Elon Musk says that investors won’t understand Tesla unless they try the Full Self-Driving autopilot. William Stein, an analyst at Truist Securities, took this literally and is not too happy.
Stein decided to take the car for a test drive Tesla Model Y and narrowly avoided an accident. It seems that the autopilot inadequately calculated the speed in a dangerous situation.
«The Model Y accelerated at the intersection, but the car in front of us only partially completed the right turn. My quick intervention was absolutely necessary to avoid an accident», — Stein writes.
William Stein tested FSD in early April, after Tesla’s first-quarter earnings report, and again this month. The first time, he wrote a mixed review: «stunningly good, but not useful today», and now he says it was «no better, possibly worse than».
Both of Steyn’s rides were around the New York City suburbs on good quality, dry pavement. On his most recent test, he was impressed with how well the FSD adapted to closed lanes, potholes, and traffic flow, and said that driving the «was generally more natural than the» than in the previous test. What was unexpected and didn’t work well, he said, was the permissiveness of the FSD system, which allows the person behind the wheel to lose focus.
«I turned my head completely away from the road. The system continued to operate for 20-40 seconds before issuing a warning»,” Stein wrote, adding that his son was alert for any danger.
In addition to the driver’s intervention to avoid being hit from behind, Stein said another intervention was required when a police officer signaled with his hand that he needed to pull over to the side of the road to let the funeral procession pass.
«Later on in our route, the highway was winding, narrow, and had a solid white lane change prohibition line. Nevertheless, the Model Y changed lanes twice under these conditions», — Stein said.
The analyst concluded that the version of FSD he tested was amazing, but not even close to the final solution to the issue of autonomous driving, as Musk says.
On Monday, Tesla CEO announced on Twitter that the car manufacturer is rolling out an updated version of Full Self-Driving. To receive FSD 12.5.1, you need to turn on Wi-Fi, and the update will be rolled out over the course of about 10 days.
Elon Musk has been paying a lot of attention to FSD and the use of artificial intelligence amid slowing Tesla car sales. The new announcement helped to support the stock price, which as of mid-April had fallen by more than 40% over the year. At the close of trading last week, Tesla was down 12%, but rose again on Monday after Morgan Stanley recognized Tesla as the leader among US automotive stocks.
Source: Bloomberg