An electric vehicle journalist put Tesla's latest self-driving technology to the test.
While he found it to be an improvement over past versions, he also said it doesn't come close to meeting the company's promises.
What's happening?
Fred Lambert, editor-in-chief of EV news outlet Electrek, wrote a review of Tesla's "Full Self-Driving Supervised" v14 update after driving more than 125 miles with it in a Tesla Model 3. The review featured several pros and cons.
On the plus side, Lambert said v14 represented "an incremental improvement" to previous Tesla FSD versions. It accelerated and decelerated more smoothly, and overall drove more like a human than past versions.
But a significant number of flaws still existed. Lambert said he had several interventions and disengagements during his use of v14, although none were for safety reasons.
"Two disengagements were due to FSD not entering the right lane at the right time," he wrote. "I gave it a chance until the last second, but it kept making me miss my exits or have a car cut me off at the last second, which is not acceptable to me."
That need for drivers to step in and take over points to Lambert's biggest problem with FSD. It's not actually self-driving.
"It's not what Tesla sold to customers," Lambert wrote, "... and I don't see it becoming that any time soon."
Why is FSD important?
Tesla has long touted FSD as one of its most-enticing features. If it doesn't deliver as advertised, it could keep people from buying Teslas, which could mean a slower widespread transition from gas-powered vehicles to cleaner EVs.
"I don't want to supervise my car while it drives. That's a chore," one commenter wrote on the review. "I hope in my lifetime to have a fully self-driving car."
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No way 👎 2025 has already been a tough year for Tesla's sales. Even as the EV market soared from a sales perspective, Tesla has seen its numbers dip from previous years.
What's being done about FSD?
Not all drivers seem to agree with Lambert's review. Others have praised the latest iteration of FSD as being "tremendously better" than other versions.
But FSD, and how it has been marketed, could still have a significant impact on Tesla's future. A judge found that the company misled California consumers about its cars' self-driving capabilities.
The penalty for that could mean Tesla is unable to conduct business in the state for 30 days, and it could open Tesla up to similar lawsuits in other states.
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