Tesla Full Self-Driving v10 is not ‘mind-blowing,’ but it shows progress

After the first few demos of Tesla’s Full Self-Driving Beta v10 software came out, it is becoming clear that it is not “mind-blowing,” like CEO Elon Musk said it would.

But it does show progress. Enough for robotaxis by the end of the year? I don’t think so.

Last weekend, Tesla started pushing its new Full Self-Driving (FSD) Beta v10 software update to its early access fleet.

Tesla FSD Beta enables Tesla vehicles to virtually drive themselves both on highways and city streets, but it is still considered a level 2 driver assist since it requires driver supervision at all times. The driver remains responsible for the vehicle, needs to keep their hands on the steering wheel, and be ready to take control.

CEO Elon Musk had been hyping the software update for months and went as far as claiming that it will “blow people’s minds.”

Now that there are plenty of video demos of the new version of the software online, we can assess the progress more easily.

Here are some of the first Tesla FSD v10 videos posted by Tesla owners in the early access program:

Musk has been linking this update to the wider release of the FSD Beta, which he said should come by the end of the month through a “download button” available to all US Tesla owners who bought the Full Self-Driving package.

Electrek‘s take

My personal opinion is that it looks like an incremental improvement over the previous versions.

Some testers have also apparently needed recalibration of their cameras after the update was failing badly:

The last video above shows those problems pre-recalibration.

It’s certainly not a smooth release and I wouldn’t call it “mind-blowing,” but Tesla appears to have made great progress in solving computer vision.

The new update detects its environment extremely well, but it is far from being impressive when it comes to making decisions.

At this point, Tesla FSD Beta drives like a 13-year-old who stole their parent’s car and is trying to figure out how to drive.

In the videos above, you can see it make some seriously wrong moves, but the idea is that the system will learn much faster than the average driver.

I don’t know. Personally, I find Musk’s target of achieving robotaxi level of FSD capability by the end of the year hard to believe, but I’d love to be proven wrong.