While Tesla CEO Elon Musk and a few of the most vocal Full Self-Driving beta testers have been raving about the latest updates to the technology, some beta testers aren't having the same experience. We shared a pretty successful drive in the Detroit area from a few updates back, but the last two quick updates have seemed to make Detroit FSD beta driving more of a struggle.
A few of us here at InsideEVs live near Detroit, Michigan, and we remain curious about how Tesla's Full Self-Driving beta technology performs so far away from "home," in California. This is especially true since even Elon Musk has noted that the development and testing do tend to focus too much on the areas around Tesla's factories. Thankfully, we've been fortunate to connect with Toni Ezero, a Tesla FSD beta tester who's been keeping tabs on the updates and producing videos of the technology at work in Detroit.
Interestingly, despite the fact that it seems some beta testers in areas like California are having much better luck with FSD than people in other parts of the country, Tesla is continuing to quickly update and expand the software's reach. More and more people are getting access to FSD, which could actually help make it work much better in areas like Detroit.
The video above comes to us once again from "Detroit Tesla," though Toni has changed the YouTube channel name to "Tesla Viral." In addition, he's experimenting with changing the style of the video. He no longer narrates, so let him know in the comment section if you like the video with or without that talking. It's nice to be able to watch and make your own assessment, but some folks may be bothered by the lack of talking.
With all of that said, Toni told us in his last video that update 10.69.2.2 seemed to regress and struggle a bit. However, he did admit that while his drives are typically in downtown Detroit, that video was recorded during a drive in Metro Detroit, and it was also at night, which isn't the case with many of his other videos.
Toni had previously put out his usual longer video on update 10.69.2, which he noted was pretty impressive as a whole. However, he did mention that there were still the usual issues related to edge cases. To be clear, it's expected that during some of these quick updates, there will be regressions, and that's apparently why Tesla is rolling so many out so quickly. If it's really going to initiate a wide release and start sending these updates across the globe, it's critical that the technology works as expected.
In the latest video above, Toni is back in downtown Detroit, and it's relatively dark. The footage is only about 30 minutes long, but it's very telling. He pointed out to us that this update is a major step backward for him. You'll see that there are many disengagements, and he has to make corrections often. Toni admits that he's not sure how Tesla can promise self-driving capability on public city streets by the end of 2022, but perhaps a wave of upcoming updates will convince him.
What do you think of this footage of Tesla's FSD beta update version 10.69.2.3. Do you think the location of the testing makes that much of a difference? Will Tesla have the tech ready for a wide rollout by the end of the year? Leave us your takeaways after watching the video.
