Tesla last month released a new version of its self-driving software. Among the improvements are new algorithms that determine the behavior of the car in front of pedestrians.
But surprisingly, a video posted to Twitter over the weekend shows that while Tesla’s system can see pedestrians crossing the street, a Tesla can decide not to stop or even slow down when passing.
The video was posted by the Whole Mars Catalog account, a pro-Tesla account with over 300,000 followers. The tweet, which has been viewed 1.7 million times, featured a five-second music video.
The car detected the pedestrian, but instead of stepping on the brakes, he continued walking… as a human would, knowing that there was a lot of time to pass, but disrespecting the traffic laws that oblige to stop.
One of the most optimistic/exciting things I’ve seen in the Tesla Full Self-Driving Beta 11.4.1.
It detected the pedestrian, but instead of slamming on the brakes, it just proceeded as a human would, knowing there was plenty of time to do so. pic.twitter.com/8GISp4jYGp
— Whole Mars Catalog (@WholeMarsBlog) May 14, 2023
Not everyone is so happy with Tesla drivers testing unfinished software around other users. In February, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration asked Tesla to recall nearly 363,000 vehicles with the software installed.
The version 11.4 update in April was supposed to improve the behavior of the cars, but now there is more evidence that the latest version still has Teslas break traffic laws.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has repeatedly spoken about the importance of self-driving for his company, saying it’s the difference between Tesla being worth it. “a lot of money or basically zero.”
