My Australian Tesla has FSD Beta, I just can’t use it yet (Update: Tesla advertising for Test Drivers)

This morning I received the latest Tesla software update, build 2023.20.7 on my 2019 Tesla Model 3 Performance. Software updates have been frequent over the years since I got the car, often delivering new features, improvements in capability and performance, along with a healthy dose of bug fixes.

Today’s update was different for a very important reason – it contains the FSD Beta code.

This build is also known as FSD Beta version 11.3.6, which is a few builds behind the very latest 11.4.4.

Update
Tesla has now posted 4x job positions on their Careers page, the new Australian positions have the title of ‘Vehicle Operator (Test Driver)’ and are full-time positions for 3 months which may give us the best indication of a local timeline for FSD Beta yet.

The 4 positions are located in NSW, VIC, QLD and WA.

Tesla provides the following detail on the roles.

What to Expect

We are looking for highly motivated self-starters to help accelerate vehicle level data collection. The Vehicle Operator will help drive improvement of Tesla’s Autopilot system by operating and becoming an expert on our data collection vehicles across designated regions. This role requires a high level of flexibility.

This is a temporary contract position with a target start date of 31st July 2023. The assignment is expected to last 3 months (potential to extend beyond). Day/night shift positions available as follows:

• Shift 1: 8am – 5pm
• Shift 2: 4pm – 1am
• Shift 3: 12am – 9am

What You’ll Do

• Operate a vehicle in a designated area for data collection
• Start/Stop recording devices and do minor equipment/software debugging when necessary
• Analyze/report data collected during shift
• Write daily drive reports detailing observations and issues
• Check vehicle is in proper and safe working order every day, and if not, notify team for repair
• Ability to work a flexible schedule; Day/night shifts with the ability to work 1 day per weekend. Overtime is also typical for this position 

What You’ll Bring

• Clean driving record and safe driving habits
• Minimum 5 years of licensed driving experiences
• Excellent attention to detail and highly observational
• Excellent written and spoken English
• Excellent PC skills, particularly MS Office (Word, Outlook, Excel)
• Familiarity with ADAS/Autopilot systems and their sensors is preferred
• Basic knowledge of vehicle systems and how they work, such as brakes and power assisted steering, is preferred 

If you meet the criteria, then consider applying at https://www.tesla.com/en_AU/careers/search/?site=AU

Since launching in October 2020, 28 months ago, I’ve watched from the other side of the world as Tesla improved the software, with anticipation of one day getting access to the software. The now famous YouTube videos from the US and Canada, show FSD Beta-enabled cars driving city streets, turning corners, taking roundabouts and more, which is a dramatic improvement from what we have today in Australia.

On May 25th, I first reported that the first cars in Australia had received a build that contained FSD Beta code, the first confirmed time we knew the software was in the country. As stated back then, the software was likely on Tesla-owned vehicles for preliminary testing. At the time, just 2 cars were showing through publicly available datasets, the 3rd party services TeslaScope and TeslaFi.

On June 14th, that number had grown to more than 10 Australian cars on software builds with FSD Beta.

Today, I joined a number of other consumers that have received a software build that contains the FSD Beta code.

At the time of writing, Teslascope is reporting 22 cars in Australia are on build 2023.20.7. TeslaFi is showing 28 cars in Australia have it installed.

Naturally, I’m keen to try it out, would likely drive all night, but as yet, there is no way to enable it, but this certainly feels 1 step closer.

After installing the software today, I was presented with a new dialogue, requesting permission to share additional data with Tesla. There had been options to share data in the past, but this was new and more comprehensive.

The page titled ‘Data Sharing’, starts by explaining that Tesla does not sell your data to anyone, for any purpose, period. Credit to Tesla for having this corporate policy and for spelling this out so clearly.

They go on to detail that data is used to improve and create new safety and convenience features. Tesla anonymizes data, which makes sense as they don’t care about you as an individual, but are training and learning from a fleet worth of data, important as an aggregate, but not individually.

Scrolling down, I was presented with a series of checkboxes to optionally enable. These included Start and End Drive data, which is great they separate this out, as this would obviously include your home and work locations you visit frequently in the dataset.

There’s another option to enable titled ‘Include data when parked’. This says that if enabled, the data can help Tesla improve features like auto-present door upon approach, auto-sift out of Park and more.

So far we have only seen Smart Shift implemented in the new Model S and X (not available in Australia), but it is expected to come to all Teslas in the future.

Personally, I enabled all of these data-sharing options, as I’m invested in helping the company improve the functionality for me and my family and the broader Australian Tesla community.