has:

As I mentioned, I would have probably taken the left turn. However, I believe the Tesla did not see the traffic that sat to the left, and because of this, it weighed the turn as a higher probability of an accident than if it were to just back up to the line.

If you look at these two screenshots from when the light was yellow and red, Tesla’s driver visualization does not have any idea what traffic is to the left on Pleasant Avenue:

I believe that, since FSD could not tell what traffic was down to the left, it chose to reverse.

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People had some polarizing opinions on it:

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As far as the legality of the move, it does not seem to be against Pennsylvania law to go through or choose to back up. I have seen many cars do both things over the course of my life of driving in this state, and neither has ever gotten anyone a ticket.

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I think FSD just did what it felt was the safer option here.

Joey has been a journalist covering electric mobility at TESLARATI since August 2019. In his spare time, Joey is playing golf, watching MMA, or cheering on any of his favorite sports teams, including the Baltimore Ravens and Orioles, Miami Heat, Washington Capitals, and Penn State Nittany Lions. You can get in touch with joey at joey@teslarati.com. He is also on X @KlenderJoey. If you're looking for great Tesla accessories, check out shop.teslarati.com

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Tesla lands approval for Robotaxi operation in third U.S. state

On Tuesday, Tesla officially received regulatory approval from the State of Arizona, making it the third state for the company to receive approval in.

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Tesla has officially landed approval to operate its Robotaxi ride-hailing service in its third U.S. state, as it has landed a regulatory green light from the State of Arizona’s Department of Transportation.

Tesla has been working to expand to new U.S. states after launching in Texas and California earlier this year. Recently, it said it was hoping to land in Nevada, Arizona, and Florida, expanding to five new cities in those three states.

On Tuesday, Tesla officially received regulatory approval from the State of Arizona, making it the third state for the company to receive approval in:

Tesla has also been working on approvals in Nevada and Florida, and it has also had Robotaxi test mules spotted in Pennsylvania.

The interesting thing about the Arizona approval is the fact that Tesla has not received an approval for any specific city; it appears that it can operate statewide. However, early on, Tesla will likely confine its operation to just one or two cities to keep things safe and controlled.

Over the past few months, Robotaxi mules have been spotted in portions of Phoenix and surrounding cities, such as Scottsdale, as the company has been attempting to cross off all the regulatory Ts that it is confronted with as it attempts to expand the ride-hailing service.

It appears the company will be operating it similarly to how it does in Texas, which differs from its California program. In Austin, there is no Safety Monitor in the driver’s seat, unless the route requires freeway travel. In California, there is always a Safety Monitor in the driver’s seat. However, this is unconfirmed.

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Earlier today, Tesla enabled its Robotaxi app to be utilized for ride-hailing for anyone using the iOS platform.

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Tesla ride-hailing Safety Monitor dozes off during Bay Area ride

We won’t try to blame the camera person for the incident, because it clearly is not their fault. But it seems somewhat interesting that they did not try to wake the driver up and potentially contact Tesla immediately to alert them of the situation.

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Credit: u/ohmichael on Reddit

A Tesla Robotaxi Safety Monitor appeared to doze off during a ride in the California Bay Area, almost ironically proving the need for autonomous vehicles.

The instance was captured on camera and posted to Reddit in the r/sanfrancisco subreddit by u/ohmichael. They wrote that they have used Tesla’s ride-hailing service in the Bay Area in the past and had pleasant experiences.

However, this one was slightly different. They wrote:

“I took a Tesla Robotaxi in SF just over a week ago. I have used the service a few times before and it has always been great. I actually felt safer than in a regular rideshare.

This time was different. The safety driver literally fell asleep at least three times during the ride. Each time the car’s pay attention safety alert went off and the beeping is what woke him back up.

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I reported it through the app to the Robotaxi support team and told them I had videos, but I never got a response.

I held off on posting anything because I wanted to give Tesla a chance to respond privately. It has been more than a week now and this feels like a serious issue for other riders too.

Has anyone else seen this happen?”

My Tesla Robotaxi “safety” driver fell asleep
byu/ohmichael insanfrancisco

The driver eventually woke up after prompts from the vehicle, but it is pretty alarming to see someone like this while they’re ultimately responsible for what happens with the ride.

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We won’t try to blame the camera person for the incident, because it clearly is not their fault. But it seems somewhat interesting that they did not try to wake the driver up and potentially contact Tesla immediately to alert them of the situation.

They should have probably left the vehicle immediately.

Tesla’s ride-hailing service in the Bay Area differs from the one that is currently active in Austin, Texas, due to local regulations. In Austin, there is no Safety Monitor in the driver’s seat unless the route requires the highway.

Tesla plans to remove the Safety Monitors in Austin by the end of the year.

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Tesla opens Robotaxi access to everyone — but there’s one catch

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla has officially opened Robotaxi access to everyone and everyone, but there is one catch: you have to have an iPhone.

Tesla’s Robotaxi service in Austin and its ride-hailing service in the Bay Area were both officially launched to the public today, giving anyone using the iOS platform the ability to simply download the app and utilize it for a ride in either of those locations.

It has been in operation for several months: it launched in Austin in late June and in the Bay Area about a month later. In Austin, there is nobody in the driver’s seat unless the route takes you on the freeway.

In the Bay Area, there is someone in the driver’s seat at all times.

The platform was initially launched to those who were specifically invited to Austin to try it out.

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Tesla confirms Robotaxi is heading to five new cities in the U.S.

Slowly, Tesla launched the platform to more people, hoping to expand the number of rides and get more valuable data on its performance in both regions to help local regulatory agencies relax some of the constraints that were placed on it.

Additionally, Tesla had its own in-house restrictions, like the presence of Safety Monitors in the vehicles. However, CEO Elon Musk has maintained that these monitors were present for safety reasons specifically, but revealed the plan was to remove them by the end of the year.

Now, Tesla is opening up Robotaxi to anyone who wants to try it, as many people reported today that they were able to access the app and immediately fetch a ride if they were in the area.

We also confirmed it ourselves, as it was shown that we could grab a ride in the Bay Area if we wanted to:

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The launch of a more public Robotaxi network that allows anyone to access it seems to be a serious move of confidence by Tesla, as it is no longer confining the service to influencers who are handpicked by the company.

In the coming weeks, we expect Tesla to then rid these vehicles of the Safety Monitors as Musk predicted. If it can come through on that by the end of the year, the six-month period where Tesla went from launching Robotaxi to enabling driverless rides is incredibly impressive.

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