It appears that Tesla is indeed determined to keep its FSD Beta program as free from untoward incidents as possible. As recently shared by the Tesla community online, Tesla has been sending out emails to some FSD Beta testers who have been flagged for not using the advanced driver assist system responsibly. The company’s message is clear: drivers who misuse the FSD Beta system will be kicked off the program.
The following is Tesla’s message to an FSD Beta tester who was flagged for improper use. Interestingly enough, Tesla noted that it would only be sending one warning to concerned drivers. After the initial warning, the FSD Beta system would be removed from the vehicle in question.
Hello,
You are receiving this email because telemetry from your vehicle was flagged for improper usage of the FSD Beta feature.
Specifically, while using the FSD Beta feature, you or another driver of your vehicle received:
-
- Two or more “strikeouts,” which resulted in the loss of Autopilot availability for that drive; or
- At least one “strike” per 5 km (about 3 miles) driven on Autopilot, which is a visual and audible warning that requires attention.
This is your only warning to please keep your hands on the wheel and remain attentive at all times when using Autopilot. The car is not autonomous, and if you aren’t paying attention, a crash could happen, and you or others could get hurt, or worse, so failure to abide by this warning will result in removal of the FSD Beta feature from your vehicle.
The Tesla Team
Tesla did not specify exactly what driving behavior caused the warning to be sent to the FSD Beta tester. However, the company has been cracking down on actions such as looking at phones while operating FSD or Autopilot. Granted, Tesla’s wording in its message seems quite assertive, but it is understandable. FSD Beta is only starting to get expanded to more users, after all, and it is imperative that the company avoid tolerating unsafe driving behaviors as much as possible.
During the Q3 2021 earnings call, Tesla CFO Zachary Kirkhorn highlighted that Tesla’s Autopilot team had been working extremely hard to improve the driver-assist system. The executive further noted that Tesla is making it a point to be as transparent as possible when it comes to the improvements being rolled out to Autopilot and FSD.
“The Autopilot team is working extremely hard iterating on every version. We are being extremely transparent through the release of this to public customers who are posting information online. So when you’re using full self-driving and you’re going through the iterations, you can feel the progress. And for those who don’t have it in their cars, social media is excellent at getting a sense for how that’s progressing,” Kirkhorn said.
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