While Tesla’s futuristic new Cybercab was truly the highlight of its recent ‘We, Robot ‘event, Tesla did have some other tricks up its sleeve—like the Robovan. But even beyond that, they had plenty of other secrets they showed off but didn’t announce during its keynote.
One of the largest unannounced features is Unsupervised FSD and FSD V13. So, let’s look at what Tesla’s AI team has been cooking up in the background.
Unsupervised FSD
Elon Musk confirmed at the We, Robot keynote that Unsupervised FSD was coming. And while we know it’s been the pie in the sky for Tesla to achieve for quite a while, it was something else to see it in action at the event. Musk even provided dates and locations.
The initial locations in which Unsupervised FSD will be available will be Texas and California sometime in 2025. Additionally, that will be initially limited to Model 3 and Model Y vehicles, with it rolling out to Cybertruck and Models S and X shortly afterward. The Cybercab isn’t expected to hit production until late 2026.
Many states follow California, New York, and Texas’ direction on legislation – and for the tech sector – it's primarily focused on following California. Interestingly enough, this also includes Canada, which generally follows along once New York approves something (due to the closeness and population that crosses the border every day).
So, we could be looking at Unsupervised FSD arriving throughout North America faster than most people think. It is conceivable that by the end of 2025, Unsupervised FSD will be available in multiple US States.
FSD V13
If you use FSD or have been following it, you know that it's unable to reverse the vehicle in its current state. Currently, it can only reverse when using Actually Smart Summon, but not when using FSD on regular roads.
One of the goals for Tesla’s AI Roadmap is to bring FSD V13, with Park, Unpark, and Reverse being some of the key features. Apparently, the Robotaxis (and specifically - a Model Y Robotaxi) at We, Robot was capable of reversing and conducting 3-point turns. This video below from AI DRIVR on X shows the vehicle reversing at the event.
FSD V13's ability to reverse is an excellent example of the team’s progress on the next batch of features. Tesla also demonstrated the Unpark feature at the event—when the Robotaxi pulled up at the curb, it smoothly shifted out of park and proceeded. We predicted we’d see these features come to life at the Robotaxi event, and apparently, the prediction was right.
We’re excited to see what’s coming next. FSD V12.5.6 has been on early-access tester vehicles for about a week now, and FSD V12.5.5 has already been released to most Cybertrucks on the road.
It seems that the next major version that goes out wide may be FSD V13, with a litany of new features. Of course, the ability to reverse is just one of the biggest features - we’re looking forward to Banish Autopark and Autopark becoming smoothly integrated into FSD as well.
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Tesla software update 2024.44.3 has started rolling out to customers in larger waves recently and it brings several new features - including Actually Smart Summon to Europe and the Middle East, as well as improvements to Autopark. But that’s not all, it also adds a new Blind Spot Monitoring feature to the new Model 3, and potentially the Cybertruck, but that’s still to be determined.
We previously covered the Blind Spot Warning While Parked as part of our preview notes for update 2024.44, but now that it's going out to customers, it's time to see it in action.
If the vehicle’s door open button is pressed, and a vehicle or object is near or incoming, the vehicle’s Blind Spot Warning Light (2024 Model 3 and Cybertruck) will illuminate, an audible tone will ring and the door won’t open. A message will also be displayed on the center displaying, letting driver’s know why the door didn’t open.
Pressing the button a second time will allow you to override the warning and open the door normally, providing a way to get out in case you just parked close to a nearby vehicle or obstacle.
The object detection for this new feature includes cars, pedestrians, cyclists, and other objects - like things including traffic cones, bollards, strollers, and other large obstacles that FSD and vision-based Autopark detect during normal operation. Of note - this only works for the front two doors. Thanks to X user Max, who did some testing for us, It does not work for the rear passenger doors.
Optional Feature
The feature is optional - it’ll be enabled by default for safety, but if you need to enable or disable it, you can do so under Controls > Safety. For now, the feature is only available on the 2024 Model 3, but we expect it to roll out to the Cybertruck at least. However, there’s no reason why it can’t be added to other vehicles as well, minus the small red dot. We expect Tesla to eventually add this feature to all Tesla vehicles, but it’s currently not a part of update 2024.44.
Enhauto’s S3XY Buttons & Commander
If that’s not enough safety and vision for you, Enhauto, the makers of the popular S3XY Buttons and Commander recently put out a new software update for the 2024 Model 3, which makes some fantastic use of the ambient lighting.
With Enhauto’s solution, users are able to tie their ambient lights to Autopilot use, turn signals or even if a vehicle is their blind spot. Check out the video below for this awesome implementation, where the ambient lights turn red when another vehicle approaches.
Maybe Tesla will integrate something like this into a future update? We’ve been hoping for more customizability with their ambient lighting - it's an easy safety win and a demonstration of Tesla’s do-more-with-less attitude.
I look forward to @enhauto updates more than Tesla...
Ambient light effects....
I set default color to white. Blinks green on turn signals Turns blue on FSD activation Yellow if someone in blind spot Blinks red if turn signal on and blind spot activity detected.
The feature is now possible thanks to what Wes Morrill, Cybertruck’s lead engineering, points out is a huge rewrite of Tesla’s Trip Planner, which not only makes it much more accurate but will now allow users to choose their arrival charge percentage.
More Accurate Trip Planner
When you navigate to a destination, your Tesla will automatically calculate when, where, and how much you need to charge. While the process seems straightforward, Tesla deserves a lot of credit for creating a simple user experience because a lot goes into accurately determining this information.
Tesla has to calculate many moving pieces in order to accurately predict when and where you should stop. First, it needs to consider your driving efficiency and wind direction, terrain elevation, traffic, vehicle speed, and ambient temperature. It also needs to predict the best Superchargers to stop at, taking into account congestion and charger speed.
This morning, in response to Dan Burkland, Wes shared that Tesla had significantly rewritten the backend portion of Trip Planner. These improvements, made by several engineers, were designed to improve Trip Planner’s accuracy and open the door to future features.
It sounds like these changes are mostly server-side, so thanks to their OTA connection, more accurate predictions should be available to all vehicles—no vehicle update is required.
Arrival State of Charge
Along with Tesla’s improvements to Trip Planner, Wes also stated that these improvements allow for a popular feature request — the ability to select your desired charge level at arrival.
Up until now, Tesla’s Trip Planner tried to get you to your destination as quickly as possible, which usually meant arriving with a low state of charge.
While this was fine if you have a charger at your destination, it’s not great if you don’t, or it could be even worse if there are no chargers nearby.
Max de Zegher said on X that he has heard the requests for a selectable arrival state of charge. Wes later clarified this by saying that these improvements to Tesla’s Trip Planner now allow for additional features to be added, such as “desired arrival charge.”
Actually trip planner got a huge rewrite on the back end. I had a great conversation with one of the engineers working on this over a morning run a few weeks back, it's pretty neat. The rewrite also unlocks additional features, like desired arrival charge.
Given that Max de Zegher’s comments came last night and Wes Morrill commented this morning, this feature request likely won’t arrive with the upcoming Holiday Update. Tesla actually hinted at such a feature being added in their last app update, so it does seem like they’ve already planned for it.
Although ‘Arrival State of Charge’ was on our wishlist for the Holiday Update, it looks like it may arrive soon after the holidays.