Tesla FSD Beta 10.69.3 expected this week

Tesla FSD Beta 10.69.3 is exected later this week

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The suspense continues. The long-awaited Full Self Driving Beta Version 10.69.3 should be arriving any day now. Yes, you've read that before. While it can be frustrating to some, it should demonstrate just how important this update is for Tesla. Elon Musk has already stated his confidence in the update and believes FSD is safer than human drivers.

Musk also announced during the third quarter earnings call that every FSD subscriber in the U.S. and Canada will get access to the program before the end of the year. That means the number of FSD vehicles operating is about to skyrocket. With regulators watching the program closely, Tesla must double and triple-check everything. When asked when FSD was coming, Musk tweeted, "Next week. It's actually a major release, so a lot more internal testing is needed before going to public beta."

Perhaps it's the decimals that are throwing people off. Usually, updates with two or more decimals are small that address minor bugs or allow access to slight enhancements. Given the long list of tweets Tesla's CEO has published promising significant developments, this update could be better suited to be a new number, like 11. However, Musk tweeted earlier this month, "10.69.3 will actually be a major upgrade. We're keeping .69 just because haha."

Many observers expected the "major upgrade" shortly after A.I. Day 2022 on September 30. Unfortunately, FSD enhancements played second fiddle to the unveiling of Optimus, the humanoid robot. Nevertheless, it was still impressive for the Autopilot program and the engineers behind the scenes. Tesla's director of the Autopilot program, Ashok Elluswamy, said, "FSD beta software is quite capable of driving the car. It should be able to navigate from parking lot to parking lot, city street driving, stopping for traffic lights and stops signs, negotiating with objects at intersections, making turns and so on."

FSD Beta 10.69.3 has been eagerly awaited every week since, as the tweets continue to pile up. Musk also doubled down on the improvements of the next FSD during the recent earnings call. He is sure that Tesla is well on its way to being fully autonomous and is preparing to challenge regulators to prove that this program will make roads safer. "Certainly, without a question whatsoever in my mind, next year. I think we'll also have enough data next year to be able to show to regulators that the car is safer than the average human," said Musk.

Release Date

Tesla has traditionally released FSD Beta updates toward the end of the week. It's possible we may see the first sightings of this beta this coming weekend when Tesla releases it to employees. Tesla will then slowly release to existing testers.

Other Features Included

It's almost certain that FSD Beta 10.69.3 will be based on update 2022.28 or 2022.36, which means that it will also bring some big features that are outside of FSD Beta.

Features such as Tesla Profile syncing, improved Blind Spot Camera placement which was a part of 2022.24 and Alternate routes, the ability to minimize Tesla Theater and more.

If FSD Beta 10.69.3 is based on 2022.36 then it'll include the widely popular improvements to the Energy App, the ability to customize Cabin Overheat Protection and the ability to view the vehicle's ETA and media player details in the Tesla app.

This will be a big update for sure, not only for the improvements to FSD Beta, but all the additional features beta users have been without for the last couple of months.

Tesla Cuts Newly Formed Content and Ads Team, Musk says Ads Were “Too Generic”

Tesla eliminated a newly formed marketing team of about 40 employees as part of its global layoffs, Bloomberg reported on Monday morning. On X, Elon Musk said the ads created by the team were “far too generic” adding that they would apply to “any car”.

Exactly. The ads were far too generic – could’ve been any car.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 22, 2024

The team was led by Alexander Ingram who joined Tesla in August 2019 as Communication lead for Automotive. After a few different roles connected with content and social media, Ingram was promoted last December to Senior Manager of Global Growth Content. In the new role, he was leading a global team of creatives focused on Tesla's first ads, as well as social media.

Ingram put out some excellent behind-the-scenes videos on Tesla’s technological advancements such as the one below explaining Tesla’s single casting.

Tesla’s Advertisement Strategy

At Tesla’s 2023 annual meeting of shareholders, Elon Musk said that the company would “try a little advertising and see how it goes”. Since then, Tesla ads have been seen in Google search results and on YouTube.

In Tesla’s proxy statement filed last week, it is seen that the automaker has spent around $200,000 on X-advertising through February 2024.

“As part of a multi-platform advertising campaign, Tesla also directly or indirectly purchased advertising on X, which totaled approximately $0.2 million through February 2024”

Bloomberg’s source added that Tesla still has a smaller marketing team in Europe.

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Tesla Is Ending Its Current Referral Program; New Version Will Arrive in “A Few Months”

Tesla's Referral Program

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Tesla shared on X that it’s ending its current referral program globally by the end of April. It’ll be replaced by a new one, but that is still “a few months away”, according to CEO Elon Musk.

When Musk was asked if the current credits would be lost, Musk responded by saying “No, just that new credits would not be earned until we launch a future referral program.” That means there’ll be a gap of a couple of months when owners will not be able to earn referral credits.

Tesla was always famous for relying on its community to promote its vehicles rather than spending millions (or even billions) in ad campaigns.

Through Tesla’s referral program — which started back in 2015— customers have been earning referral credits by having friends use their referral link when ordering a Tesla product or taking their first demo drive. At the time, it started with a direct $1,000 prize for the referrer but later evolved to a more complex system with different tiers and points.

Prizes have changed a lot over the years

In its latest version, scheduled to end by the end of the month, Tesla models (S, X, and Y), along with Powerwall, solar panels, and solar roofs, are available for purchase using a referral link. In this version, owners can redeem credits from merchandise to software upgrades for their vehicles. They can even redeem credits for several months free of Premium Connectivity or FSD.

Our current referral program benefits will end after April 30 in all markets

— Tesla North America (@tesla_na) April 20, 2024

The Evolution of the Referral Program

Tesla’s first referral program was released in July 2015 where customers who referred new buyers would receive $1,000 for every new Tesla Model S delivered. For those who were able to accrue 5 or 10 referrals for the US automaker, Tesla raised the bar and offered invitations to the opening of its Giga Factories or even a fully loaded Model X.

Over the first 2 years, Tesla significantly increased the value of the prizes and even offered free or discounted Roadsters with enough referrals. However, in 2019, Elon Musk decided to stop amid cost concerns.

The referral program was re-launched in late 2019 offering new buyers free supercharging for a period of time, FSD access, premium connectivity, or $500 off a new vehicle.

What’s Next

Given the considerable gap of “a few months” between the current program and the next one, it is expected that Tesla will bring a new structure with updated awards focused on minimizing Tesla’s cost while increasing the brand’s awareness.

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