Tesla Shifts Production of $25k Vehicle to Giga Texas

Tesla's $25,000 compact car will not be similar to the Cybertruck

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Walter Isaacson continues to make the rounds to promote his newest book, a biography of Elon Musk. The author has made podcast and morning show appearances and made some excerpts public to drive up book sales. If you've followed Musk and Tesla, there are few revelations, but some items are worth further inspection, as with some excerpts that Axios published.

Musk's ever-evolving vision for Tesla reveals a notable shift in the company's next-generation electric vehicle platform plans. Although Tesla initially announced Mexico as the production hub for its upcoming Gigafactory, recent updates suggest a change in locale to Giga Texas, occurring as recently as May.

Giga Mexico is Still on the Blueprint, but not the Hub

Musk explained this strategic shift by emphasizing the need for Tesla's design engineers close to the manufacturing hub. The proximity will enable immediate feedback, streamlining the process considerably. Musk told Isaacson, "Getting everyone to move to Mexico is never going to happen," pointing to the logistic hurdles of the initial choice.

Despite the reshuffling, the role of Giga Mexico remains central in Tesla's roadmap. The facility in Nuevo León will play a crucial part in Tesla's new EV generation. As affirmed by Nuevo León's governor, Samuel García Sepúlveda, a designated area outside Monterrey will house the production line for Tesla's $25,000 compact car, maintaining the initial agreement and showcasing the unwavering commitment to this project.

Robotaxi: Taking a Leaf from Cybertruck's Design

A fascinating revelation from Isaacson is the design inspiration for the upcoming robotaxi. Musk envisions a strong resemblance to the Cybertruck, sharing the architecture with the $25,000 compact car. However, when this bit of information was put on X.com, Musk responded: No, but Robotaxi will look like the future.

During a February design review session, Tesla chief designer Franz von Holzhausen showcased the early designs of both vehicles, winning Musk's appreciation for their futuristic, Cybertruck-inspired look. Musk highlighted the potential for people to feel like they're glimpsing into the future when they see these vehicles on the road, emphasizing their groundbreaking aesthetic.

Robotaxi Over $25,000 Car Musk's Preference

While both projects share a structural foundation, Musk's enthusiasm noticeably gravitates more toward the Robotaxi project, viewing it as the cornerstone of a transportation revolution. It's worth noting that Musk needed convincing from the Tesla team to retain a common architecture for the two projects. The CEO found the $25,000 vehicle to be less stimulating, stating, "It's really not that exciting of a product."

Despite Musk's lesser excitement for the $25,000 car, it holds its ground as a pivotal element in Tesla's portfolio, thanks to persistent advocacy from the Tesla team for a shared vehicle architecture between the two. Musk, albeit initially resistant, acknowledged the potential of harmonizing the architecture between the extraordinary and the accessible.

Tesla Updates FSD From V12.3.6 to V12.5 on Update 2024.44

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Tesla maintains two primary software branches: the main feature branch and the FSD branch. In general, the FSD branch lags behind on new features pushed to the main branch but provides a more recent FSD version.

However, now Tesla is updating the main branch to a much more recent version of FSD.

Current FSD Build & Shadow Mode

Nowadays, the main branch always includes an older but stable build of FSD. It’s been on FSD V12.3.6 since July 2024. So, if you subscribe to FSD in North America, this is the FSD version you’ll receive until you get added to the FSD track.

Even if you don’t subscribe to or have purchased FSD, your vehicle has v12.3.6 on it. That includes vehicles in regions where FSD isn’t available for general use, such as Europe and China. In those cases, FSD runs in Shadow Mode, providing training data to Tesla if you’ve agreed to their data privacy policies. So Tesla is always analyzing what the vehicle would do compared to what the driver does. When there are contradictions, these are the clips and data Tesla will want to analyze.

FSD V12.5.4.2 on Main Branch

For the first time in five months, Tesla has now updated the baseline version of FSD in the main branch. The new version included with 2024.44 updates is FSD v12.5.4.2. This Tesla is updating the baseline FSD version to FSD V12.5.4.2

FSD 12.5 includes many features for a much smoother experience compared to FSD 12.3.6. Many users will appreciate that it gets rid of the steering wheel nag and instead relies on the cabin camera to provide real-time driver monitoring. This version also includes support for sunglasses with driver monitoring. It’ll be a big upgrade for anyone coming from FSD 12.3.6.

It's always a good thing when Tesla updates the baseline FSD version—that means that Tesla is confident that this new baseline is considerably safer and will continue to train the fleet against it.

What Update Am I Getting?

If you’re already on FSD V12.5.4.2, you’ll likely remain on that FSD build unless V13.3 manages to make its way to the public as Tesla originally planned, but that’s unlikely to happen before the Thanksgiving holiday. In all likelihood, you’ll be getting update 2024.44, which will give you some additional Tesla features while keeping you on the same FSD version.

For those who are already on 2024.44 - if you subscribe now, you’ll have V12.5.4.2 enabled on your vehicle.

If you have a Cybertruck, then you’ll receive update 2024.39.5 with FSD V12.5.5.3. They’re on a unique build for the moment, and this will likely be the case until Tesla acquires enough training data from the Cybertruck fleet.

What About FSD V12.5.6? V13?

FSD V12.5.6 is currently the build being provided to early access testers who have AI4 vehicles. It has new features like Driver Profiles, better lane change decisions, improved Max Speed Offset, and a few others. Tesla last pushed an update to FSD 12.5.6.2 in early November with some improvements to Driver Profiles.

That build is likely going to be deprecated as Tesla gets closer to releasing FSD v13, which they showed off at the We, Robot event back in October. The AI4 Model Ys and Cybercabs at We, Robot were running an early V13 build/ 

The updated FSD roadmap provided at the end of October mentioned that V13.3 will be the build that will make its way to customers sometime around Thanksgiving, but so far, no employee vehicles have been spotted with FSD v13.

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Tesla Cybertruck: Puddle Lights, FSD/Powershare, Mars? [Update: FSD Now Available in Canada]

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The Cybertruck is having an eventful November. Just last week, we shared the news that Tesla isn’t offering their in-house wrap service for the Cybertruck anymore; the Foundation Series is now available in inventory in select US locations, Crossbars have arrived, and faster charging is around the corner. Now there’s even more to discuss about the stainless steel beast.

Projection Puddle Lights

Like the recently launched puddle lights for the Model 3 and Model Y, Tesla has introduced a set of add-on Projector Puddle Lights for the Cybertruck. These Cybertruck-specific ones go for $75 USD, or $105 CAD and are available in both the Canadian and US Tesla stores.

However, these don’t have the Tesla wordmark - instead, they feature the iconic Cybertruck symbol and, in our opinion, look even nicer. Here’s to hoping Tesla also introduces a set with the graffiti-style Cybertruck wordmark.

Powershare in Canada

While the Foundation Series Cybertruck has been getting delivered in Canada since November 7th, there was no news on Powershare being supported due to regulatory constraints. On the 20th, Foundation Series owners in Canada began to receive emails to get their Powershare installs started through Tesla’s official installer - Qmerit.

More to follow on pricing and the process as we receive our Canadian quote from Qmerit soon.

FSD in Canada

The Cybertruck Program Manager, Siddhant Awasthi, confirmed that with Powershare now becoming available, FSD for the Cybertruck in Canada will also become available soon. Canadian trucks shipped with a factory software build that didn’t include FSD, but did include TACC and stoplight/traffic control.

Early this morning Tesla began rolling out a new version of FSD 12.5.5.3 for the Cybertruck, which is update 2024.39.5. Will this be the version that rolls out in Canada?

Update: Yesterday, Tesla started rolling out FSD on the Cybertruck in Canada for the first time. The update being rolled out is update 2024.39.5, which not only features the latest FSD available on the Cybertruck, version 12.5.5.3, but it also includes all the features update 2024.38, which includes the huge Sentry Mode improvements that reduce power consumption by about 40%.

First Mars Payload

Following Integrated Flight Test 6 for SpaceX’s Starship, Elon Musk confirmed that uncrewed Starships are likely to begin making their way to Mars in about 2 years. You’re probably going to ask what’s going to be in those Starships - that’s what Brett Winston on X asked as well. Elon confirmed that Cybertrucks and Optimus robots will be among some of the first items landing on Mars.

That’s a ton of awesome news for Cybertruck, and there’s absolutely going to be more around the corner, especially as we await the big Tesla Holiday Update. While you wait, why not take a look at our Holiday Update Wishlists?

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