If you are keen to try Tesla’s Full Self-Driving function, you will now need to go through a safety first. Tesla’s Technoking recently announced an update to its FSD feature. The car’s computer has a button to ask for access to the FSD beta program. After touching this button, a disclaimer is displayed explaining that Tesla will first assess your driving performance to establish if you are eligible.
Tesla's beta program, which began in October 2020, has been significantly expanded as a result of the improvements. The existing software promises to drive the car from point A to point B under certain conditions, assuming that the driver maintains concentration and intervenes as needed.
How does the scoring work?
It employs the same calculator to assess the driver's habits as the one for Tesla's auto insurance, which provides users in California up to 30% lower premiums. Musk claimed that a user would be granted access to the beta provided they had a good driving record for seven days.
On a scale of zero to one hundred, the safety score ranks driving. It does not take into account the number of miles or hours a user drives. Every day, it generates a new score. Users may see their safety score — a mileage-weighted average of the last 30 days' safety scores — on Tesla's smartphone app.
According to Tesla, the majority of drivers will have a score of 80 or higher. It's also worth noting that the scores are vehicle-specific; if you sell your Tesla and buy another, or if you're lucky enough to own many Teslas, your scores will not transfer. If you sell your Tesla, the scores will not be transferred to the new owner.
Driving Habits Measured
The car will track a driver's performance from the minute it is turned on and will be able to drive even when it is turned off. Journeys in service mode and trips of less than 0.1 mile will be excluded.
The Tesla Safety Score is a numerical rating of a driver's safety that ranges from 0 to 100. Though the system will surely be changed over time, it presently assesses five factors that are thought to be critical for safe driving. To arrive at a single numerical score, these criteria are weighted and merged. Here are the five elements that go into determining that score, in order of importance:
- Forward collision warnings per 1,000 miles. This is the number of times the in-car collision warning system is activated every 1,000 miles. When the car's technology determines that a front collision with an object is likely without human intervention, the alert is triggered.
- Hard braking. This occurs when the driver brakes so hard that the vehicle accelerates backwards with a force of 0.3g. To put it another way, if the car's speed lowers by more than 6.7 mph in a second. What proportion of the total time the car dropped its speed quicker than 2.2 mph in one second was spent hard braking. This is considered into the safety score as a percentage.
- Aggressive turning. When the car accelerates left or right with a force greater than 0.4g, this is measured. In other words, when the car's speed shifted more than 8.9 mph to the left or right in a single second. This is also considered into the score as a percentage: what percentage of the total time the automobile accelerates more than 4.5 mph in one second to the left or right was spent forcefully turning.
- Unsafe following. Monitors how a Tesla calculates the speed of the automobile in front of it and the distance between them. It calculates how long the driver would have to react if the car in front of him or her came to a halt, also known as headway. The proportion of time the headway decreased below three seconds when the car was moving at least 50 mph is incorporated into the final score: how much time did the headway drop below one second.
- Forced Autopilot disengagement. When the semi-autonomous Autopilot mode is active and the driver's hands are removed from the steering wheel, the driver receives this warning. If the car notifies the driver three times during a ride, Autopilot is turned off for the remainder of the trip. If the driver exceeded the 3-warning limit during a trip, Tesla awards a value of one, and if they did not, Tesla assigns a value of zero.
Any events that occur during Autopilot will be excluded by the automobile, with the obvious exception of forced Autopilot disengagement. This means that any forwards collision warnings generated by Autopilot will not be included in the total.
However, Autopilot miles are factored for mileage-weighted safety scores and forwards collision safety warnings every 1,000 miles.
Tesla calculates a predicted collision frequency (PCF) based on the five parameters listed above to determine how many crashes could occur every one million miles travelled. Tesla claims the current formula is based on six billion miles of data modelling. This formula is expected to evolve over time.
So, if you considering signing up for FSD Beta, it is worth noting how your driving will be scored. But it’s good practice to heed Tesla’s safety assessment for your safety and those around you.
