Tesla's new software update can grade your driving skills - see the formula used to calculate the daily safety scores
- Elon Musk announced a highly anticipated software update on Saturday, despite criticism from regulators.
- The update allows drivers with favorable daily safety scores to request its Full Self-Driving beta.
- See the five safety factors and the final formula used by Tesla to calculate each score.
Elon Musk announced a highly anticipated software update for Tesla vehicles on Saturday that allows drivers to view daily "safety scores."
If drivers earn a favorable safety score for one week, they can then request access to Tesla's Full Self-Driving (FSD) beta software.
The score, ranging from zero to 100, assesses driving behavior based on five safety factors: forward-collision warnings per 1,000 miles, hard braking, aggressive turning, unsafe following, and forced autopilot disengagement.
As detailed in a safety guide published by Tesla, the daily score is calculated through a Predicted Collision Frequency (PCF) formula. The final calculation is an estimate of how many collisions may occur per 1 million miles of driving.
Tesla drivers who earn a "safe" driving record for an entire week can then access the FSD Beta software, Insider's Shalini Nagarajan reported Sunday.
Some Tesla drivers have documented their experience with the new scoring system on social media. One user posted incremental changes in his score, claiming that "running yellow lights" and "rolling through stop signs" helped increase his rating, though Insider has not confirmed these claims.
Later, the user posted a screenshot of an almost-perfect score of 99, with the caption "After driving like grandma all weekend."
On Reddit, users said hard acceleration such as "gunning it at green lights" did not appear to affect their safety score.
"Have gunned it at all green lights. Can confirm safety score is still 92," one user wrote on the Tesla Investors Club Reddit page.
Tesla said it expects the formula to change in the future as it gains more customer and data insights. According to Tesla's safety guide, details about drivers' daily safety scores can be viewed by selecting "Daily Details" at the bottom of the screen.