Tesla’s FSD continues to expand and learn, and V13 won’t be any slouch on this. V12 implemented end-to-end AI, and V13 brings a host of new features to help it reach feature completeness.
Today, FSD relies almost entirely upon visual data acquired from the vehicle’s cameras. Of course, it does pull information from other sensors, but the primary input is vision. While Tesla previously used radar in its vehicles and still ships the Models S and X with deactivated HD Radars, it relies on vision to guide its decision-making.
But that’s all changing—a revised version of V13 will bring audio-based decision-making to FSD for the first time. FSD is famously designed to work like a human driver—it relies on vision—but now it’ll also begin relying upon audio—both as an input… and an output.
We touched upon these items in our article on FSD V13, but it's time to really dig into them.
Listening for Emergency Vehicles
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FSD will soon be able to detect emergency vehicles by analyzing the sounds it hears. Interestingly, this will be done through the internal microphone—the same one used for voice commands. That’s because sirens are loud—loud enough for humans (and microphones) to hear them inside a moving car.
This will enable FSD to identify the distinct sounds of an approaching siren - helping to ensure that FSD detects emergency vehicles earlier and takes the correct maneuvers to move out of the way and safely pull over.
In addition, by analyzing the actual sound of the incoming siren, FSD should also be able to make a reasonable determination about whether the siren is approaching or just echoing off the city streets using the Doppler effect and some fairly simple math.
With the release of FSD V13.2 to early access testers and now FSD 12.5.6.4, Tesla has added a new item to the release notes that lets drivers opt-in to sharing audio data. For users who opt-in to sharing this data, Tesla will now receive 10-second audio clips in certain situations. Tesla will listen for certain sounds and then send this data back to Tesla for further analysis. This will help them improve certain sound detections.
In the release notes, Tesla specifically mentions detecting emergency vehicles by sound, but it seems that it will also be used for other things, such as listening for other vehicles honking or potentially someone yelling at the vehicle. These additional capabilities will help FSD navigate a world made for humans, which couldn’t be done with vision alone.
FSD Will Honk
So we’ve covered inputs… what about outputs? Ashok Elluswamy, Tesla’s VP of AI, mentioned that FSD will gain the ability to honk. That means FSD will be able to provide an audio cue to other vehicles - just like a real, human driver would. Whether that’s someone cutting FSD off, or someone dozing off at a traffic light, FSD gaining the ability to honk will be extremely valuable - it’s the first ability FSD will have to communicate with the outside world and with other drivers.
Humans have developed different types of honks, such as short, friendly taps of the horn or louder, longer horn presses for emergency situations. It’ll be interesting to see if Tesla also implements different types of honks as well.
This is one of the key steps to humanizing FSD - one of the final puzzle pieces. This is expected to be the final set of inputs necessary for FSD to be able to drive like a human, and it’s exciting to see Tesla get so close with just vision.
FSD will soon be able to see, hear, and honk. Let’s just hope Tesla’s initial implementation for honking is better than Waymo’s (video below of Waymo vehicles honking repeatedly at 4 am).
Imagine being woken up at 4 a.m. by cars honking at each other. That's what some San Francisco residents have been dealing with for weeks, as the Waymos can be heard in this video honking and blinking headlights in a parking lot outside of their condo. https://t.co/2cVmDfUk4ipic.twitter.com/pkxNTT5vXd
Tesla has expanded its accessory lineup once again, this time with a new, sportier option for interior customization. Owners of the refreshed Model 3 (2024+) can now purchase a Dashboard Décor Wing in Carbon Fiber directly from Tesla in North America, for $300 USD ($415 CAD).
For now, this product is only available in North America, but as usual, we expect it to roll out to other regions in the future.
A Sleek, Modern Look
This new trim piece replaces the standard textile dash with a high-quality carbon fiber accent, giving the minimalist interior a more aggressive and performance-oriented aesthetic.
According to Tesla’s official description, the part is dark gray and black carbon fiber that is cross-woven and finished with epoxy. That means that it won’t just look good - it’ll be resilient to whatever is left on your dash, or to the sun and heat.
Installation Included
A benefit of this official accessory is the all-inclusive price. The pricing includes not only the carbon fiber dashboard wing but also covers shipping to your preferred Service Center, where a professional installation of the new wing will be completed for you. This provides a seamless, factory-quality upgrade without the hassle or fitment issues of third-party alternatives.
Based on the service manuals, the replacement is expected to take approximately 90 minutes, meaning it should be a relatively quick visit to install it once it arrives at your local service center.
This new carbon fiber decor is the second official dashboard option that Tesla has offered for the refreshed Model 3. It joins the previously released Alcantara Décor Wing (also available for the Model Y), which adds a softer and cozier feel. Owners now have a distinct choice directly from Tesla: a plush and premium Alcantara, or a sleek and sporty Carbon Fiber.
Tesla’s recent Q2 2025 Earnings Call provided one of the clearest roadmaps for FSD as of late. While not as detailed as Tesla’s roadmaps from late 2024, these updates give us an idea of Tesla’s future plans for FSD.
Tesla’s comments on FSD during their Q&A session covered everything from a major upcoming FSD update to the latest status on introducing FSD to new territories and when Tesla expects FSD Unsupervised to be ready for customers.
FSD Improvements, Reduced Nag
The biggest news for owners is that a major update is on the way. The learnings and improvements from the Robotaxi FSD builds that power the network in Austin are being integrated into the main consumer FSD Supervised branch for customer vehicles. According to Elon, this will result in a “step change improvement” in capability.
The release involves carefully validating the improvements honed for Austin, so that they don’t cause regressions when deployed more broadly.
Elon once again touched on safety and supervision, a.k.a. the “nag.” Tesla’s teams have noted that many drivers disengage FSD in order to fiddle with controls—whether changing a song, changing their destination, or just glancing at their phone. They will then re-engage FSD once they are done, all to avoid an FSD strike. This is significantly less safe than just leaving FSD on the entire time while they look away. Musk discussed this before, but says there will be additional improvements. Tesla is working to reduce the nag and increase the window in which users can look away from the road. This improvement is expected to be included in the next build.
There’s more than just new capabilities and better controls on their way for the fleet, though. Elon mentioned an up to 10x improvement in parameters. Tesla previously said they were working on 4-4.5x the parameter count, but this newer number is far bigger. The challenge they are beginning to encounter is the limited available memory space for FSD on AI4 computers. The model needs to run in an optimized, predefined hardware package, and Tesla must trim their training models to fit within that package.
So far, they’ve been more than capable - and the indication of a 10x parameter increase is a doubling of what Tesla previously thought was possible. With a parameter increase that’s this big, FSD will be far more capable of handling edge cases, while also reacting much more human-like than ever before.
Release Timelines
During the call, Tesla indicated that a customer build is planned to be released sometime in Q3 2025, which would put us roughly in the July to September timeframe. They are actively working on this build at this point, and the key here is testing and validation, which could speed up or delay this newer FSD build.
That means Tesla will need to use its validation fleets (not the Robotaxi ones, but its other engineering vehicles) to validate the latest builds of FSD in various challenging areas across the country, ensuring there are no regressions in capability.
Once that is done, the build will be sent out to employees and the limited number of Wave 1 Early Access testers. If both groups green-light the release, it will begin a roll-out to the usual major Tesla influencers, and then we’ll see it begin rolling out to customers following their feedback.
Assuming that Tesla is validating and regression testing today, we can expect a public rollout around September, but if they’re still training the customer build, then it could be even later.
FSD Unsupervised
The Austin Robotaxi program is serving as the proving ground for FSD (Unsupervised), which will eventually allow for a truly driverless experience. The successful launch and rapid expansion of the Austin Network are the key steps that Tesla is taking to validate the safety and reliability of the system.
Tesla stated that it expects to launch FSD Unsupervised to certain US cities by the end of 2025. The key points here are select US cities, although expect other stipulations as well. While the hardware used in the Model Y Robotaxis is the same as other models (except for that second communication unit), not all models are trained equally. There’s a reason Tesla is using the Model Y for their Robotaxis — it performs notably better on FSD than other models.
Tesla closely validates its Robotaxi geofenced area. So the select cities may very well be those that have been validated and in which the Robotaxi already operates. Tesla could also limit it to the Model Y initially and even block off tricky intersections, much like they do with the Robotaxi.
Even then, getting FSD Unsupervised in customers’ hands will be a major milestone for Tesla, even if it’s very limited initially.
Global Rollout
The call also provided a fairly concise status update on Robotaxi and FSD expansion into other key markets, making it clear that the next steps aren’t on Tesla conducting country-specific training, but instead regulatory hurdles.
For Europe, Tesla is still working with the Netherlands for regulatory approval. Once their approval is secured, they’ll then need to obtain approval from the EU and the UNECE. This is a lengthy, multi-step approval process to secure an exemption for Tesla from the UNECE AV regulations. Elon is hopeful and confident that it could be approved as soon as the end of Q3, if not by the end of 2025.
In China, FSD is currently limited to AI4 vehicles, and Tesla is working on FSD for HW3 vehicles. The challenge in China is that each update requires regulatory approval and testing on each vehicle, making regulatory approvals a time-consuming process with each update.
Wrapping Up
After months without updates, it’s great to hear Tesla’s plans for FSD. It appears that AI4 owners can expect a major update in a couple of months, while Tesla continues to address regulatory issues in Europe and China. We also received our first concrete piece of information on when Tesla plans to roll out FSD Unsupervised to customers. This will likely be a much more gradual process than Tesla suggests during their earnings call, but each step brings us closer to true autonomy.
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