Gali Russell with HyperChange recently tested Tesla’s FSD Beta version 9 under Seattle’s monorail columns during rush hour. Julian @JFilche was along for the ride. Gali noted that previously, Tesla’s FSD Beta struggled with the monorails. Let’s see how it does after the update.
“I’m not even sure how a human should navigate through that route, so props to the Tesla. Overall, this ride was my best on V9 so far, and confirmed that there has been material progress since V8.2, despite the switch to ‘pure vision’ or Tesla Vision (aka only cameras),” he wrote in the video’s description There are two main timestamps in the video: “Seattle Rush Hour Traffic” and “Monorail Test.”
Seattle Rush Hour Traffic
The vehicle quickly impressed the duo with its smooth moves, and as it approached a double black diamond turn, Gali explained that this was already a pretty hard turn. “It’s hard to see from the left, and then you have to go pretty fast and it’s like a tight turn.”
This wound up being their first disengagement and Gali took over, successfully and safely completing the turn. The duo continued their drive and then it was time for the monorail testing.
The Great FSD Monorail Test
“This is it, the great FSD monorail test,” Gali said as the car took a right turn and started driving in the lane alongside the monorail. Gali quickly disengaged and took over and wondered if he shouldn’t have as the vehicle navigated and stopped for a pedestrian. Part of the challenge of this test are the pillars that hold up the monorail, and the duo chatted, wondering if the car actually saw the pillar.
“Maybe it just thinks it’s a line without the pillar,” Julian said, and added that the car should have taken a left. As they continued on, Gali had to disengage and take over again. “It’s clear that this is a good edge case, so I mean look at this car, this car ahead of us,” Julian said while motioning toward a car that swooped in ahead of them. The actions of that other car might not have even been legal.
“If it’s making that move, for us to trust it, it needs to slow down and be more angular with the turn,” Julian added.
For a moment, the car seemed to have given up — seemingly seeing something. Then it started to take turns in the wrong way. Whether this was a one-way street or just going off course, I am not certain — it wasn’t specified — but Gali quickly took over.
The Importance of Safety
Tesla has come pretty far with its FSD, and beta testers such as Gali are helping Tesla fine-tune this software. This is why it’s so important to be attentive behind the wheel at all times. Someday, Teslas will be fully autonomous. I am confident of that, as are many others, including Elon Musk. In the meantime, stay vigilant.
Seeing the car stop for pedestrians multiple times is mind blowing. If only all cars could do this. Someday, they will.
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