Elon Musk's Controversial Updates on Tesla's FSD Feature

Elon Musk announced that Tesla's Full Self-Driving v14.2.1 will allow drivers to text while driving, contingent upon the context of surrounding traffic. This update has raised significant concerns regarding safety and legal implications, as texting while driving is illegal in most jurisdictions.

Musk confirmed this on X, stating that the system's driver monitoring parameters would be relaxed, allowing for texting under certain conditions, such as low traffic. However, critics argue this poses a dangerous precedent, as drivers remain fully responsible for their vehicle's operation under Level 2 automation.

Reports indicate that the system still issues alerts if a driver looks at their phone for too long, but Musk's comments suggest these alerts may be less stringent in specific scenarios, potentially encouraging risky behavior.

As noted by Electrek, the legal ramifications of such actions remain, emphasizing that local laws still govern texting while driving, regardless of the vehicle's technological capabilities. The testing of the system revealed that in low and medium congestion areas, the driver monitoring system did not issue alerts, raising further questions about the safety of this feature.

Overall, while Tesla promotes this update as a convenience, many experts caution against interpreting it as a step towards true autonomous driving.