Back then, all we knew was that the new feature was coming soon, and we’d be able to make unique profiles per trailer to better track range, consumption, and trailer mileage. However, now that the feature has been released, we have our first look at what Tesla has put together.
Trailer Profiles
The new Trailer Profiles feature is available in the Towing & Hauling menu on the Cybertruck. However, it’s expected to arrive in other vehicles later this year.
Within the new menu, you’re able to create new trailer profiles, keep track of several unique values, and also adjust trailer-based settings. For now, you can have up to 20 unique trailers, which will enable you to build profiles for both loaded and unloaded variants of whatever you’re towing.
New trailer profiles on the towing & hauling tab in Cybertruck with this new update
While Trailer Profiles is currently exclusive to the Cybertruck, we expect other models that are capable of towing to receive the feature as well. Tesla typically likes to release features in smaller batches and limit their release. Sometimes this is done regionally, while other times, it’s done by model. Tesla has tried other ways to limit a feature, but these are typically the methods used. Future support should include the Model S, Model X and Model Y.
Trailer Setup
BLKMDL3 / X
You can set the following settings when setting up a new trailer:
Trailer Name: Name your trailer just like you would your vehicle or your Tesla profile. This will make it easier when you want to switch to that profile later.
Type: You can select between an open or enclosed trailer variant here to help the system adjust for range estimation better.
Trailer Mass: You can put in the weight of the trailer. This value can also be adjusted later on, so you can update it on the fly.
Dimensions: You can put in the dimensions of your trailer. For now, this appears to be locked to the imperial measurement system, but we’re sure metric support will be available soon.
Mileage: Finally, you can add in the mileage of your trailer as the starting mileage, if you know it. This value will also adjust automatically as you tow the trailer, so there’s no need to manually update it in the future. This feature, along with better range estimations, are probably the two biggest reasons to use Trailer Profiles. You’ll now have a better idea of when to check your trailer’s tires and brakes based on mileage.
Settings Menu
A batch of trailer-towing-specific settings is also available in the Towing and Hauling Menu, enabling you to fine-tune your trailer tow setup. These are saved per trailer profile, so you can quickly get going once you select your trailer.
Trailer Brake Gain: This is a sliding scale between 1 to 10 that calibrates the overall degree of braking applied. 0 applies no brakes, whereas 10 applies the full brakes.
Trailer Brake Boost: The brake boost option increases the reaction speed of the trailer brakes. By default, Tesla recommends the Low option, as braking will become much more harsh at the higher settings.
Adaptive Regenerative Braking: At the start of the drive, your vehicle will automatically estimate the total load being towed to calibrate the proper level of regenerative braking. Regenerative braking starts at a “standard” level and increases as the vehicle learns the trailer’s weight and cargo.
Trailer Auxiliary Power: Enables or disables auxiliary power to your trailer and its accessories.
Right Scroll Wheel Trailer Brake: Enabling this allows you to tilt the right scroll wheel to the right, which will trigger the trailer brake. This disables the follow distance control for TACC.
Trailer Alarm: Cybertruck can extend its coverage of Sentry Mode to the trailer hitch - if the trailer is disconnected, the alarm will sound, and you will be notified.
Profile-Derived Improvements
Tesla’s new Trailer Profiles allow your vehicle to make better predictions of its energy usage. This will also let your in-vehicle navigation adapt to charging stations, better predicting when you need to stop and for how long. Plus, while you have tow mode engaged, your vehicle will automatically prioritize trailer-friendly Superchargers.
For anyone who tows, this will greatly help when towing, especially over longer drives. As your vehicle adjusts to your trailer’s energy usage the accuracy of the feature will continue to improve.
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With Tesla’s first major expansion of the Robotaxi Geofence now complete and operational, they’ve been hard at work with validation in new locations - and some are quite the drive from the current Austin Geofence.
Validation fleet vehicles have been spotted operating in a wider perimeter around the city, from rural roads in the west end to the more complex area closer to the airport. Tesla mentioned during their earnings call that the Robotaxi has already completed 7,000 miles in Austin, and it will expand its area of operation to roughly 10 times what it is now. This lines up with the validation vehicles we’ve been tracking around Austin.
Based on the spread of the new sightings, the potential next geofence could cover a staggering 450 square miles - a tenfold increase from the current service area of roughly 42 square miles. You can check this out in our map below with the sightings we’re tracking.
If Tesla decides to expand into these new areas, it would represent a tenfold increase over their current geofence, matching Tesla’s statement. The new area would cover approximately 10% of the 4,500-square-mile Austin metropolitan area. If Tesla can offer Robotaxi services in that entire area, it would prove they can tackle just about any city in the United States.
From Urban Core to Rural Roads
The locations of the validation vehicles show a clear intent to move beyond the initial urban and suburban core and prepare the Robotaxi service for a much wider range of uses.
In the west, validation fleet vehicles have been spotted as far as Marble Falls - a much more rural environment that features different road types, higher speed limits, and potentially different challenges.
In the south, Tesla has been expanding towards Kyle, which is part of the growing Austin-San Antonio suburban corridor spanning Highway 35. San Antonio is only 80 miles (roughly a 90-minute drive) away, and could easily become part of the existing Robotaxi area if Tesla obtains regulatory approval there.
In the East, we haven’t spotted any new validation vehicles. This is likely because Tesla’s validation vehicles originate from Giga Texas, which is located East of Austin. We won’t really know if Tesla is expanding in this direction until they start pushing past Giga Texas and toward Houston.
Finally, there have been some validation vehicles spotted just North of the new expanded boundaries, meaning that Tesla isn’t done in that direction either. This direction consists of the largest suburban areas of Austin, which have so far not been serviced by any form of autonomous vehicle.
Rapid Scaling
This new, widespread validation effort confirms what we already know. Tesla is pushing for an intensive period of public data gathering and system testing in a new area, right before conducting geofence expansions. The sheer scale of this new validation zone tells us that Tesla isn’t taking this slowly - the next step is going to be a great leap instead, and they essentially confirmed this during this Q&A session on the recent call. The goal is clearly to bring the entire Austin Metropolitan area into the Robotaxi Network.
While the previous expansion showed off just how Tesla can scale the network, this new phase of validation testing is a demonstration of just how fast they can validate and expand their network. The move to validate across rural, suburban, and urban areas simultaneously shows their confidence in these new Robotaxi FSD builds.
Eventually, all these improvements from Robotaxi will make their way to customer FSD builds sometime in Q3 2025, so there is a lot to look forward to.
For years, the progress of Tesla’s FSD has been measured by smoother turns, better lane centering, and more confident unprotected left turns. But as the system matures, a new, more subtle form of intelligence is emerging - one that shifts its attention to the human nuances of navigating roads. A new video posted to X shows the most recent FSD build, V13.2.9, demonstrating this in a remarkable real-world scenario.
Toll Booth Magic
In the video, a Model Y running FSD pulls up to a toll booth and smoothly comes to a stop, allowing the driver to handle payment. The car waits patiently as the driver interacts with the attendant. Then, at the precise moment the toll booth operator finishes the transaction and says “Have a great day”, the vehicle starts moving, proceeding through the booth - all without any input from the driver.
If you notice, there’s no gate here at this toll booth. This interaction all happened naturally with FSD.
While the timing was perfect, the FSD wasn’t listening to the conversation for clues (maybe one day, with Grok?) The reality, as explained by Ashok Elluswamy, Tesla’s VP of AI, is even more impressive.
It can see the transaction happening using the repeater & pillar cameras. Hence FSD proceeds on its own when the transaction is complete 😎
FSD is simply using the cameras on the side of the vehicle to watch the exchange between the driver and attendant. The neural network has been trained on enough data that it can visually recognize the conclusion of a transaction - the exchange of money or a card and the hands pulling away - and understands that this is the trigger to proceed.
The Bigger Picture
This capability is far more significant than just a simple party trick. FSD is gaining the ability to perceive and navigate a world built for humans in the most human-like fashion possible.
If FSD can learn what a completed toll transaction looks like, it’s an example of the countless other complex scenarios it’ll be able to handle in the future. This same visual understanding could be applied to navigating a fast-food drive-thru, interacting with a parking garage attendant, passing through a security checkpoint, or boarding a ferry or vehicle train — all things we thought that would come much later.
These human-focused interactions will eventually become even more useful, as FSD becomes ever more confident in responding to humans on the road, like when a police officer tells a vehicle to go a certain direction, or a construction worker flags you through a site. These are real-world events that happen every day, and it isn’t surprising to see FSD picking up on the subtleties and nuances of human interaction.
This isn’t a pre-programmed feature for a specific toll booth. It is an emergent capability of the end-to-end AI neural nets. By learning from millions of videos across billions of miles, FSD is beginning to build a true contextual understanding of the world. The best part - with a 10x context increase on its way, this understanding will grow rapidly and become far more powerful.
These small, subtle moments of intelligence are the necessary steps to a truly robust autonomous system that can handle the messy, unpredictable nature of human society.
