Aly Song/Reuters
- A YouTube video shows a Tesla Model 3 with the “full self-driving” function driving 358 miles from Los Angeles to Silicon Valley — without the driver intervening.
- The driver only had to take control once to charge the car for one minute and 15 seconds, YouTuber and Tesla enthusiast Whole Mars Catalog (WMC) claimed.
- Tesla CEO Elon Musk said in December Tesla owners will be able to get the $10,000 “full self-driving” add-on, which doesn’t actually give the cars full autonomy, as a subscription service in early 2021.
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
A Tesla driver made a six-hour journey across California on Monday – without any intervention from the driver, save for a charging stop.
YouTuber and Tesla enthusiast Whole Mars Catalog (WMC) posted a time-lapse video on Youtube of a Tesla Model 3 with the “full self-driving” beta travelling from the headquarters of SpaceX in Los Angeles to Silicon Valley.
The “full self-driving” package, currently a $10,000 add-on, allows the cars to stop at traffic lights, recognize signs, change lanes, and park themselves, but does not give the vehicles full autonomy.
WMC claimed that the driver refrained from steering the car, accelerating, or braking, except to make one stop to charge the car in Kettleman City. This one minute and 15 seconds stop was the only form of human control in the entire 358-mile-long trip.
“The fact that it made it all the way down to Los Angeles and then back up with zero intervention suggests that this is more than just luck,” the Youtube user commented on the video. “The software is getting better.”
WMC told Teslarati: "This time was even better, since there was only one charging stop and the system was never disengaged at all from start to destination (except to plug in). The car was only under human control for one minute and 15 seconds out of a more than 5-hour drive."
Four days prior, WMC tested out Tesla's "full self-driving" beta in a Model 3 from San Francisco to Los Angeles without any interventions. In the comments, the user said giant pieces of debris in the road meant they had to grab the steering wheel to dodge them.
Aside from this, and charging the car twice, they didn't have to intervene at any other time, WMC said.
Tesla owners will be able to get their hands on the $10,000 "full self-driving" driver-assistance system as a subscription service in early 2021, CEO Elon Musk tweeted December 20.
A week later, the Tesla CEO tweeted that Tesla vehicles delivered in the final three days of 2020 will receive three free months of the "full self-driving" software option.