Photo: Whole Mars Catalog via YouTube, Not a Tesla App
Tesla released the FSD Beta V12.1 to more than 15,000 employees in the Wave1 beta-tester group earlier this week. Despite strict NDA conditions, one Tesla employee couldn't resist getting his 15 minutes of fame and leaked a video of him test-driving Tesla's end-to-end-AI self-driving software.
Tesla is doing a better job this year preparing the 2024 variant of its self-driving software. A year ago, Tesla rolled out FSD Beta V11 to specialized groups in November, to team leaders in February, and to the Wave1 group in March. An FSD recall agreed with the NHTSA contributed to the delay, hampering the development. Thankfully, the EV maker is much further ahead with V12, which is already tested by the Wave1 employees.
Not only this, but Elon Musk, for the first time, broke his "two weeks" record by actually delivering the software in exactly 14 days. On November 13, he confirmed the FSD V12 will go wide "in about two weeks." This is usually an insider joke, everyone knowing what two weeks means in Musk's language. However, to anyone's surprise, the first Tesla employees were given the chance to test FSD Beta V12 on November 24.
Since then, the software has been bumped to V12.1 and got to a much wider audience, being installed on more than 15,000 vehicles privately owned by Tesla employees. This means that the software is mature enough to trust that not only engineers but also their close relatives are safe while using it. The fast advancement of the V12 software is even more impressive when considering that this version is a complete overhaul of the software. Tesla eliminated another 300,000 lines of C++ code, with everything being now controlled by neural networks, from images in to controls out.
Although bound by strict NDA contracts, Tesla employees are humans (yet), and thus, some couldn't resist a moment of fame. This is how we've got our eyes on the first video showing the FSD Beta V12.1 in action. It's needless to state that this employee's contract might be terminated if he is identified, even for the simple reason of making him an example for others who might want to do the same in the future.
Watching the video below, we can see that the steering wheel movements are now smoother, while the car's actions are less hesitant. No lane drifting is apparent during this short drive, with the vehicle following the chosen path without wavering. It was also better at merging with traffic, changing lanes, and maintaining proximity to cars in front. Also, the video shows how often the steering wheel nag is triggered, requiring the driver to grab the wheel.
During Elon Musk's FSD V12 test drive in August, the Tesla CEO explained that no line of code tells the car to slow down for speed bumps, all being taken care of by the neural networks. However, it appears that these still need more training to better recognize the speed bumps. In the video, we see that the car doesn't slow down enough for speed bumps or doesn't slow at all. At the end of the video, the car stops and then turns left to enter the Tesla Fremont parking area from the right lane.
Reading the impressions of two different groups of people who saw the same video is like being told about two different things. In the RealTesla subReddit, known for its anti-Tesla stance, all the negatives are front and center, with no word about what was improved. Over the fence, in the TeslaMotors subReddit, you can read a more balanced story about what's good and what still needs work. Judging by the fast progress we've seen with this release, I'd say that an FSD V12 build will be rolled out to customers' vehicles before January ends.
Not only this, but Elon Musk, for the first time, broke his "two weeks" record by actually delivering the software in exactly 14 days. On November 13, he confirmed the FSD V12 will go wide "in about two weeks." This is usually an insider joke, everyone knowing what two weeks means in Musk's language. However, to anyone's surprise, the first Tesla employees were given the chance to test FSD Beta V12 on November 24.
Since then, the software has been bumped to V12.1 and got to a much wider audience, being installed on more than 15,000 vehicles privately owned by Tesla employees. This means that the software is mature enough to trust that not only engineers but also their close relatives are safe while using it. The fast advancement of the V12 software is even more impressive when considering that this version is a complete overhaul of the software. Tesla eliminated another 300,000 lines of C++ code, with everything being now controlled by neural networks, from images in to controls out.
Although bound by strict NDA contracts, Tesla employees are humans (yet), and thus, some couldn't resist a moment of fame. This is how we've got our eyes on the first video showing the FSD Beta V12.1 in action. It's needless to state that this employee's contract might be terminated if he is identified, even for the simple reason of making him an example for others who might want to do the same in the future.
Watching the video below, we can see that the steering wheel movements are now smoother, while the car's actions are less hesitant. No lane drifting is apparent during this short drive, with the vehicle following the chosen path without wavering. It was also better at merging with traffic, changing lanes, and maintaining proximity to cars in front. Also, the video shows how often the steering wheel nag is triggered, requiring the driver to grab the wheel.
During Elon Musk's FSD V12 test drive in August, the Tesla CEO explained that no line of code tells the car to slow down for speed bumps, all being taken care of by the neural networks. However, it appears that these still need more training to better recognize the speed bumps. In the video, we see that the car doesn't slow down enough for speed bumps or doesn't slow at all. At the end of the video, the car stops and then turns left to enter the Tesla Fremont parking area from the right lane.
Reading the impressions of two different groups of people who saw the same video is like being told about two different things. In the RealTesla subReddit, known for its anti-Tesla stance, all the negatives are front and center, with no word about what was improved. Over the fence, in the TeslaMotors subReddit, you can read a more balanced story about what's good and what still needs work. Judging by the fast progress we've seen with this release, I'd say that an FSD V12 build will be rolled out to customers' vehicles before January ends.
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