√Tesla admits its semi-autonomous driving tech is not the world’s most advanced

Tesla has admitted its controversial ‘Full Self-Driving’ semi-autonomous driving technology is less capable than similar systems developed by its rival car-makers.

US electric-car giant Tesla has inadvertently admitted its so-called ‘Full Self-Driving‘ technology – which it claims is safer on the roads than a human – is technically not the world’s most advanced driver assistance system.

Earlier this month, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) issued a recall notice for 363,000 Tesla cars in the US equipped with the system after finding the technology presents an unreasonably high risk of a deadly crash.

Tesla claims the system can accelerate, stop, steer and park the car without human intervention, while CEO Elon Musk has previously said ‘Full Self-Driving‘ is “safer than a human”.

In a statement addressing the US recall, Tesla declared its technology is a ‘Level Two’ semi-autonomous driving system – not the more advanced ‘Level Three’ system which is already being developed and rolled out by rival car-makers.

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The car industry is rolling out various levels of driver-assistance tech dubbed Level One, Level Two, Level Three, Level Four and Level Five – the latter defining a car able to take complete control and the vehicle, technically, not needing a steering wheel.

While reliable Level Five tech is thought to be more than a decade away – perhaps even longer – for now, most car makers have either Level One or Level Two driver assistance, while some manufacturers such as Mercedes-Benz and Genesis are in the early stages of rolling out Level Three.

As previously explained in our guide to autonomous cars, most countries, including Australia, have approved less-capable ‘Level Two’ semi-autonomous driving systems for use – consisting of technology such as adaptive cruise control, lane-keeping assistance and autonomous emergency braking.

While Tesla’s so-called ‘Full Self-Driving’ technology is classed as a ‘Level Two’ system, it does not comply with Australian road rules and is not available to local Tesla owners.

‘Level Three’ advanced driver assistance systems allow the car to take full control of itself on highways, letting the driver take their hands off the steering wheel for brief periods when the technology is active in ideal conditions.

The German government granted approval for Level Three technology in December 2021, resulting in Mercedes-Benz offering its ‘Drive Pilot’ semi-autonomous driving technology to its customers in May 2022.

In addition to winding back the expectations of ‘Full Self-Driving’, Tesla announced it would be temporarily pausing the roll-out of the system to customers who have ordered it for their cars but not received the relevant software update.

“Until the software version containing the fix is available, we have paused the rollout of FSD (Full Self-Driving) Beta to all who have opted-in but have not yet received a software version containing FSD Beta.”

The 363,000 US Tesla owners who already have ‘Full Self-Driving’ installed in their cars can continue to use the current version of the technology until a wifi over-the-air update is rolled out.

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