What’s Coming in Tesla FSD V13

By Karan Singh
Not a Tesla App

As part of an update to its AI roadmap, Tesla has also announced the features that will be in FSD v13. Tesla provided many details about what we can expect, and there’s a lot of info to break down.

Tesla’s VP of AI, Ashok Elluswamy, also revealed that FSD v13 is expected to make FSD Unsupervised feature complete. That doesn’t mean that autonomy will be ready, as each feature will still need to work at safety levels higher than a human, but it means every key feature of autonomous vehicles will be present in FSD v13.

Let’s examine the v13 feature list Tesla and Tesla employees have recently provided to see exactly what’s coming.

Higher Resolution Video & Native AI4

FSD v12 has been trained using Tesla’s HW3 cameras and downsampling the AI4 cameras to match. For the first time, Tesla will use AI4's native camera resolution to get the clearest image possible. Not only will Tesla increase the resolution, but they’re also increasing the capture rate to 36 FPS (frames per second). This should result in extreme smoothness and the ability of the vehicle to detect objects earlier and more precisely. It’ll be a big boon for FSD, but it’ll come at the price of processing all of this additional information.

The HW3 cameras have a resolution of about 1.2 megapixels, while the AI4 cameras have a resolution of 5.44 megapixels. That’s a 4.5x improvement in raw resolution - which is a lot of new data for the inference computer and AI models to deal with. 

Yun-Ti Tsai, Senior Staff Engineer at Tesla AI, mentioned on X that the total data bandwidth is 1.3 gigapixels per second, running at 36 hertz, with nearly 0 latency between capture and inference. This is one of the baseline features for getting v13 off the ground, and through this feature update, we can expect better vehicle performance, sign reading, and lots of little upgrades.

Bigger Models, Bigger Context, Better Data

The next big item is that Tesla will increase the size of the FSD model by three times and the overall context length by the same amount. What that means, in simple terms, is that FSD will have a lot more information to draw upon—both at the moment (the context length) and from background knowledge and training (model size). 

In layman’s terms, Tesla has made the FSD brain bigger and increased the amount of information it can remember. This means that FSD will have a lot more data to work with when making decisions, both from what's happening right now and from what it has learned in the past.

Beyond that, Tesla has also massively expanded the data scaling and training compute to match. Tesla is increasing the amount of training data by 4.2 times and increasing their training commute power by 5x.

Audio Intake

Tesla’s FSD has famously only relied upon visual data—equivalent to what humans can access. LiDAR hasn’t been on Tesla’s books except for model validation, and radar, while used in the past, was mostly phased out.

Now, Tesla AI will integrate audio intake into FSD’s models, with a focus on better handling of emergency vehicles. FSD will soon be able to react to emergency vehicles, even before it sees them. This is big news and is in line with how Tesla has been approaching FSD—through a very human-like lens.

We’re excited to see how these updates pan out - but there was one more thing. Ashok Elluswamy, VP of AI at Tesla, confirmed on X that they’ll add the ability for FSD to honk the horn.

Other Improvements

The other improvements, while major, can be summarized pretty simply. Tesla is focusing on improving smoothness and safety in various ways. The v13 AI will be trained to predict and adapt for collision avoidance, navigation, and better following traffic controls. This will make it more predictable for users and other drivers and improve general safety.

Beyond that, Tesla is also working on a better representation of the map and navigation inputs versus what FSD actually does. In complex situations, FSD may choose to take a different turn or exit, even if navigation is telling it to go the other way. This future update will likely close this gap and ensure that your route and FSD’s path planner match closely.

Of course, Tesla will also be working on adding Unpark, Reverse, and Park capabilities, as well as support for destination options, including parking in a spot, driveway, or garage or just pulling over at a specific point, like at an entrance.

Finally, they’re also working on adding improved camera self-cleaning and better handling of camera occlusion. Currently, FSD can and will clean the front cameras if they are obscured with debris, but only if they are fully blocked. Partial blockages do not trigger the wipers. Additionally, when the B-Pillar cameras are blinded by sunlight, FSD tends to have difficulties staying centered in the lane. This specific update is expected to address both of these issues.

FSD V13 Release Date

Tesla announced that FSD v13 will be released to employees this week, however, it’ll take various iterations before it’s released to the public. Tesla mentioned that they expect FSD v13 to be released to customers around v13.3, but surprisingly, they state that this will happen around the Thanksgiving timeframe — just a few weeks away.

Tesla is known for delays with its FSD releases, so we’re cautious about the late November timeline. However, the real takeaway is that FSD v13 is expected to offer a substantial leap in capability over the next few months—even if it’s exclusive to AI4.

Tesla Plans CyberCanopy Supercharger with RGB Lighting and UFO-Inspired Design

By Karan Singh
Not a Tesla App

Back in 2023, Tesla put together a rather unique Supercharger site idea - one with a CyberCanopy. This canopy is intended to provide solar power for Supercharging, helping to reduce the impact on the local grid while also providing a futuristic and Cybertruck-themed location that would set it apart.

Unfortunately, the plans never moved beyond the filing stage. Instead, Tesla opened a standard-looking Supercharger at the same Canton, Massachusetts location. However, the site is still well-situated just off the highway and benefits from natural tree cover in the parking area.

However, Tesla is at it again with a concept for another CyberCanopy with RGB lighting. Thanks to MarkoRP for spotting this. No April Fool’s this time.

We want to build a few Superchargers cool enough to be worthy of the trip itself. - Max de Zegher

CyberCanopy 2

This second Supercharger with CyberCanopy is set for Roswell, New Mexico, at the Whataburger in town. Featuring just eight stalls, this will be one of Tesla’s smaller Supercharger sites, but for what it lacks in size, it makes up for it in uniqueness. The charging stalls are covered from the rain by a futuristic, Cybertruck-themed canopy, which will have solar panels installed on the top of it.

According to the plans, the CyberCanopy boasts 20.88kW of solar panels on its roof, providing shelter from the elements while also providing some power back to the grid.

RGB Lighting

At nighttime, the Supercharger will make a big statement. Tesla intends to light the long edges of the canopy, which will not only look amazing, but it’ll actually make finding the Supercharger easier in a large parking lot.

The lighting coming off the edge of the canopy reminds us a lot of the lightbar on the Cybertruck and now the new Model Y. It’s definitely the direction Tesla is moving for all their models, so expect all future models to have it, including the new Roadster and the next-gen model.

Tesla’s Max de Zegher also took to X after the plans for the new Supercharger were found and shared the image above. He stated that Tesla wants to build a few cool Superchargers that will be worth stopping at, even if they’re out of the way a little bit. So it seems like this isn’t just a concept, but an idea that Tesla wants to expand to several areas around the country or world.

Sending Energy to the Grid

This particular site doesn't have a Megapack or other form of energy storage, unlike the upcoming Harris Ranch Supercharger site in California. That means that Tesla won’t be storing the solar energy gained from this site, but instead will be either offsetting the immediate grid impact or serving energy back to the grid when the site isn’t actively charging.

Tesla will likely be incorporating V4 Superchargers, including both V4 posts and the new, more powerful V4 Cabinets, as the permit states that Tesla will be redesigning the site internally before beginning construction. For Cybertruck owners, 500kW charging may be around the corner.

We’re hoping Tesla continues to deploy these kinds of Supercharger sites around the world - they make a stylistic statement about Tesla’s futurism, like the Shell gas station that was upcycled into a Supercharger site earlier this year in Spain.

They also make a big impact for ownership because it is a far more comfortable charging experience when you stop at a site that’s shaded from the elements - and one that’s better for the environment with offset emissions.

Imagining Tesla’s Robotaxi Network Charging Stations

By Karan Singh
Not a Tesla App

It was a rainy April 1st when a news-searching author went on a delve into the depths of April Fools to find fact from falsehood. And while we found a lot of fantastic jokes, we also found some good ideas.

So, with a shoutout to MarcoRP on X, whose April Fool’s Joke gave us a good run for our money for a couple of minutes, we thought to ourselves - what would a Cybercab Charging Station / Cleaning Hub really look like?

Cybercab Wireless Charging Sites

Now, before continuing, we’d like to point out that the image up top is a joke from Marco - it isn’t an accurate or real site map submission from Tesla. However, it gave us the impetus to think critically about what is required for a Robotaxi fleet, based primarily on the Cybercab, to be able to service a city.

Requirements

Tesla will likely need to charge a small fleet of Cybercabs at a single time and in a single place. That means that the site needs to be large enough to cover a major metro area while also still being compact enough to not cost too much money to build out.

In addition, we need to factor in charge times. The Cybercab is likely to launch with a battery around 50 kWh, which will result in a range of approximately 300 miles. With that much range, the average Cybercab may not need to charge more than once or at all during daytime shifts, so instead, most of the vehicles will charge overnight.

MarcoRP

Math and Charge Times

The overnight charging means that most of these vehicles could be charged slowly. When we did some back-of-the-napkin math last year, we determined that Tesla’s wireless charger will likely peak around 17 kW (for comparison, Tesla’s Wall Connector at 32 amps charges at about 7 kW). If we scale Tesla’s wireless charger down slightly to 10 kW, accounting for some energy loss and the potential size of the site, that means a Cybercab will be able to charge in about 5 hours.

Tesla’s upcoming V4 Supercharger unit can currently handle 1.5MW per cabinet, but this slower-speed charging is A/C, not DC, which means there is a step-down loss of about 3-5%. Let’s make that a comfortable 10% for any other overages, but we can estimate around 1.35MW of power. That 1.3MW will easily handle charging up to 100 Cybercabs at once - all wirelessly, using Tesla’s unique beam-forming and beam-steering technology to keep efficiency high at every single stall.

Within about 5 hours, a whole fleet of 100 Cybercabs could be charged overnight when electricity rates are cheaper and still be out in time for the morning commute.

While this is all just hypothetical, it really does make sense that Tesla will be establishing these sites that won’t require much space or a ton of energy.

Tesla recently curtained off a large section of the parking garage at Giga Texas, as well as some of their chargers on the eastern end of the facility, leading us to believe they may just be testing this at scale internally.

There’s a lot to look forward to with Tesla’s V4 Supercharger deployment coming this year and with Robotaxi launching in just a couple of months.

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