The first FSD Beta public expansion is finally here. Some of us have been waiting since April for this day. It's fashionably late, as they say. Tesla has released FSD Beta 10.2 with the release of 2021.32.25 to testers. This is also the first beta to see a public expansion. It was released to owners with the highest Safety Scores.
Tesla releases FSD Beta 10.2
DirtyTesla/YouTube
Elon previously tweeted that there were about 1,000 users with a perfect Safety Score, and they would be receiving the FSD Beta, although it looks like not everyone with a score of 100 has received it yet. It's up to interpretation what a perfect score with 100/100 could mean, but it could be that a 100 score isn't enough and you need to be under a certain threshold for some of the events that the Safety Score keeps track of. Interestingly, Elon specified that it was only released to owners who had a score of 100 and over 100 miles driven.
NDA
Up until today, everyone who received the FSD Beta also needed to agree to an NDA. The NDA stated that you can not post images, videos or discuss the FSD Beta. With the release of 10.2 Tesla has dropped this requirement and owners are no longer prevented from sharing videos and discussing the beta. Previously, there were many YouTubers that posted videos of the beta online, but it appears that there were no consequences for doing so.
Tesla may have been trying to protect itself from negative publicity related to the beta and prevent any bad mouthing. It seems Tesla already received plenty of unwarranted negative attention any time there is an accident or fire.
Removing the NDA requirements shows that Tesla is showing increasing confidence in its FSD program.
Cabin Camera
With the release of 10.2, Tesla no longer allows you to use Autopilot with the cabin camera obscured. If you cover the interior camera Tesla will flash a warning on screen and Autopilot will be disabled.
Tesla has relied on steering wheel tension to detect driver inattention ever since they introduced Autopilot v1. It was clear they could do better and introducing the cabin camera with it's active driver monitoring is a big step in the right direction.
Covering the cabin camera now prevents the use of Autopilot
DirtyTesla/YouTube
By actively monitoring the driver Tesla can reduce nag screens and alert the driver the moment they become distracted instead of waiting to test for tension on the steering wheel again.
I understand many people are going to have a problem with a camera that's always recording, but the truth of the matter is that similar devices are already around you today. If you have a smartphone then you may already have “Hey, Siri" or “Hey, Google" activated, which is constantly monitoring the audio in the room. In your home you may have Alexa or Google Assistant devices. Your smartphone may do face scans like Face ID, instead of using a fingerprint.
These devices exist because they're convenient and they work well. Tesla's implementation is similar or in some ways safer than these other devices. All recordings from Tesla's cabin camera to check for driver inattention are processed in the car and are never sent to Tesla. Tesla's driver monitoring system is a better way of detecting whether the driver is paying attention and it's keeping you safer as well.
Car Visualizations
Many testers are reporting that the car visualization on screen appears slightly different. The color of the car appears shinier and more metallic and is a more accurate representation of the paint job on the car.
NickWHoward/Twitter
Single Stack
Unfortunately it does not appear that the stack to rule them all is in this release. We know that Tesla is working on combining the tech stacks for highway and city driving. Elon has said this was close to being released several betas ago, but it's understandable that this is complicated and Tesla could be running into edge cases.
Tesla was initially going to include the single-stack in version 10.1 of the FSD Beta, but we may have to wait until the next major release (v11) before seeing it implemented.
Release Notes
Tesla's FSD Beta comes in as release 2021.32.25, but the release notes packaged with the firmware are the same as previous betas. It's possible that Elon may offer technical release notes like we saw with the release of the 9.2, but we haven't received any thus far.
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.
