Photo: Kim Paquette via Twitter | Edited
Elon Musk promised the FSD Beta V11.3 would be ready for a wide release by the end of this week, but things don’t look like that. In a recent tweet, Musk tempered expectations without offering a new timeframe. Nevertheless, Tesla owners should not expect miracles from the unified-stack version, as it would still be in its infancy for a while.
Tesla recently opened the FSD Beta software to anyone in North America who paid for the Full Self-Driving capability. Access is no longer conditioned, as the FSD Beta can be activated with a flip of a switch in the car’s menus. But that doesn’t mean it’s not offered conditionally. Like before, owners must acknowledge the system’s limitations and agree to its terms. Moreover, misbehaving is punished, and users can lose access temporarily after five “strikes.”
As excited as people are about the prospect of testing the FSD Beta software, it’s the next-generation V11 of the software that is keeping most awake at night. The new version seems like a small bump from V10 to V11, but it is, in fact, a complete redesign, marking the first time Tesla uses the same software stack for Navigate on Autopilot and Full Self-Driving Beta. This is why getting it out the door takes so much time, and the V11 proves tougher than expected, as Musk said a week ago.
As of now, FSD Beta V10 uses different software stacks for Navigate on Autopilot, responsible for controlling the car on highways, and FSD Beta, which can provide automated drive features in city traffic. Once Tesla switches to the single-stack software, the FSD Beta will also take care of highway driving. This approach has marked advantages, with the most important for Tesla being freeing up resources.
With V11, the team could save processing power and focus on a single code base. According to Musk’s words, the new version would also use neural networks (NNs) for more features, which should bring notable improvements to vehicle navigation and control. Tesla FSD team also replaces old C++ code with NNs throughout. As you can see, there are a lot of advantages, with the downside that the new software might need more polishing than Musk previously estimated.
In a recent tweet, Musk said he just drove with the new FSD Beta V11.3 through San Francisco and Los Angeles. The software is still not prime-time material because Tesla CEO speaks of an upcoming V11.3.2, which “probably” would prove good enough for a wide rollout. This implies that the V11.3 (or even V11.3.1) is garbage, and even Musk would not risk a release.
Anyway, before being disappointed by the slow movement of this release, you should know that it won’t be able to solve your FSD Beta problems just yet. In fact, it’s quite possible to be a lot worse or at least not better, depending on where you use it. The code base change would bring a lot of challenges, and the neural networks might behave unexpectedly in certain situations. These issues would need to be ironed out with future releases.
In other words, it’s not likely that the V11 would prove better than V10 at navigating on city streets. Not a lot will change in that case, except for the occasional bugs that are expected with the rebase. As for highway driving, it would be immature at first, considering that everything is new in this case. It would take time to get to the same level as city driving. Being extra cautious when testing the new release would be a good idea, especially when driving on highways.
As excited as people are about the prospect of testing the FSD Beta software, it’s the next-generation V11 of the software that is keeping most awake at night. The new version seems like a small bump from V10 to V11, but it is, in fact, a complete redesign, marking the first time Tesla uses the same software stack for Navigate on Autopilot and Full Self-Driving Beta. This is why getting it out the door takes so much time, and the V11 proves tougher than expected, as Musk said a week ago.
As of now, FSD Beta V10 uses different software stacks for Navigate on Autopilot, responsible for controlling the car on highways, and FSD Beta, which can provide automated drive features in city traffic. Once Tesla switches to the single-stack software, the FSD Beta will also take care of highway driving. This approach has marked advantages, with the most important for Tesla being freeing up resources.
With V11, the team could save processing power and focus on a single code base. According to Musk’s words, the new version would also use neural networks (NNs) for more features, which should bring notable improvements to vehicle navigation and control. Tesla FSD team also replaces old C++ code with NNs throughout. As you can see, there are a lot of advantages, with the downside that the new software might need more polishing than Musk previously estimated.
In a recent tweet, Musk said he just drove with the new FSD Beta V11.3 through San Francisco and Los Angeles. The software is still not prime-time material because Tesla CEO speaks of an upcoming V11.3.2, which “probably” would prove good enough for a wide rollout. This implies that the V11.3 (or even V11.3.1) is garbage, and even Musk would not risk a release.
Anyway, before being disappointed by the slow movement of this release, you should know that it won’t be able to solve your FSD Beta problems just yet. In fact, it’s quite possible to be a lot worse or at least not better, depending on where you use it. The code base change would bring a lot of challenges, and the neural networks might behave unexpectedly in certain situations. These issues would need to be ironed out with future releases.
In other words, it’s not likely that the V11 would prove better than V10 at navigating on city streets. Not a lot will change in that case, except for the occasional bugs that are expected with the rebase. As for highway driving, it would be immature at first, considering that everything is new in this case. It would take time to get to the same level as city driving. Being extra cautious when testing the new release would be a good idea, especially when driving on highways.
FSD 11.3 is close to limited release. Just drove it through SF & LA yesterday. Probably 11.3.2 is able to go wide.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 8, 2023
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