Those of us who paid for Full Self-Driving but who were not included in the initial test groups, Tesla employees and carefully selected customers, will get access to the BUTTON on Friday, September 24th.
But the BUTTON doesn't mean that you will be added to the widened group of beta testers. You have to earn it. Here's how.
This article is likely of interest only to people who paid for FSD, are in the US and who want to volunteer to teach the computer how to drive. I want to stress that this is a volunteer job. You won't earn a penny for doing this.
Pushing the button is not enough. You have to agree to allow Tesla insurance to absorb data from your driving for a week. Then Tesla will decide if it wants you in the expanded group of beta testers.
Remember, becoming a beta tester doesn't mean that your car can drive itself without your intervention. Quite the reverse. Tesla is looking for volunteers who will teach the neural network how to drive like a professional chauffeur. That's professional chauffeur, not professional race car driver.
Factors Tesla Insurance Uses
Luckily for us, a while back Reddit user /u/Callump01 reverse engineered the Tesla app to determine exactly which events Tesla uses when determining a driver's safety rating.
Callump01 was able to determine that Tesla uses these metrics when determining a driver's premium:
ABS Activation - Number of times ABS is activated
Hours Driven - Average daily driving time
Forced Autopilot Disengagements - Number of times Autopilot is disabled due to ignored alerts
Forward Collision Warnings - Number of times car detects a potential forward collision
Unsafe Following Time - Portion of time spent at an unsafe following distance
Intensity of Acceleration and Braking - Speed variance due to extreme acceleration and braking. Shown on a scale from 0-10 as measured against Tesla's internal fleet.
So here's what to do during the week where you are being evaluated by the insurance software.
Drive places. If your car is parked all the time, the software won't be able to assess your driving skill.
Engage FSD whenever possible. Tesla will want to recruit volunteers who are actually interested in using FSD. Elon Musk has said that someone who uses Autopilot would fall into the “good" category.
Drive on city streets and country roads. Autopilot is already pretty good at driving on limited access highways.
Don't accelerate aggressively unless you must do so to avoid a crash. Insurance algorithms don't like aggressive drivers.
Reduce ABS Usage
Focus far ahead. One of the statistics that is kept is the number of times ABS was activated. Reducing this number shows less aggressive driving. If you see that you are going to have to stop for a light or a stop sign, tap the brake to go out of FSD so you can slow down with regenerative braking. Insurance algorithms don't like aggressive braking, and, unfortunately, Tesla FSD, waits too long to slow down for signals and stop signs. Then it brakes aggressively. So using FSD to come to a stop will hurt your score.
Don't Accelerate Too Quickly
Don't speed very much. The Tesla insurance algorithm will look at your intensity of acceleration in addition to braking. Sometimes, you have to go faster than the posted speed limit in order to keep up with traffic. If you are in a situation where all the traffic is going faster than the posted speed limit, then you can speed up a bit, but try to stay as close to the speed limit as you can without blocking traffic. Remember, if you have to speed, keep up with the slower speeders, not the faster speeders.
If the car is braking for no apparent reason, phantom braking, use the accelerator to move the car along.
If you are approaching a sharp curve there are two things you need to think about. Without the beta version of FSD, some curves are too sharp, and standard FSD will stop working in the middle of the curve. I've experienced this at certain curves in my area. If this happens, it will lower your score. So the two things to do are, first, lower your speed before the curve by tapping the brake, and second, steer the car around the curve yourself before re-engaging FSD.
When you're using Autopilot, pay attention to the alerts. Tesla will track the number of times that Autopilot has been disengaged.
Keep Your Distance
You'll also want to pay close attention to objects in front of your. Tesla will be looking at the number of times Forward Collision Warnings have gone off.
Use a follow distance greater than one or two. Another metric that Tesla insurance uses to measure how safe someone is driving is by their follow distance. If someone follows too closely for long periods of time, this will lower their Tesla insurance rating as well.
Obey traffic rules whenever possible. Yield the right of way when you don't have the right of way. Take the right of way when you do have it, but don't crash just because you are entitled to the right of way.
Be careful to yield to pedestrians and bicyclists. Even if you have the right of way, it will mess up your day if you hit a pedestrian or a bicyclist. And you won't get to be a beta tester for FSD.
After you activate the button on September 24th the Tesla insurance calculator will show your rating in real-time so that you can tell how you're driving and can adjust accordingly. It'll also provide additional details on what is rated a “good" driver.
Tesla insurance calculator will show status in real-time & tell you what actions are needed to be rated “good driver"
The button will be available this Friday, presumably in your car. Stay tuned for more details. Tesla FSD Beta 10.1 which is set be released on October 1st, will introduce new features such as merged NNs for highway and city driving, as well as the ability to go in reverse.
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The Super Manifold is Tesla’s solution to reducing the complexity of a heat pump system for an EV. Tesla showed off its engineering chops back with the original Model Y in 2019, where it introduced a new 8-way valve (the Octovalve) and a new heat pump alongside the uniquely designed Super Manifold to improve efficiency.
Now, Tesla is launching an improved version with the refreshed Model Y - the Super Manifold V2. We got to hear about it thanks to Sandy Munro’s interview with Tesla’s Lars Moravy (Vice President of Vehicle Engineering) and Franz Von Holzhausen (Chief of Vehicle Design). You can watch the video further below.
What Is The Super Manifold?
The Super Manifold (get it, Superman?), is an all-in-one package that brings in all the components of a heat pump system into one component. The Super Manifold packs all the refrigerant and coolant components around a 2-layer PCB (printed circuit board).
This Super Manifold would normally have 15 or 20 separate components, but Tesla managed to integrate them all into one nice package. That presented Tesla with a new challenge: how to integrate a heat pump—capable of both heating and cooling—into a single, efficient platform?
Several years ago, Tesla designed the Octovalve. It combines inlets and outlets and can variably change between heating or cooling on the fly - without needing to be plumbed in different directions. This is especially important for EVs, which may need to heat the battery with the waste heat generated from the motors or the heat pump while also cooling the cabin - or vice versa.
Original Super Manifold V1.1
Tesla launched the Super Manifold V1.1 back in 2022, and it provided some minor improvements to the waste heat processing of the heat exchange system. It also tightened up the Octovalve, preventing the leakage of oils into the HVAC loop that could cause it to freeze at extremely low temperatures.
Tesla has been using the V1.1 for several years now, and it has really solved the vast majority of issues with the heat pump system that many older Model Ys experienced.
Super Manifold V2 Coming Soon
Now, Tesla is introducing the Super Manifold V2 in the new Model Y. It will improve the overall cooling capacity provided by the original Super Manifold, but unfortunately, not every single new Model Y will come with it equipped. Tesla will be introducing it slowly across the lineup and at different rates at different factories, depending on part availability.
Eventually, the Super Manifold V2 will also make its way to other vehicles, potentially including the upcoming refresh for the Model S and Model X, but initially, it’ll be exclusive to the new Model Y. Tesla expects to have the new manifold in every new Model Y later this year.
If you’re interested in checking out the whole video, we’ve got it for you below.
Mark Rober, of glitter bomb package fame, recently released a video titled Can You Fool A Self-Driving Car? (posted below). Of course, the vehicle featured in the video was none other than a Tesla - but there’s a lot wrong with this video that we’d like to discuss.
We did some digging and let the last couple of days play out before making our case. Mark Rober’s Wile E. Coyote video is fatally flawed.
The Premise
Mark Rober wanted to prove whether or not it was possible to fool a self-driving vehicle, using various test scenarios. These included a wall painted to look like a road, low-lying fog, mannequins, hurricane-force rain, and bright beams.
All of these individual “tests” had their own issues - not least because Mark didn’t adhere to any sort of testing methodology, but because he was looking for a result - and edited his tests until he was sure of it.
Interestingly, many folks on X were quick to spot that Mark had been previously sponsored by Google to use a Pixel phone - but was using an iPhone to record within the vehicle - which he had edited to look like a Pixel phone for some reason. This, alongside other poor edits and cuts, led many, including us, to believe that Mark’s testing was edited and flawed.
Flaw 1: Autopilot, Not FSD
Let’s take a look at the first flaw. Mark tested Autopilot - not FSD. Autopilot is a driving aid for lane centering and speed control - and is not the least bit autonomous. It cannot take evasive maneuvers outside the lane it is in, but it can use the full stable of Tesla’s extensive features, including Automatic Emergency Braking, Forward Collision Warnings, Blind Spot Collision Warnings, and Lane Departure Avoidance.
On the other hand, FSD is allowed and capable of departing the lane to avoid a collision. That means that even if Autopilot tried to stop and was unable to, it would still impact whatever obstacle was in front of it - unlike FSD.
As we continue with the FSD argument - remember that Autopilot is running on a 5-year-old software stack that hasn’t seen updates. Sadly, this is the reality of Tesla not updating the Autopilot stack for quite some time. It seems likely that they’ll eventually bring a trimmed-down version of FSD to replace Autopilot, but that hasn’t happened yet.
Mark later admitted that he used Autopilot rather than FSD because “You cannot engage FSD without putting in a destination,” which is also incorrect. It is possible to engage FSD without a destination, but FSD chooses its own route. Where it goes isn’t within your control until you select a destination, but it tends to navigate through roads in a generally forward direction.
The whole situation, from not having FSD on the vehicle to not knowing you can activate FSD without a destination, suggests Mark is rather unfamiliar with FSD and likely has limited exposure to the feature.
Let’s keep in mind that FSD costs $99 for a single month, so there’s no excuse for him not using it in this video.
Flaw 2: Cancelling AP and Pushing Pedals
Many people on X also followed up with reports that Mark was pushing the pedals or pulling on the steering wheel. When you tap on the brake pedal or pull or jerk the steering wheel too much, Autopilot will disengage. For some reason, during each of his “tests,” Mark closely held the steering wheel of the vehicle.
This comes off as rather odd - at the extremely short distances he was enabling AP at, there wouldn’t be enough time for a wheel nag or takeover warning required. In addition, we can visibly see him pulling the steering wheel before “impact” in multiple tests.
Over on X, techAU breaks it down excellently on a per-test basis. Mark did not engage AP in several tests, and he potentially used the accelerator pedal during the first test - which means that Automatic Emergency Braking is overridden. In another test, Mark admitted to using the pedals.
Flaw 3: Luminar Sponsored
This video was potentially sponsored by a LiDAR manufacturer - Luminar. Although Mark says that this isn’t the case. Interestingly, Luminar makes LiDAR rigs for Tesla - who uses them to test ground truth accuracy for FSD. Just as interesting, Luminar’s Earnings Call was also coming up at the time of the video’s posting.
Luminar had linked the video at the top of their homepage but has since taken it down. While Mark did not admit to being sponsored by Luminar, there appear to be more distinct conflicts of interest, as Mark’s charity foundation has received donations from Luminar’s CEO.
Given the positivity of the results for Luminar, it seems that the video had been well-designed and well-timed to take advantage of the current wave of negativity against Tesla, while also driving up Luminar’s stock.
Flaw 4: Vision-based Depth Estimation
The next flaw to address is the fact that humans and machines can judge depth using vision. On X, user Abdou ran the “invisible wall” through a monocular depth estimation model (DepthAnythingV2) - one that uses a single image with a single angle. This fairly simplified model can estimate the distance and depth of items inside an image - and it was able to differentiate the fake wall from its surroundings easily.
Tesla’s FSD uses a far more advanced multi-angle, multi-image tool that stitches together and creates a 3D model of the environment around it and then analyzes the result for decision-making and prediction. Tesla’s more refined and complex model would be far more able to easily detect such an obstacle - and these innovations are far more recent than the 5-year-old Autopilot stack.
While detecting distances is more difficult in a single image, once you have multiple images, such as in a video feed, you can more easily decipher between objects and determine distances by tracking the size of each pixel as the object approaches. Essentially, if all pixels are growing at a constant rate, then that means it’s a flat object — like a wall.
Case in Point: Chinese FSD Testers
To make the case stronger - some Chinese FSD testers took to the streets and put up a semi-transparent sheet - which the vehicle refused to drive through or drive near. It would immediately attempt to maneuver away each time the test was engaged - and refused to advance with a pedestrian standing in the road.
Would FSD hit a transparent film wall? This test showed it just avoids it.
Thanks to Douyin and Aaron Li for putting this together, as it makes an excellent basic example of how FSD would handle such a situation in real life.
Flaw 5: The Follow-Up Video and Interview
Following the community backlash, Mark released a video on X, hoping to resolve the community’s concerns. However, this also backfired. It turned out Mark’s second video was of an entirely different take than the one in the original video - this was at a different speed, angle, and time of initiation.
Mark then followed up with an interview with Philip DeFranco (below), where he said that there were multiple takes and that he used Autopilot because he didn’t know that FSD could be engaged without a destination. He also answered here that Luminar supposedly did not pay him for the video - even with their big showing as the “leader in LiDAR technology” throughout the video.
Putting It All Together
Overall, Mark’s video was rather duplicitous - he recorded multiple takes to get what he needed, prevented Tesla’s software from functioning properly by intervening, and used an outdated feature set that isn’t FSD - like his video is titled.
Upcoming Videos
Several other video creators are already working to replicate what Mark “tried” to test in this video.
To get a complete picture, we need to see unedited takes, even if they’re included at the end of the video. The full vehicle specifications should also be disclosed. Additionally, the test should be conducted using Tesla’s latest hardware and software—specifically, an HW4 vehicle running FSD v13.2.8.
In Mark’s video, Autopilot was engaged just seconds before impact. However, for a proper evaluation, FSD should be activated much earlier, allowing it time to react and, if capable, stop before hitting the wall.
A wave of new videos is likely on the way—stay tuned, and we’ll be sure to cover the best ones.
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