Tesla’s Full Self Driving (FSD) technology is impressive, but the journey was anything but smooth. Since its inception, several crashes, exorbitant costs, and no officially set release date have plagued the technology. Now Tesla has one more FSD bug to fix as owners posted accounts of their cars stopping early at certain stop signs.
The Drive saw reports of the problem from Twitter user Cowcumber, who began noticing that their car stopped much earlier than it should. The problem did not occur constantly, only on certain highway exits. It turned out that the differences at those intersections were huge stop signs that were five feet taller than typical neighborhood signs.
This morning I put 2 and 2 together to figure out my left turn problem. The car brakes WAY too early (so far back that I HAVE to cancel so as not to fall behind). It turns out to be the size of the stop signs. They are streets on the surface but at the end of a freeway from the driveway pic.twitter.com/1zF6XSoC3d
— Biscuit’s friend 🇺🇦🐶🐾🌈🌉💔 (@Cowcumber) August 21, 2022
The problem is bad enough that Cowcumber said they should cancel FSD to avoid falling behind. They speculated that the 60% larger stop signs could make the car think it’s 60% closer than it actually is, but you can’t know that without looking at Tesla’s raw data.
Other Tesla owners have encountered the same problem and many have shared videos of their problems. YouTuber Omar Qazi discusses the issue on their channel, Whole Mars Catalog. They state that updates have reduced the frequency of early stops, but the problem persists in specific neighborhoods with large stop signs.
In addition to functional issues such as stopping too early at major stop signs, Tesla’s FSD has come under fire from several directions in recent months. In June, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced it would expand its investigation into several incidents involving crashes while using FSD. The NHTSA focuses on 16 collisions in which a Tesla crashed into a stationary emergency vehicle. Critics have also seized on FSD’s costs, which have recently risen to $15,000. The technology is also still in beta testing and will receive updates as new or revised features become available.
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