After last saying V9.0 of Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) beta software was delayed until at least April, CEO Elon Musk said on Friday it is “almost ready.”
The update from Musk came while responding to Tesla enthusiast @WholeMarsBlog. The FSD beta tester had shared an impressive time lapse video of a zero-intervention drive.
Musk also revealed in the tweet that the latest version is a “massive” improvement thanks to a move away from using radar, instead using vision (i.e., cameras) only.
In good news for Canadians, he said the change makes the self-driving software perform much better in poor weather conditions.
Almost ready with FSD Beta V9.0. Step change improvement is massive, especially for weird corner cases & bad weather. Pure vision, no radar.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 9, 2021
In a follow-up question, Musk said the change away from radar would mean Tesla would be able to simplify the production process. Since the radar is no longer being used, it will eventually be removed from the lineup.
Remove
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 9, 2021
It is still unclear if the rollout of FSD Beta V9.0 will include Canada. Musk has already said twice it will be coming north of the border “very soon”, the first time on December 26, 2020.
