Tesla's FSD v12.4 will remove the steering wheel nag
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Tesla’s FSD V12.4.2 has landed in the wild – at least among early-access customers this week. There have been a few videos and some folks have begun to provide feedback on X, on the update and how it's going.
For now, it hasn’t gone wide to customers and only early-access testers and employees have it on their vehicles. FSD 12.4.2 is update 2024.15.10 and it’s expected to be available to everyone on update 2024.14 who owns or subscribes to FSD… eventually.
Consistent, Confident
Early-access testers have found FSD V12.4.2 to be considerably more confident, and more consistent when it makes decisions. V12.4.2 seems more confident when making unprotected left turns and encountering construction or complex interchanges.
They’ve also had more consistency and confidence with the Auto Speed feature, which adjusts the vehicle’s speed automatically based on traffic conditions, and also noted that it has improvements with lane selection, which was a larger issue in V12.4.1.
Users have also noted that the Vision-Based Driver Monitoring System is more confident and can see better at night. On V12.4.1, the Vision-Based DMS was unavailable at nighttime, and nags would still occur – but on V12.4.2, this restriction appears to be removed.
Regressions
There are still some regressions, with @DirtyTesLa on X noting that V12.4.2 seems to fail a left turn on an unmarked dirt road that it has previously made.
@WholeMarsBlog also noted that he had one critical safety intervention and that FSD missed a turn onto the highway, noting it was a regression from his experience on V12.4.1. Overall, he has had multiple intervention-free drives.
The program offers US military members, including veterans, retirees, active-duty members, and their spouses, $1,000 USD off the purchase of a Model S, Model 3, Model X, or Model Y.
Of note, the program is specifically unavailable for the Cybertruck, or for used car purchases.
Eligibility
The eligibility process is conducted through ID.me, the standard means of verifying service member status in North America. The offer is available to member spouses, as well as retired members and veterans.
You’ll have to go to the Military Recognition page on Tesla’s US site to access the ID.me verification process, and it will allow you to complete your configuration and order after you do so.
No Canadian Equivalent
Sadly, it seems that even though ID.me offers a Canadian Military Identification program, members of the Canadian Armed Forces are not eligible for the discount at this time. In general, most companies offer similar discounts for CAF personnel, as they work alongside American personnel across the globe.
Some Tesla parts are also produced by third-party manufacturers in Canada, and this could be a definite bonus to help represent the Canadian market.
Tesla recently launched 2024.26 to employees, and this update is packed with so many features, that we may as well call it the Summer Update.
The update has been pushed to “wave 1” employee testers, who usually receive feature updates ahead of time to test for bugs and other issues.
This update has brought some hotly requested features, so let’s go over some of them in detail.
Updated Climate Screen
There is a redesigned climate control panel, which will allow users to “select their comfort settings with ease”. We haven’t seen any images of the updated climate control panel just yet, but we’re scheduling to be built in and have all features on one screen instead of having the front and back seats separated.
Fan Speed Adjustment during Phone Calls
On 2024.26, with climate controls on Auto, fan speed may automatically lower to reduce the sound of ambient noise during a phone call. A similar feature was previously introduced last year in 2023.26, so we expect this to be an improvement to the same feature.
Navigate to Sub-Destinations
As part of the bigger navigation updates coming soon, Tesla has added another feature that uses the updated Google Places API. You will now be able to navigate to sub-destinations, including specific terminals at airports.
This is a change that will be absolutely necessary for Robotaxi but is also extremely helpful for drivers trying to figure out the monstrous interchanges and signs that most modern airports have. Hopefully, this integration continues to be expanded, and we receive additional sub-destinations such as specific parking lots or floors for parking garages, enabling users to park their vehicles as close as possible to the relevant mall or building entrance.
The sub-destination menu mockup preview
Not a Tesla App
Schedule Charge & Conditioning
With the newly revamped climate menu, Tesla is adding features that have been requested for quite some time. This includes the ability for more granular control of scheduled charging and preheating/precooling options – including scheduling one-off or specific days and times of the week for charging or vehicle conditioning. And it’s all location dependent!
This same feature will also arrive in the Tesla app, which means users will be able to manage all their locations, charge start and stop times, and climate start times as needed.
More Music Services, Games, Weather and More
Music and Weather
Tesla also added a few other awesome features to this update, including YouTube Music and Amazon Music, as well as an updated Weather widget, featuring a weather report and Air Quality Index. Read about it here.
Parental Controls
Tesla has also added Parental Controls to its feature package – focused on safer driving by limiting vehicle top speed, and acceleration, as well as enforcing safety features. Read about the details on this one here.
Games
Tesla has updated some of the games in the Arcade, including an update for Battle of Polytopia and Vampire Survivors, two of its most popular games. Additionally, support has been added for TeslaMic, which works with the updated Caraoke Mode. The TeslaMic may also soon become available for purchase in North America when this update goes to customers – if it matches the Chinese store price, it will cost approximately $160 USD ($220 CAD).
Zoom Meetings
With this release, Zoom meetings will now resize to full screen when the car enters Park, or default to full screen if the car is already parked.
Additionally, you’ll now be able to log in by scanning a QR code on a device that’s already logged into Zoom! That’s a feature we hope comes to more of Tesla’s third-party integrations.
Release Date
Given that it just went to wave 1 employees today, and will most likely need some minimum bug fixing, this could be at least a week or two before it hits customer vehicles. If you’re on the FSD branch, don’t expect to receive this update for a while, as people on FSD V12.3.6 (2024.14.X), are waiting for FSD V12.4.2 on 2024.15.10.
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