Tesla FSD V12.5.5 Adds End-to-End Highway Stack; Tesla Teases Upcoming Features

September 30, 2024

By Karan Singh

Not a Tesla App

Tesla has launched FSD V12.5.5 with update 2024.32.20, which has just hit early access testers. This update includes several new things, including the new end-to-end highway stack and bringing FSD to the Cybertruck for the first time. Tesla also outlined additional features to expect in future revisions of FSD.

The End-to-End part of the stack means that rather than hand-coding all the decision-making directly into FSD, Tesla now relies upon AI, trained upon hundreds of thousands of hours of footage gathered by its fleet, to make decisions.

This is key to rapid improvements and will help to bring Unsupervised FSD – and Robotaxi – to realization. We’re especially excited to see these improvements with the Robotaxi event just around the corner.

End-to-End Highway Stack

FSD V12 brought the End-to-End stack to City Streets, and the Highway Stack was still running FSD V11. With this update, end-to-end AI will now be used on the highway, which should be a considerable improvement.

When End-to-End was introduced on city streets, it brought some drastic improvements in how FSD was handled between V11.4.9 and V12.3.6. There’s likely going to be a similar level of improvement between FSD V12.5.4 on the highway and FSD V12.5.5 on the highway.

As of today, FSD still tends to sit in the left lane, Auto-Speed doesn’t function on the highway, and the speed limit can change drastically where it's incorrectly mapped.

With the end-to-end highway stack, we could see FSD correctly use the left lane to overtake vehicles and then come back into the middle or right lane, as required. In addition, we could see Tesla add Auto-Speed functionality for the highway so that the vehicle is able to more fluidly respond to changes in traffic and speed more naturally.

Upcoming Improvements

In the release notes for FSD 12.5.5, Tesla also updated the list of features coming in future FSD versions, some of which Tesla hadn’t previously discussed or mentioned in the FSD Roadmap. In Tesla’s release notes, they specifically mention these upcoming improvements:

Earlier and more natural lane change decisions
Improved performanec in parking lots
Improved performance at intersections and stops
Introduction of Speed Profile

Earlier and More Natural Lane Changes

First off, Tesla mentions earlier and more natural lane change decisions. We’ve seen this one pop up before, and it's definitely a pain point for Tesla. Even today on FSD V12.5.4, FSD will still sometimes make lane change decisions within less than 200 feet of a turn, moving you from the far right to the left turning lane in a short space.

Addressing this will greatly help how smooth FSD will feel.

Improved Performance in Parking Lots

Tesla also mentions improved parking lot performance as coming soon. This particular enhancement to FSD will likely help improve Actually Smart Summon so that it can expand beyond FSD-specific updates and become available to more users. This will allow users with Enhanced Autopilot and owners outside of North America to gain access to Actually Smart Summon for the first time. Currently, Actually Smart Summon is available to users in North America with 2024.27.25.

In addition, we’re expecting Banish – also known as Reverse Summon – to rely upon these improvements. Banish will allow your vehicle to drop you off at an entrance to a location, and then find a parking stall, and park itself. This is going to be another key item for Robotaxi and Unsupervised FSD and is one of the items we’re the most excited about.

Improved Performance at Intersections and Stops

FSD V12.5 brought along some oddities regarding intersections. Owners have been reporting FSD stopping for green lights or double braking on stop signs. This feature is likely to target some of these existing issues.

While FSD V12.5 also brought pretty drastic improvements for roundabouts, there are still some issues with signalling and lane selection in multi-lane roundabouts, so maybe they’ll address those here as well. This is a pretty broad category, so we can only imagine what they’ll be doing here.

Introduction of Speed Profile

We previously reported that Elon Musk wanted to add a new FSD drive mode. It appears that FSD’s Assertive Mode will become “Hurry Mode.” However, based on the release notes, Tesla seems to imply that it may not be called Hurry Mode but instead Speed Mode. This mode will likely be an option that tells FSD to go a bit faster and also become more aggressive with overtaking – something that has become more common and much smoother with FSD V12.5. This is going to be an interesting addition or change, and we’ll be sure to dig into it more in the future when it becomes available.

Release Date

Tesla’s Autopilot director Ashok Elluswamy posted on X that while the Cybertruck is receiving FSD 12.5.5 with the end-to-end highway stack, don’t expect it to roll out to other vehicles immediately. Tesla prioritized getting this out for the Cybertruck and they’re still working on getting the highway stack ready for other vehicles. Ashok said that he expects Tesla to have an internal build ready in about a week or so. With Tesla’s robotaxi event just 10 days out, it sounds like this won’t arrive on customer vehicles until after the event.

Great job by the @Tesla_AI team on meeting the goals laid out for September🤩

End-to-end on the highway is first shipping to Cybertrucks. We are close to an early release build for remaining platforms and will release to internal employees in the next week or so.
— Ashok Elluswamy (@aelluswamy) September 30, 2024

Tesla's Robotaxi Event - We, Robot - Everything Announced

October 11, 2024

By Karan Singh

Sawyer Merrit on X

Did you miss Tesla’s biggest event since its inception? No worries, we have you covered.

We’ve got a straightforward and easy-to-digest recap below, split and organized by sections. Of course, we’ll dive into some of the bigger subjects in detail over the upcoming days, so stay tuned!

Event Info

Tesla’s We, Robot event was centered on the future of autonomy
5 “neighbourhoods” were created
Westworld offered Texas BBQ and the stage for the event
Metropolis had arcade games, and the ability to take a swing at Cybertruck
TSLA Theater had pizza and desserts, as well as a movie on a gigantic screen
New York brought a block party with live music and street performers, as well as street snacks
Finally, the last area was Merch – which, surprise – offered Tesla Merch, including gear, apparel, posters, and more
Elon Musk arrived in style in a Robotaxi to kick off the event

Master Plan Part 4 Reference Poster

Jowua on X

General/Master Plan Part 4

The event made multiple references to Master Plan Part 4, but we haven’t seen the official document yet
Today’s transportation infrastructure is too expensive, not safe, and not sustainable
10 hours a week of use of consumer vehicles out of 168 hours a week
Unsupervised Full Self Driving – Fall asleep and wake up at your destination
Increased free time for humans
Goal is to remove parking lots, as less will be needed in the future of autonomous vehicles
Create green space in the cities we live in

AI Poster

Jowua on X

Robotaxi/Cybercab

Not a Tesla App

The Cybercab has 2 doors, 2 seats, and is a 4-wheeler, as expected
It has a front and rear lightbar, similar to Cybertruck
Painted aluminum (not stainless steel)
No rear or top glass
No steering wheel or pedals
Butterfly doors
Large center screen
Has large, hatch-like trunk
20 vehicles produced and ready at the event, with 30 additional Model Ys
Autonomous vehicles will be 10x safer than humans
Low cost for autonomous transit; $1/mi for buses, Cybercab around $0.2/mi ($0.4 after taxes and fees)
Will be available for purchase
Will cost below $30,000 USD
One person will be able to take care of a small fleet easily
Cybercab production begins before 2027
Comes with inductive charging
Tesla Social Media mentioned Fleet Management software
Tesla showed off an automated cleaning system in the video, vacuuming the vehicle, wiping the seats and screens
CyberCab will still be Vision-only, no need for radar or LiDAR
Call it once, and its available for you all day, for either quick trips or long trips

Elon Musk Poster

Sawyer Merrit on X

RoboVan

Tesla showed off a fully autonomous RoboVan with no front window
Up to 20 people or can be set up for goods transport
RoboVan has a Cyber aesthetic as well
Large glass sliding doors
Tesla seems to be going all-in on this aesthetic for its future vehicles
RoboVan can be adapted to school bus or RV use
RoboVan can also be adapted for personal use – this suggests it could be outfitted with a steering wheel and pedals

The CyberVan arriving

Not a Tesla App

AI and Hardware

Unsupervised FSD in Texas and California in 2025, with Model 3 and Model Y
Unsupervised FSD for S, X, and CT in the future
AI has lived “a million lives” so it’s been trained on numerous odd situations
Always pays attention and is always fully aware of its surroundings
10-30x safer than humans
Focus on Tesla Vision – full autonomy, unsupervised for S, 3, X, Y, and CT
Cybercab will have AI5, will have oversized compute compared to what’s required according to Musk
Distributed inference compute brought up again
No news on inductive charging for other vehicles

The Optimus Poster

Jowua on X

Optimus

Optimus was brought out on stage again, walked with remote human assistance
Attendees were allowed to interact with Optimus robots
Optimus robots served drinks at the bar
Expected to cost $20K-$30K USD
Will eventually be an autonomous robotic assistant that can help with household tasks
It can also be a humanoid friend, teacher, babysitter, etc.
Elon mentioned the risks of AI Super Intelligence, and having to address it
At the event, people could talk and interact with the Optimus units on the ground. Optimus movements were remotely assisted by humans. The robots voices also appear to have be humans that were in a remote location.
Guests were not allowed to touch the Optimus units in the crowd

Another poster referencing Master Plan IV.

Jowua on X

If you missed the event, you can watch it below.

Tesla 'We, Robot' Robotaxi Event: How and Where to Watch [Updated]

October 10, 2024

By Karan Singh

Not a Tesla App

Tesla’s Robotaxi event is coming up later today, and there’s lots of hype. It’s absolutely going to be a must-see event, so we’ve outlined how you can watch it tonight.

We’re even running a Robotaxi Event Prediction Contest – so go sign up to win some prizes from our fantastic sponsors.

If you weren’t one of the lucky lottery winners who managed to snag a ticket, there are a few ways to watch the Robotaxi event.

When

Tesla says the event will start at 10 PM EST or 7 PM PST. However, expect it to start fashionably late as usual. The agenda Tesla has provided is below.

Watch Live

The event is expected to be available on X, YouTube, and Tesla’s website. The links for X and YouTube are below. We’ll update this as the day goes along and Tesla adds additional sources.

Watch the Robotaxi event live on X.
Watch on YouTube (below)

Agenda

This is the agenda Tesla has provided. All times are PST.

3:00 PM: Parking Lot Opens

5:00 PM: Doors Open

5:30 PM: Check-In Begins

7:00 PM: Remarks

Watch in Tesla Showrooms

Tesla is also running events at its local showrooms worldwide. Many of these pop-up events have been organized by the Tesla showrooms or in conjunction with local Tesla Owner’s Club groups.

You can go to Tesla’s Events Page here and see if there are any showrooms open in your region. These events are in-person, and a good way to hang out with local Tesla fans and owners to watch one of the biggest events in Tesla’s history. If you don’t see an event listed, try calling your local Tesla showroom or contacting your local Owner’s Club. Other events may be running locally that you could attend.