Tesla has expanded its Full Self-Driving Beta program by releasing the first public version of FSD Beta 12.1.2, update 2023.44.30.12 to a select group of Tesla owners. This version is notable for its use of an end-to-end neural network, which is expected to greatly improve Tesla's advanced driver assist system (ADAS). The neural network, trained on millions of video clips, replaces much of the previous explicit C++ coding, improving the system's capability to handle complex driving situations. While Elon Musk had suggested that version 12 would see FSD coming out of beta, the release notes still label it as beta.
Tesla previously released FSD Beta v12 internally, including v12, v12.1, and v12.1.1, but v12.1.2 is the first to be available to non-employees. OG FSD Beta tester, and Tesla influencer, @WholeMarsBlog received this newest release last night and has already published his video (below).
Early Feedback & Tempering Expectations
Early reports say that FSD Beta v12 is more intuitive and drives more human-like. The feedback appears to be overwhelmingly positive, although it’s not uncommon for owners to get excited about such a monumental release that we’ve been looking forward to for many months. We may need to temper our expectations as this release alone won’t get us to level 4 or even level 3 autonomy, but it could be a significant step in the right direction. It could be as significant to vehicle control as when Tesla first transitioned to using AI for Autopilot.
Early reports say that there is a noticeable improvement in how the vehicle handles urban driving scenarios. The smoother transitions and quicker response times appear to contribute to a more comfortable and human-like driving experience. This shouldn’t be unexpected, as vehicle control is now trained on videos of humans driving instead of engineer-written code.
New Pull-Over Feature
A notable feature of FSD Beta v12.1.2 is its ability to pull over to the side of the road autonomously, a functionality showcased in Musk's live stream. At the end of a drive, the vehicle will now pull over to the site of the road instead of simply stopping. WholeMarsBlog shows off this feature in action in his video below:
For such a milestone release, Tesla hasn’t provided much information in the way of release notes. Each FSD Beta release normally contains a long list of technical release notes, which often need to be translated for everyone to understand. However, this time we get a single sentence that describes FSD Beta v12. The release notes simply state:
“FSD Beta v12 upgrades the city-streets driving stack to a single end-to-end neural network trained on millions of video clips, replacing over 300k lines of explicit C++ code.”
Road Ahead and Release Date
A clearer picture of FSD Beta v12.1.2 and its real-world performance will emerge as more Tesla owners receive the update and share their feedback. It will be interesting to see how the system handles diverse driving conditions, especially in areas with heavy precipitation, a scenario Elon Musk mentioned needing more training.
While this public release is monumental, the release to additional owners is expected to be a gradual and slow process. It could be months before most owners have access to this latest update. Tesla will likely gather feedback with this release and issue additional v12 betas to ignore other issues and improve the system.
While Tesla continues to innovate and refine its FSD technology, it is crucial to remember that the software is still in beta. The transition to full autonomy is a complex and gradual process, requiring rigorous testing and validation. However, with each update like v12.1.2, Tesla moves closer to realizing its vision of fully autonomous vehicles.
Yesterday, we reported that Tesla updated their Steam integration on Model S and Model X vehicles. The update was part of their 2024 Holiday Update, but it looks like there may be more to this than a simple update.
Steam, a video game library app, makes it easy for users to buy or launch games on their computers. However, a couple of years ago, Valve, who created Steam, launched their own standalone device, the Steam Deck. The Steam Deck runs a custom OS based on Linux.
Steam Launch
When Tesla launched the redesigned Model S and Model X, Tesla introduced a dedicated gaming GPU with 16GB of RAM and touted the ability to play top-tier PC games in Tesla vehicles.
In 2022, Tesla finally launched the Steam app for the Model S and Model X as part of its 2022 Holiday Update. The Steam app runs Steam OS, the same OS as the Steam Deck in a virtual environment.
However, earlier this year, Tesla stopped including the GPU and Steam (Beta) in their vehicles, and we haven’t seen any updates to the Steam in quite some time. In fact, we thought Tesla was axing their gaming-on-the-go dreams.
SteamOS Update
The Steam app, which is still in Beta, is getting an interesting update for the Model S and Model X vehicles with the discrete GPU.
Those vehicles received an update to SteamOS 3.6 - the same version of SteamOS that runs on the Steam Deck. While nothing has visually changed, there’s a long list of performance optimizations under the hood to get things running smoother.
Comparing Steam Deck to Tesla Vehicles
Let’s take a look at the Steam Deck - according to Valve, its onboard Zen4 CPU and GPU combined push a total of 2 TFlops of data, which is fairly respectable, but much lower than today’s home consoles. The Steam Deck is capable of 720p gaming fairly seamlessly on low-to-medium settings on the go and is also built on the AMD platform.
AMD-equipped Teslas, including the Model 3 and Model Y, are packing an older Zen+ (Zen 1.5) APU (processor with a combined CPU and GPU). AMD claims that the V1000 - the same embedded chip as on AMD Tesla vehicles (YE1807C3T4MFB), brings up to 3.6 TFLops of processing power with it, including 4K encoding and decoding with the integrated GPU on board.
While that’s not enough for 4K gaming or comparable to a full-blown console or desktop GPU, that’s enough raw horsepower for light gaming and is currently more powerful than the Steam Deck.
The Model S and Model X’s GPU brings that up to about 10TFlops of power - comparable to modern consoles like the Xbox Series X at 12 TFlops.
Steam Gaming for All Vehicles?
The fact that Tesla is updating SteamOS even though the feature is no longer available in any new vehicles could indicate that Tesla is not only bringing Steam back to Teslas but that it’s going to play a much bigger role.
While SteamOS is run in a virtual environment on top of Tesla’s own OS, we could see Tesla bring SteamOS to all of its current vehicles, including the Model 3, Model Y, and Cybertruck. Steam in these vehicles would likely support any game that’s capable of running on the Steam Deck.
We think this Steam update, which includes performance improvements and a variety of fixes, has quietly passed under most people’s radars. This could be a very exciting update for those who enjoy gaming, especially for those who love to do it in their Tesla.
As part of Tesla’s 2024 Holiday Update, Tesla included two awesome new features - Weather at Destination and the long-awaited Weather Radar Overlay. These two features are big upgrades built upon the weather feature that was added in update 2024.26. The original weather feature added an hourly forecast, as well as the chance of precipitation, UV index, Air Quality Index, and other data.
However, this update also added some smaller weather touches, such as the vehicle alerting you if the weather at the destination will be drastically different from the current weather.
Not a Tesla App
Weather At Destination
When you’re navigating to a destination and viewing the full navigation direction list, the text under the arrival time will show you the expected weather next to your destination. You can also tap this, and the full weather pop-up will show up, showing your destination's full set of weather information.
Note the weather under the arrival time
Not a Tesla App
You can also tap the weather icon at the top of the interface at any time and tap Destination to switch between the weather at your current location and the weather at your destination.
You’re probably considering that the weather at your destination doesn’t matter when you’re three hours away - but that’s all taken into account by the trip planner. It will add in both charge time and travel time and show you the weather at your destination at your expected arrival time.
And if the weather is drastically different or inclement, such as rain or snow, while you’ve got sunshine and rainbows - the weather will be shown above the destination ETA for a few moments before it tucks itself away.
Tesla also recently introduced a new voice command. Asking, “What’s the weather?” or something similar will now bring up Tesla’s weather popup.
The weather pop-up above the ETA
Not a Tesla App
One limitation, though—if you’re planning a long road trip that is more than a day of driving, the weather at destination feature won’t be available until you get closer.
Weather Radar Overlay
As part of the improvements to weather, Tesla has also added a radar overlay for precipitation. You can access the new radar overlay by tapping the map and then tapping the weather icon on the right side of the map. It’ll bring up a radar overlay centered on your vehicle. It’ll animate through the radar data over the last 3 hours so that you can see the direction of the storm, but you can also pause it at any point.
You’re able to scroll around in this view and see the weather anywhere, even if you zoom out. It also works while you’re driving, although it can be a little confusing if you’re trying to pay attention to the navigation system. If you like to have Points of Interest enabled on your map, the weather overlay will hide POIs except for Charging POIs.
Requirements / Data
Unfortunately, you’ll need Premium Connectivity for any of the weather features to work, and being on WiFi or using a hotspot will not be enough to get the data to show up. The data, including the weather radar, is provided by The Weather Channel.
As for supported models, weather and weather at destination are available on all vehicles except for the 2012-2020 Model S and Model X. The weather radar has more strict requirements and requires the newer AMD Ryzen-powered infotainment center available on the 2021+ Model S and Model X and more recent Model 3 and Model Y vehicles.
![Tesla Updates Santa Mode & Rainbow Road to Use Ambient Lighting and Updates SteamOS [VIDEO]](https://www.notateslaapp.com/img/containers/article_images/tesla-screen/ambient-lighting-santa-mode-rainbow.webp/bd6dd7459fc8963516a33efd3bd54466/ambient-lighting-santa-mode-rainbow.jpg)
![Tesla Builds Cybertruck Tunnel While Production Lines Pause [VIDEO]](https://www.notateslaapp.com/img/containers/article_images/2024/cybertruck-tunnel.webp/822a2c10124f46fe13e0d45cefdd9d33/cybertruck-tunnel.jpg)
![Impressive Tesla FSD Videos: Making Room for Vehicles & Mastering Tight Maneuvers [WATCH]](https://www.notateslaapp.com/img/containers/article_images/2023/fsd-beta-vis-3.jpg/9c0bfda120e9fecc4ddb111b350565ac/fsd-beta-vis-3.jpg)
