Musk Says FSD Beta v11 Is Going 'Wide' This Weekend

FSD Beta 11.3.1 is ready to go out to more users

DirtyTesla/YouTube

Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, initially said that FSD Beta version 11.3.2 would be the one distributed to all subscribers. However, Musk now says that Tesla is ready to expand FSD Beta to more owners this coming weekend. Given that the weekend is only three days away, it sounds like Tesla is happy with FSD Beta 11.3.1 and that will be the version that expands to more owners. At 11 PM last night, Musk tweeted:

V11 starts going wide this weekend

FSD Beta v11.3 was sent to employees exclusively and v11.3.1 later went out to the original 1,000 beta testers. More than 350,000 owners with access to FSD Beta are ready for this milestone release.

What's in the New FSD

With the new upgrade, drivers will find it simpler to grasp what the car is doing, thanks to various new representations. For instance, the path the car travels is now shown by a considerably thicker line, showing the whole space the car is currently using and will occupy soon. Moreover, chevrons have been added to the Tesla's exterior to indicate when the vehicle is slowing down. A white or black line now shows in front of the Tesla to indicate to the supervising driver exactly where the vehicle will stop.

New FSD messages are also included in the update to inform the driver of their actions, such as halting at a red light or waiting for pedestrians. Also, a brand-new voice drive-notes feature enables drivers to leave audio feedback if they need to take over from FSD.

Along with these new features, FSD version 11.3.1 also includes several enhancements, including a new "Minimal Lane Changes" option that limits the number of lane changes the car makes, a new shortcut to the FSD profiles, and a redesigned Autopilot menu that eliminates older options and improves the clarity of the options for drivers. Release notes are available for FSD Beta 11.3.1 as well as an article describing all of the new features and visualizations.

Another Step Toward Autonomous Driving

The new FSD update is a huge step towards reaching autonomy, which Musk claims is the company's top priority. During a recent conference with Morgan Stanley, Musk reaffirmed his commitment to creating a car that can function almost totally in autonomous mode.

Musk also spoke on Tesla's goal to bring out a cost-effective, environmentally friendly, and driverless vehicle in the near future. This vehicle, which Musk anticipates to be substantially cheaper than Tesla's current selection, will be produced at the company's new facility in Mexico, which was unveiled during Investor Day. With autonomy as the company's top priority, Musk sees the new car as a step in the right direction that will allow Tesla to support more drivers of sustainable powertrains.

Overall, the company's dedication to autonomy and its goal for a more sustainable, autonomous future is highlighted by the most recent FSD upgrade and Musk's remarks regarding the impending Tesla vehicle. Tesla is well-positioned to be a leader in developing autonomous vehicles as long as self-driving technology advances.

Tesla Updates Santa Mode & Rainbow Road to Use Ambient Lighting and Updates SteamOS [VIDEO]

Flo / Roberto Bonato

While Tesla’s 2024 Holiday Update brought many new features, including Apple Watch Support, Cross Traffic Alerts, Weather Overlays, Search Along Route, and others, there are also several smaller items in this update that didn’t get much attention.

Ambient Lighting Now Affects Easter Eggs

The 2024+ Model 3 and Cybertruck both come equipped with ambient lighting, and Tesla is now taking advantage of this custom lighting feature by incorporating it into several easter eggs.

Rainbow Road: If you head over to Apps > ToyBox > Rainbow Road, you’ll find a new option available that allows the ambient lighting in the vehicle to also change shades while Rainbow Road is active. The Rainbow Road easter egg is a tribute to the iconic course course in Nintendo’s Mario Kart.

Check out the feature in action below:

🇮🇹 Con l’aggiornamento di Natale, quando attiviamo la pista arcobaleno, anche i LED interni diventeranno arcobaleno. Questa è una novità non documentata, scovata da un utente di TESLERS (chiaramente riguarda le Model 3 Highland)

🇺🇸 UNDOCUMENTED CHANGE: With the Holiday update,… pic.twitter.com/xyocOIrWfX

— 𝗧𝗘𝗦𝗟𝗘𝗥𝗦 (@TeslersOfficial) December 8, 2024

Santa Mode: Just in time for Christmas, Tesla has improved Santa Mode by cycling the ambient lighting between Christmas colors. Similar to Rainbow Road, the use of ambient lighting for the easter egg is optional and can be enabled under Apps > ToyBox > Santa Mode.

When using Santa Mode with ambient lighting turned on, the lights will cycle just between Christmas colors, red, green and white, instead of the full rainbow. There’s a video of the feature below:

Yup and in Santa Mode it cycles between red white and green pic.twitter.com/HVQUlfUyze

— Roberto Bonato (@BonatoRoberto) December 9, 2024

Update: It looks like it affects other Easter eggs as well, such as turning orange when using Romance mode.

SteamOS (Beta) Update

The Model S and Model X vehicles that support Steam gaming are receiving a Steam app update in the holiday update as well. This update could end up being very interesting, but for now Tesla says that the SteamOS, which also runs on Valve’s Steam Deck has been updated to version 3.6.

Valve outlines a wide range of fixes and improvements in their release notes for version 3.6, but Tesla simply states that the OS update includes performance enhancements and improved game compatibility.

The SteamOS hasn’t been updated on the Model S and X for quite a while, so we believe there may be more to this besides performance improvements and fixes. We’ll be looking to share some insights into this in the near future.

So, there you have it—three new features in the Holiday update that have mostly gone under the radar. While they may not apply to everyone, there are plenty of other cool features in the Holiday Update, like the arrival of Dynamic Road Closure Routing and Nearby Parking, that are coming to every vehicle, so go check out the full release notes.

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New Report Offers Specs & Price for Tesla's Upcoming Next-Gen Model

A concept of Tesla's 'Model Q'

@DominicBRNKMN on X

At the 2023 Q3 Earnings Call, Tesla provided an update on its next-generation model, what many are referring to as the “Model 2” or “Model Q.” Although the actual model name is yet to be determined, it is known internally as Redwood.

During the 2024 Shareholder Meeting, Musk again mentioned the upcoming model, saying that Tesla is working on new products, including a more affordable vehicle and a larger SUV.

While we know the next-gen vehicle is aimed at the $25k to $30k USD market, we now have some new information thanks to a new report out of China.

Launch & Price

According to the Chinese outlet CNMO Technology News (Sina Finance), Travis Axelrod, Tesla’s Head of Investor Relations, announced plans to launch a new model. Axelrod shared this update while addressing senior corporate investors at an investor conference hosted by Deutsche Bank on December 5, 2024.

The goal of Project Redwood, internally dubbed “Model Q” by Deutsche Bank, is to achieve a post-subsidy price of under $30,000 USD. With the Federal EV Rebate potentially expiring next year, this suggests that the Model Q’s starting price will be around $30,000 USD. For comparison, the Model 3 currently starts at $42,490 in the U.S.

We previously reported that Tesla has already been speaking to suppliers and is looking to begin volume production of the vehicle sometime around June 2025. Of course, prototyping is still necessary, but we haven’t seen any signs of Tesla testing a new vehicle since spotting the Cybercab on the streets ahead of We, Robot.

Specs

The Model Q will supposedly be about 15% smaller and 30% lighter than the Model 3, with an approximate length of 3,988mm, or 157 inches. For scale, the Mini is 157 inches, while the Model 3 is 185 inches, so it’s fairly compact.

The battery will also be smaller to match the vehicle’s smaller size as Tesla tries to reduce the vehicle’s price while maintaining a similar range as its other vehicles. Tesla is expected to offer two models—a single-motor RWD model and a Long-Range Dual-Motor AWD variant.

The lower trim level will include a 53 kWh lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery, while the AWD version is expected to include a 75 kWh LFP battery. The report says that the vehicle will be able to travel up to 500 km (310 miles) on a single charge, but it’s not clear whether this will be for the more efficient RWD version or the AWD variant.

Given the vehicle’s weight reduction compared to the Model 3, this type of range is likely for the lower trim level.

There’s no news yet on the price of the AWD version, but we expect it to be about $5,000 more expensive than the RWD variant.

Once the vehicle ramps up in production, Tesla intends to produce about 10,000 of these per week globally or about 500,000 per year. As Tesla mentioned during one of their previous earnings calls, this next-gen vehicle will be built using Tesla’s current assembly lines with minimal changes. This should allow for a smoother and more predictable production ramp. While Tesla still plans to use its new unboxed assembly process, it’s now saving it for the robotaxi.

Project Juniper

One of the items that came up during the investor conference was Tesla’s Project Juniper—the Model Y refresh. Juniper has already had a few leaks, including some images and information that mention a return to the 7-seat, 3-row format—at least in China. 

We’re expecting Juniper to launch early next year, as production has supposedly already begun at Giga Shanghai, at least on a limited prototyping basis. If the rollout matches the Model 3 Highland refresh, we’ll see Juniper arrive in China first and then make its way to North America and Europe by the end of 2025. The performance variants should launch in early 2026, after the standard models.

If you’re excited about Juniper, so are we! Check out our wishlist of features for Tesla’s Model Y refresh, and see everything we know so far.

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