Tesla Cybertruck: More Insight into the Mysterious Frunk

The Cybertruck Supercharging from overhead gives us a closer look at its massive dashboard

JoeTegtmeyer / randomness2646

Recent sightings and leaks have once again ramped up excitement and speculation around Tesla's Cybertruck. This time it's the frunk, or for the non-EV crowd, the big empty space under the hood where the engine used to be. Here's what the Cybertruck's frunk might entail.

Speculations and Early Sightings

Since Cybertruck first appeared on stage in 2019, the frunk seemed massive. However, it is hard to judge this book by the cover, and there's no telling what engineers need to do with the space between the driver's cabin and the front bumper. Then Ford's Lightning upped the ante with a significant frunk on the electric F-150. An image last month seemed to deflate those gigantic expectations as it appeared to show a downsized frunk. Many may have missed it because you were likely looking at the F-150 wrap on the Cybertruck.

Now, new images have appeared thanks to Joe Tegtmeyer and his drone flyover of Giga, Texas. Before we talk frunk, take a look at the size of the dashboard. They should consider putting some solar panels on that thing. Also, notice the frunk liner in the back of the truck.

There are also videos from inside the factory, showing off the Cybertruck's frunk. Yes, someone is risking their job to provide these images to the world. It's a fresh perspective on the frunk's size. The frunk spans the entire front of the vehicle, giving us quite a bit more width and height than anticipated, although the depth of the frunk still seems limited. With the front of the frunk lifting up with the hood, it'll also make loading items into the frunk easier than other Teslas.

Closer to Production

With the Cybertruck seen charging at the solar-panel canopied Supercharging station at Gigafactory Texas, complete with plastic still on the seats and new vehicle barcode labels, it's apparent that the journey towards mass production is underway. The sightings of several Cybertrucks, either test mules or ready for delivery, inside the Gigafactory, suggest that the official launch could be right around the corner.

Elon Musk has said that Cybertrucks will start rolling off the production lines by the end of the third quarter, but we all know how reliable Musk's timetable predictions can be. That said, with the ramp-up in Cybertruck spottings, including Tesla showing a large team at Giga-Texas celebrating the first Cybertruck coming off the production line, it appears these Sci-fi beasts will be on the road soon. With Tesla expected to start deliveries soon, we can look forward to official information, specs, and pricing at the promised delivery event sometime soon, as the third quarter ends on September 30.

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Tesla FSD V12.5.6 Introduces Major Improvements: A Look at All the Changes [Photos]

WholeMarsBlog on X

Tesla has just released software update 2024.32.30 to its early access customers this morning, with quite a few changes. What’s most exciting is that there isn’t a “Coming Soon” section in there, as this update includes all of those features.

This may mean that FSD v12.5.6 may be the big update that concludes FSD V12, as FSD V13 is already on the Tesla FSD Roadmap for October. But before we look too far forward, let’s take a look at what the early access folks received this morning.

Of course, this build includes Vision-Based Attention Monitoring, including sunglasses support, and end-to-end highway monitoring. It also includes " earlier and more natural lane change decisions,” “Updated Driver Profiles,” and “Auto Set Speed has been updated to Max Speed.”

Earlier and More Natural Lane Change Decisions

Since its inception, Tesla’s FSD has struggled to make natural lane change decisions, especially in advance of a coming turn or exit. Tesla has been working on improving when and how it makes these decisions, and this update should be the big one.

Early access testers have already mentioned that FSD V12.5.6 appears to make decisions a lot sooner than before, which is definitely a good thing. Previously, FSD would make decisions to get from the right lane into the left turning lane in under a few hundred yards (or meters) from the actual place you’re turning. This update should make everything much, much smoother.

Updated Driver Profiles

Tesla has replaced the three older FSD Modes with updated Driver Profiles instead (not to be mixed up with a Driver Profile that saves user preferences). Chill makes a come back here, but Average has been replaced with Standard, and Assertive has been replaced with Hurry. Hurry mode was previously announced by Elon in a post on X, and it has finally shown up a few short months later.

Tesla is a lot more clear on what each of these modes means, and how it’ll change the way FSD drives.

Chill

Chill says that it will drive in slower lanes with minimal lane changes. This one is going to be especially important because it seems like the minimal lane changes button is gone too. So if you want minimal lane changes for your drive – you’ll be on the Chill profile.

We expect Chill to stick to the right lane whenever possible – as that’s the “slow” lane in North America – and that should carry over to both the highway, as well as multi-lane roadways.

Standard

Standard is the new Average – it offers to drive at normal speed, adjusting with traffic. We’re not sure exactly what that means just yet, especially since Autospeed is gone (more on that below!), but it will likely work within the Max Speed to dynamically adjust based on how fast traffic around you is traveling.

If anything, Standard will be slightly more assertive and faster than Chill, but likely won’t be looking to park itself in the right lane or left lane – rather picking the more neutral center lane, especially on the highway.

Hurry

Hurry is the new mode, replacing Assertive. Hurry says that it will drive faster, with more frequent lane changes. It seems the intention of the Hurry Profile will be to get you to your destination just that much quicker.

Hurry will be fairly aggressive with its lane changes and its ability to drive faster. This means it will likely be looking for and taking opportunities to get ahead or through the flow of traffic where available. On the highway, this profile will likely bring you to the left lane, where you’ll be keeping up or passing traffic.

The Hurry Profile, in particular, will also be displayed when it’s in use, right next to the green attention-monitoring dot. It seems Standard and Chill currently do not display up there.

The FSD Profile Selection Screen

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Auto Set Speed Has Been Replaced

On FSD V12.5.6, Autospeed is gone. It has been replaced with an updated version of its predecessor – Max Speed Offset. You can now set a Max Speed Offset for all FSD profiles, including negative offsets, to drive below the speed limit.

The maximum offset available right now is 40% - so if the limit is 50mph, your FSD speed limit will be 70mph. The minimum offset is also -40% - so at 50 mph, that’s 30mph.

This is definitely a new approach, as Tesla was previously working on letting its neural nets dynamically adjust the speed based on road and weather conditions, traffic around you, and road types (country vs low-density urban vs high-density urban).

We think Max Speed Offset will work very similar to Auto Set Speed, but with a clearer indication of the vehicle’s max speed. Previously on Auto, it wasn’t clear how fast the vehicle could go, just that the car was trying to determine the correct speed for the situation. Max Speed Offset is still expected to slow down for varying traffic and weather conditions.

Just like before, quick controls are available on the right scroll wheel.

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When’s It Coming?

Okay, the big question everyone is waiting for. It's just hit early access testers on Model Y and Model 3 vehicles—with HW4. Assuming the build tests well, the earliest it will see customers will be sometime next week, likely with HW4 3/Y and Cybertrucks first, then the S/X, and then Hardware 3 in the coming weeks. However, this is just a guess based on previous releases. We hope HW3 vehicles get included much sooner.

So, hang tight, keep an eye on our feeds, and we’ll let you know once the first wide customer builds of FSD V12.5.6 start rolling out.

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Tesla Analyst Believes Tesla Will Launch Uber Competitor

Not a Tesla App

Adam Jonas, the Managing Director for Global Auto and Shared Mobility with Morgan Stanley, released a note earlier this month about Tesla’s future Robotaxi service and some possible expectations for its upcoming Robotaxi event on Thursday.

Let’s take a look at what he has to say about Tesla.

Robotaxi Event

Jonas predicts that Tesla’s event will serve as a showcase for the Cybercab, showing off its capabilities and design features. Attendees will be shown and given rides in the Tesla Robotaxi at the event, which will provide a set of baseline expectations for Tesla’s future service.

Dual Approach

However, he predicts Tesla will roll out Robotaxi in a two-pronged approach. In his eyes, Tesla will offer a fully autonomous app-based robotaxi/Cybercab service, but it will also offer a second option, a “supervised” autonomous/FSD-based rideshare service. He believes that the second item here—the rideshare service—is the biggest one that will impact investors. This human-powered fleet will essentially be an Uber competitor, which raked in 10 billion dollars in revenue last quarter.

Targeting

Jonas breaks down Tesla’s approach to rolling out Robotaxi and Unsupervised FSD in the future. As we previously discussed in an article on Tesla’s future, Tesla will likely target urban and metro areas for its initial rollout of Cybercab. Other areas may receive service from the supervised rideshare service.

Jonas estimates the FSD take rate will approach 30% this year with the now lower prices. Tesla may choose to keep the FSD price low to continue the high adoption of the service. This will help Tesla build out its human-based network faster until it can achieve a fully autonomous fleet that will work anywhere.

Morgan Stanley also believes Tesla will offer more favorable rates than Uber and its competitors, leaving more money in the driver’s pocket while Tesla grows its rideshare community.

Uber

Uber will be a direct competitor to Tesla’s in-house rideshare service, and Teslas likely account for approximately 5-9% of all Uber trips today. Tesla will have to ensure that its new owners who intend to do ridesharing will switch to Tesla’s service rather than continue with Uber’s well-established taxi service.

We’ll see how the future rollout of Tesla’s Unsupervised FSD and Robotaxi goes on 10/10, which is just a few days away. Be sure to check out our article on what to expect at Tesla’s event.

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