Open registration for EV Club of Connecticut's Nov. 11th panel discussion - New Englanders sharing their Tesla FSDBeta experience

Posted by Paul Braren on Oct 27 2021 (updated on Nov 11 2021) in

I'm delighted to have helped put together a panel of Tesla Full Self Driving aka #FSDBeta testers for our monthly EV Club of Connecticut meeting at 7pm eastern time on Thursday November 11, 2021. This feature required the driver be attentive at all times, and isn't suited for aggressive drivers. I've met each of these panelists in person. They're responsible and they have diverse experiences and opinions. One Tesla FSDBeta veteran has almost a year of experience, and the rest first gained access in September of 2021 after proving they drive responsibly, enduring weeks of a 99 or 100 Safety Score.

Event announcement

On the EV Club of CT's calendar:

EV Club of Connecticut Panel Discussion – New Englanders Share Their First-Hand Tesla FSD Beta Experiences
At our EV Club Zoom meeting on Thursday, November 11, the EV Club of Connecticut is hosting a panel discussion primarily focused on Tesla’s recent FSDBeta program, with several New England Tesla owners sharing their first-hand experiences with the Safety Score and beta testing process. Now that Tesla non-disclosure agreements have been lifted, we’ll be sure to leave time for an open discussion including Q&A with the audience.

us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYkfu2rqDkvGtzN1DiuEInzDk56V2IPrmdV

All are welcome, regardless of where you live. Once you pre-register, you'll get immediate access to convenient "Add to calendar" buttons. The moderator manually admits guests at the start of the Zoom. Optionally, you can also sign-up to be an EV Club of Connecticut member, then the volunteer club leaders will stay in touch with a monthly newsletter. Just use the sign-up form near the bottom of the EV Club of CT blog's homepage.

These panelists are all Tesla owners who paid for this optional Level 2 autonomy feature set, have the FSD computer, and opted-in to participate in the beta program. It is not full autonomy: the driver is responsible for their safety and the safety of everyone around them, and can disengage at any time. Full Self Driving is really more like Autosteer for City Streets, added to existing capabilities listed at Tesla here, requiring the driver's full attention at all times.

Panelists

Listed in alphabetical order.

Paul Braren - @paulbraren
2018 Model 3 Long Range
Panel moderator. New FSDBeta tester and YouTuber here and here. Member of the EV Club of CT leadership team. Has traveled over 50,000 electric miles in this EV and has used 62 Superchargers across the northeastern US and eastern Canada.

David Connaughton @TeslaFSD
2018 Model 3 Long Range
New FSDBeta tester. Co-leader of the Tesla Owners Club of (Eastern) New England. Has traveled over 40,000 electric miles in this EV and regularly drives between New Hampshire and Florida.

John Harris @JH_bedford
2021 Model S Plaid
New FSDBeta tester.
Co-leader of the Tesla Owners Club of (Eastern) New England. Has traveled over 100,000 electric miles in this EV and has been to 711 Superchargers across the country.

Roger Kappler @roger_kappler *
2019 Model 3 Standard Range Plus
Veteran FSDBeta tester and YouTuber. as traveled over 50,000 electric miles in several EVs since 2013. He may be he only Connecticut FSDBeta tester, with about a year of experience with it.
*Nov 11 2021 Update - Roger contacted me to let me know a conflict arose, and that he wouldn't be able to participate in this panel discussion.

Michael Liebow @mliebow
2020 Model Y Long Range
New FSDBeta tester using his wife's Model Y, his Model 3 is next.

Oct 28 2021 Update

With last night's news that Safety Scores of 98 will start to be included in the gradual rollout Friday November 5. It would seem to be that Tesla might not be sending FSDBeta to my Model 3 during these early beta testing days, despite my 99 score, for any reason it chooses. I understand that, and Tesla has been quite transparent about that. Perhaps I've been just a little too transparent for Tesla's taste, in my opinions that I express here on my blog and on twitter. I occasionally call out areas where I feel Tesla could use some improvement. I'm fine with all that, it's how I add value in my articles, constructive criticism is something I've been doing here at TinkerTry for over a decade.

As far as how I personally feel about #FSDBeta overall, basically I'm mostly inline with much of this YouTuber's thoughts on the matter. I could change my mind once I've had my time behind the wheel someday, a day I've been envisioning for about 3 decades. I'm also keeping my mind open for the day of this panel discussion, listening carefully to differing opinions on this touchy but fascinating subject of autonomous driving aspirations and realities.

Once I do get FSDBeta, I have little interest in increasing risk by waiting to see what happens. I plan to disengage immediately and often. This could actually help train the neural net faster, accelerating the way to a safer fleet. It's not at all hard for me to imagine that overall driving safety on highways will be improved rapidly as Tesla learns how to leverage those city street learnings faster, using their Tesla Dojo supercomputing powers.

I had some of the biographical information above swapped between David and John, this issue has now been fixed, and Tesla models being tested now added.