Tesla Upgrades Automatic Emergency Braking to React to Perpendicular Dangers

Tesla has made improvements to automatic emergency braking

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Tesla has introduced notable upgrades to its Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB) system in a recent FSD Beta update. Initially, FSD Beta 11.3, which only went out to Tesla employees, included a significant update to Tesla's automatic emergency braking.

However, when FSD Beta 11.3.1 was released to public testers, the release notes significantly differed from the employee version, leaving some uncertainty regarding the status of AEB enhancements.

Other features were removed from the release notes in FSD Beta 11.3.1, including Voice Drive Notes, which was clearly still available in the public beta. It's not clear whether the changes to the release notes was a mistake or if Tesla chosen to highlight changes between 11.3 and 11.3.1.

AEB Now Detects Vehicles Moving Across Tesla's Path

The company's impact report has recently confirmed that the improved AEB system was incorporated into the FSD Beta. The enhancements include detecting and responding to vehicles moving perpendicular to the Tesla. This advanced feature aims to reduce the likelihood of accidents occurring when other vehicles cross Tesla's path, such as running red lights or cutting the Tesla off.

This development represents a significant leap forward in AEB technology, as traditional systems mainly focus on detecting and reacting to objects and vehicles directly in front of the car. With the ability to detect crossing vehicles, Tesla's upgraded AEB system offers increased safety and assistance to drivers.

Release Notes

The release notes in Tesla FSD Beta update v11.3 say:

Expanded Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB) to handle vehicles that cross ego's path. This includes cases where other vehicles run their red light or turn across ego's path, stealing the right-of-way. Replay of previous collisions of this type suggests that 49% of the events would be mitigated by the new behavior. This improvement is now active in both manual driving and autopilot operation.

Safety Improvements Tested Extensively with Fleet Miles

Tesla has rigorously tested and validated these AEB advancements by utilizing millions of fleet miles in shadow mode. The Tesla Vision system, which consists of eight cameras, allows Tesla vehicles to identify and react to oncoming vehicles well beyond the range of traditional sensors. In addition, the Automatic Emergency Braking system offers a loud warning and rapid braking when a Tesla vehicle senses an impending collision, and the driver has not intervened.

These AEB enhancements demonstrate Tesla's commitment to improving road safety and minimizing accident risks. In 2021, US pedestrian and road-user fatalities reached their highest levels, with a 53% increase since 2012 and over 75% of deaths at night. Tesla's Model S, Model 3, Model X, and Model Y have all received five-star ratings from Euro NCAP, including for nighttime pedestrian crash avoidance. Furthermore, the Model 3 and Model Y have earned a "Superior" rating from IIHS for the nighttime performance of their pedestrian AEB systems.

Improved AEB System Expected to Reach All Tesla Owners

The availability of the improved AEB for all Tesla owners remains uncertain, as FSD Beta is currently separate from other updates. However, considering Tesla's history of prioritizing safety features, it is likely that the upgraded Automatic Emergency Braking system will eventually be made accessible to all users. This move would further solidify Tesla's position as a manufacturer of some of the safest vehicles available today.

Moreover, Tesla's commitment to vehicle safety and continuous software updates demonstrates its dedication to its customers. As Tesla learns more about real-world driving scenarios and collects data from its fleet, it will continue refining and enhancing its driver assistance systems. The result is a safer and more reliable driving experience for Tesla owners and other road users.

Integrating the improved AEB system into Tesla's FSD Beta may pave the way for more advanced driver assistance features. In addition, by incorporating cutting-edge technology and prioritizing safety, Tesla sets a high standard for other automakers to follow in creating vehicles that protect their occupants and other road users.

Best Tesla News of the Week

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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Is Tesla Close to Licensing FSD? GM Quits Cruise, BMW Praises Tesla

Not a Tesla App

In a relatively surprising move, GM announced that it is realigning its autonomy strategy and prioritizing advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) over fully autonomous vehicles.

GM is effectively closing Cruise (autonomous) and focusing on its Super Cruise (ADAS) feature. The engineering teams at Cruise will join the GM teams working on Super Cruise, effectively shuttering the fully autonomous vehicle business.

End of Cruise

GM cites that “an increasingly competitive robotaxi market” and “considerable time and resources” are required for scaling the business to a profitable level. Essentially - they’re unable to keep up with competitors at current funding and research levels, putting them further and further behind.

Cruise has been offering driverless rides in several cities, using HD mapping of cities alongside vehicles equipped with a dazzling array of over 40 sensors. That means that each cruise vehicle is essentially a massive investment and does not turn a profit while collecting data to work towards Autonomy.

Cruise has definitely been on the back burner for a while, and a quick glance at their website - since it's still up for now - shows the last time they officially released any sort of major news packet was back in 2019. 

Competition is Killer

Their current direct competitor - Waymo, is funded by Google, which maintains a direct interest in ensuring they have a play in the AI and autonomy space.

Interestingly, this news comes just a month after Tesla’s We, Robot event, where they showed off the Cybercab and the Robotaxi network, as well as plans to begin deployment of the network and Unsupervised FSD sometime in 2025. Tesla is already in talks with some cities in California and Texas to launch Robotaxi in 2025.

GM Admits Tesla Has the Right Strategy

As part of the business call following the announcement, GM admitted that Tesla’s end-to-end and Vision-based approach towards autonomy is the right strategy. While they say Cruise started down that path, they’re putting aside their goals towards fully autonomous vehicles for now and focusing on introducing that tech in Super Cruise instead.

NEWS: GM just admitted that @Tesla’s end-to-end approach to autonomy is the right strategy.

“That’s where the industry is pivoting. Cruise had already started making headway down that path. We are moving to a foundation model and end-to-end approach going forward.” pic.twitter.com/ACs5SFKUc3

— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) December 10, 2024

With GM now focusing on Super Cruise, they’ll put aside autonomy and instead focus solely on ADAS features to relieve driver stress and improve safety. While those are positive goals that will benefit all road users, full autonomy is really the key to removing the massive impact that vehicle accidents have on society today.

In addition, Super Cruise is extremely limited, cannot brake for traffic controls, and doesn’t work in adverse conditions - even rain. It can only function when lane markings are clear, there are no construction zones, and there is a functional web connection. 

The final key to the picture is that the vehicle has to be on an HD-mapped and compatible highway - essentially locking Super Cruise to wherever GM has time to spend mapping, rather than being functional anywhere in a general sense, like FSD or Autopilot.

Others Impressed - Licensing FSD

Interestingly, some other manufacturers have also weighed into the demise of Cruise. BMW, in a now-deleted post, said that a demo of Tesla’s FSD is “very impressive.” There’s a distinct chance that BMW and other manufacturers are looking to see what Tesla does next. 

BMW chimes in on a now-deleted post. The Internet is forever, BMW!

Not a Tesla App

It seems that FSD has caught their eyes after We, Robot - and that the demonstrations of FSD V13.2 online seem to be the pivot point. At the 2024 Shareholder Meeting earlier in the year, Elon shared the fact that several manufacturers had reached out, looking to understand what was required to license FSD from Tesla.

There is a good chance 2025 will be the year we’ll see announcements of the adoption of FSD by legacy manufacturers - similar to how we saw the surprise announcements of the adoption of the NACS charging standard.

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