Tesla’s Safety Score is used to help determine an owner’s insurance premiums under Tesla Insurance. It attempts to evaluate how safely the vehicle is driven by taking into account several metrics such as harsh braking, turning too fast, and speeding.
Tesla has continuously improved its Safety Score program by adding new metrics or improving existing ones. Tesla is notably transparent about the specific factors that contribute to your Safety Score and, by extension, how insurance premiums are calculated.
With the launch of Safety Score V2.2, Tesla has introduced updates to how Excessive Speeding is factored into your score and removed the controversial Forward Collision Warnings (FCW).
While excessive speeding has been part of the scoring system since March 2024, it has primarily contributed to Tesla’s internal calculations for premium generation. The latest version improves how Tesla determines speeding and its weight into the Safety Score.
Improved Excessive Speeding
The latest version of Safety Score now measures Excessive Speeding as a proportion of the time you spend driving over 85 mph, or when you’re speeding relative to the vehicles in front of you.
This could affect how your score is impacted while overtaking slower drivers—we’ll have to wait and see how this plays out for Tesla Insurance users, and whether rates will rise, fall, or stay steady in the coming months.
Forward Collision Warning
While Tesla didn’t call out changes to Forward Collision Warnings in its Safety Score v2.2 update, it appears that Tesla is no longer using FCWs as a metric in Safety Score, at least in some regions.
Tesla’s Forward Collision Warnings are a helpful feature in Tesla vehicles since they can alert drivers when a vehicle stops suddenly in front of them. However, they can sometimes have false positives, which isn’t a huge deal… unless they’re affecting your insurance premium. While FCWs have been included in Tesla’s Safety Score since its inception, it has often been a controversial metric due to false positives.
With the release of Safety Score v2.2, Tesla has now removed FCWs as part of the Safety Score, and drivers will no longer be penalized when a vehicle stops suddenly in front of them. However, Unsafe Following, an existing Safety Score metric that is defined as “proportion of following time spent at an unsafe following distance,” is still a part of Tesla’s Safety Score.
According to Tesla, this update is designed to offer a more accurate reflection of future collision risk, using insights from over 23 billion miles of real-world driving data. New Safety Scores will begin to reflect these changes as the update rolls out. However, any impact on premiums won’t take effect until next month—so your current premium is safe for now.
It’s worth noting that in California, Safety Score doesn’t affect your insurance rate at all. In those cases, Tesla includes it strictly for educational purposes. But in states where it does apply, it will directly influence what you pay.
Due to constant improvements involving real-world data and billions of miles, Tesla’s Safety Score is a unique and fairly accurate way of assessing safe driving. Unlike traditional insurers—some of which rely on basic smartphone acceleration data—Tesla is able to calculate your score based on nuanced, vehicle-level data and real-time driving conditions. While it isn’t perfect, it gives a clear edge in measuring how you actually drive.
We’re still hoping to see Tesla Insurance expand to more states. Progress has slowed recently, even after the company brought on a former GEICO executive whose main mission is to broaden the program’s reach.
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With the launch of Tesla’s Robotaxi Network, we didn't just get a peek into the future of transportation—we got a detailed look at the next version of FSD.
Videos from early access riders revealed some additional capabilities over current public FSD builds, showing off how it handles emergency vehicles and more.
Safety First for First Responders
One of the biggest changes in FSD’s capabilities is its improved handling of emergency vehicles. During a ride in Austin, Robotaxi is seen identifying an approaching ambulance using a combination of visual and audio data, activating its turn signal, and smoothly pulling over to the side of the road to let the ambulance by (video below).
This is a driving task that requires more than simple awareness of laws. It requires reasoning skills to determine where to move the vehicle to create a safe path, as well as the ability to quickly identify an ambulance or another emergency service vehicle with its sirens and lights activated. Understanding the context and executing a safe and predictable maneuver is crucial, as a wrong maneuver could actually make matters worse.
For FSD and Robotaxi to gain both public trust and regulatory approval, this skill is non-negotiable, and Tesla demonstrated its advancements right here. It’s not surprising Tesla added this ability before Robotaxis made it to public roads.
How does a fleet of Robotaxis keep its eyes clean without constant human intervention? Well, a clever new feature that Tesla has previously hinted at in their FSD release notes provides the answer. Robotaxi can now trigger a specific wiper and washer fluid sequence designed to clean the main front-facing cameras.
This might seem like a small detail, but it’s a brilliant solution to one of Tesla’s primary challenges - maintaining sensor clarity. While the vehicle could simply wipe the windshield multiple times, this is a clever solution to clean the most important area of the windshield as thoroughly as possible by focusing extra wiper fluid and wipes on that area.
Complex Maneuvers
Two areas where current builds of FSD V13.2.9 sometimes show hesitation are U-turns and navigating busy parking lots. The latest Robotaxi build appears to improve on both of these areas.
This first video shows a Robotaxi performing a flawless U-turn with no hesitation, and then smoothly switching lanes to take a turn.
Another video on X shows FSD’s updated confidence in navigating a complex parking lot for a precise drop-off. Today’s builds can sometimes struggle in parking lots, being slow and overly cautious when not needed, or too confident elsewhere. This appears to have been improved in these Robotaxi FSD builds with improved path planning and confidence.
Tesla Robotaxi service is just so smooth. Handles parking lots very well, noticeably better than the competitors pic.twitter.com/D5OxSrajCW
We’re also likely to see FSD begin to handle more complex destination options, including parking garages and driveways, which have been promised features for almost a year. The Robotaxi FSD build has also gained the ability to safely pull over on a road, similar to the ambulance example above, but it uses this capability to drop off and pick up passengers. This is a feature that was mentioned in FSD v13.2’s Upcoming Improvements section.
Better Nighttime Performance
Driving at night presents additional challenges, including headlight glare and reduced visibility. The latest version of FSD appears to handle it with almost the same grace as it does during the day. Remember that Tesla’s Robotaxis are available up until midnight. Early access riders mentioned that FSD is far smoother and is a step up from the behavior of current FSD builds.
Impressive nighttime performance from Tesla Robotaxi, dropping us off at In-N-Out as smoothly as it did during the day. pic.twitter.com/yQOhphtR0q
Now, what happens when a passenger feels unsafe or has a critical question? Tesla has placed two key buttons on the rear screen for just those purposes. Users are given control over the ability to Call Support, which almost instantly connects them with a real human agent at Tesla’s Robotaxi Operations Center via video call.
Here’s what happens when you hit the support button in Tesla’s Robotaxi’s.
While it isn’t a fundamental driving feature, it does mean that Tesla’s team can provide support to Robotaxi vehicles remotely, like issuing directive commands to have a vehicle proceed straight, rather than attempting to turn through a gated community.
The other option, Pull Over, allows a rider to immediately request the vehicle to safely pull over, which it will do when it can find a safe and open location. At this point, you can either continue your trip or get out of the Robotaxi.
Both options prompt you with an “Are You Sure?” button before letting you continue, which means you won’t have your Robotaxi ride come to an abrupt stop if you tap the ‘Pull Over’ button by accident.
What This Means for Tesla Owners
These features are likely to be included in future FSD builds. This is essentially the new benchmark by which to judge FSD, at least once it begins rolling out to customer vehicles.
Many of the core driving improvements, such as the more confident maneuvering and emergency vehicle response, will make their way to the wider fleet in upcoming FSD updates.
Remember - Robotaxi isn’t just a service, it is also a preview of Tesla’s driverless FSD builds.
In a world first, Tesla has successfully completed its first fully autonomous delivery of a new vehicle from Gigafactory Texas to a customer’s home. While Musk announced this was coming, some of the details make the achievement even more impressive.
The first fully autonomous delivery of a Tesla Model Y from factory to a customer home across town, including highways, was just completed a day ahead of schedule!!
Congratulations to the @Tesla_AI teams, both software & AI chip design!
A Tesla Model Y left the factory, navigating highways at speeds up to 72mph, a day ahead of Tesla’s previously announced schedule. Most critically, Elon also confirmed two key factors that make this achievement even more impressive than Tesla’s launch of the Robotaxi last week.
There were no Safety Monitors in the car, and no remote operators took control of the Model Y at any time, really making this an amazing achievement.
While the launch of the Robotaxi was an amazing step for Tesla, this one easily takes the cake.
No Safety Monitor, No Passengers, No Limits
The significance of this event lies in just how it differs from the current Robotaxi service operating in Austin.
First and most importantly, there was no Safety Monitor. Nobody was sitting up front, ready to tap one of the emergency stop buttons on the screen. The vehicle was empty, fresh from the factory. This is the unsupervised experience and future that we’ve been waiting for.
Max speed was 72 mph -- Ashok Elluswamy
Why There Was No Safety Monitor
However, there is an important distinction with this autonomous ride — that there were no passengers. This is the crucial regulatory distinction. By operating as a logistics trip rather than as a commercial ride-hailing service, Tesla was likely able to bypass many of the stringent rules governing passenger transport.
This freedom is what enabled the other key difference: operating with fewer restrictions. That included a 72mph top speed on the highway, which is well outside the geofenced Robotaxi Network that’s currently available in Austin.
This event wasn’t a surprise - Elon had previously stated that Tesla expects the first fully autonomous delivery to happen on June 28th. He even worked some flex time into that, saying the timing could potentially slip into early July.
It turns out that additional time wasn’t needed, as Tesla ended up delivering its first vehicle a day early. It seems that Tesla is pulling data quickly from its fleet of slightly modified Model Ys cruising the streets of Austin, which likely enabled the confidence behind giving this the green light.
Video of the Drive
Tesla shared a video of the entire drive, from the vehicle leaving Giga Texas to it arriving at the customer’s home. The entire ride took 30 minutes, crossing parking lots and going on the highway.
This Tesla drove itself from Gigafactory Texas to its new owner's home ~30min away — crossing parking lots, highways & the city to reach its new owner pic.twitter.com/WFSIaEU6Oq
This successful delivery is another fantastic use case for FSD that could be another entire business in and of itself for Tesla. The ability to autonomously move vehicles, potentially with cargo inside them, has massive implications for both Tesla’s factory-to-customer logistics, as well as challenging other services like Uber Eats and Skip the Dishes down the road.
Additionally, logistics-focused autonomy may be easier to scale than the Robotaxi network. It sidesteps many of the complex safety, liability, and customer-facing service challenges that come with carrying human passengers. This could be a faster and clearer path for regulatory approval.
Fork in the Road
But it's more than just a new business.
Back in 2022, Elon commissioned an art piece that now stands outside Giga Texas. It is, quite literally, A Fork in the Road. Part of Elon’s greater goal is to ensure we pass Fermi’s Great Filters, and that means ensuring we generate green energy, electrify and automate transportation, and move towards sustainable abundance.
Two years ago, I commissioned an art piece: A Fork in the Road.
Had to make sure that civilization took the path most likely to pass the Fermi Great Filters. pic.twitter.com/mYFzdAy6WF
The point of the fork here is that Tesla’s first autonomous delivery isn’t just a publicity stunt. We’re finally here, at the fork in the road. We’ve hit it - true autonomous capabilities being demonstrated on public highways under a specific and challenging set of conditions. That’s a true Level 4 autonomous capability with no one in the car.
While Robotaxi is a fantastic step towards changing personal transport, this successful delivery proves that there are even more uses to FSD beyond what we’ve seen so far.
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