Tesla Delays Advanced Driver Systems

Tesla has suspended an update to its premium advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) to fix bugs identified during beta testing.

The delay was announced in a tweet this week by Tesla CEO Elon Musk.

“Please note, this is to be expected with beta software,” Musk said. “It is impossible to test all hardware configs in all conditions with internal quality assurance, hence public beta.”

Tesla’s full self-driving software (FSD) platform is a deep learning-driven enhancement of the standard ADAS available in Tesla vehicles, costing an extra $10,000 to install.

The FSD isn’t fully autonomous and must be used with human supervision. However, its intelligent features include single-button automated parking, halting before traffic lights and staying in lane on non-highway roads.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recently for started an investigation regarding Tesla’s standard autopilot relating to vehicles that crashed into parked emergency dispatch units.

The new FSD version failed to recognize left turns at traffic lights on some occasions, Musk said. Other issues reportedly included auto-brake activating itself without prompting and certain dashboard icons disappearing.

Beta trial participants were selected using Tesla’s “safety score,” which was distributed to 150,000 vehicles in September.

Tesla also reportedly prompted participants to sign a non-disclosure agreement before participating in the beta trial, which took place on public roads.

The NHTSA sent a letter to Tesla saying that was unacceptable, since the governmental agency relies on reports from consumers.