Musk Livestreams FSD V12 Showcasing Massive Improvements [Video]

Musk shows off Tesla's FSD V12

Not a Tesla App

A Friday night cruise with Elon Musk has shown the world just how far Tesla’s Full Self-Driving has advanced and gave viewers a preview of real-world problems. To take a line from Rob Zombie, the latest iteration of FSD may be "More Human Than Human," which could be an issue.

"Nothing but net!" proclaimed Musk as he live-streamed to X.com, a video with more than 42 million views. The Tesla CEO referred to neural nets, the technology underpinning Version 12 of FSD. Tesla is removing 300,000-plus lines of code running the current FSD and is now relying on the car's neural networks to drive the car in V12.

Driving through Palo Alto, California, Musk, with Ashok Elluswamy, Tesla’s Director of Autopilot Software, sitting shotgun, picked random places for the Model S to drive to, and it did so smoothly and almost perfectly.

Technology Behind FSD

The test drive started with a construction zone, which was easily handled, but interestingly, at the end of the cones, the car wasn’t jerking over to find a lane immediately. Instead, like a confident human driver, it easily made its way to the lane with no oncoming traffic. We also watched as it effortlessly navigated speed bumps, roundabouts, pedestrians, bicyclists, and, of course - traffic.

For those who have had successful drives with FSD, you may be thinking, what's the big deal? Musk underscored that this version of FSD does not rely on hard-coded programming or a constant internet connection to function. All necessary inference occurs locally, a significant departure from previous versions.

“This is all nets, baby, nothing but net,” Musk exclaimed, emphasizing the vehicle’s dependency on machine learning rather than programmed instructions. The software operates at full frame rate, taking eight cameras at 36 frames per second to decide what to do. No line of code tells the car what to do at an intersection, on the highway or around other vehicles.

The software was impressive to watch, with its countless improvements over the current V11 version of FSD. Musk's vehicle kept a reasonable speed throughout the drive, even though Autopilot was set to a maximum speed of 85 mph.

When Musk reached his destination, the vehicle also automatically pulled over to the side of the road to park itself instead of just stopping in the middle of the road like it does today.

The Real-World, Real Person Challenge

Instead, Tesla has shown the car countless videos of real-world driving so that it will learn what to do in those situations. But that has caused a problem. As the car noticeably did not come to full stops, Musk explained the challenge posed by the fact that less than 0.5% of drivers come to a complete stop at stop signs.

This makes it incredibly difficult to program the vehicle with such sparse data on people obeying the law. This lack of data highlights Tesla's obstacles in training its AI systems to operate in real-world scenarios where human drivers frequently do not adhere to the rules.

Musk's FSD V12 Stream in 10 Minutes

Watch the highlights of Musk's 45-minute video stream below.

Regulatory Hurdles

This appeared in a few other instances where the car behaved like a confident driver, not endangering anyone but technically breaking the rules of the road. FSD suddenly went from the nervous teenager learning to drive to a good driver. But we know how the NHTSA feels about Tesla not following the rules.

In February, the watchdog issued a recall stating that Tesla was acting too human — I mean not following the rules. It cited FSD Beta software:

• Traveling or turning through certain intersections during a stale yellow traffic light;
• The perceived duration of the vehicle’s static position at certain intersections with a stop sign, particularly when the intersection is clear of any other road users;
• Adjusting vehicle speed while traveling through certain variable speed zones, based on detected speed limit signage and/or the vehicle’s speed offset setting that is adjusted by the driver.

Yes, I’m sure we all stop at every yellow light, come to a complete stop at every stop sign, and never go over the speed limit.

Kudos to Tesla and Musk for this real-world demonstration, and if there was any speculation that it was rigged, Musk did have to intervene at an advanced left-hand signal. This small glitch, Musk reassured, could be addressed with further training and data collection. There will be a lot of training announced Tesla’s commitment to invest $4 billion over the next two years in training computing, signaling the company's dedication to perfecting this groundbreaking technology.

Musk Shares What to Expect in FSD v12.4 Next Week; Talks About Abilities of FSD v12.5 and v12.6

Less than two weeks since its last FSD update, Tesla is getting ready to release FSD v12.4, with CEO Elon Musk hinting at significant improvements. The current version, 12.3.6, introduced Autopark and High Fidelity Park Assist for vehicles equipped with ultrasonic sensors in the U.S. and Canada, along with minor fixes for FSD.

Just an hour ago, Musk shed some light on Tesla's next FSD update. Through his X account, Musk teased the imminent release of v12.4, stating, "Probably start rolling out 12.4 next week." Moreover, he provided insights into the development process and the features users can expect in the upcoming 12.4 version, as well as v12.5 and v12.6.

What to Expect in FSD v12.4

Musk says that FSD 12.4 has extensive retraining of AI models that particularly focuses on refining the comfort of passengers by addressing concerns around abrupt acceleration or braking. Musk previously commented on the next versions of FSD saying that FSD v12.4 and 12.5 would be major improvements, and while v12.4 may be a major step forward, it looks like its main focus will be on being more natural and smoother.

"Probably start rolling out 12.4 next week."

FSD v12.5 and v12.6 to Handle More Complex Scenarios

Looking ahead, Tesla is already laying the groundwork for future updates according to Musk. The CEO previously stated that Tesla is constantly working on FSD updates that are three to six months ahead of what’s in production, so they have a good idea of what the software will be able to handle in the future.

Today on X, Musk said that there's ongoing testing for FSD versions 12.5 and 12.6, which involves tackling complex scenarios. Musk says this includes navigating narrow, one-way roads and handling unexpected road closures, requiring the vehicle to reverse and find alternate routes. 

Actually Smart Summon in v12.5?

Tesla’s Autopilot lead, Ashok Elluswamy, previously talked about how FSD would gain the ability to go in reverse when Tesla is ready to release Actually Smart Summon. If the ability to reverse is still tied to some of the abilities of Actually Smart Summon, then, it’s possible we may see Tesla’s better summon implementation in version 12.5 or 12.6.

Vehicles to be Able to Communicate with Fleet

Musk also gives us some insight into vehicle communication, saying vehicles will need to be able to communicate with the fleet so that you "don't get a whole bunch of Teslas stuck down a road."

Instead of vehicle-to-vehicle communication, Tesla will likely have vehicles report back to the "mothership," where Tesla can aggregate data and report it to nearby vehicles. This is similar to how vehicles report traffic today, instead of talking directly to each other.

Spending on AI

Tesla's commitment to advancing its AI capabilities is evident through its substantial investments. Musk recently emphasized the company's dedication to spending around $10 billion throughout 2024 on training and inference AI. Musk said that any company that isn’t spending billions on AI this year just won’t be able to compete.

Expansion of FSD 

Tesla appears ready to start the expansion of FSD, and it looks like China may be up first. Musk's recent visit to Beijing to discuss a potential FSD rollout and data sharing shows that Tesla is ready and serious about FSD's expansion.

While FSD's rollout in China appears promising, Musk remains cautiously optimistic about expanding into other markets. He believes that FSD v12 is ready for supervised FSD in left-hand drive (LHD) countries, while right-hand drive (RHD) markets like the UK and Australia may require additional time.

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An In-Depth Look at Tesla's New Music Player in Update 2024.14 [Photos & Video]

One of the exciting new features of Tesla update 2024.14 is the improved media player for the Model 3 and Model Y.

Tesla's media player has gone through some drastic changes over the years, but this appears to be the best revision yet.

The previous media player had four states... yes, four. It made for a confusing experience, even for owners who used the car every day.

The four states included:

• The "default" state included a small player closest to the driver with some of the most used buttons

• The second state was the enlarged view when you dragged up on the media player that revealed additional buttons such as shuffle and search

• There was also its minimized state, which placed the music player’s icon in the dock and led to confusion

• And lastly, if you had a music service open fully on the right part of the screen AND minimized the media player, then the player would hop over to the top of the larger music panel on the right.

It created for an inconsistent experience and all of the players had their downsides. There just wasn’t a solution that worked all of the time. Thankfully the new music player addresses most of these issues.

Tesla used to have a media player that ran along the bottom of the right part of the screen

What’s New

The first thing Tesla did was reduce the number of states essentially down to two. You have a regular media player and a minimized player. You don't have to drag up on the player to access the shuffle or search functions and you can’t “lose” the player by minimizing it to the dock anymore.

One-Tap Access to Shuffle, Repeat and Search

What Tesla did was move all of the crucial media functions from the previous larger player directly to the main player. This now gives you one-tap access to functions like shuffle, repeat, search, playback speed, audio levels, and search.

Not only were these functions hard to access before, but they were hidden underneath the player, making discovery for new owners difficult.

Improved Progress Bar

The progress bar on the previous player was difficult to see since it was just a slim line at the bottom of the player.

The new player has a thicker progress bar that separates the top portion of the player, which houses the album art, song title, and a couple of functions, and the bottom portion, which contains more controls. Tesla also added a circle to the progress bar, making it more obvious you can not only scrub through the media but also lets you easily see your current spot.

Accessing More Functions

More music player options open to the right

Since the larger media player was removed, so was some of the functionality that it included. All the important items were moved to the main media player such as audio settings and search, however, the other functionality such as access to Favorites, Sources, Recent Songs, and Next, was moved to the larger music app.

If you tap on the new music player, it’ll open up the current music app on the right side that includes music controls, as well as access to your favorites, music sources, upcoming songs and more.

This is also the only way to view the elapsed and remaining times for the current selection, which is useful for longer median such as audiobooks or podcasts.

New Minimized Player

Although the music player doesn't minimize to the dock, it does feature a minimalist version that docks to the bottom of the screen.

When you slide down on the audio player, it'll be reduced to a simple "one-line" player. It simply shows a music icon, the name of the title being played, and an arrow showing you the player can be made larger. There is no longer a gray music icon that appears in the dock when the player is in its “minimized” state.

The new music player no longer minimizes to the dock

Modern UI

The player itself also looks more modern, it now features a translucent background, instead of a solid color like before. The new background lets vehicle animations subtly shine through, a lot like the effects used on modern operating systems.

What Models Will Support It

According to Tesla’s social media post on X, the ‘Visual updates’ in update 2024.14 are limited to AMD Ryzen-based Model 3 and Model Y vehicles, meaning only vehicles manufactured after about 2022+. The exact timeline depends on your vehicle and region, but you can check to see which processor your vehicle includes by navigating to Controls > Software > Additional Vehicle Information.

New Player in Action [Video]

DominicBRNKMN shows off the new music player in action below.

Will We See Intel Atom Support?

The new music player isn’t doing anything crazy in this latest iteration. We believe we'll see this updated player come to Intel Atom vehicles eventually. The Cybertruck already includes the new media player, among the other design changes, so when Tesla said only for “Model 3/Y with AMD chip” on X, they likely meant in this specific update.

There's nothing that’s more computationally intensive about this new player except for maybe the translucent background, however, that’s already being done on Intel-based vehicles for some of the navigation modules. There isn’t anything new that the slower Intel processor couldn't handle.

It’s in Tesla’s best interest to keep a common interface between vehicles. Tesla wouldn't want to drastically change the way a common item like the "radio" works between different Model 3 and Model Y years if they didn't have to. That would complicate issues with service and documentation. Tesla wants owners to have the same UI as much as possible, so we there’s a good chance that we’ll see the new media player apply to Intel in the future.

Hopefully, in an upcoming update, Intel owners will receive this streamlined music player. Update 2024.14 is currently rolling out slowly to some vehicles. 

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