Tesla pulls its new Full Self-Driving beta due to software 'issues'

In the United States, federal vehicle safety regulators have begun a formal investigation in Tesla's Autopilot system, following a series of crashes. (Representative image of the Tesla Model S)

United States-based electric car maker Tesla Inc. rolled back the latest version of its Full Self-Driving (FSD) beta software on October 24, less than a day after its release, after users complained of false collision warnings and other issues, Reuters reported.

The setback comes as Tesla is under regulatory scrutiny over the safety of its semi-autonomous driving technology, which it calls "FSD”, the report said.

"Seeing some issues with 10.3, so rolling back to 10.2 temporarily. Please note, this is to be expected with beta software. It is impossible to test all hardware configurations in all conditions with internal QA (quality assurance), hence public beta," CEO Elon Musk said in a Twitter post on October 24.

Tesla did not immediately respond to requests for comment outside regular US business hours.

The release of the new driving assist system to some owners of Tesla models, which the company said featured several improvements, had been announced for Friday, October 22.

On October 23, Musk said the release would probably be delayed by a day. "Regression in some left turns at traffic lights found by internal QA in 10.3. Fix in work, probably releasing tomorrow," he had tweeted.

The Tesla vehicles with the latest 10.3 software repeatedly provided Forward Collision Warnings when there was no immediate danger, according to video postings of beta users. Some vehicles also automatically applied brakes without reason, users said on social media posts.

Some users said they lost the FSD beta software entirely after having problems with the latest iteration.

As of October 24, there was no information about a possible new date for the release, either from Musk on social media or from Tesla.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) in August opened a formal safety probe into Tesla's Autopilot system in 765,000 US vehicles after a series of crashes involving Tesla models and emergency vehicles.