Tesla is reportedly making owners who participate in the company’s Full Self Driving (FSD) Beta test sign a non-disclosure agreement which restricts them from sharing videos of the feature, but doesn’t prohibit it altogether.
This is according to Vice Motherboard which has learned that members of the Early Access Program can’t give rides to media or speak to them about the program.
As regards sharing video footage, Tesla asks EAP members to be selective about what they share. “Do remember that there are a lot of people that want Tesla to fail; Don’t let them mischaracterize your feedback and media posts,” the NDA reads, according to Vice.
As it turns out this has already happened although we’d stop short of saying that a clip mischaracterises FSD.
Earlier in September YouTuber Galileo Russell posted a video showcasing the latest update to Tesla’s Full Self Driving feature. That video is now private but a clip has been doing the rounds online.
In the clip you can see the Tesla, in Full Self Driving mode make a sharp turn toward a group of pedestrians.
Not sure why FSD is such a safety hazard – especially for pedestrians and cyclists?
Check out this video, posted last week. pic.twitter.com/Hg0tGfxXDT
— David Zipper (@DavidZipper) September 19, 2021
The clip above was originally posted by a Twitter user and hedge fund over Taylor Ogan. When the clip went viral Russell told Ogan he had ripped his video and said he was going to contact Twitter. While Ogan’s tweet was removed, the Streisand Effect is in full effect and the video has been shared widely.
Now, Tesla fans will defend the firm saying that this software is in a beta testing phase and will act bizarrely but frankly, that’s not good enough. When a company is asking ordinary civilians to test software that should really be tested in strictly controlled environments under the supervision of trained drivers we are more than a little concerned.
Tesla is a very closed off company. It does not respond to media queries and rarely, if ever, issues alerts or press releases. Add this NDA to the mix and the general public has even less of an idea of how dangerous a vehicle might be when FSD is engaged.
But even worse is the cult-like behaviour of Tesla fans. In this video at 1:55 you can see Russell realise that the vehicle thinks a bus-stop is a lane, but the vehicle nearly pushes him onto the pavement before he takes control. Despite this alarming incident, Russell continues to praise Tesla and defend it’s absurd NDA.
While Tesla will say this is taken out of context, we’d argue that the context doesn’t matter when your software is pushing drivers and pedestrians into harms way.
