Tesla Releases FSD Beta 12.2.1 Update [Update: Now Going Out to Customers]

FSD 12.2.1 goes to employees

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Tesla's journey towards fully autonomous driving takes another cautious step forward with the release of Full Self-Driving (FSD) Beta version 12.2.1, currently rolling out exclusively to Tesla employees. This latest iteration arrives amidst the backdrop of Tesla's recent earnings call, where the spotlight was on FSD Beta v12's limited release to select customers. However, the exclusivity is to a very limited set of public testers, with many OG testers still waiting to receive any of the v12 releases. It arrives as update 2023.44.30.20 which remains on Tesla’s 2023 holiday update code base, instead of being based on Tesla’s newer 2024.2 updates.

Focused on Fine-Tuning

Through incremental updates, the progression from version 12 to 12.2.1 has been watched on a few Tesla social media accounts. Notably, @WholeMarsCatalog was one of those select customers with access to version 12.1.2. But he doesn’t have the latest version yet.

Fisherman's Wharf to SFO in the Rain with 0 Interventions Required on Tesla Full Self-Driving Beta 12.1.2

Watch in 4K: https://t.co/LwC61XQfmK
Raw 1x speed footage: https://t.co/4Oxcq5LPwf

Highlights
0:01 — Left turn onto Jefferson Street in Fisherman's Wharf
0:52 — Passing… pic.twitter.com/ldDyOwSaz1

— Whole Mars Catalog (@WholeMarsBlog) February 18, 2024

But the small iterations signal Tesla's current emphasis on ironing out the intricacies rather than overhauling features. This could suggest Tesla is nearing a version it feels confident to release more broadly. Each small refinement brings us closer to what many hope will be a future of roads populated by fully autonomous vehicles.

Reality Check on Full Autonomy

Despite the excitement surrounding each FSD Beta release, Tesla hacker Green's insights offer a grounded perspective. According to Green, the expectations of FSD v12 being "fully" end-to-end might be overstated. His analysis, shared via X, points out that while showing significant improvements, recent versions still do not fulfill the lofty expectations of complete autonomy from camera to car controls.

Lots of hype - that's for sure.
Beyond hype? I suspect not much, not like it's going to enable L3, let alone L4.

— green (@greentheonly) February 16, 2024

This revelation tempers expectations, reminding us of the complex road ahead in achieving full self-driving capabilities. Even Elon’s brother, Kimbal, recently stated that fully autonomous driving is five years out. George Hotz, a renowned hacker and someone following autonomous driving technology closely, recently stated that FSD is more than a decade away.

Navigating the Path to Autonomy

The diverging opinions of industry insiders and technology enthusiasts highlight the inherent challenges of achieving full autonomy. While Tesla's approach of incremental improvements through versions like 12.2.1 demonstrates progress, it also underscores the complexity of the task at hand. The insights from figures like Green and observations from the broader tech community serve as a reality check, aligning expectations with the current state of autonomous driving technology.

The speculation around the timeline for achieving full autonomy varies widely and is certainly not in “two weeks.” However, Tesla's ongoing efforts to improve FSD Beta and its strategic approach to development and deployment keep Elon’s dream of fully autonomous driving alive.

Customer Rollout

Update: This FSD Beta update is now going out to customers. It looks like Tesla isn’t following its traditional release wave with the OG testers getting the release first, and is instead sending it to a variety of Tesla customers.

You must be on a holiday update release such as 2023.44.30.14 to be eligible to receive this update. If you’re currently on a 2024.2 update, you’ll need to wait until Tesla updates FSD Beta to be based on a 2024.2 or later update.

The only changes in this update will be related to FSD Beta, unless you haven’t received 2023.44.30.14 yet, then it will also include the indicator light changes.

If you’ve bought or subscribed to FSD, then check your vehicle and see if you’re one of the lucky few to receive this update. Follow the rollout of this v12 release on our statistics page.

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Tesla Reveals Q1 2025 Supercharger Vote Winners, Opens Voting for Q2

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With Q1 2025 now behind us, another round of Tesla’s Supercharger Voting has wrapped up. The previous vote took place back in December, and we now get to see which locations came out on top.

It’s been an exciting year for Supercharging, with the launch of 325kW charging for the Cybertruck and the upcoming debut of 500kW-capable V4 Superchargers. Tesla has also been rolling out several quality-of-life improvements to improve the charging experience, such as faster Supercharger data and an upcoming virtual queue system when Superchargers are full.

Let’s take a look at the Q1 2025 winners of the Supercharger Vote:

North America

🇺🇸 Lake Wales, FL

🇺🇸 Henderson, NV

🇺🇸 Clarksville, TN

🇺🇸 Roswell, NM

🇺🇸 Long Beach, CA

🇺🇸 Decatur, IL

🇺🇸 McAlester, OK

Europe

🇬🇧 Bournemouth, United Kingdom

🇮🇹 Bari, Italy

🇵🇱 Wrocław, Poland

🇨🇿 Hradec Králové, Czech Republic

Asia-Pacific

🇰🇷 Namyangju - South Korea

🇦🇺 Nicholls, Australia

Supercharger Voting Q2 2025

Another quarter means another round of Tesla's Supercharger Voting, giving Tesla owners the chance to influence where new Supercharger sites will be built. Following the Q1 2025 voting round, Tesla is now opening the polls for Q2 2025.

How to Vote

To participate in the Q2 2025 Supercharger Voting, visit the Tesla Supercharger Voting page and sign in to your Tesla account. You can vote for up to five different locations, with a limit of one vote per location, every three months. The most popular Superchargers are displayed on the leaderboard, and you can also suggest new locations for future voting cycles.

Tesla will announce the winners at the end of Q2.

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Tesla Teases FSD Unsupervised, Hits 50,000 Autonomous Miles

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We’ve known for a while now that Tesla has been using a custom build of FSD to allow its newly produced vehicles at Giga Texas and Fremont to autonomously navigate themselves from the production line to the outbound delivery lot. 

While we knew they were using a custom build of what was likely FSD Unsupervised, thanks to a recent post from Tesla AI on X, this has now been confirmed. Tesla has also confirmed it has accrued over 50,000 driverless miles, totalled from vehicles autonomously driving themselves to delivery lots.

Giga Texas production now uses FSD Unsupervised to deliver cars from end of line to the outbound logistics lot.

Over 50,000 driverless miles have been accrued between California and Texas factories so far pic.twitter.com/79zKY0U6Ox

— Tesla AI (@Tesla_AI) April 13, 2025

Autonomous Driving to Loading Areas

For most of Tesla’s vehicles - that’s a 1.4-mile trip that is shared with pedestrians, cars, trucks, and construction equipment. You can see in the video that the Teslas are navigating public roadways and encountering real human drivers.

That’s great news, especially since many were wondering whether Tesla would secure the necessary approvals in time to launch their Robotaxi network in June.

Increased Confidence

Following Tesla’s post to X, Musk followed up by saying that when Tesla launches FSD Unsupervised soon, it will be the first time there will be a generalized, pure AI solution to autonomy. Tesla and several executives continue to post more content about autonomy and the Robotaxi network, leading us to believe they’re feeling confident in the June launch.

Model Ys autonomously navigate a 1.4 mile trip on a road shared with pedestrians, cars, semi trucks, construction equipment & more pic.twitter.com/iPx2fs78v2

— Tesla AI (@Tesla_AI) April 13, 2025

Cybertruck Too

Back when Tesla initially announced the autonomous travel of its vehicles from production to loading lots, they mentioned that the Cybertruck was the only vehicle at Giga Texas not receiving that same treatment.

Now, that’s changed - Cybertruck is now also navigating through the Cybertunnel to make its way from the factory directly to the loading docks, all on Unsupervised FSD. And that’s making us even more excited, especially because Tesla was supposed to launch an FSD Update for the Cybertruck a little while ago - but it hasn’t made it to production yet. This update is set to bring Start FSD from Park, as well as Actually Smart Summon - bringing the Cybertruck to feature parity with Tesla’s other AI4 vehicles.

Cybertrucks autonomously navigate a 0.6 mile route traversing beneath one of America's fastest highways, emerging through a steep 17% grade to reach their destination pic.twitter.com/3ZMYCRPhIj

— Tesla AI (@Tesla_AI) April 13, 2025

Now that Tesla is confidently using a build of Unsupervised FSD to navigate the tight confines of the tunnel and park, we’re pretty sure that Tesla will likely launch the expected FSD update in the near future.

FSD Update Soon?

It’s been a while since any FSD hardware variant has received an FSD update. It appears that Tesla has been focused on Unsupervised FSD and launching FSD outside of North America.

It seems like we may get a new FSD update soon, and we don’t believe it’ll be just for the Cybertruck. Those who have the opportunity to sign up for Tesla’s new Early Access program will likely be some of the first recipients to receive the FSD update, so stay tuned.

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