Tesla first started testing its Full Self-Driving software in 2020, giving select owners an option to upgrade to the service, and now we've learned those vehicles have traveled over 35 million miles in under two years. Furthermore, this data has given CEO Elon Musk confidence the company can "solve full self-driving this year."
This week, during Tesla's Q2 2022 financial report, the company shared this information for the first time. Detailing just how many people use FSD, and giving current and upcoming owners hope that a self-driving Tesla could be here sooner than later.
"We have now deployed our FSD Beta with City Streets driving capability to over 100,000 owners. They're very happy with the capability of the system, and we'll continue to improve it every week. We've now driven over 35 million miles with FSD Beta." -- Elon Musk
Currently, Tesla's "Full Self-Driving" software is considered level 2 in autonomous driving. That's because a driver still needs to pay close attention and be ready to take over the steering wheel at any moment. For example, Waymo and Cruise self-driving taxis are a level 4 and don't have a human driver.
Tesla increased the price of its self-driving software to $12,000 earlier this year, and we're hearing another price hike is on the way. Musk believes FSD will be Tesla's strongest competitive advantage over its competitors and has previously mentioned it's still a bargain at this price, given its future potential.
The outspoken CEO previously said the company would ease safety restrictions on the Full Self-Driving beta, and it hopes to have over one million participants by the end of 2022. We're not sure how it'll get that many more users unless the feature set vastly improves in the months ahead.
However, now he's saying this data could help the company solve Full Self-Driving this year. Here's another quote from the earnings call:
"I'm highly confident we will solve full self-driving, and it still seems to be this year. I know people are like, 'he says that.' But it does seem to be epic. It does seem as though we are converging on full self-driving this year."
This isn't the first time we've heard such a bold claim from Elon Musk. Then again, it looks like the FSD program didn't take off and start delivering the data Tesla needed until only just recently. While we're still skeptical that FSD will be here anytime soon, things are certainly steering in the right direction.
via DriveTeslaCanada