Tesla Releases FSD Beta 12.2.1 Update [Update: Now Going Out to Customers]

FSD 12.2.1 goes to employees

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Tesla's journey towards fully autonomous driving takes another cautious step forward with the release of Full Self-Driving (FSD) Beta version 12.2.1, currently rolling out exclusively to Tesla employees. This latest iteration arrives amidst the backdrop of Tesla's recent earnings call, where the spotlight was on FSD Beta v12's limited release to select customers. However, the exclusivity is to a very limited set of public testers, with many OG testers still waiting to receive any of the v12 releases. It arrives as update 2023.44.30.20 which remains on Tesla’s 2023 holiday update code base, instead of being based on Tesla’s newer 2024.2 updates.

Focused on Fine-Tuning

Through incremental updates, the progression from version 12 to 12.2.1 has been watched on a few Tesla social media accounts. Notably, @WholeMarsCatalog was one of those select customers with access to version 12.1.2. But he doesn’t have the latest version yet.

Fisherman's Wharf to SFO in the Rain with 0 Interventions Required on Tesla Full Self-Driving Beta 12.1.2

Watch in 4K: https://t.co/LwC61XQfmK
Raw 1x speed footage: https://t.co/4Oxcq5LPwf

Highlights
0:01 — Left turn onto Jefferson Street in Fisherman's Wharf
0:52 — Passing… pic.twitter.com/ldDyOwSaz1

— Whole Mars Catalog (@WholeMarsBlog) February 18, 2024

But the small iterations signal Tesla's current emphasis on ironing out the intricacies rather than overhauling features. This could suggest Tesla is nearing a version it feels confident to release more broadly. Each small refinement brings us closer to what many hope will be a future of roads populated by fully autonomous vehicles.

Reality Check on Full Autonomy

Despite the excitement surrounding each FSD Beta release, Tesla hacker Green's insights offer a grounded perspective. According to Green, the expectations of FSD v12 being "fully" end-to-end might be overstated. His analysis, shared via X, points out that while showing significant improvements, recent versions still do not fulfill the lofty expectations of complete autonomy from camera to car controls.

Lots of hype - that's for sure.
Beyond hype? I suspect not much, not like it's going to enable L3, let alone L4.

— green (@greentheonly) February 16, 2024

This revelation tempers expectations, reminding us of the complex road ahead in achieving full self-driving capabilities. Even Elon’s brother, Kimbal, recently stated that fully autonomous driving is five years out. George Hotz, a renowned hacker and someone following autonomous driving technology closely, recently stated that FSD is more than a decade away.

Navigating the Path to Autonomy

The diverging opinions of industry insiders and technology enthusiasts highlight the inherent challenges of achieving full autonomy. While Tesla's approach of incremental improvements through versions like 12.2.1 demonstrates progress, it also underscores the complexity of the task at hand. The insights from figures like Green and observations from the broader tech community serve as a reality check, aligning expectations with the current state of autonomous driving technology.

The speculation around the timeline for achieving full autonomy varies widely and is certainly not in “two weeks.” However, Tesla's ongoing efforts to improve FSD Beta and its strategic approach to development and deployment keep Elon’s dream of fully autonomous driving alive.

Customer Rollout

Update: This FSD Beta update is now going out to customers. It looks like Tesla isn’t following its traditional release wave with the OG testers getting the release first, and is instead sending it to a variety of Tesla customers.

You must be on a holiday update release such as 2023.44.30.14 to be eligible to receive this update. If you’re currently on a 2024.2 update, you’ll need to wait until Tesla updates FSD Beta to be based on a 2024.2 or later update.

The only changes in this update will be related to FSD Beta, unless you haven’t received 2023.44.30.14 yet, then it will also include the indicator light changes.

If you’ve bought or subscribed to FSD, then check your vehicle and see if you’re one of the lucky few to receive this update. Follow the rollout of this v12 release on our statistics page.

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Tesla’s Optimus Robot Learns to Walk Without Vision [VIDEO]

Optimus Falls - but catches itself!

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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.

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

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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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