Tesla owners are understandably peeved about the newest update (version 12.3.4) to the so-called Full Self Driving suite of driver assist features. It would seem that Tesla’s camera-only driving system is having a hard time figuring out curbs. As InsideEVs pointed out, some owners are taking to social media to voice their displeasure that their cars are driving into curbs and costing them thousands of dollars in repairs to the wheels and new tires. Curbing a wheel is embarrassing and annoying, but doing it at speed is potentially quite dangerous.
Last month Tesla gave a free one-month trial of FSD software to all Tesla owners with vehicles equipped with the hardware necessary to use it. Many Tesla drivers paid $12,000 upfront for the option, while many others pay a $200 monthly subscription fee to access the programming. It would seem that many of these free subscription users finding damage to their cars after using FSD and running into curbs are having a less than satisfactory experience, and are unlikely to pay for the service after their free trial ends.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk claims that the company will be launching its long-awaited “robotaxi” feature in August of this year, which would allegedly allow Tesla owners to rent out their cars as driverless taxi cabs when they aren’t using them. For example, when you’re normally parked at work, your car could be off earning you some fare money. If FSD isn’t good enough to keep from clipping a curb with the owner driving, what kind of damage—or danger—could the system cause when it is totally empty?
It’s difficult to tell if this curb hopping problem is new due to a change in the vehicle software, or if it’s just being talked about more often because new users are trying it out for the first time. Teslas with “Full Self Driving” driver assistance packages have had issues with hitting curbs for years.
Tesla says you have to be “ready to take over” from the software at any time, but even the quickest humans would have a hard time reacting to the difference between a car driving within the lane and a car drifting over to slam a curb. Maybe this whole thing is just a bad idea in the first place.