Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) beta has been out in the wild for several weeks now, and already shown us how it can handle some difficult scenarios faced in everyday real-world driving.
One scenario that you don’t come across every day is where the road simply ends and you’re forced into a u-turn.
Canadian-but-now-living-in-California FSD beta tester James Locke decided to test this scenario out in Santa Clarita this week on two different days, and initially the results seemed to show the car was learning how to handle the difficult turn.
Day 1
In the first attempt , the Tesla continues to accelerate up to nearly 40mph (65km/h) before Locke takes over to prevent the car from driving straight into the guardrail.
During the second attempt, it appeared as though the car learned from its first try, only reaching a top speed of 29mph (46km/h) before smoothly slowing down and easily making the 180° turn. Locke’s Model 3 was able to repeat the same behaviour on a third attempt.
Day 2
As curious as any beta tester should be, Locke returned yesterday to see if the car would be able to remember and perform the same 180° turn.
In the first attempt, the car performed almost exactly the same as it did on day 1, almost accelerating Locke and his Model 3 straight into the guard rail.
The second attempt saw the vehicle strangely change lanes as it approached the u-turn, making it unable to perform the even tighter turn. Attempt number 3 was similar, but it was eventually able to make it around the corner.
In all the remaining attempts, the vehicle was able to easily handle the 180° forced turn.
Locke was also able to capture in his video his self-driving Tesla elegantly driving around a fallen-over traffic cone in the middle of his lane. This isn’t the first time that has happened, as a similar scenario played out last week when Locke first come across some road debris, only to have his Tesla detect it and easily avoid it.
Check out the full videos below.
