Tesla’s FSD Beta rollout has been, charitably, extremely bad. Video after video shows Tesla cars breaking traffic laws, aiming for cyclists, and generally operating in an unsafe manner. Now, another example of the company’s not-ready-for-release software is making its way around the web, this time presented by noted Tesla bull Galileo Russell Ugh HyperChange.
Russell has spoken at length about his Tesla enthusiasm, calling it “one of the best-run technology companies in the world,” and is personally invested in the company to the tune of 70% of his portfolio. It makes sense, then, that his video demonstrating the FSD Beta’s utter incompetence on city streets is titled “Tesla’s Self-Driving Software Is Getting Good 🤫” The video was released a month ago, but has been gaining steam on social media in the past couple days. Watch the timestamped clip below to see the car’s confusion for yourself:
Russell’s Model 3 approaches the intersection with trepidation, meandering through the Seattle streets at 15 mph. The car’s navigation screen shows that it needs to turn left at the upcoming light, but instead the car puts on its right turn signals. As it creeps up to the stop line, it switches to the left turn signal, but changes its mind upon entering the intersection and turns right anyway — putting it the wrong way down a one-way road.
Russell himself summarizes the car’s driving expertise in the moment: “Oh shit oh shit oh shit oh shit oh shit, and I went the wrong way up a one-way this is not goodoh fuck. oh fuuuuuck, this is not good.” After finding a suitable spot to turn around, however, he reframes the car’s behavior as an “L,” and calls the poor driving “science.”
If the rash of videos hadn’t yet made it clear, Tesla’s semi-autonomous software is not ready for any kind of public release. It requires a trained, careful hand guiding the vehicle to ensure situations like the one Russell encountered don’t pose an issue for human drivers. But when YouTubers allow their cars to drive straight into oncoming traffic, just to see if they willit’s clear those drivers are neither trained nor careful.
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