Tesla has released FSD Beta 11.4.1 update to employees, featuring significant architectural improvements that Elon Musk says should arguably qualify it as version 12.0. This update is more than just bug fixes. It contians new release notes, which likely build on top of the features from FSD Beta 11.4 version, which never made it beyond employee testing. In includes many enhancements that should make driving smoother and safer than ever.
Enhanced Control and Smoothness in Driving
The FSD Beta 11.4.1 update offers improved control through turns and overall smoothness by refining various aspects of lanes, lines, road edges, and restricted spaces. This results in a significant boost in the perception of lanes in city streets, forks, merges, and turns, thanks to an expanded and cleaner training set and an updated lane guidance module.
Boosted Perception and Detection Capabilities
With the addition of lane-guidance inputs to the Occupancy Network, the update delivers improved detections of long-range roadway features, reducing false negative median detections by 16%. Additionally, the update enhances motorbike recall by 8% and vehicle detection precision, making the system more robust against variances in vision frame rate.
Assertiveness and Lane Management Improvements
The FSD Beta 11.4.1 update showcases improvements in Tesla's assertiveness when dealing with crossing pedestrians, allowing the vehicle to cross safely before the pedestrian when possible. In addition, interventions caused by other cars cutting into the Tesla's lane have been reduced by 43% thanks to a new framework that anticipates such actions and proactively adjusts the car's position.
Speculating on the Release Date for Public Testers
The release date for FSD Beta 11.4.1 to public testers remains uncertain. Since version 11.4 has been in testing with some employees for three weeks, and 11.4.1 is a revision, we could see the update roll out to select public testers within the next few days. However, Tesla could also wait for another revision before releasing it more widely, depending on the success of the current testing phase. It's also unlikely this version will be given out as a one-month free trial.
An Unusual Version Number in Tesla's Update History
The choice of version number for the FSD Beta 11.4.1 is peculiar, but it isn't the first time Tesla has used unconventional version numbers this year. It remains unclear whether this update includes any features beyond those in the 2023.6 branch. Other unusual releases include 2022.45, 2023.2, and 2023.6, which deviate from Tesla's typical version naming.
Additional Features in FSD Beta 11.4.1
Even if FSD Beta 11.4.1 only includes features from the 2023.6 update, it will still be a significant upgrade for current testers on the 2022.45 FSD branch who are missing features from the 2023.2 and 2023.6 updates. Some notable features introduced in these updates include Sentry Mode Lighting improvements, improvements to Apple Music and more.
This FSD Beta update is also expected to include features from Beta 11.4, which includes enhanced navigation planning, improved vehicle handling in challenging weather conditions, better speed control in parking lots and during lane changes.
Tesla's FSD Beta 11.4.1 represents an exciting expansion of the features introduced in version 11.4 and subsequent updates. With major architectural improvements, enhanced control and smoothness, advanced perception and detection capabilities, and additional features from updates 2023.2 and 2023.6, this upgrade promises a significant step forward in Tesla's Full Self-Driving technology.
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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.
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.
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
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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