Tesla has started reaching out to Cybertruck owners with a clarification regarding its Autosteer feature, coupled with an FSD offer. In emails sent to owners of non-Foundation Series Cybertrucks or those who have not purchased FSD outright, Tesla is offering a free, one-year trial of FSD Supervised, which initially sounds like a great deal.
However, there’s a reason for that. Tesla is taking a departure from its traditional stance, and standard Autosteer — which is usually a free feature, will not be offered on the Cybertruck
For context, all other Tesla vehicles include Basic Autopilot, which includes both Traffic-Aware Cruise Control (TACC) and Autosteer, which provides automated steering to keep the vehicle in the lane but doesn’t perform lane changes, handle traffic signs, etc. FSD is, of course, the ultimate vision of these features, handling almost everything the roadways have to offer.
The Cybertruck never shipped with the Basic Autopilot package. Since launch, non-FSD-equipped Cybertrucks have not had Autosteer, only the option to subscribe to FSD or use TACC, leaving out a notable feature.
One-Year FSD Trial
The email being sent to eligible Cybertruck owners extends a complimentary 12-month trial of FSD (Supervised). This effectively replaces and extends the earlier, shorter free access period that was provided and helps compensate for the absence of all Basic Autopilot features.
Any Cybertruck owners who have not purchased FSD outright or are not Foundation-Series owners will be offered this trial by email. To claim the free one-year offer, owners must subscribe to FSD Supervised by June 6th, 2025. Owners can cancel the subscription anytime after and they’ll retain the full one-year trial period.
This is a great offer if you weren’t expecting Autosteer to be included, as it equates to approximately $1,188 USD (or CAD) plus tax when compared to the equivalent subscription cost. Notably, there’s no fine print suggesting that owners are forfeiting access to a potential future Autosteer feature under Basic Autopilot.
Why No Autosteer?
Tesla’s email provides its official reasoning as to why Autosteer will not be available:
As we improve our Autopilot technology, our feature sets will change. Accordingly, Autosteer will not be available for the Cybertruck outside of Full Self Driving (Supervised).
While Tesla didn’t explicitly state it - the likely reason is that the Autosteer stack is extremely old, and not designed to function on the Cybertruck, with its unique steering, camera placements, and size.
The Cybertruck’s FSD development is completely separate and as it stands today, can’t be used for Autosteer. Instead of adding support for the Cybertruck on the old Autosteer stack, Tesla wants to focus on its current technology, which powers FSD.
Autosteer in the Future?
While Autosteer and Autopilot are functionally subsets of FSD, they run on entirely separate software stacks. Tesla originally developed Autopilot using traditional code and later started from scratch with a new AI-driven architecture to build FSD. Today, FSD relies heavily on neural networks and machine learning, whereas Basic Autopilot still uses more conventional programming.
Eventually, we expect Tesla to migrate Basic Autopilot to the FSD tech stack, drastically improving its performance. At that point, Autosteer would effectively become a restricted version of FSD—capable of less, but built on the same foundation. When this transition occurs, it’s plausible that Autosteer could finally be added to the Cybertruck.
Lane Departure Avoidance Becomes Part of FSD
Cybertruck just recently received Lane Departure Avoidance and Lane Assist with the 2025 Spring Update, which previously relied on the Autopilot tech stack. Now, with these two features relying upon FSD rather than the old stack, they are available for the Cybertruck, and the feature has also been improved on other vehicles.
This is a pretty clear indication that Tesla is working to move away from the old Basic Autopilot stack and towards the FSD stack, which means we can maybe hope for a cut-down version of FSD becoming available as the future Basic Autopilot package.
Website Changes
Supporting this shift, Tesla's website has reportedly been updated in North America to list Autosteer as a feature only for Models S, 3, X, and Y, omitting Cybertruck. It remains unclear, however, if Tesla has amended the official purchase agreement language for new non-FSD Cybertrucks, which previously may have listed Basic Autopilot (implying Autosteer) as an included feature.
While the complimentary offer of FSD is generous, especially coming from Tesla, it is a divergence in how they’ve handled the availability of basic features on the vehicle fleet. Cybertruck already has a troubled history with FSD and Autopilot-related safety features not being on par with other vehicles in the lineup, but we hope this changes in the future.
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Tesla appears to be preparing to expand its Robotaxi geofence in Austin, Texas, with numerous engineering vehicles taking to the road. One of the most interesting sights, between the short and tall LiDAR rigs, was a Cybertruck validation vehicle, which we don’t often see.
Tesla’s expansion is moving the Robotaxi Network into downtown Austin, a dense urban environment that is currently outside the geofence. It appears Tesla is content with the latest builds of Robotaxi FSD and is ready to take on urban traffic.
The inclusion of a Cybertruck in the validation fleet is noteworthy, as the rest of the vehicles are Model Ys. This suggests that Tesla may be addressing two challenges simultaneously: expanding its service area while also addressing the FSD gap between the Cybertruck and other HW4 Tesla vehicles.
Tesla Validating Downtown Austin before expanding the Robotaxi geo-fence area. pic.twitter.com/ylFATtjcDi
Recent sightings have shown a fleet of Tesla vehicles, equipped with rooftop validation sensor rigs, running routes throughout downtown Austin and across the South Congress Bridge. While these rigs include LiDAR, it’s not a sign that Tesla is abandoning its vision-only approach.
Instead, Tesla uses the high-fidelity data from the LiDAR as a ground truth measurement to validate and improve the performance of its cameras. In short, it essentially uses the LiDAR measurements as the actual distances and then compares the distances determined in vision-only to the LiDAR measurements. This allows Tesla to tweak and improve its vision system without needing LiDAR.
This data collection in a new, complex environment right outside the Robotaxi geofence is an indicator that plans to expand the geofence. Tesla has previously indicated that they intend to roll out more vehicles and expand the geofence slowly. Given that their operational envelope includes the entire Austin Metro Area, we can expect more locations to open up gradually.
Once they expand the operational radius to include downtown Austin, they will likely also have to considerably increase the number of Robotaxis active in the fleet at any given time. Early-access riders are already saying that the wait time for a Robotaxi is too long, with them sometimes having to wait 15 minutes to be picked up.
With a larger service area, we expect Tesla to also increase the number of vehicles and the number of invited riders to try out the service.
After all, Tesla’s goal is to expand the Robotaxi Network to multiple cities within the United States by the end of 2025. Tesla has already been running an employees-only program in California, and we’ve seen validation vehicles as far away as Boston and New Jersey, on the other side of the country.
Cyber FSD Lagging Behind
One of the most significant details from these recent sightings is the presence of a Cybertruck. Cybertruck’s FSD builds have famously lagged behind the builds available on the rest of Tesla’s HW4 fleet. Key features that were expected never fully materialized for the Cybertruck, and the list of missing features is quite extensive.
Start FSD from Park
Improved Controller
Reverse on FSD
Actually Smart Summon
It may not look like a lot, but if you drive a Cybertruck on FSD and then hop in any of the rest of Tesla’s HW4 vehicles, you’ll notice a distinct difference. This is especially evident on highways, where the Cybertruck tends to drift out of the lane, often crossing over the lane markings.
Tesla was testing parts of Downtown Austin, TX with this Cybertruck which had a massive roof rack, and sensors.
We previously released an exclusive mentioning that a well-positioned internal source confirmed with us that a new FSD build for the Cybertruck was upcoming, but we never ended up receiving that particular build, only a point release to V13.2.9. The AI team’s focus had clearly shifted to getting the latest Robotaxi builds running and validated, and while a flagship, the Cybertruck fleet was small and new, and really a secondary task.
The Cybertruck’s larger size, steer-by-wire, rear-wheel steering, and different camera placements likely present a bigger set of challenges for FSD. Deploying it now as a validation vehicle in a complex environment like downtown Austin suggests that Tesla is finally gathering the specific data needed to bring the Cybertruck’s capabilities up to par. This focused effort is likely the necessary step to refine FSD’s handling of the Cybertruck before they begin rolling out new public builds.
When?
Once Tesla’s validation is complete, we can probably expect the Robotaxi Network to expand its borders for the first time in the coming days or weeks. However, we’ll likely see more signs of the expansion, such as Robotaxi vehicles driving themselves around the area, before the expansion actually happens.
Hopefully, the Cybertruck will also learn from its older siblings and receive the rest of its much-needed FSD features, alongside an FSD update for the entire fleet.
Tesla is rolling out a fairly big update for its iOS and early-access-only Robotaxi app, delivering a suite of improvements that address user feedback from the initial launch last month. The update improves the user experience with increased flexibility, more information, and overall design polish.
The most prominent feature in this update is that Tesla now allows you to adjust your pickup location. Once a Robotaxi arrives at your pickup location, you have 15 minutes to start the ride. The app will now display the remaining time your Robotaxi will wait for you, counting down from 15:00. The wait time is also shown in the iOS Live Activity if your phone is on the lock screen.
How Adjustable Pickups Work
We previously speculated that Tesla had predetermined pickup locations, as the pickup location wasn’t always where the user was. Now, with the ability to adjust the pickup location, we can clearly see that Tesla has specific locations where users can be picked up.
Rather than allowing users to drop a pin anywhere on the map, the new feature works by having the user drag the map to their desired area. The app then presents a list of nearby, predetermined locations to choose from. Once a user selects a spot from this curated list, they hit “Confirm.” The pickup site can also be changed while the vehicle is en route.
This specific implementation raises an interesting question: Why limit users to predetermined spots? The answer likely lies in how Tesla utilizes fleet data to improve its service.
Here is the new Tesla Robotaxi pickup location adjustment feature.
While the app is still only available on iOS through Apple’s TestFlight program, invited users can download and update the app.
Tesla included these release notes in update 25.7.0 of the Robotaxi app:
You can now adjust pickup location
Display the remaining wait time at pickup in the app and Live Activity
Design improvements
Bug fixes and stability improvements
Nic Cruz Patane
Why Predetermined Pick Up Spots?
The use of predetermined pickup points is less of a limitation and more of a feature. These curated locations are almost certainly spots that Tesla’s fleet data has identified as optimal and safe for an autonomous vehicle to perform a pickup or drop-off.
This suggests that Tesla is methodically “mapping” its service area not just for calibration and validation of FSD builds but also to help perform the first and last 50-foot interactions that are critical to a safe and smooth ride-hailing experience.
An optimal pickup point likely has several key characteristics identified by the fleet, including:
A safe and clear pull-away area away from traffic
Good visibility for cameras, free of obstructions
Easy entry and exit paths for an autonomous vehicle
This change to pick-up locations reveals how Tesla’s Robotaxi Network is more than just Unsupervised FSD. There are a lot of moving parts, many of which Tesla recently implemented, and others that likely still need to be implemented, such as automated charging.
Frequent Updates
This latest update delivers a much-needed feature for adjusting pickup locations, but it also gives us a view into exactly what Tesla is doing with all the data it is collecting with its validation vehicles rolling around Austin, alongside its Robotaxi fleet.
Tesla is quickly iterating on its app and presumably the vehicle’s software to build a reliable and predictable network, using data to perfect every aspect of the experience, from the moment you hail the ride to the moment you step out of the car.
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