Tesla is expanding the beta version of the ‘Full Self Driving’ software. That says CEO Elon Musk on Twitter. Currently, only a select group of people can test the software, but that will soon change. However, the timing of this announcement is somewhat striking.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Agency (NHTSA), a US road safety regulator, is currently investigating some fatal crashes involving Teslas. According to Automotive News The NHTSA has opened a total of 28 investigations, 24 of which are still open. It is suspected that Tesla’s assistance systems have something to do with the accidents, although there does not seem to be any hard evidence for this at the moment. Tesla’s head of software development has said that Musk ‘extrapolates’ the pace of innovation and that full automation of driving is still a long way off.
Musk does not seem to care much about the rumble to the outside world. He says on Twitter that the beta version of ‘Full Self Driving’ (FSD) will likely take another month or two, with more people signing up to drive the software in about a month. Musk immediately covers himself by saying that “these things are difficult to predict precisely.” He does indicate that ‘much more progress has been made than it seems’ and that Tesla has tackled, among other things, the problem of ‘ghost braking’, in which the car applies the brakes for no reason whatsoever. Furthermore, Musk states in another tweet that he wants to introduce FSD in Europe before the end of the year if the regulations allow it.
Unrest
All in all, it seems to be quite restless around Tesla at the moment. The spontaneous turnaround around Bitcoin does not contribute to this. Despite this, the car manufacturer seems to be in fairly good shape. Tesla had a positive first quarter and appears to be making progress with the new plants in Texas and Berlin. The optimism among shareholders is declining: at the beginning of this year, the Tesla share fluctuated around $ 850, now it is still $ 590.