Tesla Fires Back at Biased LA Times Article on Musk's Settlement with Hothi

Tesla CEO, Elon Musk settles the lawsuit with graduate student, Hothi

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Tesla has called out the Los Angeles Times for publishing a biased and misleading article on the recent settlement between CEO Elon Musk and graduate student Randeep Hothi. In response to the article, Tesla tweeted that Hothi had accepted a "998" offer under California law, which is used to shift litigation costs to the losing party. The company claimed that the settlement was an admission of defeat by Hothi and his lawyers, not a victory.

Author's friendship with Hothi raises questions of impartiality

The lawsuit stemmed from an email in which Musk claimed that Hothi "almost killed" a Tesla security guard in the company's parking lot without any basis in fact. Hothi's lawyers argued that Musk's statement defamed their client. The recent settlement saw Hothi accepting $10,000 from Musk. In a tweet, Hothi stated that he felt vindicated and chose to accommodate Musk for a modest sum, highlighting Musk's alleged "public meltdown."

The LA Times article, penned by Russ Mitchell, has been criticized for its biased tone and portrayal of the settlement as a defeat for Musk. The "journalist" called Musk pugnacious and said Tesla cried, Uncle. Whole Mars Catalog claimed on Twitter that Mitchell is friends with Hothi, questioning his ability to report on the story impartially. Whole Mars Catalog tweeted: "Russ can not report on this story impartially as he is best friends with Hothi and TSLAQ!"

Randeep Hothi accepts "998" offer under California law

The article in question drew attention to a tweet from Musk last year, in which he promised not to settle an unjust case against Tesla, even if the company would probably lose. The article implied that Musk had gone back on his word, as he settled with Hothi for $10,000. However, Tesla's response highlights that the settlement was reached under California's "998" offer system, designed to shift the cost of litigation to the losing party.

Tesla's tweet emphasized that if Hothi had not accepted the offer, he could have been on the hook for significant legal costs when he eventually lost the case. The offer also expressly denied any liability by Musk. The company's response paints a different picture than the one presented in the LA Times article, suggesting that the story is biased.

This incident raises concerns about the impartiality of some journalists when reporting on high-profile cases, especially when personal connections may cloud their judgment. It serves as a reminder to readers to remain vigilant and critical when consuming news, as biases may exist even in the most reputable publications.

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Teslas Will Soon Park Themselves When Arriving at Destination - Smarter Summon and Driverless Autopark Coming

With the Spring Update and FSD V12.4 around the corner, Elon Musk shared that Actually Smart Summon and Banish (Autopark) are coming soon, along with some other updates to the new vision-based Auto Park.

FSD to Automatically Park at Destination

On FSD v12.3.6, which now includes the new Vision-based Autopark for vehicles with ultrasonic sensors, users have to manually search for and select a parking spot if they want to use Autopark. However, according to a post from Musk, FSD will automatically enter Autopark mode upon arriving at its destination. This will essentially combine the current FSD capabilities with Autopark and add the ability for the vehicle to traverse a parking lot looking for an empty space.

Banish Autopark Coming Soon

Smarter Summon and Banish Autopark, with the ability to send the car to and from a parking space without anyone in the car, will be coming soon, as per Musk’s recent X post. 

Banish Autopark, previously known as Reverse Summon, is expected to include various parking options, such as “closest to the door”, “near cart returns”, or “end of the parking lot”. This would drop the owner off at the entrance to a location while having the vehicle automatically find a parking spot and then park itself. At least that is Tesla’s full vision, as Musk has talked about before. It’s not clear whether the Banish Autopark feature, will actually include all of these capabilities in v1, or if Tesla will slowly add more features to it. What we know now is that Tesla is working on having the vehicle park itself without a driver inside. It may simply be an extension of the Autopark we have today, where the driver finds a parking spot, selects it, and then exits the vehicle as it parks itself. This could be exceptionally useful for parking in tight spaces.

Actually Smart Summon Coming to Vehicles Without USS

Smarter Summon on the other hand, is an update to the existing Smart Summon functionality that is currently available on cars that have ultrasonic sensors (USS). Actually Smart Summon is expected to bring that functionality to Vision-only cars as well.

In traditional Tesla fashion, Tesla is building upon what it already has. Tesla first released Summon, which allowed the vehicle to move only forward or backward in a straight line. Tesla then released Smart Summon which allowed the vehicle to move toward a target, navigating obstacles on the way, and soon we’ll have an even more capable version of Smart Summon.

Release Date

Musk has previously mentioned that upcoming updates to FSD V12, will have various focuses on improvements. V12.4 will focus on user comfort, while v12.5 will focus on more complex scenarios.

These next two major FSD versions will probably take us to the end of the year. Banish Autopark will probably be arriving closer to v12.4 as a comfort improvement, while Actually Smart Summon, which relies upon the ability to reverse, may arrive in FSD V12.5.

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Tesla Vehicles on 2024.8 Are Now Receiving FSD V12 With Update 2024.14.6

Tesla has finally issued an update that will give owners on Tesla update 2024.8.x access to FSD v12. Yesterday Tesla released update 2024.14.6, which includes FSD v12.3.6, the latest version of FSD. FSD v12 is also available on update 2024.14.5, however this release appears to have stopped going out. FSD v12.3.6 is the same version that FSD owners have with update 2024.3.25.

Updating to FSD v12

FSD v12 was previously based on branch 2024.3, and since Tesla doesn't allow vehicles to roll back in software versions, it meant that FSD v12 was only available to vehicles on update 2024.2 or older. This became an issue for vehicles already on update 2024.8.x, which included FSD v11.

FSD Trial

FSD v12 came with a free one-month trial which started going out last month, however, vehicles on 2024.8.x weren’t eligible for FSD v12 and therefore weren’t eligible for the free trial. With update 2024.14.6, these vehicles will finally be eligible for FSD v12 and should receive their one-month trial of the software.

Rollout

The rollout has just started, so in typical Tesla fashion, it'll slowly roll out to more and more vehicles. 2024.14.6 has so far only been released in the U.S. and appears to focus on getting users onto FSD v12. It's currently available to about 1% of the Tesla fleet. Keep a close eye on our 2024.14.6 rollout statistics page to see when new waves go out.

Vehicles Already on FSD v12

For vehicles already on FSD v12 with update 2024.3.25, they’re also eligible for this update, which won’t include any improvements to FSD, but it’ll include the vast amount of new features in update 2024.14, as well as the features that were on update 2024.8 that they’re skipping over.

These vehicles will receive access to 2024.8 features such as one-time charge limits, ultra-wideband phone key support for the new Model S and Model X, and various undocumented changes such as updated turn signal icons, new WiFi and Bluetooth menus and more.

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