Photo: Tesla
Tesla FSD V12 was a pipe dream most of the year, even when Elon Musk live-streamed a drive on this end-to-end-AI autonomous driving software. Now, things have got real as Tesla employees have already tested the last FSD Beta version to be released to customers.
Tesla bet everything on its autonomous driving software, which it calls "full self-driving," despite not making a car drive itself, let alone doing it "fully." The ambiguous name got the EV maker into trouble with regulators, as people who abused it claimed Tesla misled them. Earlier this year, after a back-and-forth with the NHTSA, Tesla changed the wording on its website to make it clearer that FSD Beta is not an autonomous driving system but a Level-2 driver assistance system.
However, this didn't change Tesla's mission to put autonomous vehicles on the roads as soon as possible, as Elon Musk emphasized in the 2016 Master Plan Part Deux. Judging by recent feedback from owners in North America who tested the FSD Beta software, Tesla made significant progress toward autonomy, but it was hardly enough to claim a breakthrough.
Currently, the FSD Beta software has reached the eleventh iteration, and Elon Musk confirmed this will be the last Beta version Tesla will ever make. This implies that FSD V12 will not be Beta anymore but commercial software. If we're to make a parallel with computer software, the FSD has always been a "zero point" version, with V11 being, in fact, a 0.11 build. Elon Musk meant the next FSD version would finally be mature enough to qualify for a 1.0 build.
The most significant change coming with V12 is that it will finally become end-to-end AI. In other words, neural networks will be responsible for processing the images recorded by Autopilot cameras and deciding what actions to take to control the car's movements. As Elon Musk put it, neural networks will replace C++ code "from images in, to steering, brakes & acceleration out."
After Musk demoed the FSD V12 during a driving session live streamed on X, it was obvious that the self-driving software still has a long way to go until it leaves the beta stage. Still, Musk was confident enough to give a two-week timeline for the FSD V12 rollout when asked exactly two weeks ago. And, lo and behold, it appears that Musk has for once kept his word and released FSD V12 to Tesla employees.
The information has been shared by Not a Tesla App after confirming with "a trusted source" that FSD V12 has started rolling out internally with Tesla update 2023.38.10. It later received Musk's seal of approval, as Tesla's CEO replied to the article on X to confirm the information was accurate. The fact that the FSD V12 started internal testing doesn't necessarily mean that Musk fulfilled his promise to roll out the software in two weeks. After all, it's the Tesla owners that count, not the employees.
If the past is any indication, it might take at least half a year before V12 will make it to the first beta testers outside Tesla's inner circle. Version 11 of the FSD Beta software was first sent to Tesla employees on November 11, 2022, with plans to go wide by Thanksgiving (November 24). Instead, it went wide in March as V11.3.1, so I wouldn't hold my breath.
However, this didn't change Tesla's mission to put autonomous vehicles on the roads as soon as possible, as Elon Musk emphasized in the 2016 Master Plan Part Deux. Judging by recent feedback from owners in North America who tested the FSD Beta software, Tesla made significant progress toward autonomy, but it was hardly enough to claim a breakthrough.
Currently, the FSD Beta software has reached the eleventh iteration, and Elon Musk confirmed this will be the last Beta version Tesla will ever make. This implies that FSD V12 will not be Beta anymore but commercial software. If we're to make a parallel with computer software, the FSD has always been a "zero point" version, with V11 being, in fact, a 0.11 build. Elon Musk meant the next FSD version would finally be mature enough to qualify for a 1.0 build.
The most significant change coming with V12 is that it will finally become end-to-end AI. In other words, neural networks will be responsible for processing the images recorded by Autopilot cameras and deciding what actions to take to control the car's movements. As Elon Musk put it, neural networks will replace C++ code "from images in, to steering, brakes & acceleration out."
After Musk demoed the FSD V12 during a driving session live streamed on X, it was obvious that the self-driving software still has a long way to go until it leaves the beta stage. Still, Musk was confident enough to give a two-week timeline for the FSD V12 rollout when asked exactly two weeks ago. And, lo and behold, it appears that Musk has for once kept his word and released FSD V12 to Tesla employees.
The information has been shared by Not a Tesla App after confirming with "a trusted source" that FSD V12 has started rolling out internally with Tesla update 2023.38.10. It later received Musk's seal of approval, as Tesla's CEO replied to the article on X to confirm the information was accurate. The fact that the FSD V12 started internal testing doesn't necessarily mean that Musk fulfilled his promise to roll out the software in two weeks. After all, it's the Tesla owners that count, not the employees.
If the past is any indication, it might take at least half a year before V12 will make it to the first beta testers outside Tesla's inner circle. Version 11 of the FSD Beta software was first sent to Tesla employees on November 11, 2022, with plans to go wide by Thanksgiving (November 24). Instead, it went wide in March as V11.3.1, so I wouldn't hold my breath.
Yes
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 24, 2023
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