New FSD Beta 10.12 visualizations: new car models, open doors and turn signals

New car models used in FSD Beta 10.12 visualization

mariapazz000/Twitter

The first signs of Tesla's FSD Beta 10.12 finally surfaced yesterday as Tesla employees started receiving the internal beta.

The internal beta initially had a version of 2022.12.3.10, but it looks like Tesla has aleady issued an update with version 2022.12.3.15 (FSD Beta 10.12.1).

It's not clear yet whether this will be the exact version that will be rolled out to public testers or if additional updates will be made.

If Tesla finds any major issues, they'll want to fix them before rolling out the update to external testers.

New Car Models

New car models

WholeMarsBlog/Twitter

FSD Beta 10.12 introduces new vehicle models for almost every vehicle type.

Some of the vehicles have been completely redesigned and are more detailed and realistic looking than the previous models.

For example, a sedan now has wheels, windows and a glass roof, instead of the previous simplistic look that resembled a Model S keyfob.

New Brake Lights

Although brakes lights were already displayed as of beta 9.0, Tesla is now displaying the third brake light as well, which has been required in the US since 1986.

Open Doors

FSD Beta 10.12 will now display open doors

WholeMarsBlog/Twitter

FSD Betas have been able to detect and stop or go around vehicles with open doors for a while now, but Tesla will now show open doors in the visualization.

When a surrounding vehicle's door is open, the 3D model will also show the open door and highlight the door in orange.

Turn Signals

FSD Beta now displays turn signals

BLKMDL3/Twitter

Elon said back in the summer of 2021 that Tesla will detect and respond to vehicle turn signals, hand gestures and more in the future.

With this release, FSD Beta now detects and visualizes turn signals in addition to brake lights.

The car will reportedly react to turn signals it has detected as well, which should help understand the intentions of other vehicles.

Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

The last major FSD Beta release was version 10.11, which was first seen more than two months ago.

Tesla has been working on beta 10.12 for a while now and the amount of changes included in this update are huge according to Elon.

Musk said that due to the amount of changes in this beta, we can expect two steps forward and one step back.

This is a big one! Expect some two steps forward, one step back situations. These will be great ironed in point releases, hence ~10.12.2 or 10.13 for wider beta release.

- Elon Musk

There will be some issues, and in certain situations FSD may have regressed.

Tesla plans to fix any issues that arise with minor revisions to this release. Expect to see additional FSD Beta 10.12 releases such as 10.12.1 and 10.12.2 in the coming weeks.

Current Beta Testers

As we have seen with other recent betas, it may be a while until all current beta testers receive this latest beta.

With beta 10.11, we saw two revisions before the majority of testers received the beta. We may see a similar situation with this update, given the amount of changes that were made.

If you're a current beta tester, you may be waiting a couple weeks before getting this updated FSD Beta.

Additional Testers

There haven't been any signs of Tesla adding additional beta testers in the US since late 2021.

Elon has previously said that he hopes that Tesla will be able to add more testers who have opted in to the beta and have a Safety Score of 95 or greater in later revisions of beta 10.12.

Interpretation of Beta 10.12 Release Notes

We have the technical releases notes for FSD Beta 10.12, but Reddit user asimo3089 did a great job at interpreting the release notes to give us a better understanding of what Tesla has improved in this update.

1. Your car better understands what is and is not drivable space. This makes it more confident in easy situations, and more capable in tricky situations. Your car can also now use medians for difficult left turns, and accelerates quicker to complete turns.

2. Your car now has a better idea of objects blocking camera views. Creeping should be less scary.

3. Improved path predictions of where other others on the road will be. This gives your car better decision making for turns.

4. Sounds like: Your car will drive itself to safety much more smoothly if your car finds itself in a place it shouldn't be. Better problem solving?

5. Your car should better see the lanes on the road, and how many of them there are, thanks to new data. This gives better turn confidence and path planning during a turn.

6. Your car is now trained on 180,000 new clips related to what lanes look like.

7. Your car is less likely to panic brake in a yellow light scenario, and has a better understanding of lane guidance when going through an intersection.

8. Road edges and road lines are now more accurate.

9. Your car now better understands visibility from the cameras, thanks to 30,000 new video clips of training data.

10. Speeds of motorcycles, pedestrians and cyclists is now more accurate. Plus, your car now better predicts which direction a pedestrian is walking.

11. Your car is now less likely to confuse a parked car and an idling car thanks to 41,000 new clips of training data. This should result in fewer "phantom brakes" or silly lane changes.

12. Your car now better understands objects that are far away from you.

13. Your car will plan a better path around vehicles with car doors open.

14. Objects that are not pedestrians, cyclists, etc, should have more accurate speed predictions.

15. When changing into an adjacent lane, your car will look further ahead at vehicle speeds. If somebody up ahead is braking, your car will handle it more comfortably.

16. Your car used to only predict acceleration (Not speed) for objects moving adjacently. Now your car will predict acceleration of all moving objects including objects accelerating across your path.

17. New 3D models for vehicles on your screen. You'll also be shown vehicles with their doors open.

18. Tesla retired a few old systems and gained 2 frames per second, per camera, resulting in better performance while self driving.

FSD Beta 10.12 is currently only available to employees, but we may see a wider release in the next couple days that includes public testers.

However, it could be several weeks before all current testers receive this update.

More details will surely be uncovered about this beta in the next few days. Stay tuned for more.

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Tesla Is Now Offering Cybertruck Test Drives [List of Locations]

@brandonhd

Tesla has begun to reach out to customers in the United States and is offering demo drives of the Cybertruck on an invite-only basis. @brandonhd on X shared the first invite image, and it looks like it's going out quite quickly to multiple locations that have Cybertrucks on display.

Up until now, display vehicles have been for just that – looking, but no touching. Some Tesla delivery centers and showrooms have also allowed viewers to take a seat inside and open it up, but most are still locked away behind the velvet rope.

It’s exciting to see that Tesla has begun to demo them – and it can only be so long until demo drives open up to everyone.

Advisor-led Demo

This Demo Drive is led by a Tesla Advisor – while you’re driving, the advisor will be in the passenger seat, walking you through the experience. They’ll explain steer-by-wire, off-road controls, and will introduce new-to-Tesla buyers to all the features that are currently available.

Once FSD V12.5 comes to the Cybertruck, we’re sure they’ll be demoing its capabilities FSD capabilities as well.

Locations

The list of locations so far for demo drives appears to be fairly limited, but we will hopefully see demo drives roll out throughout the United States, and eventually Canada too. Here is the current list of city/state locations that have seen demo drive invites.

• Manhasset, New York

• West Covina, California

• Los Angeles, California

• Houston, Texas

• Orlando, Florida

• Westmont, Illinois

• Tucson, Arizona

• Phoenix, Arizona

• Delaware

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Musk Confirms 'Actually Smart Summon' is Coming in a Revision of FSD V12.5

Not a Tesla App

Actually Smart Summon, the successor to Tesla’s Smart Summon feature, has been confirmed to be coming as soon as next month as per Elon Musk. Colloquially known as “ASS”, Actually Smart Summon is supposed to improve on the regular Smart Summon capabilities, which have historically used ultrasonic sensors (USS) to navigate parking lots.

We’re looking forward to Actually Smart Summon, and we’re quite excited about what other features will be unlocked once it finally shows up at our doorstep.

Vision-based Improvements

ASS is supposed to bring Smart Summon to vehicles that don’t have USS – using Tesla Vision. Most recently, Tesla has brought Autopark to vehicles without USS, and Vision-based Autopark has been a huge success. It is faster, more reliable, and smoother than the older USS-based solution. It can also park and maneuver in tighter locations.

Just recently, Tesla returned the Model X’s self-presenting doors, using Tesla Vision. Vision has seen some fantastic improvements, and many people are waiting for ASS to bring forth these improvements to Smart Summon.

Smart Summon Today

Today, Smart Summon is sometimes useful at best, usually a party trick, or downright dangerous at worst. It’s excellent and best used in straight lines, where you have a clear line of sight of the vehicle, and can stop it if doesn’t see an obstacle.

I used Smart Summon today, just before writing this article – my 2022 Model Y (with USS) – did manage to show up just fine – in a straight-line location from where I was parked, after exiting the parking spot fairly cleanly. However, I’ve previously used Smart Summon and have had the vehicle turn towards obstacles, such as cart returns or curbs. Overall, it’s a sometimes-useful feature that has a lot of drawbacks right now.

Smart Summon is also restricted to a certain distance – and it's pretty small. The max distance is shorter than most parking lots, being only about 215 ft (65m). If you’re lucky enough to park close, it's very useful to bring your car right to you.

Actually Smart Summon

ASS will bring FSD V12-like capabilities to Smart Summon – the vehicle will primarily use Vision to drive toward you (or the location you’ve indicated). ASS has been supposed to be coming since about September 2022 and has seen many delays – we’re almost at the 2-year point today.

We’re looking forward to Actually Smart Summon being able to bring the vehicle – safely – right to you. ASS is also one of the key steps towards bringing some other cool features that Elon Musk has previously mentioned – Park Seek and Banish Autopark.

We’re also hopeful that Actually Smart Summon will increase the maximum range a vehicle can be summoned, because the current range is fairly small. Alongside Park Seek and Banish Autopark, we’re closing in on a Robotaxi-based future.

Park Seek and Banish Autopark

When the FSD v12.4 showed up, Elon also mentioned that going forward, vehicles would automatically park themselves when arriving in a parking lot – Park Seek – and that if you got out of the car at the entrance to a business, you could get it to automatically park itself in the parking lot – Banish Autopark. These are two features that are needed for Robotaxi to work – which itself is delayed to October 10^th of this year. We’re looking quite forward to them – as in combination with Actually Smart Summon, Tesla has reached the cusp of vehicle autonomy.

A vehicle that arrives, driverless, at the location you’re at, then drives somewhere, parks itself there, and waits for you – is the definition of a Robotaxi.

While we’re likely to have to wait for Banish Autopark and Park Seek just a bit longer, Actually Smart Summon being around the corner is exciting! Gone will be the days of having to run out to your car when you forgot your umbrella – your car will just come right to you instead.

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