Tesla has been working on FSD Unsupervised for quite a while—the hands-off, eyes-off version of FSD. That’ll be the same version of FSD that can get you from Point A to Point B without any user intervention and no requirement for keeping your eyes on the road or your hands on the wheel.
June 2025 is Tesla’s date for the next step in vehicle autonomy and the public introduction of Unsupervised FSD - which was announced at Tesla’s Q4 2024 Earnings Call - so let’s take a closer look at what’s coming.
Launch Date for Robotaxi Fleet
Tesla’s launch of Unsupervised FSD will be in Austin, Texas, but it’ll be limited to its Robotaxi fleet. Vehicle owners won’t be able to access Unsupervised FSD themselves or join the autonomous fleet initially. Tesla announced that its launch in Austin would be for a paid Robotaxi service, much like Waymo’s. Tesla will use it to refine the Robotaxi experience and Unsupervised FSD.
They’ll be working on the whole experience - start to finish - from summoning the robotaxi from the app, to how it arrives, how your trip progresses, where it drops you off, and how you pay. That’s an extensive set of systems - some of which may already be in place, as we’ve seen through Tesla’s Robotaxi app mock-ups.
Tesla is taking strict control of the initial deployments of FSD Unsupervised - and for good reason. A single minor incident or accident could spiral into a rapid regulatory issue. Tesla is gently dipping its toes into full autonomy, and once they’re sure that Unsupervised FSD is far safer than an average human driver they can expand it to Tesla owners.
Tesla will also be rolling out Unsupervised FSD in California - and other regions of the US as they gain regulatory approval. Tesla’s FSD is a generalized solution - it doesn't need high-precision or HD mapping and local preparation before being rolled out - instead, Tesla’s biggest hold-backs are safety and improving their software.
As Tesla approaches the launch of the Robotaxi network, it makes us realize how many steps there really are to the puzzle. Tesla will need to have procedures in place on how to deal with issues such as a vehicle getting stuck, someone hitting an emergency button, or even an accident. Tesla will also need to launch its vehicle hubs that will be responsive for cleaning and charging the vehicles.
People go to manual driving to check their phone so that they don’t strike out/get beeped at - and then go back to FSD.
While June 2025 may seem rather aggressive to launch the autonomous service, it’s typical for Tesla to be overly optimistic and aggressive with deadlines, but it gives us a better indication of when they plan to launch Unsupervised FSD. Even if they miss the June launch, we’ll hopefully see the network begin this year, which will be a massive boost for Tesla and its shareholders.
When Can I Join the Robotaxi Fleet?
Tesla will be allowing owners to enroll their own vehicles in cities that are allowing Robotaxi - so if you live in Austin or other cities that have an approved Tesla Robotaxi network, you could get paid to add your vehicle to the Robotaxi fleet.
During the earnings call, Tesla announced that owners could add their vehicles to the Robotaxi fleet in 2026, although they weren’t more specific than that. This will be at least six months after the Robotaxi network launches.
Elon mentioned during the earnings call that Tesla needs to be supremely confident that the probability of injury or accident is extremely low before they allow FSD Unsupervised on customer vehicles. That’s rather interesting - because he didn’t mention liability - a question that often comes up for autonomous vehicles.
One of the points mentioned by both Ashok Elluswamy, Tesla’s VP of AI, as well as Elon was that if there is even a single minor incident - it’ll be headline news globally, even though an average of 40,000 drivers die a year in regular traffic accidents - the majority of which don’t even make local news.
We’ll have to wait and see in 2026 for what really happens for liability and insurance - because true autonomy will hinge on who is liable for what happens in an accident - the vehicle/software manufacturer or the owner of the vehicle.
FSD Unsupervised for Owners
FSD(U) - as we’re calling it - won’t be available for users initially while Tesla tests it with its fleets. Once Tesla gets enough testing done to ensure safety is at the level that it needs - they’ll begin rolling out FSD(U) to owners. Since Tesla expects to let owners add their vehicles to the Robotaxi fleet in 2026, we expect FSD(U) for vehicle owners to arrive sometime after this date.
Tesla will have more control of a vehicle while it’s being managed by its fleet, so it makes sense for FSD(U) for Tesla owners to arrive later in 2026 or even 2027.
Tesla is aiming for a safety level that is significantly higher than the average human driver - one magnitude higher. Right now, according to the Q4 Vehicle Safety Report, the average driver has an incident on average every 700,000 miles, while a Tesla has one on average every 1.08 million miles. On FSD or Autopilot, that number goes up significantly - to 5.94 million miles. Tesla is aiming to bring that number closer to 7 million miles before they significantly expand FSD(U) - the one-order of magnitude mark.
And it sounds like Elon will be happy to enable it - because he said the following at the earnings call: “People go to manual driving to check their phone so that they don’t strike out/get beeped at - and then go back to FSD.”
And it’s pretty true - it would be much safer if people didn’t do that. Now, getting FSD(U) on our vehicles is just a matter of time. So let’s watch Tesla cut red tape in 2025!
Launch Phases
Tesla will need to beat regulatory hurdles that will eventually challenge their rapid deployment. Tesla hopes to be able to deploy FSD Unsupervised with its Robotaxi fleets throughout the United States by the end of 2025, with it coming to Canada in 2026.
Tesla will be starting with Austin, Texas, where they’ve already obtained regulatory approval, and then move to other cities within the United States in the following months.
Currently, Tesla’s primary use of Unsupervised FSD is happening at Fremont, with vehicles driving themselves from the production line to the delivery lot and in downtown LA, where they’ve been testing with safety drivers to get employees around town. And at the factory - it's happening daily, and reliability - with thousands of vehicles moving from the line to the lot every day.
We imagine Tesla will launch FSD(U) in several phases, potentially looking something like this:
Test FSD(U) internally (being done now)
Launch the Robotaxi network in small areas for refinement
Expand and improve the network
Allow non-Tesla-owned vehicles (owners allowed to join)
Offer Unsupervised FSD to Tesla owners where Tesla will have less control over the vehicle
As many of you are, we’re really excited to see Tesla’s Robotaxis in the wild for the first time. Like everything else Tesla, expects the release of FSD(U) to be small and gradually grow. It may consist of only employees in Austin at first, or it may include a safety driver, or even be limited to a very small region. While some may be disappointed at first, remember how Tesla rolls out features. Iterations and improvements will come consistently and fast.
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While Tesla’s Cybertruck has access to FSD v13, it still doesn’t include some of the FSD features that are available on other HW4 vehicles. Features such as Start FSD from Park are currently not available on the Cybertruck.
Trusted sources have now informed Not a Tesla App that the Cybertruck will soon receive an FSD update that will enable a series of new features and bring the Cybertruck up to speed with other vehicles. The update is expected to arrive within the next 14 days.
Tesla’s AI team has been relatively quiet recently, and we haven’t seen a major FSD update since FSD v13.2.8 was released on February 17th, but we’re finally getting hints of what’s around the corner.
Here’s our exclusive look at what’s coming in the latest FSD update for Cybertruck.
New Features
If you don’t own a Cybertruck - or even if you do - you may not know that the Cybertruck is missing several FSD-related features. The first three features are all related to parking lot use and Tesla’s low-speed FSD stack, which hasn’t been available on the Cybertruck so far.
This FSD update will add the following features:
Start FSD from Park: Tesla’s Unpark feature allows FSD can be started while the vehicle is still in park. To do so, one can simply set their destination from the navigation and then tap and hold the blue Start FSD button. The car will shift out of park and into drive or reverse to get going.
Since FSD V13.2.1, Start FSD from Park now requires you to also tap the brake while holding down the Start FSD button to prevent accidental activation. This safeguard can be disabled in settings.
Ability to Reverse: FSD previously demonstrated quite a want to reverse - but it was never allowed to. You can tell the planner plans for the vehicle to go into reverse to follow the path, but once the vehicle needs to shift into reverse, it’s blocked from doing so. The Cybertruck will finally be able to shift into reverse - and also seamlessly shift between Park, Drive, and Reverse all by itself. This functionality also enables 3-point turns to help navigate tight spaces.
FSD can now do multi-point turns, even in super-tight locations like parking garages.
Park: Finally, when you arrive at your destination, FSD will now park itself if it finds an open spot near or at the final location. Previously, the user had to initiate Autopark - now, FSD will either switch over to Autopark to back in or park facing front-in based on the parking spot.
Tesla has indicated that new parking features will arrive in a future update that will allow the user to pick whether the vehicle pulls over, parks in a spot, or parks in a driveway or garage when it arrives at the destination.
Improved Controller
While the new features like Start FSD from Park are eye-catching, this improved controller will actually be the largest improvement to this FSD update.
This upcoming update improves FSD’s traffic control process, improving prediction accuracy, position tracking in 3D space, and environmental analysis. These changes allow FSD to make faster decisions, anticipate turns and lane changes sooner, and operate more smoothly.
The difference between FSD V12 and V13 had a major impact on driving feel and smoothness, but these improvements were never fully reached with the Cybertruck. While smoothness improved, it wasn’t on par with Tesla’s other HW4 models—until now.
Actually Smart Summon
The final part of the update is probably going to be the most fun - the arrival of Actually Smart Summon. This feature was launched back in September 2024 for other Tesla vehicles, but it was nowhere in sight for the Cybertruck.
We initially chalked this up to Tesla needing more time to improve and work on testing the Cybertruck’s vision accuracy with their LiDAR testing rigs. However, it really does seem like Tesla has been holding off on this update for quite some time to integrate the front bumper camera into Actually Smart Summon.
With Actually Smart Summon, other Tesla vehicles will sometimes roll backward in their parking spots - to ensure that nothing is up against the front bumper. This can make Actually Smart Summon unavailable when you’re parked too close to a wall, as the car doesn’t see what’s between the edge of the hood and the ground.
The front bumper camera is Tesla’s solution to this problem. The Cybertruck and the Refreshed Model Y are both equipped with a new camera in the front bumper, enabling them to see perfectly in this blind spot. At low speeds, the camera is extremely useful, providing excellent coverage of a zone of the vehicle that is generally difficult to see for drivers - and impossible for the primary camera cluster.
Update Release Date
This FSD update will be massive for Cybertruck owners as it’ll finally bring the latest FSD features and improvements to the electric truck.
From the very beginning, Tesla chose to use its own proprietary Linux-based operating system instead of relying heavily on CarPlay and Android Auto. This also meant that it had to develop its own mapping solution that would live at the center of its infotainment space.
These maps would need to seamlessly integrate with the vehicle to plan energy-efficient routes and dynamically adjust navigation based on the battery’s state of charge.
Tesla currently uses Google Maps for most of the underlying features of its Maps app for most of the world, with Baidu Maps data being leveraged in China. Some of the map data, such as street data and voice navigation, are preloaded and updated regularly. MapBox, another software provider that has been working on these projects for over a decade, supplies the routing engine.
Navigation Routing
In 2018, MapBox purchased the 'Valhalla' routing engine, which is now part of the core API MapBox provides to users and enterprise clients like Tesla. Valhalla includes features like expanded guidance with clear and concise instructions along the route, as well as turn restrictions, highway exit information, and time zones. Although Tesla relies on Google Map APIs to build out most of their navigation app, the routing is done on Tesla’s servers using Valhalla.
Some map features, such as live traffic visualization and satellite view, require a subscription to Tesla’s Premium Connectivity data plan to access; however, a vehicle with standard connectivity will still have access to traffic-based routing, the Trip Planner, and Supercharger stall availability.
Map Updates
Tesla releases new navigation maps about twice per year, but there is no hard rule. If the version of your maps is more than a year old, you may need to connect to WiFi to download the latest updates. Not having the latest map version could prevent certain features, such as FSD, from working. If you’re not able to connect to WiFi at home, you can try a Tesla Service Center, some Supercharger locations, or a local business that has WiFi access outside.
Keep in mind that map updates are several gigabytes in size and could take a considerable amount of time to download.
Map downloads are similar to software updates in that they are rolled out gradually and not everyone will have access to the latest version right away.
Unlike software updates, map updates are downloaded silently in the background when your vehicle is connected to WiFi, so you may not even be aware that your vehicle received newer navigation data.
What’s in a Map Update
Tesla uses a combination of streamed data and map data to display what you see on your navigation screen. The navigation data that is downloaded separately includes street-level data, speed limits, points of interest (business locations), and more.
While other data is actually streamed on request and you receive the latest version when you request it. This includes the navigation tiles or images, which are what you see visually on the navigation app. Routing is also computed on Tesla’s servers instead of in the vehicle if you have that option enabled under Controls > Navigation.
How to Check for a Map Update
On your car’s touchscreen, you can go to Controls > Software to see whether there is a map update available for your vehicle. Scroll down to Navigation Data, and your current map version will be listed underneath. It’ll look something like NA-2025.2-12345.
The navigation version consists of the region abbreviation, such as NA or EU, followed by the year and week number when the map data was created. The last five digits are the build number of the map data.
If your car is ready to download a map update but isn't connected to Wi-Fi, a download progress bar will appear, similar to a vehicle update. However, to download the most recent Tesla maps, your car must be connected to Wi-Fi.
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