While unprotected left turns can be nerve-wracking for novice drivers, many FSD Beta participants still experience anxiety when their car is faced with such a turn.
Unprotected left turns are one of the harder driving maneuvers to make for humans and AI, as they leave your vehicle vulnerable while turning (instead of turning with traffic).
Tesla quickly recognized the difficulties their AI was experiencing in safely executing these turns and has been working diligently to improve the AI’s ability to discern oncoming hazards.
Solve Chazman's Complicated Left Turns
FSD Beta 10.12 improved unprotected left turn issues, but there are still some lingering issues.
Chuck Cook (@Chazman) has been iteratively testing FSD Beta's ability to make unprotected left turns on a busy route.
It's a complicated turn that involved crossing three lanes of traffic before reaching the median and then turning left.
Often it involves crossing the three lanes and waiting at the median before finding enough clearance to get into a lane.
It's complicated, even for humans. However, Elon Musk said in a recent tweet that beta 10.13 would solve Chuck's complicated left turns 'most of the time.'
Chazman on FSD Beta 10.12.2
Smoother Intersections
Elon also added that 10.13 would "smooth out intersection control," hopefully reducing the vehicle's hesitation and steering jerkiness that can happen in busy intersections.
Going Deep on Roundabouts
In addition to unprotected left turns, traffic circle/roundabout navigation has become a focus of FSD engineers.
While popular abroad, roundabouts are seldomly used in the US. Although there are estimated to be 2600+ roundabouts across the country, so FSD Beta needs to be able to handle them well.
FSD Beta's navigation of roundabouts has been spotty, although one could argue that multi-lane roundabouts are challenging even for experienced drivers.
With FSD Beta 10.13, Musk says that Tesla is going 'deep on roundabouts,' and that it should be noticeably better in that iteration of FSD Beta.
There are certainly some complicated roundabouts out there that can challenge even the most skilled drivers. Some roundabouts include multiple lanes and may require you to change lanes within the roundabout, some may even include roundabouts leading into or out of the roundabout, such as the 'Magic Roundabout' in Swindon, England.
Magic Roundabout in Swindon, England
Navigate without Map Data
Musk also hinted at another major improvement that may be included in 10.13: the ability for FSD beta to navigate roads with no map data.
The vehicle will be able to navigate to a specific GPS point or pinned location (ex: rural roads), says Musk.
Dead Reckoning Navigation (Navigating without GPS)
In addition, Elon alluded to the fact that Tesla is also working on the AI’s ability to complete 'dead reckoning' navigation (navigating only on “inertial measurements, wheel movement & vision”).
He gave underground parking garages as an example of where FSD would need this ability to navigate without GPS or map data.
The car will be able to do this by using its last known GPS location and then determining its future location using only a compass, wheel movement and speed.
Yes, car will navigate to a pin location, even if in a complex surface parking lot or hotel entrance.
When in covered or underground parking lots, car will have to navigate using only inertial measurement, wheel movement & vision, as GPS signal is no longer available.
Elon said that he expects FSD Beta 10.13 to be available in about two weeks.
Why is it always two weeks? Tesla may use an agile approach to software development. In agile development work is planned in 'sprints' that span one or more weeks, with two weeks being a common length.
It's possible Tesla uses two-week sprints when planning and developing upcoming features.
For drivers that have experienced the intense nature of FSD left turns through busy intersections, it looks like they won’t have to wait long for FSD Beta 10.13.
Tesla's Quartzsite Supercharger will have four solar canopies
Tesla
Tesla now has 40,000 Supercharger stations worldwide, and more are in the works, including a massive 88-stall facility in a small town in Arizona. @MarcoRPTesla, who has a knack for finding Supercharger plans, tweeted the detailed construction project. The drawings show 20 prefabricated Supercharger units, two trailer-friendly stalls, and four solar canopies.
Quartzsite, Arizona, with a population of 2,413, is the location of the huge Supercharging station. Incredibly, it is being built right across the road from a 36-stall Supercharger. So why is there now one Supercharger for every 20 people in Quartzsite? Interstate 10 runs through the small town, which is at the intersection of U.S. Route 95 and Arizona State Route 95 with I-10.
Tesla's Quartzsite Supercharger will have four solar canopies
Tesla
This location is approximately three and a half hours away from Las Vegas, Nevada, San Diego, California, and Los Angeles, California. It is also two hours from Phoenix, Arizona. Tourism is the main economic driver of the small town.
Tesla recently asked followers of its @TeslaCharging Twitter account to submit locations where Superchargers are needed. This location makes sense with the amount of traffic going through the area. It also has very little precipitation, which means those solar canopies will be powered up by the sun. That is another long-term vision of the company, to have solar and battery packs at Supercharging locations.
It’s hard to believe the Supercharger network was launched in 2012. A decade later, they are turning into a more common sight around the world. According to the company: Superchargers can add up to 200 miles (322 kilometres) of range in just 15 minutes.
In September, 420 Tesla projects were announced, including a 164-stall Supercharger hub on the I-5 corridor located in Coalinga, California. That will be the world’s largest Tesla Supercharger location. But that is nothing compared to reports of the largest EV charging location in the world, located in China’s hi-tech city of Shenzhen. There is an electric taxi charging station with a total of 637 fast chargers.
The largest EV charging location in the world with 637 stalls
Tesla Full Self-Driving is available to anyone in North America
DirtyTesla/Twitter
The moment many Tesla owners have waited for has arrived: Full Self-Driving Beta is now available to anyone in North America who has requested it, according to Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
“Tesla Full Self-Driving Beta is now available to anyone in North America who requests it from the car screen, assuming you have bought this option,” writes Musk. “Congrats to [the] Tesla Autopilot/AI team on achieving a major milestone!”
Now, this version is going wide to “anyone in North America who requests it.”
To receive FSD Beta you'll just need to request it in your vehicle under Controls > Autopilot. There is no longer a minimum safety score to achieve and everyone should receive the beta shortly after requesting it, as long as you've bought or subscribed to FSD Beta in the U.S. or Canada.
There are a few requirements for you to receive Tesla's FSD Beta. Your vehicle will need to have Tesla's FSD computer, known as hardware 3.0 or above. It also currently requires your vehicle to be on a 2022.36 update or below.
If your vehicle is on one of the 2022.40 updates, then you'll need to wait until the next beta update since the current beta (v10.69.3.1) is based on 2022.36 and Tesla doesn't normally allow vehicles to roll back to a previous version.
Some Model S and Model X vehicles may require a camera upgrade before being eligible for FSD Beta.
Tesla's next FSD Beta, v11, which is still being tested internally may also be released to some external testers starting today. A few days ago Musk confirmed on Twitter that version 11 would be widened “before Thanksgiving." FSD Beta v11 includes a unified tech stack for city and highway Autopilot use and is expected to go to a wide release sometime next month.
When it comes to FSD Beta updates, Tesla starts distributing to employees first for testing and going wider as they collect data and fix bugs. Then, based on a number of factors, Tesla broadens up distribution to more owners. However, this may soon change when FSD Beta gets incorporated into all Tesla software builds. This may happen with FSD Beta v11.
For owners new to FSD Beta, it's surely a day a lot of us have been waiting for and a monumental moment for Tesla. However, it doesn't stop there, it looks like we'll soon all have access to the next big update, FSD Beta v11.
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