Tesla FSD Beta V11.3 Goes Out to Employees With New Visuals

Tesla FSD Beta 11.3 contains new visualizations

@clteaa

Over the weekend Tesla released FSD Beta V11.3 (release notes) to more employees. It's not clear whether all employees now have access to the latest beta or if the number of employees was expanded. 

Tesla typically releases the latest FSD Beta to all employees as a final test before starting its public release. We could see the first public release of the beta later today.

Elon Musk said earlier this month that FSD Beta V11.3 would start rolling out last week. However, it could be a while before it rolls out to everyone with FSD Beta installed. According to the latest Tesla 'recall,' Tesla now has 362,000 vehicles in the US and Canada running FSD Beta.

Improved Visualizations

We previously heard that FSD Beta V11 would include improved visuals. We now have our first look at these improvements. From the leaked photo we can tell the vehicle's path is much wider. The reason for this could be that Tesla wants to not only represent the path the vehicle will take, but also the space the vehicle will take up when it's at a specific location. 

Another obvious change is the removal of the red road edges. They appear to have been replaced with light gray lines instead, which fits in with Tesla's simplistic style of the surrounding environment.

The dotted lines between the lanes also have a different style. They used to be very defined and now have a slight blur to them, similar to other road markings. It'd be interesting to see if Tesla is now using vision to determine the dotted line width and length.

It's hard to tell much else from the image, but the vehicle appears to be on a highway, which means that the FSD Beta visuals will be applied to highway use as expected. It's not clear whether there are other improvements in the visualizations or if can detect new objects.

New Features

With the expansion of the beta to more employees, the release notes for V11.3 have now been leaked, at least partially. The biggest feature on the list is the expected single-stack transition, where Tesla will now use everything it has learned from FSD Beta on city streets and use the same technology for Autopilot on the highway.

However, the list of improvements is long and notable.

Leave Notes About a Disengagement

One of the improvements in this beta according to the release notes is the addition of 'voice drive-notes,' which will allow you to comment on a disengagement with an audio description.

- Added voice drive-notes. After an intervention, you can now send Tesla an anonymous voice message describing your experience to help improve Autopilot.

This will presumably be done through a voice command and Tesla is likely transcribing these to text on their end to make them readable and searchable instead of having to listen to a message, although it appears that you will be able to leave a comment after a disengagement. This may work similarly to the 'Report a bug' feature.

Expanded Automatic Emergency Braking

With this beta, Tesla is expanding Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB) to handle vehicles crossing in your path. AEB was limited to when approaching another vehicle from behind, however, Tesla is expanding this to also apply to vehicles crossing your path. Although this is lumped in with the FSD Beta's release notes, and it depends on vision and improvements made with FSD Beta, it will not only apply to FSD/Autopilot but also when you're driving manually.

In the release notes Tesla mentions that according to data they've collected this improvement with AEB would have prevented 49% of collisions.

Improved Highway Handling

One of the features I'm excited to see in this release is the improvement to the vehicle's path when traveling on the highway. If you encounter a sharp turn, the vehicle tends to get too close to the outside of the curve instead of keeping itself in the center of the lane.

This will apparently be improved with this update as Tesla says there is improved handling at high speeds in high curvature scenarios.

The release notes cover other improvements as well, such as improved lane changes and mergers, as well as object detection and decision-making refinements.

This software version that was released to employees is version 2022.45.5, which is untraditional for Tesla since it has an odd week in the version number, although since we're getting closer to the expected release of FSD Beta V11.3, it's possible this could be the version everyone receives in the coming weeks.

Now that release notes and the first image has been shared, we may soon see what else is included in this update. To find out more about this beta, check out the release notes for FSD Beta V11.3.

Update: First videos of FSD Beta 11.3 have now been posted that show off the new visualizations and better handling.

Tesla Increases Price of Model S; Starts Offering Free Lifetime Supercharging

Not a Tesla App

For the first time in quite a while, Tesla has increased the price of one of its vehicle offerings. The Model S Long Range and the Model S Plaid have both received a hefty price increase. However, not all is bad - as Tesla also added a new benefit for buyers.

Price Increase

The price increase for the Model S is $5,000 - currently only in the United States. This price increase will likely impact other markets, including Canada, in the coming days.

The Model S Long Range now starts at $79,990, while the Model S Plaid now starts at $94,990. The Model S and Model X now have the same starting price. Interestingly, that’s also the same pricing point for the Cybertruck AWD and Cyberbeast Trimotor non-Foundation Series. 

The vehicle configuration does not appear to have changed, so the new pricing is simply an increase rather than the addition or removal of features. Tesla previously cut the price of the Model S and Model X by 15% in 2023, so this could simply be an adjustment to ensure that the vehicle pricing stays in line with inflation and other factors.

Free Lifetime Supercharging

For those on the fence about ordering a Model S, Tesla has brought back Free Lifetime Supercharging when you order a new Model S on or after December 13, 2024. As always, Free Lifetime Supercharging is restricted to the buyer’s Tesla account and to that specific vehicle. It cannot be transferred to another vehicle or another owner after ownership transfer. It’s worth noting, that it also doesn’t exclude the owner from receiving Supercharger idle fees or congestion fees. There is currently no end date for this promotion.

There are currently no changes to the Model X, neither a price increase nor the addition of Lifetime Superchargering. However, when Tesla makes changes to one of their premium vehicles, it usually affects the other one as well. So be on the lookout for potential changes to the Model X offering in the coming days.

We’ve seen Tesla value Lifetime Supercharging at $5,000, so this falls in line with the price increase we’re seeing. It’s possible that Tesla will begin to bring back Lifetime Supercharging as a perk for buying into their more premium Model S and Model X cars, or this could be another temporary promotion to get buyers who are on the fence to go ahead and make their purchase while this promotion lasts.

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Tesla’s Optimus Robot Learns to Walk Without Vision [VIDEO]

Optimus Falls - but catches itself!

Not a Tesla App

Tesla recently showed off a demo of Optimus, its humanoid robot, walking around in moderately challenging terrain—not on a flat surface but on dirt and slopes. These things can be difficult for a humanoid robot, especially during the training cycle.

Daily walks help clear your mind pic.twitter.com/dUsW58trS6

— Tesla Optimus (@Tesla_Optimus) December 9, 2024

A Look Behind the Curtain

Most interestingly, Milan Kovac, VP of Engineering for Optimus, clarified what it takes to get Optimus to this stage. Let’s break down what he said.

Optimus is Blind

Optimus is getting seriously good at walking now - it can keep its balance over uneven ground - even while walking blind. Tesla is currently using just the sensors, all powered by a neural net running on the embedded computer. 

Essentially, Tesla is building Optimus from the ground up, relying on as much additional data as possible while it trains vision. This is similar to how they train FSD on vehicles, using LiDAR rigs to validate the vision system’s accuracy. While Optimus doesn’t have LiDAR, it relies on all those other sensors on board, many of which will likely become simplified as vision takes over as the primary sensor.

Today, Optimus is walking blind, but it’s able to react almost instantly to changes in the terrain underneath it, even if it falls or slips. 

What’s Next?

Next up, Tesla AI will be adding vision to Optimus - helping complete the neural net. Remember, Optimus runs on the same overall AI stack as FSD - in fact, Optimus uses an FSD computer and an offshoot of the FSD stack for vision-based tasks.

Milan mentions they’re planning on adding vision to help the robot plan ahead and improve its walking gait. While the zombie shuffle is iconic and a little bit amusing, getting humanoid robots to walk like humans is actually difficult.

There’s plenty more, too - including better responsiveness to velocity and direction commands and learning to fall and stand back up. Falling while protecting yourself to minimize damage is something natural to humans - but not exactly natural to something like a robot. Training it to do so is essential in keeping the robot, the environment around it, and the people it is interacting with safe.

We’re excited to see what’s coming with Optimus next because it is already getting started in some fashion in Tesla’s factories.

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