Tesla offers Full Self-Driving Beta to everyone who paid for the feature (in the US)

Tesla is one step closer to Elon Musk’s dream: to launch Full Self-Driving autonomous driving capability. The company has been selling this capability to users for many years now, and the price of access to Full Self-Driving has been rising, especially during the pandemic. Originally launched at US$7,000, it has now reached US$15,000 and the price will rise further, Musk says. Still, all the while, work has been underway to develop and improve Tesla cars’ driverless driving capabilities. After a limited beta testing period, the company is now offering everyone who paid the money the opportunity to test those capabilities on their personal car.

Tesla fans’ long-awaited Full Self-Driving feature launched in beta

Elon Musk announced in a post on his Twitter account that all US customers who have paid for Full Self-Driving in the past can now apply for beta testing. They will get access to these features through a software update and won’t have to wait in line to get into the testing program. Basically, this is a sort of “soft launch” for Full Self-Driving, with the results of the large-scale testing leading to faster improvements in autonomous driving capabilities.

Tesla Full Self-Driving Beta is now available to anyone in North America who requests it from the car screen, assuming you have purchased this option.

Congratulations to Tesla Autopilot/AI team on achieving a major milestone!

– Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 24, 2022

Those interested cannot sign up for testing from a smartphone or browser. Access is exclusively from the screen of the machine, connected to the internet. Car owners must request access from behind the wheel. While Tesla previously required users to have at least 100 miles driven with the assisted driving features called Autopilot and a safety score of 80 to access the Full Self-Driving beta, those requirements are now gone.

Unfortunately, testing will only be done in the US, and those in Europe, even if they once paid for access to Full Self-Driving, won’t get such features because of European legislation, which is much more restrictive with such technologies. Even in the US, the company is under investigation including the Autopilot assisted driving system, which may have caused several accidents, some resulting in loss of life.