Elon Musk: "Tesla's Latest Autopilot Is Actually Not That Impressive"

Focusing on Performance Improvements for FSD 9.2 on Twitter

Elon Musk, CEO of the American electric vehicle company Tesla. Photo by AP=Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Heeyoon Kim] Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, evaluated the next-generation autonomous driving software currently under development as "disappointing."

According to foreign media including CNBC on the 23rd (local time), Musk stated on his Twitter, “The Full Self-Driving (FSD) beta version 9.2 is actually not that impressive,” but added, “However, the Autopilot and Artificial Intelligence (AI) teams are focusing on rapid feature improvements.”

Tesla is currently selling the FSD package in the United States for $10,000 or $199 per month. The FSD beta version mentioned on Twitter adds new features to the existing FSD, with key functions including automatic lane changing, highway driving, and parking lot entry.

Musk’s remarks contrast with his previous stance, which showed strong confidence in Tesla’s autonomous driving technology.

Some analysts interpret this statement as a move influenced by recent calls in the U.S. Congress to investigate the safety issues of Tesla’s vehicle technology. In fact, Musk’s comments came after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) in the U.S. launched an official investigation into Tesla’s driver assistance feature, Autopilot, last week.

On the 17th (local time), Democratic Senators Richard Blumenthal and Ed Markey sent a letter to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), expressing serious concerns about Tesla’s Autopilot advertising and requesting an investigation.

Last week, the NHTSA announced it had begun an investigation into potential issues and exaggerated advertising claims related to Tesla’s Autopilot feature. The investigation targets approximately 765,000 vehicles sold in the U.S. from 2014 to this year, including Model Y, Model X, Model S, and Model 3.

On the 16th, the NHTSA stated, “An investigation into 11 related accidents involving Tesla vehicles equipped with Autopilot or Traffic-Aware Cruise Control since 2018 found that one person died and 17 were injured,” adding, “All accident vehicles were confirmed to have been operating with Autopilot and Traffic-Aware Cruise Control engaged.”