Elon shares details on Tesla's public rollout of FSD Beta

Tesla will release the FSD Beta to additional testers this Friday. Tesla already has about 2,000 owners testing their FSD Beta, but this will be the first time that Tesla releases it to the public. Tesla will allow owners with the highest Safety Scores to download the latest FSD Beta.

Tesla set to releases FSD Beta to drivers with a perfect Safety Score

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Elon elaborated on who can expect to receive the beta. He revealed that there are about 1,000 drivers with a perfect Safety Score and they will be the first to receive the FSD Beta this Friday. So if you're one of those drivers with a flawless score, then there's a very good chance you'll be granted access to the FSD Beta Friday.

Everyone with a perfect score with get it. There are ~1000 owners with perfect scores. Maybe 1100 to 1200 by Friday night.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 7, 2021

Keep in mind that the Safety Score shown in the Tesla app is rounded. So if you've had any drives with a score of less than 100, then you may not be included in the initial rollout, but hopefully soon after.

Elon goes on to say that after Tesla releases the beta to 1,000 additional testers on Friday that Tesla will hold for a few days to see how the beta is going. If it looks good then Tesla will continue rolling out the beta to additional users with a score of 99.

This Friday Tesla will also release their latest version of the beta, version 10.2. So anyone who joins the program will be testing out the latest FSD Beta.

Version 10.2 is said to include a “long list of mostly little items”, but Elon says that the driving experience is extremely better.

Long list of mostly little items, but driving experience is significantly better. We will put notable changes in the release notes.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 7, 2021

The last few FSD Betas have not contained any new information in their release notes, but Elon says this 10.2 will include any notable changes in release notes.

The rollout of 10.2 to new testers will not be based on your region and will go out nationally. However, this means that the beta may not perform as well in certain regions where there has been less data collected. Elon says he expects this to improve rapidly as more users get the beta and contribute data to the program.

FSD Beta 10.2 rolls out Friday midnight to ~1000 owners with perfect 100/100 safety scores.

Rollouts will hold for several days after that to see how it goes.

If that looks good, beta will gradually begin rolling out to 99 scores & below.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 7, 2021

So there we have it. Tesla is still on schedule to release not only the latest FSD Beta, version 10.2 on Friday, but will also to expand it to the 1,000 new drivers who have a perfect Safety Score.

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Tesla Increases Price of Model S; Starts Offering Free Lifetime Supercharging

Not a Tesla App

For the first time in quite a while, Tesla has increased the price of one of its vehicle offerings. The Model S Long Range and the Model S Plaid have both received a hefty price increase. However, not all is bad - as Tesla also added a new benefit for buyers.

Price Increase

The price increase for the Model S is $5,000 - currently only in the United States. This price increase will likely impact other markets, including Canada, in the coming days.

The Model S Long Range now starts at $79,990, while the Model S Plaid now starts at $94,990. The Model S and Model X now have the same starting price. Interestingly, that’s also the same pricing point for the Cybertruck AWD and Cyberbeast Trimotor non-Foundation Series. 

The vehicle configuration does not appear to have changed, so the new pricing is simply an increase rather than the addition or removal of features. Tesla previously cut the price of the Model S and Model X by 15% in 2023, so this could simply be an adjustment to ensure that the vehicle pricing stays in line with inflation and other factors.

Free Lifetime Supercharging

For those on the fence about ordering a Model S, Tesla has brought back Free Lifetime Supercharging when you order a new Model S on or after December 13, 2024. As always, Free Lifetime Supercharging is restricted to the buyer’s Tesla account and to that specific vehicle. It cannot be transferred to another vehicle or another owner after ownership transfer. It’s worth noting, that it also doesn’t exclude the owner from receiving Supercharger idle fees or congestion fees. There is currently no end date for this promotion.

There are currently no changes to the Model X, neither a price increase nor the addition of Lifetime Superchargering. However, when Tesla makes changes to one of their premium vehicles, it usually affects the other one as well. So be on the lookout for potential changes to the Model X offering in the coming days.

We’ve seen Tesla value Lifetime Supercharging at $5,000, so this falls in line with the price increase we’re seeing. It’s possible that Tesla will begin to bring back Lifetime Supercharging as a perk for buying into their more premium Model S and Model X cars, or this could be another temporary promotion to get buyers who are on the fence to go ahead and make their purchase while this promotion lasts.

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Tesla’s Optimus Robot Learns to Walk Without Vision [VIDEO]

Optimus Falls - but catches itself!

Not a Tesla App

Tesla recently showed off a demo of Optimus, its humanoid robot, walking around in moderately challenging terrain—not on a flat surface but on dirt and slopes. These things can be difficult for a humanoid robot, especially during the training cycle.

Daily walks help clear your mind pic.twitter.com/dUsW58trS6

— Tesla Optimus (@Tesla_Optimus) December 9, 2024

A Look Behind the Curtain

Most interestingly, Milan Kovac, VP of Engineering for Optimus, clarified what it takes to get Optimus to this stage. Let’s break down what he said.

Optimus is Blind

Optimus is getting seriously good at walking now - it can keep its balance over uneven ground - even while walking blind. Tesla is currently using just the sensors, all powered by a neural net running on the embedded computer. 

Essentially, Tesla is building Optimus from the ground up, relying on as much additional data as possible while it trains vision. This is similar to how they train FSD on vehicles, using LiDAR rigs to validate the vision system’s accuracy. While Optimus doesn’t have LiDAR, it relies on all those other sensors on board, many of which will likely become simplified as vision takes over as the primary sensor.

Today, Optimus is walking blind, but it’s able to react almost instantly to changes in the terrain underneath it, even if it falls or slips. 

What’s Next?

Next up, Tesla AI will be adding vision to Optimus - helping complete the neural net. Remember, Optimus runs on the same overall AI stack as FSD - in fact, Optimus uses an FSD computer and an offshoot of the FSD stack for vision-based tasks.

Milan mentions they’re planning on adding vision to help the robot plan ahead and improve its walking gait. While the zombie shuffle is iconic and a little bit amusing, getting humanoid robots to walk like humans is actually difficult.

There’s plenty more, too - including better responsiveness to velocity and direction commands and learning to fall and stand back up. Falling while protecting yourself to minimize damage is something natural to humans - but not exactly natural to something like a robot. Training it to do so is essential in keeping the robot, the environment around it, and the people it is interacting with safe.

We’re excited to see what’s coming with Optimus next because it is already getting started in some fashion in Tesla’s factories.

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