Tesla FSD Beta: Rolling stops to be removed due to NHTSA

By Nuno Cristovao

Tesla introduced FSD Profiles with FSD Beta 10.3 last October.

FSD Beta to stop rolling stop signs
Matt Simmons/YouTube

FSD Profiles let you pick from three different driving styles and assertiveness. By adjusting your FSD profile your vehicle will adjust its following distance, acceleration, how aggressively it makes lane changes, and more.

When using the 'Assertive' FSD Profile, the vehicle may also perform rolling stops at a stop sign when certain conditions are met.

The NHTSA is now asking Tesla to remove the ability for Teslas to roll stop signs. It's not clear if this recall is delaying the release of FSD Beta 10.9 to all testers.

Only about 38% of FSD Beta users are on version 10.9, with the majority (61%) still on the previous beta, version 10.8.1.

This change is making headlines, but it impacts a very small amount of owners. Tesla recently revealed that it has almost 60,000 FSD Beta testers. This change will only affect those testers who have their FSD Profile set to assertive, which is not the default setting. So it's going to be a fairly small amount of users.

It's pretty clear why Tesla added FSD Profiles and the ability to roll stop signs. If you go out on the roads and perform four-second stops at every stop sign, drive the speed limit and follow every traffic law under every condition, you're likely to run into some pretty angry drivers.

It was forward-thinking of Tesla to add driving profiles, letting you set Autopilot to your preference and match the driving style in your area. Drivers in New York City and drivers on country roads are clearly not driving the same way.

What's interesting in this recall is that Tesla outlined exactly when a Tesla may perform a rolling stop. It's not enough to have just your FSD Profile set to assertive. The vehicle goes through a checklist to confirm that it's safe to make a rolling stop, much like a human might do when coming up to a stop sign. You look around, make sure there are no other cars coming, there are no police cars, no pedestrians, etc.

FSD Beta will only perform a rolling stop if all these conditions are met:

1. The functionality must be enabled within the FSD Beta Profile settings; and

2. The vehicle must be approaching an all-way stop intersection; and

3. The vehicle must be traveling below 5.6mph; and

4. No relevant moving cars are detected near the intersection; and

5. No relevant pedestrians or bicyclists are detected near the intersection; and

6. There is sufficient visibility for the vehicle while approaching the intersection; and

7. All roads entering the intersection have a speed limit of 30 mph or less.

After going through the list above, one may actually be able to argue that FSD Beta will perform a rolling stop much safer than a human.

After speaking with NHTSA, Tesla agreed to send out an update to FSD Beta testers that will disable rolling stops when using the assertive driving profile. The recall outlines that Tesla will release the update as version 2021.44.30.15.

Tesla to remove the ability to roll stop signs from FSD Beta

Tesla's latest FSD Beta, Beta 10.9 is version 2021.44.30.10.

It's not clear whether this update will simply be a point release of FSD Beta 10.9 or if it will be part of FSD Beta 11, which Elon has previously said was coming after Beta 10.9.

Everyone in the Tesla community knows that this is a simple software update, but in NHTSA's safety report, they're still calling these kinds of issues recalls, which could be misleading.

It'd be nice to see NHTSA use different language when a vehicle needs to be physically brought in and when it can simply be performed as a remote software update that requires almost no owner intervention.

Tesla Reveals Robotaxi App and Names the Robotaxi the CyberCab

By Cláudio Afonso

Tesla has invested billions of dollars over the years toward vehicle autonomy. The mission continues as Elon Musk and Tesla now prepare to unveil their ride-hailing product, Robotaxi this August. Or, as Musk called it on Tuesday, Tesla CyberCab.

Early Days

Five years ago, during Tesla’s Autonomy Investor Day in April 2019, Elon Musk said he felt “very confident predicting autonomous robotaxis for Tesla in the following year [2020]”. At the time, Musk added a bolder claim, predicting that Tesla wouldn’t even make cars with steering wheels or pedals by 2022. While timeliness may not be Musk’s strong suit, he has a track record for getting things done that others were unwilling to try or thought were impossible. Musk later admitted he can be overly optimistic and said “sometimes I am not on time, but I get it done.” 

Now, 5 years later, we have the robotaxi unveiling scheduled for August 8th. After the release of FSD v12, it’s clear that we’re much closer to autonomy than we were in 2019, although FSD v12 is still a far cry from full autonomy.

While Tesla still has the robotaxi unveiling scheduled for August, Tesla announced yesterday that it’d be prioritizing a simpler “next-gen” model that could be released by early 2025.

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On the conference call, Musk added that Tesla now has over 300 million miles driven with FSD v12 since it was launched just last month. He added that it's becoming “very clear that the vision-based approach with end-to-end neural networks is the right solution for scalable autonomy”.

Tesla said it has been investing in the hardware and software ecosystems necessary to achieve vehicle autonomy and a ride-hailing service. The company is confident that it can establish a scalable and profitable autonomous driving business by employing a vision-only architecture.

think of it [Tesla] as combination of Airbnb and Uber meaning that there will be some number of cars that Tesla owns itself and operates

Tesla = Uber + AirBnb

Later on, Elon Musk unveiled that the new service will operate and result in a mix between Uber and Airbnb where the Tesla driver decides if and when he wants his Tesla to be used and by whom. Tesla stated:

“We believe the Tesla software experience is best-in-class across all our products, and plan to seamlessly layer ride-hailing into the Tesla App.”

Tesla’s CEO clarified that the owners will be able to add or remove their car from the fleet “whenever they want” adding that it will be up to them to decide if they want to only let the car be used “by friends and family or only by five-star users or by anyone at any time”. The flexible program will, just like Airbnb, allow the owners to take the car out of the market when they want.

The upcoming ride-hailing service will enable users to easily request a Tesla vehicle, control the car's temperature, monitor its real-time location, and adjust the audio system. The only question is when.

Musk Teases New Model for Early 2025 That Will Use a Mix of Next-Gen and Current Platforms

By Cláudio Afonso

“We have updated our future vehicle line-up to accelerate the launch of new models ahead of our previously communicated start of production in the second half of 2025”. This was one of the key sentences that were part of Tesla’s deck shared on Tuesday directly before its financial results.

Since Reuters’ report a few weeks ago saying Tesla had “scrapped” the highly expected cheaper model— which Elon quickly denied on X —retail and institutional shareholders started asking for more details on Tesla’s product roadmap for 2024 and beyond.

In the earnings conference call, Elon Musk reiterated that Tesla expects to launch the next model in “early 2025, if not late this year”.

“We've updated our future vehicle lineup to accelerate the launch of new models ahead of previously mentioned start of production in the second half of 2025. So, we expect it to be more like the early 2025, if not late this year. “

Over concerns of temporary production halts to update the factories for these new models, Musk said that Tesla will produce new models with certain aspects from their next-generation platform and current models. This will reduce the number of changes needed on production lines and allow Tesla not only to ramp up production faster but also to get the vehicles to market quicker.

Model Y Redesign

Tesla appears to hit that their next-gen vehicle will be less “next-gen” than they were initially aiming for, but to get a new vehicle out the door by late 2024, the process would already have to be in motion. Tesla may likely be referring to the redesigned Model Y, which is expected to reuse many parts from the new Model 3. Earlier this year, Tesla said that the redesigned Model Y will not be released this year, so it makes sense that they’re looking to speed up that production.

Tesla CEO concluded by saying that these measures will allow Tesla to reach a capacity of over 3 million units. Tesla produced 1.84 million vehicles in 2023. However, this year they’re ramping up Cybertruck production and introduced the new Model 3 into new markets.

And we think this should allow us to get to over 3 million vehicles of capacity when realized to the full extent.

Tesla reported on Tuesday its earnings results followed by a conference call where it teased its upcoming Robotaxi and its next-generation platform saying its “purpose-built Robotaxi product will continue to pursue a revolutionary ‘unboxed’ manufacturing strategy”.

Earlier in the day, Tesla announced the new Performance variant of its sedan Model 3 with deliveries in the United States starting already next month. The new version starts at $45,490 (after applying the $7,500 Federal EV tax credit) and goes from 0 to 60mph in 2.9 seconds.

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