Tesla Full Self-Driving (FSD) Beta applicants who own older car models are still patiently waiting for access to the FSD Beta program. Some applicants have shared their frustrations at camera upgrade issues which prevent them from becoming an FSD Beta user.
Camera Upgrade Issues
Tesla owners with older car models have reported their frustrations regarding camera upgrade requirements. Most of the owners are waiting to enter Tesla’s FSD Beta program.
The common issue is that owners receive camera upgrade notifications even after Tesla Service installed new cameras. It has caused great confusion among a number of Tesla community members waiting to become FSD Beta testers.
In correspondence with Teslarati, FSD Beta applicant Houman H. noted that his 2017 Model S with FSD had yet to receive access to Tesla’s Beta program. The Model S owner had upgraded his vehicle to Hardware 3. He also proactively contacted Tesla Service to get the necessary camera upgrade for his car.
Even after the upgrades, Houman H. did not receive FSD Beta access. Instead, he received another notice of his ineligibility for the program, stating that his Model S still needed camera upgrades. Confused, Houman H. contacted Tesla Service, thinking there must have been a mistake in their records as he had already upgraded his cameras.
Who is affected by the Camera Upgrade Issues?
A few Tesla owners who own older models talked to Teslarati about their challenges while patiently waiting for access to the FSD Beta program. Most—if not all—of the owners Teslarati spoke to have a Safety Score between 80 to 90 and purchased FSD at least a year ago.
Most owners with camera upgrade issues own vehicles from 2017 or older. A few other owners have posted about camera upgrade issues online.
“I have been patiently waiting since November 2021 for the FSD beta for my 2017 MS P100D when my cameras were upgraded and the MCU2 was installed. The vehicle was delivered with MCU1 and AP2.0. Safety score has always been 95 or above,” shared Powderkeg in the Tesla Motor Club (TMC) Forum.
“Recently the Tesla app version 4.14.2 allows the user to view if their vehicle is eligible for the FSD Beta. Much to my chagrin my vehicle shows that it is not eligible due to the cameras needing to be replaced. I know they were replaced at the time of the MCU2 upgrade because they are listed under the parts section,” the TMC member elaborated.
Tesla’s Response to the Camera Upgrade Issue
The TMC member and Houman H. worked with their local Tesla Service Center to solve their issues. They received different reasons for their camera upgrade issues.
In Houman H’s case, one of his upgraded cameras needed to be replaced. Tesla reportedly mentioned that some upgraded cameras in select cars needed to be replaced due to an unspecified issue.
“So apparently they didn’t have to replace all of them, they said that there was a problem with one of their replacement cameras that wasn’t working for many people, I think it was the front right side camera so for many of them they had to be replaced Even if they had already been upgraded. Therefore, doesn’t sound like it’s a true situation where all of them have to be replaced, but there are select cameras on select cars that have to be upgraded again due to some type of problem,” Houman H. told Teslarati.
Powderkeg also received information from his local Tesla Service Center. In his case, Tesla stated that all cameras need to be upgraded to run the final production FSD software.
Another Teslarati reader, Frank H., noted that he couldn’t upgrade his cameras, even after several requests to his Tesla Service Center. Frank H. paid for FSD, but has not been able to participate in Tesla’s beta program because of old cameras.
“I paid for FSD years ago but have been unable to participate in the beta program due to old cameras. Now FSD is in wide release and Tesla still has not upgraded my cameras after several requests. I am told: ‘We are currently experiencing a parts shortage on all parts necessary to perform FSD camera upgrade,’” Frank H. shared with Teslarati.
Are you having trouble getting into the FSD Beta program, too? I’d like to hear from you. Contact me at maria@teslarati.com or via Twitter @Writer_01001101.
Tesla’s Head of AI, Ashok Elluswamy, says that something that was expected with version 14.3 of the company’s Full Self-Driving platform has already partially shipped with the current build of version 14.2.
Tesla and CEO Elon Musk have teased on several occasions that reasoning will be a big piece of future Full Self-Driving builds, helping bring forth the “sentient” narrative that the company has pushed for these more advanced FSD versions.
Back in October on the Q3 Earnings Call, Musk said:
“With reasoning, it’s literally going to think about which parking spot to pick. It’ll drop you off at the entrance of the store, then go find a parking spot. It’s going to spot empty spots much better than a human. It’s going to use reasoning to solve things.”
Musk said in the same month:
“By v14.3, your car will feel like it is sentient.”
Amazingly, Tesla Full Self-Driving v14.2.2.2, which is the most recent iteration released, is very close to this sentient feeling. However, there are more things that need to be improved, and logic appears to be in the future plans to help with decision-making in general, alongside other refinements and features.
On Thursday evening, Elluswamy revealed that some of the reasoning features have already been rolled out, confirming that it has been added to navigation route changes during construction, as well as with parking options.
He added that “more and more reasoning will ship in Q1.”
🚨 Tesla’s Ashok Elluswamy reveals Nav decisions when encountering construction and parking options contain “some elements of reasoning”
More uses of reasoning will be shipped later this quarter, a big tidbit of info as we wait v14.3 https://t.co/jty8llgsKM
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) January 9, 2026
Interestingly, parking improvements were hinted at being added in the initial rollout of v14.2 several months ago. These had not rolled out to vehicles quite yet, as they were listed under the future improvements portion of the release notes, but it appears things have already started to make their way to cars in a limited fashion.
Tesla Full Self-Driving v14.2 – Full Review, the Good and the Bad
As reasoning is more involved in more of the Full Self-Driving suite, it is likely we will see cars make better decisions in terms of routing and navigation, which is a big complaint of many owners (including me).
Additionally, the operation as a whole should be smoother and more comfortable to owners, which is hard to believe considering how good it is already. Nevertheless, there are absolutely improvements that need to be made before Tesla can introduce completely unsupervised FSD.
Elon Musk
Tesla’s Elon Musk: 10 billion miles needed for safe Unsupervised FSD
As per the CEO, roughly 10 billion miles of training data are required due to reality’s “super long tail of complexity.”
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has provided an updated estimate for the training data needed to achieve truly safe unsupervised Full Self-Driving (FSD).
As per the CEO, roughly 10 billion miles of training data are required due to reality’s “super long tail of complexity.”
10 billion miles of training data
Musk comment came as a reply to Apple and Rivian alum Paul Beisel, who posted an analysis on X about the gap between tech demonstrations and real-world products. In his post, Beisel highlighted Tesla’s data-driven lead in autonomy, and he also argued that it would not be easy for rivals to become a legitimate competitor to FSD quickly.
“The notion that someone can ‘catch up’ to this problem primarily through simulation and limited on-road exposure strikes me as deeply naive. This is not a demo problem. It is a scale, data, and iteration problem— and Tesla is already far, far down that road while others are just getting started,” Beisel wrote.
Musk responded to Beisel’s post, stating that “Roughly 10 billion miles of training data is needed to achieve safe unsupervised self-driving. Reality has a super long tail of complexity.” This is quite interesting considering that in his Master Plan Part Deux, Elon Musk estimated that worldwide regulatory approval for autonomous driving would require around 6 billion miles.
FSD’s total training miles
As 2025 came to a close, Tesla community members observed that FSD was already nearing 7 billion miles driven, with over 2.5 billion miles being from inner city roads. The 7-billion-mile mark was passed just a few days later. This suggests that Tesla is likely the company today with the most training data for its autonomous driving program.
The difficulties of achieving autonomy were referenced by Elon Musk recently, when he commented on Nvidia’s Alpamayo program. As per Musk, “they will find that it’s easy to get to 99% and then super hard to solve the long tail of the distribution.” These sentiments were echoed by Tesla VP for AI software Ashok Elluswamy, who also noted on X that “the long tail is sooo long, that most people can’t grasp it.”
News
Tesla earns top honors at MotorTrend’s SDV Innovator Awards
MotorTrend’s SDV Awards were presented during CES 2026 in Las Vegas.
Tesla emerged as one of the most recognized automakers at MotorTrend’s 2026 Software-Defined Vehicle (SDV) Innovator Awards.
As could be seen in a press release from the publication, two key Tesla employees were honored for their work on AI, autonomy, and vehicle software. MotorTrend’s SDV Awards were presented during CES 2026 in Las Vegas.
Tesla leaders and engineers recognized
The fourth annual SDV Innovator Awards celebrate pioneers and experts who are pushing the automotive industry deeper into software-driven development. Among the most notable honorees for this year was Ashok Elluswamy, Tesla’s Vice President of AI Software, who received a Pioneer Award for his role in advancing artificial intelligence and autonomy across the company’s vehicle lineup.
Tesla also secured recognition in the Expert category, with Lawson Fulton, a staff Autopilot machine learning engineer, honored for his contributions to Tesla’s driver-assistance and autonomous systems.
Tesla’s software-first strategy
While automakers like General Motors, Ford, and Rivian also received recognition, Tesla’s multiple awards stood out given the company’s outsized role in popularizing software-defined vehicles over the past decade. From frequent OTA updates to its data-driven approach to autonomy, Tesla has consistently treated vehicles as evolving software platforms rather than static products.
This has made Tesla’s vehicles very unique in their respective sectors, as they are arguably the only cars that objectively get better over time. This is especially true for vehicles that are loaded with the company’s Full Self-Driving system, which are getting progressively more intelligent and autonomous over time. The majority of Tesla’s updates to its vehicles are free as well, which is very much appreciated by customers worldwide.
Tesla AI Head says future FSD feature has already partially shipped
Tesla’s Elon Musk: 10 billion miles needed for safe Unsupervised FSD
