Tesla FSD Beta FAQ

By Gabe Rodriguez Morrison
FSD Beta visualizations
FSD Beta visualizations
Not a Tesla App

This article seeks to answer the most frequently asked questions about Tesla's Full-Self Driving Beta Program. It will answer questions about how to get selected for the program, how to improve your safety score and when it will become available for wider release.

How does FSD work?

FSD is Tesla's proprietary self-driving software that is improved by collecting data from Tesla's network of over 100,000 beta testers.

What is FSD Beta?

FSD Beta allows Tesla vehicles to drive autonomously to a destination entered in the car's navigation system. Since this is the Beta program, drivers must remain vigilant and ready to take control at all times.

How many users are there in the FSD Beta Program?

As of July 2022, there are over 100,000 Tesla drivers enrolled in the FSD Beta program in the U.S. and Canada.

How many miles have been driven on FSD Beta?

As of July 2022, Tesla reported that its fleet of customers driving with the FSD Beta software has surpassed 35 million miles driven.

Which countries is FSD Beta available in?

Tesla currently allows FSD Beta for cars in the U.S. and Canada. Tesla plans to launch the program in Europe later this year.

How much does FSD Beta cost?

Tesla's FSD package has consistently increased in price over the years. Most recently in January 2022, Tesla increased the cost from a one-time payment of $10,000 to $12,000.

The software is also available as a monthly subscription for $99 if you have Advanced Autopilot or $199 if you have basic Autopilot.

The subscription price is only available if you have FSD hardware 3.0 or above.

Which models are available for FSD Beta?

If you have purchased FSD capability and have FSD hardware 2.0 or 2.5, you are eligible to receive a complimentary installation of Tesla's FSD computer (hardware 3.0).

A complimentary hardware upgrade to the FSD computer is not available for Full Self-Driving capability subscribers; however, you may be eligible to upgrade for $1,000.00 plus applicable tax, which includes installation.

How do you sign up for FSD Beta?

You must be a FSD user (paid in full or by subscription) and live in a supported region to request access to the Beta program.

You can request by tapping on Controls > Autopilot > “Request Full Self Driving Beta”, and accept the terms and conditions. You will need to meet Safety Score minimums over a certain period before Tesla gives you access to the beta.

You can view your Safety Score in the app and we have seen Tesla add beta testers with a score of 95 and above. However, Tesla does not add additional testers continuously, and it may take a week or months of having a score above 95 before you're given access to the beta.

Unfortunately, there is no guarantee that you will receive the FSD Beta even if you have a high Safety Score as Tesla only adds additional testers when needed.

How does Tesla select users for the FSD Beta Program?

Though requirements change over time and vary depending on region, the current requirements for the Beta test include getting a 95-100 Safety Score over a monitoring period of seven days.

How do I improve my Safety Score?

There are five safety categories that Tesla actively uses to measure the safety score of a driver. Your performance in each category is compared to the median of Tesla's fleet.

These are the five categories in order of weighted average score:

  • Forced Autopilot Disengagement
  • Hard Braking
  • Aggressive Turning
  • Unsafe Following
  • Forward Collision Warnings

You can also read more about how to improve your safety score.

When Will FSD be available to all Tesla owners?

According to Tesla CEO Elon Musk, starting in 2022, Tesla FSD will be available to all Americans and Canadians, regardless of their Safety Score.

When Will FSD be available in Europe?

Elon said in early 2022 that Tesla is aiming to release FSD Beta in Europe by the end of the year.

What does a blue car mean in the visualizations?

You can read our article about all FSD visualizations and their meanings to get a better understanding of FSD Beta.

Tesla to Add Apple Watch Support; App 4.38 Reveals Watch Support, Banish and More Coming

By Karan Singh
Naher94/Reddit

Tesla’s latest iOS app update reveals several upcoming features that we’re sure everyone has been looking forward to. As usual, the Android update is likely a few days out.

As usual, Tesla App Updates (iOS) has kindly provided a breakdown of the decompiled app update, which reveals three key things: watch support, Banish, and a new way to onboard FSD users.

Tesla Watch App

People have been requesting a Tesla app on their watches for ages. Smart watches have become fairly ubiquitous today, and third parties have been providing Tesla functionality for both Android and Apple’s signature wearables for years.

However, using the Tesla API has some limitations, making a third-party solution less ideal. In addition, Tesla plans to charge developers for API calls in the near future, which means some wearable apps have moved to subscription-based services while others charge a large up-front fee.

However, the wait for an official watch app may soon be over. This latest version of the Tesla app, v4.38.0, reveals that you’ll need to select a vehicle to show on the watch, hinting that the UI will show a single vehicle at a time, which is to be expected.

We’re not sure whether you’ll be able to use the Apple Watch as a key for the vehicle, but Tesla app update 4.38 adds the ability to perform offline commands as long as the vehicle is within Bluetooth range. So even if Tesla doesn’t add key support, you should be able to unlock or start the vehicle even if you don’t have your phone or an internet connection.

Back in March of this year, a fan asked Musk if Tesla could add support for the Apple Watch. Musk replied, “Sure.” While not all of Musk’s yes replies result in a feature being implemented, a large percentage of them do, even if they’re a year or two later. Given this previous post and now this new watch code found in the latest update, it seems all but certain that we’ll get Apple Watch support soon.

We’d guess that Apple Watch support will be included in Tesla’s big Christmas update later this year (a look back at previous holiday updates).

Given Tesla’s propensity to launch features on iOS before Android, expect support for the Apple Watch before Android’s Wearables, but hopefully, Tesla is working on both.

Apple Watch concept created by a fan
Apple Watch concept created by a fan
@niccruzpatane

Banish (Reverse Smart Summon)

As part of Tesla’s FSD Roadmap, they mentioned that Park Seek and Banish (Reverse Smart Summon) will arrive in October. Banish will allow users to get out of their car in a parking lot, and the car autonomously find a parking spot (Park Seek) and park itself using Autopark. 

Overall, it's a necessary system for Robotaxi and Cybercab, and it's been one of the most anticipated features for FSD for a long time. The sheer convenience of being able to get out of your car at the mall entrance while the vehicle locates its own parking spot and then comes back to pick you up using Actually Smart Summon - that’s just next level.

In the recent app update, Tesla revealed a few phrases related to Banish - namely some information about “Parking Map,” “Parking Occupancy,” and “Parking Details.” It seems that Banish will map the parking lot while it drives around, looking for a parking spot. Once it finds one, it’ll park and then relay that information back to the user, so that you know where the vehicle parked.

It seems that you may also be able to direct Banish to a specific parking area. Once it arrives, it’ll let you know if there’s a spot, and if not, it'll keep searching.

New User FSD On-Boarding

The final new feature tease is an interesting one. Tesla has recently put out another free trial for FSD, but many people trying it out for the first time (or the first time in a while), may not know what to expect. While Full Self Driving is a fantastic piece of software - it's still something that users have to supervise today.

We’ve recently been hoping that Tesla would address the user knowledge gap for new-to-FSD owners, and it seems like they’ll be adding some tutorial information for how to use FSD in an upcoming app update. Personally, the author has found people tend to panic when they see the steering wheel turn, jiggle, or the car accelerate hard—all things that happen on a day-to-day drive with FSD. While most FSD users are well-conditioned to the quirks, new users could be scared away.

We’re excited to see what kind of tutorials Tesla adds for users. We hope they’re in-depth and explain what certain FSD visualizations, like black or blue cars, signify.

The Top Investor Questions for Tesla's Upcoming Q3 Earnings Call

By Karan Singh
Not a Tesla App

It’s that time of year once again when Tesla hosts a Q&A for its shareholders at its quarterly earnings event.

If you’re interested in seeing what people have asked or would like to submit your own question, you can do so at the link here. Submissions and voting ends on this Wednesday, October 23, at 4 PM EDT.

Earnings Q3

Third-quarter earnings are coming up on October 23, 2024. As usual, it will take place at around 5:30 PM. Tesla Investor Relations will stream the event live, and we’ll have links available for you a little closer to the event. 

Voting and Submissions

Voting and submissions are done through Say, a third-party company that validates share ownership. Once your ownership is validated, you’ll be able to use your shares to vote - your vote weight is equivalent to the number of shares you have.

If you submit a question, your question will have an initial number of votes equivalent to your number of shares.

Top Questions

The current top questions are pretty interesting - and we’re excited to see the answers. Let’s take a look at what people have asked so far.

Here are the top ten questions currently:

  1. Is Tesla still on track to deliver the more affordable model next year, as mentioned by Elon earlier, and how does it align with your AI and product roadmap?

  2. When can we expect Tesla to give us the ~$25K, non-robotaxi, regular car model?

  3. What is Tesla doing to alleviate long waiting times on service centers?

  4. When will Tesla incorporate X and Grok in all of the Tesla Vehicles?

  5. What’s going on with the Tesla Roadster?

  6. 🚨Please provide an update on the Semi. What will the next stage of growth look like and when will FSD be ready?

  7. What’s the plan for 2025?

  8. Will Hardware 3 be capable of level 5 FSD?

  9. Can we get more details surrounding the Robotaxi including how will Tesla deploy the fleet, will it start with Robotaxi than move onto a subscription model if you own your own Tesla

  10. When will Optimus begin shipping?

If you find these questions interesting, tune in! If not, we’ll recap all the key points as usual.

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