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

February 1, 2022

By Nuno Cristovao

Tesla introduced FSD Profiles with FSD Beta 10.3 last October.

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.

Is Tesla Planning to Add Steam Support to All Vehicles?

December 11, 2024

By Karan Singh

Not a Tesla App

Yesterday, we reported that Tesla updated their Steam integration on Model S and Model X vehicles. The update was part of their 2024 Holiday Update, but it looks like there may be more to this than a simple update.

Steam, a video game library app, makes it easy for users to buy or launch games on their computers. However, a couple of years ago, Valve, who created Steam, launched their own standalone device, the Steam Deck. The Steam Deck runs a custom OS based on Linux.

Steam Launch

When Tesla launched the redesigned Model S and Model X, Tesla introduced a dedicated gaming GPU with 16GB of RAM and touted the ability to play top-tier PC games in Tesla vehicles.

In 2022, Tesla finally launched the Steam app for the Model S and Model X as part of its 2022 Holiday Update. The Steam app runs Steam OS, the same OS as the Steam Deck in a virtual environment.

However, earlier this year, Tesla stopped including the GPU and Steam (Beta) in their vehicles, and we haven’t seen any updates to the Steam in quite some time. In fact, we thought Tesla was axing their gaming-on-the-go dreams.

SteamOS Update

The Steam app, which is still in Beta, is getting an interesting update for the Model S and Model X vehicles with the discrete GPU.

Those vehicles received an update to SteamOS 3.6 - the same version of SteamOS that runs on the Steam Deck. While nothing has visually changed, there’s a long list of performance optimizations under the hood to get things running smoother.

Comparing Steam Deck to Tesla Vehicles

Let’s take a look at the Steam Deck - according to Valve, its onboard Zen4 CPU and GPU combined push a total of 2 TFlops of data, which is fairly respectable, but much lower than today’s home consoles. The Steam Deck is capable of 720p gaming fairly seamlessly on low-to-medium settings on the go and is also built on the AMD platform.

AMD-equipped Teslas, including the Model 3 and Model Y, are packing an older Zen+ (Zen 1.5) APU (processor with a combined CPU and GPU). AMD claims that the V1000 - the same embedded chip as on AMD Tesla vehicles (YE1807C3T4MFB), brings up to 3.6 TFLops of processing power with it, including 4K encoding and decoding with the integrated GPU on board.

While that’s not enough for 4K gaming or comparable to a full-blown console or desktop GPU, that’s enough raw horsepower for light gaming and is currently more powerful than the Steam Deck.

The Model S and Model X’s GPU brings that up to about 10TFlops of power - comparable to modern consoles like the Xbox Series X at 12 TFlops.

Steam Gaming for All Vehicles?

The fact that Tesla is updating SteamOS even though the feature is no longer available in any new vehicles could indicate that Tesla is not only bringing Steam back to Teslas but that it’s going to play a much bigger role.

While SteamOS is run in a virtual environment on top of Tesla’s own OS, we could see Tesla bring SteamOS to all of its current vehicles, including the Model 3, Model Y, and Cybertruck. Steam in these vehicles would likely support any game that’s capable of running on the Steam Deck.

We think this Steam update, which includes performance improvements and a variety of fixes, has quietly passed under most people’s radars. This could be a very exciting update for those who enjoy gaming, especially for those who love to do it in their Tesla.

Tesla Holiday Update Weather Features: All the Small Details

December 11, 2024

By Karan Singh

Robert Rosenfeld / YouTube

As part of Tesla’s 2024 Holiday Update, Tesla included two awesome new features - Weather at Destination and the long-awaited Weather Radar Overlay. These two features are big upgrades built upon the weather feature that was added in update 2024.26. The original weather feature added an hourly forecast, as well as the chance of precipitation, UV index, Air Quality Index, and other data.

However, this update also added some smaller weather touches, such as the vehicle alerting you if the weather at the destination will be drastically different from the current weather.

Not a Tesla App

Weather At Destination

When you’re navigating to a destination and viewing the full navigation direction list, the text under the arrival time will show you the expected weather next to your destination. You can also tap this, and the full weather pop-up will show up, showing your destination's full set of weather information.

Note the weather under the arrival time

Not a Tesla App

You can also tap the weather icon at the top of the interface at any time and tap Destination to switch between the weather at your current location and the weather at your destination.

You’re probably considering that the weather at your destination doesn’t matter when you’re three hours away - but that’s all taken into account by the trip planner. It will add in both charge time and travel time and show you the weather at your destination at your expected arrival time.

And if the weather is drastically different or inclement, such as rain or snow, while you’ve got sunshine and rainbows - the weather will be shown above the destination ETA for a few moments before it tucks itself away.

Tesla also recently introduced a new voice command. Asking, “What’s the weather?” or something similar will now bring up Tesla’s weather popup.

The weather pop-up above the ETA

Not a Tesla App

One limitation, though—if you’re planning a long road trip that is more than a day of driving, the weather at destination feature won’t be available until you get closer.

Weather Radar Overlay

As part of the improvements to weather, Tesla has also added a radar overlay for precipitation. You can access the new radar overlay by tapping the map and then tapping the weather icon on the right side of the map. It’ll bring up a radar overlay centered on your vehicle. It’ll animate through the radar data over the last 3 hours so that you can see the direction of the storm, but you can also pause it at any point.

You’re able to scroll around in this view and see the weather anywhere, even if you zoom out. It also works while you’re driving, although it can be a little confusing if you’re trying to pay attention to the navigation system. If you like to have Points of Interest enabled on your map, the weather overlay will hide POIs except for Charging POIs.

Requirements / Data

Unfortunately, you’ll need Premium Connectivity for any of the weather features to work, and being on WiFi or using a hotspot will not be enough to get the data to show up. The data, including the weather radar, is provided by The Weather Channel.

As for supported models, weather and weather at destination are available on all vehicles except for the 2012-2020 Model S and Model X. The weather radar has more strict requirements and requires the newer AMD Ryzen-powered infotainment center available on the 2021+ Model S and Model X and more recent Model 3 and Model Y vehicles.