The greatly anticipated FSD v12.4 is around the corner, with Elon Musk mentioning that it will be going to employees this weekend, with limited external testers next week.
Several significant improvements are coming with V12.4, which is being compared to the leap in performance that was previously seen between V12 and V11.
Improved Comfort and Reduced Interventions
There are quite a few improvements expected with V12.4, which Musk has said will be focused on user comfort by reducing hard accelerations and sudden braking. According to Musk, FSD v12.4 is also expected to have a 5-10x improvement in time between user interventions, which means that Tesla is rapidly approaching its goal for the Robotaxi announcement on August 8, 2024.
Steering Wheel Nag Removal
FSD V12.4 is expected to eliminate the steering wheel nag, as Musk confirmed its removal last week. The camera-based driver monitoring system will be taking over, providing a hands-free experience. These improvements will most likely benefit owners who have cabin cameras with infrared lights the most, while Tesla may continue to use steering wheel nag as a fallback mechanism.
Driverless Autopark
The second key feature that may be included in v12.4 will be Banish Autopark, previously known as Reverse Summon, allowing you to choose a parking spot, exit the vehicle and have the car park itself. Whether this feature makes it in v12.4 is yet to be seen, but Musk has mentioned that parking without a driver is coming soon.
Automatically Seek Parking Spot at Destination
Finally, your Tesla will now traverse a parking lot and automatically enter Autopark mode when arriving at a destination, according to a post from Musk.
Hand Gestures
There have been various videos posted recently where FSD appears to respond to hand gestures. Musk has said that he “wouldn’t count on this” with the current FSD version, but according to a Tesla employee, it will be included in an FSD update next month.
Eligibility and Branch
Tesla recently added FSD v12.3.6 to the 2024.14 branch with updates 2024.14.5 and 2024.14.6. This makes it very likely that Tesla’s next FSD version will also be based on 2024.14, meaning that it will be available to any vehicle on 2024.14.x.
For users on update 2024.3.25, this means that they’ll receive all of the features included in updates 2024.8 and 2024.14, which should make it a massive update.
Release Date
Musk has mentioned that FSD V12.4 is going out to employee vehicles for internal testing this weekend, with external testing starting next week. The rollouts typically go slower than predicted but looks like we may see this begin shipping to customers by the end of the month.
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Tesla has begun to reach out to customers in the United States and is offering demo drives of the Cybertruck on an invite-only basis. @brandonhd on X shared the first invite image, and it looks like it's going out quite quickly to multiple locations that have Cybertrucks on display.
Up until now, display vehicles have been for just that – looking, but no touching. Some Tesla delivery centers and showrooms have also allowed viewers to take a seat inside and open it up, but most are still locked away behind the velvet rope.
It’s exciting to see that Tesla has begun to demo them – and it can only be so long until demo drives open up to everyone.
Advisor-led Demo
This Demo Drive is led by a Tesla Advisor – while you’re driving, the advisor will be in the passenger seat, walking you through the experience. They’ll explain steer-by-wire, off-road controls, and will introduce new-to-Tesla buyers to all the features that are currently available.
The list of locations so far for demo drives appears to be fairly limited, but we will hopefully see demo drives roll out throughout the United States, and eventually Canada too. Here is the current list of city/state locations that have seen demo drive invites.
Actually Smart Summon, the successor to Tesla’s Smart Summon feature, has been confirmed to be coming as soon as next month as per Elon Musk. Colloquially known as “ASS”, Actually Smart Summon is supposed to improve on the regular Smart Summon capabilities, which have historically used ultrasonic sensors (USS) to navigate parking lots.
We’re looking forward to Actually Smart Summon, and we’re quite excited about what other features will be unlocked once it finally shows up at our doorstep.
Vision-based Improvements
ASS is supposed to bring Smart Summon to vehicles that don’t have USS – using Tesla Vision. Most recently, Tesla has brought Autopark to vehicles without USS, and Vision-based Autopark has been a huge success. It is faster, more reliable, and smoother than the older USS-based solution. It can also park and maneuver in tighter locations.
Today, Smart Summon is sometimes useful at best, usually a party trick, or downright dangerous at worst. It’s excellent and best used in straight lines, where you have a clear line of sight of the vehicle, and can stop it if doesn’t see an obstacle.
I used Smart Summon today, just before writing this article – my 2022 Model Y (with USS) – did manage to show up just fine – in a straight-line location from where I was parked, after exiting the parking spot fairly cleanly. However, I’ve previously used Smart Summon and have had the vehicle turn towards obstacles, such as cart returns or curbs. Overall, it’s a sometimes-useful feature that has a lot of drawbacks right now.
Smart Summon is also restricted to a certain distance – and it's pretty small. The max distance is shorter than most parking lots, being only about 215 ft (65m). If you’re lucky enough to park close, it's very useful to bring your car right to you.
Actually Smart Summon
ASS will bring FSD V12-like capabilities to Smart Summon – the vehicle will primarily use Vision to drive toward you (or the location you’ve indicated). ASS has been supposed to be coming since about September 2022 and has seen many delays – we’re almost at the 2-year point today.
We’re looking forward to Actually Smart Summon being able to bring the vehicle – safely – right to you. ASS is also one of the key steps towards bringing some other cool features that Elon Musk has previously mentioned – Park Seek and Banish Autopark.
We’re also hopeful that Actually Smart Summon will increase the maximum range a vehicle can be summoned, because the current range is fairly small. Alongside Park Seek and Banish Autopark, we’re closing in on a Robotaxi-based future.
Park Seek and Banish Autopark
When the FSD v12.4 showed up, Elon also mentioned that going forward, vehicles would automatically park themselves when arriving in a parking lot – Park Seek – and that if you got out of the car at the entrance to a business, you could get it to automatically park itself in the parking lot – Banish Autopark. These are two features that are needed for Robotaxi to work – which itself is delayed to October 10th of this year. We’re looking quite forward to them – as in combination with Actually Smart Summon, Tesla has reached the cusp of vehicle autonomy.
A vehicle that arrives, driverless, at the location you’re at, then drives somewhere, parks itself there, and waits for you – is the definition of a Robotaxi.
While we’re likely to have to wait for Banish Autopark and Park Seek just a bit longer, Actually Smart Summon being around the corner is exciting! Gone will be the days of having to run out to your car when you forgot your umbrella – your car will just come right to you instead.
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