Elon Musk Promises 'Super Good' Autowiper Performance With Latest Iteration

Musk believes owners will see a big improvement in Tesla's latest auto-sensing wiper updates

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On the heels of last week's wiper news about Tesla's auto-sensing feature, CEO Elon Musk has proclaimed that "wipers will be super good." This declaration seems to center on the recent rollout of the Autowiper v4 system, indicating a shift away from the previously hyped 'Deep Rain' concept.

Retracing the Path to Autowiper v4

While Tesla's auto wiper system had shortcomings, the company has taken note of user feedback to refine and upgrade the technology. Musk's tweet today brings attention to this effort, sparking speculation and excitement among Tesla owners.

The Autowiper v4 is a testament to Tesla's commitment to improving its driver experience, promising to deliver more precise and responsive wiper control in various weather conditions. This development represents the company's commitment to pushing the boundaries of innovation and customer experience.

Pausing the 'Deep Rain' Concept

Musk's tweet also coincides with reports that Tesla may be stepping back from its 'Deep Rain' neural net. Once touted as the definitive solution to wiper sensitivity issues, the 'Deep Rain' feature can now be disabled internally in the new FSD Beta 11.4.2 release according to Tesla hacker, GreenTheOnly.

This unexpected turn of events has caused a buzz in the Tesla community. While some express disappointment, others see it as a strategic move to streamline the auto wiper system, shifting focus to the promising Autowiper v4.

Harnessing Surround Video for Enhanced Rain Detection

Musk apologized for the past performance of Tesla's auto wipers and revealed a key update in the tweet. Tesla is transitioning from a single camera, single frame neural net to a surround video system. This means the company is compiling video from all onboard cameras into a 360-degree view, which the neural net will then analyze.

Notably, this upgrade reflects Musk's vision of fully autonomous vehicles and how they may transform car ownership. The system can gain a comprehensive understanding of its surroundings by utilizing multiple camera feeds. This move promises improved rain detection and signifies a step toward Tesla's self-driving goals.

Embracing the Future: The Role of Autowiper v4

As Tesla continues to innovate, the Autowiper v4 system could play a key role in overcoming the challenges previously faced by the auto wiper system. Integrating all onboard cameras promises a better understanding of weather conditions, potentially increasing the system's efficiency and accuracy.

While in its early days, the Autowiper v4 represents an exciting advancement in Tesla's technological capabilities. It shows that Tesla is listening to its user base and remains committed to delivering improvements and upgrades that directly address the needs and concerns of its drivers.

What the Future Holds

The shelving of the 'Deep Rain' concept and the introduction of the Autowiper v4 system marks a critical juncture for Tesla's auto wiper technology. The shift to a surround video system demonstrates Tesla's unwavering commitment to innovation and user experience improvement.

While these developments have caused a stir in the Tesla community, the real test will come when Tesla enables v4 and lets drivers experience the new system. As the anticipation grows, the spotlight remains on Tesla as we wait to see if these updates deliver on their promise. The story of Tesla's Autowiper system is far from over, and it will be fascinating to watch it unfold.

Tesla Reveals Robotaxi App and Names the Robotaxi the CyberCab

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.

Latest Updates

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.

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

“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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