Tesla’s FSD V13 introduced a host of new features, including the ability to Unpark itself, travel in reverse, and Park at its destination. While FSD can now navigate itself out of a parking spot or garage, there are limited options when arriving at your destination, but that’s about to change.
Garage Support
Ashok Elluswamy, Tesla’s VP of AI, confirmed on X that a future revision of FSD V13 will introduce a variety of parking options, including parking in garages, driveways, parking spots, or simply pulling over on the side of the road. Drivers will presumably be able to pick when choosing a location, or maybe the vehicle will offer suggestions based on the location.
This will be a big addition, as today, FSD doesn’t understand how to park in a garage or driveway. Some owners trick FSD into parking in their driveway by using tape or road paint to outline parking spots.
Soon, that may not be necessary, and instead, FSD will simply back itself into your garage. This feature will probably work best in larger garages—extremely tight garages may not work, given the reduced precision of vision at extremely close distances.
We hope that if Tesla introduces this feature, they’ll sell printable guides you can stick on the garage walls or floor to help ensure your vehicle is in the perfect spot every time. Many commenters mentioned that they park in urban/suburban garages with only inches to spare around their vehicles, so this will be an interesting challenge for Tesla to address.
Parking Garages
Parking garages offer their own unique problem set. For the most part, FSD can already navigate its way out of a parking garage, assuming that there aren’t any special gates or sequenced/signaled signage.
It is also able to find a parking spot in multi-level garages and navigate its way out. More support for multi-level parking garages is coming, as FSD seems to stick to the garage walls until it can find the exit itself. It seems that Tesla’s data gathering and vehicle-to-fleet communication could aid Tesla in figuring out parking garages in terms of knowing the entrances and exits.
FSD 13.2 enters a parking garage. I then park it on the second floor and it escapes the parking garage. I then park it on the snow covered roof and... pic.twitter.com/GxfsldfkUz
In the Upcoming Improvements section of FSD V13, Tesla mentions that more destination options will be supported, including pulling over (at the side of the road) and parking in a spot, driveway, or garage.
These other destination options are going to be important soon - because one of the biggest FSD features we’re all still waiting for is Banish AutoPark. Once your vehicle can pull over at the entrance of a location and then go park itself, we’re going to be super close to Unsupervised FSD becoming a reality.
Tesla’s been on a roll with Supercharger improvements lately, from the 325kW charging update for the Cybertruck, to 500kW with V4 Superchargers coming next year. While those improvements have been limited to the Cybertruck, Tesla didn’t put all their focus on their new flagship vehicle, but looked at their more affordable vehicles as well.
LFP Battery Heating
Tesla’s Superchargers can now heat LFP Batteries - those that are in the Model 3 and Model Y Rear Wheel Drive variants. This applies to Long Range and Standard Range models, which saw a limited run. This is another update included as part of the 2024 Tesla Holiday Update - which really arrived with a lot of unannounced new features and capabilities.
The change is pretty interesting - Superchargers of the V3 and V4 variety can now pre-heat batteries for Model 3 and Model Y vehicles equipped with LFP battery packs. That means those vehicles are able to get back on the road faster when it's extremely cold. Of course, Tesla still advises you to precondition before you arrive, saving drivers time and money.
Max de Zegher, Tesla’s Director of Charging, also commented on the new feature. Essentially, Tesla is inducing an AC (alternating) ripple current through the battery to warm it up. Keep in mind that Superchargers are DC charging. That means it is possible to get a cold-soaked LFP vehicle on the road 4x faster than before, assuming that it didn’t precondition at all and that it is in the worst-case scenario (below 0ºF).
In essence, Tesla is using some engineering magic to turn the circuits inside the LFP battery into an electric heater - and powering that heater through the Supercharger. An AC ripple current is a small oscillation in the DC charging current that generates heat through electrical resistance, warming up the battery. Those ripples are a byproduct of converting AC to DC and back - so Tesla is using the onboard charger to induce those ripples to warm up the battery. Definitely an innovative technique that’s really only possible with the versatility of the NACS connector.
We’re hoping Tesla can implement this across their full lineup of vehicles, but we’ll have to wait and see how it is trialed across LFP vehicles first and if it is even possible on vehicles with 2170 or 4680 battery packs.
Tesla launched two FSD updates simultaneously on Saturday night, and what’s most interesting is that they arrived on the same software version. We’ll dig into that a little later, but for now, there’s good news for everyone. For Hardware 3 owners, FSD V12.6.1 is launching to all vehicles, including the Model 3 and Model Y. For AI4 owners, FSD V13.2.4 is launching, starting with the Cybertruck.
FSD V13.2.4
A new V13 build is now rolling out to the Cybertruck and is expected to arrive for the rest of the AI4 fleet soon. However, this build seems to be focused on bug fixes. There are no changes to the release notes for the Cybertruck with this release, and it’s unlikely to feature any changes when it arrives on other vehicles.
FSD V12.6.1 builds upon V12.6, which is the latest FSD version for HW3 vehicles. While FSD V12.6 was only released for the redesigned Model S and Model X with HW3, FSD V12.6.1 is adding support for the Model 3 and Model Y.
While this is only a bug-fix release for users coming from FSD V12.6, it includes massive improvements for anyone coming from an older FSD version. Two of the biggest changes are the new end-to-end highway stack that now utilizes FSD V12 for highway driving and a redesigned controller that allows FSD to drive “V13” smooth.
It also adds speed profiles, earlier lane changes, and more. You can read our in-depth look at all the changes in FSD V12.6.
Same Update, Multiple FSD Builds
What’s interesting about this software version is that it “includes" two FSD updates, V12.6.1 for HW3 and V13.2.4 for HW4 vehicles. While this is interesting, it’s less special when you understand what’s happening under the hood.
The vehicle’s firmware and Autopilot firmware are actually completely separate. While a vehicle downloading a firmware update may look like a singular process, it’s actually performing several functions during this period. First, it downloads the vehicle’s firmware. Upon unpacking the update, it’s instructed which Autopilot/FSD firmware should be downloaded.
While the FSD firmware is separate, the vehicle can’t download any FSD update. The FSD version is hard-coded in the vehicle’s firmware that was just downloaded. This helps Tesla keep the infotainment and Autopilot firmware tightly coupled, leading to fewer issues.
What we’re seeing here is that HW3 vehicles are being told to download one FSD version, while HW4 vehicles are being told to download a different version.
While this is the first time Tesla has had two FSD versions tied to the same vehicle software version, the process hasn’t actually changed, and what we’re seeing won’t lead to faster FSD updates or the ability to download FSD separately. What we’re seeing is the direct result of the divergence of HW3 and HW4.
While HW3/4 remained basically on the same FSD version until recently, it is now necessary to deploy different versions for the two platforms. We expect this to be the norm going forward, where HW3 will be on a much different version of FSD than HW4. While each update may not include two different FSD versions going forward, we may see it occasionally, depending on which features Autopilot is dependent on.
Thanks to Greentheonly for helping us understand what happened with this release and for the insight into Tesla’s processes.
![Andrej Karpathy considers returning to Tesla to work on Optimus [video]](https://www.notateslaapp.com/images/news/2022/karpathy-podcast_300w.jpg)
