Tesla entered into the car industry with their first EV, the original Tesla Roadster. It was more of a proof of concept as Tesla had bigger plans. Tesla's plan to enter the automobile market was to build an expensive, electric sports car that would have high margins and prove to the world what EVs could do.
Tesla planned to minimize their effort by focusing only on the electric components of the car, such as the drivetrain and battery. They would try to leverage other parts from existing auto manufacturers such as Lotus.
However, in the end Tesla ended up creating most of the parts themselves. The final Roadster utilized as little as 7% of the same parts as the Lotus Elise.
Tesla to replace cameras on Teslas with AP 2.0
Tesla didn't make the same mistake again. When they manufactured the Model S in 2012 they decided to build the car from the ground up themselves. The original Model S didn't have any driver assist features. It's hard to say whether Autopilot wasn't something Tesla had started developing yet, or whether they planned to start small and add to the car in later years.
In September 2014, Tesla introduced their first version of Autopilot. Tesla built the hardware, but left driver assist software up to MobilEye, a company that still focuses on creating driver assistance systems today.
With the introduction of Autopilot 2.0 in 2016, Tesla decided to ditch MobilEye and take their platform in-house. It was a sudden and messy breakup, but in the end it was the right decision for Tesla. Autopilot 2.0 took several years before catching up to the capabilities of AP 1.
Since the introduction of AP 2.0, Tesla has offered a FSD package. Many features were not available out of the gate, but Tesla has slowly developed more features that fall into their FSD package.
Although many features have come out as part of the package such as lane keeping, lane changing, Navigate on Autopilot, Smart Summon, Autopark and more, Tesla is still developing its true self driving system. The problem has been more difficult to solve than anybody in the industry realized. Tesla is now making great progress with their latest FSD Beta releases.
Since AP 2, Tesla has used different hardware such as cameras and processors, but camera placements have remained the same. Tesla wanted to keep camera placement consistent across their product lines. From the beginning Tesla developed these cameras and processors to be easily swappable when better technology comes along.
AP 2 Cameras to be Swapped
Autopilot 2.0 cameras had a filter that made it able to absorb more light but it reduced colors captured. At the time Tesla thought this trade off would be worth it, but they now realize that it's better to bring the cameras in line with the ones used today. Since the cameras were made to be swappable if needed, Tesla can go in and swap them out for the same cameras that are used today.
Don’t worry, Tesla prepared for this.
The cameras just pop right off and can be replaced with the latest model.
This is exactly what Tesla is doing. Any Tesla that has FSD and AP 2.0, Tesla will be replacing the camera modules with cameras in 2021 vehicles. The FSD computer will also be replaced with the FSD HW 3.0 computer.
Tesla is planning on introducing a HW 4.0 FSD computer with the introduction of the Cybertruck, but this computer is not meant for FSD 3.0 vehicles. Tesla beleives they can achieve FSD on 3.0 hardware, but 4.0 will give them some extra processing power to increase safety even more.
Yeah, although early production cars will need camera upgrades, as well as FSD computer (all included in the price)
The same will be true if Tesla realizes that 4K or wide-angle cameras are needed in the future. These cameras are relatively inexpensive and Tesla can swap out the hardware if needed in order to achieve FSD.
Elon confirmed on Twitter that all vehicles with FSD and AP 2.0 will indeed need to have their cameras replaced in order to get FSD on city streets. The amount of vehicles released with AP 2.0 was relatively small as Tesla soon moved to AP 2.5 roughly a year later.
Elon didn't mention any timeframe on when Tesla will be updating these cars but Tesla may be waiting for Tesla service demand to be reduced. The demand for Tesla service is at an all time high as the world starts to get back to some form of normal and there has been pent up demand for service as people are addressing issues from the past year.
When Tesla gets to updating these vehicles with newer cameras and FSD computers, there will be no cost to owners as the replacement will be completely free.
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Tesla appears to be preparing to expand its Robotaxi geofence in Austin, Texas, with numerous engineering vehicles taking to the road. One of the most interesting sights, between the short and tall LiDAR rigs, was a Cybertruck validation vehicle, which we don’t often see.
Tesla’s expansion is moving the Robotaxi Network into downtown Austin, a dense urban environment that is currently outside the geofence. It appears Tesla is content with the latest builds of Robotaxi FSD and is ready to take on urban traffic.
The inclusion of a Cybertruck in the validation fleet is noteworthy, as the rest of the vehicles are Model Ys. This suggests that Tesla may be addressing two challenges simultaneously: expanding its service area while also addressing the FSD gap between the Cybertruck and other HW4 Tesla vehicles.
Tesla Validating Downtown Austin before expanding the Robotaxi geo-fence area. pic.twitter.com/ylFATtjcDi
Recent sightings have shown a fleet of Tesla vehicles, equipped with rooftop validation sensor rigs, running routes throughout downtown Austin and across the South Congress Bridge. While these rigs include LiDAR, it’s not a sign that Tesla is abandoning its vision-only approach.
Instead, Tesla uses the high-fidelity data from the LiDAR as a ground truth measurement to validate and improve the performance of its cameras. In short, it essentially uses the LiDAR measurements as the actual distances and then compares the distances determined in vision-only to the LiDAR measurements. This allows Tesla to tweak and improve its vision system without needing LiDAR.
This data collection in a new, complex environment right outside the Robotaxi geofence is an indicator that plans to expand the geofence. Tesla has previously indicated that they intend to roll out more vehicles and expand the geofence slowly. Given that their operational envelope includes the entire Austin Metro Area, we can expect more locations to open up gradually.
Once they expand the operational radius to include downtown Austin, they will likely also have to considerably increase the number of Robotaxis active in the fleet at any given time. Early-access riders are already saying that the wait time for a Robotaxi is too long, with them sometimes having to wait 15 minutes to be picked up.
With a larger service area, we expect Tesla to also increase the number of vehicles and the number of invited riders to try out the service.
After all, Tesla’s goal is to expand the Robotaxi Network to multiple cities within the United States by the end of 2025. Tesla has already been running an employees-only program in California, and we’ve seen validation vehicles as far away as Boston and New Jersey, on the other side of the country.
Cyber FSD Lagging Behind
One of the most significant details from these recent sightings is the presence of a Cybertruck. Cybertruck’s FSD builds have famously lagged behind the builds available on the rest of Tesla’s HW4 fleet. Key features that were expected never fully materialized for the Cybertruck, and the list of missing features is quite extensive.
Start FSD from Park
Improved Controller
Reverse on FSD
Actually Smart Summon
It may not look like a lot, but if you drive a Cybertruck on FSD and then hop in any of the rest of Tesla’s HW4 vehicles, you’ll notice a distinct difference. This is especially evident on highways, where the Cybertruck tends to drift out of the lane, often crossing over the lane markings.
Tesla was testing parts of Downtown Austin, TX with this Cybertruck which had a massive roof rack, and sensors.
We previously released an exclusive mentioning that a well-positioned internal source confirmed with us that a new FSD build for the Cybertruck was upcoming, but we never ended up receiving that particular build, only a point release to V13.2.9. The AI team’s focus had clearly shifted to getting the latest Robotaxi builds running and validated, and while a flagship, the Cybertruck fleet was small and new, and really a secondary task.
The Cybertruck’s larger size, steer-by-wire, rear-wheel steering, and different camera placements likely present a bigger set of challenges for FSD. Deploying it now as a validation vehicle in a complex environment like downtown Austin suggests that Tesla is finally gathering the specific data needed to bring the Cybertruck’s capabilities up to par. This focused effort is likely the necessary step to refine FSD’s handling of the Cybertruck before they begin rolling out new public builds.
When?
Once Tesla’s validation is complete, we can probably expect the Robotaxi Network to expand its borders for the first time in the coming days or weeks. However, we’ll likely see more signs of the expansion, such as Robotaxi vehicles driving themselves around the area, before the expansion actually happens.
Hopefully, the Cybertruck will also learn from its older siblings and receive the rest of its much-needed FSD features, alongside an FSD update for the entire fleet.
Tesla is rolling out a fairly big update for its iOS and early-access-only Robotaxi app, delivering a suite of improvements that address user feedback from the initial launch last month. The update improves the user experience with increased flexibility, more information, and overall design polish.
The most prominent feature in this update is that Tesla now allows you to adjust your pickup location. Once a Robotaxi arrives at your pickup location, you have 15 minutes to start the ride. The app will now display the remaining time your Robotaxi will wait for you, counting down from 15:00. The wait time is also shown in the iOS Live Activity if your phone is on the lock screen.
How Adjustable Pickups Work
We previously speculated that Tesla had predetermined pickup locations, as the pickup location wasn’t always where the user was. Now, with the ability to adjust the pickup location, we can clearly see that Tesla has specific locations where users can be picked up.
Rather than allowing users to drop a pin anywhere on the map, the new feature works by having the user drag the map to their desired area. The app then presents a list of nearby, predetermined locations to choose from. Once a user selects a spot from this curated list, they hit “Confirm.” The pickup site can also be changed while the vehicle is en route.
This specific implementation raises an interesting question: Why limit users to predetermined spots? The answer likely lies in how Tesla utilizes fleet data to improve its service.
Here is the new Tesla Robotaxi pickup location adjustment feature.
While the app is still only available on iOS through Apple’s TestFlight program, invited users can download and update the app.
Tesla included these release notes in update 25.7.0 of the Robotaxi app:
You can now adjust pickup location
Display the remaining wait time at pickup in the app and Live Activity
Design improvements
Bug fixes and stability improvements
Nic Cruz Patane
Why Predetermined Pick Up Spots?
The use of predetermined pickup points is less of a limitation and more of a feature. These curated locations are almost certainly spots that Tesla’s fleet data has identified as optimal and safe for an autonomous vehicle to perform a pickup or drop-off.
This suggests that Tesla is methodically “mapping” its service area not just for calibration and validation of FSD builds but also to help perform the first and last 50-foot interactions that are critical to a safe and smooth ride-hailing experience.
An optimal pickup point likely has several key characteristics identified by the fleet, including:
A safe and clear pull-away area away from traffic
Good visibility for cameras, free of obstructions
Easy entry and exit paths for an autonomous vehicle
This change to pick-up locations reveals how Tesla’s Robotaxi Network is more than just Unsupervised FSD. There are a lot of moving parts, many of which Tesla recently implemented, and others that likely still need to be implemented, such as automated charging.
Frequent Updates
This latest update delivers a much-needed feature for adjusting pickup locations, but it also gives us a view into exactly what Tesla is doing with all the data it is collecting with its validation vehicles rolling around Austin, alongside its Robotaxi fleet.
Tesla is quickly iterating on its app and presumably the vehicle’s software to build a reliable and predictable network, using data to perfect every aspect of the experience, from the moment you hail the ride to the moment you step out of the car.
![Tesla Updates Robotaxi App: Adds Adjustable Pick Up Locations, Shows Wait Time and More [VIDEO]](https://www.notateslaapp.com/img/containers/article_images/tesla-app/robotaxi-app/25-7-0/robotaxi-app-25.7.0.webp/4ac9ed40be870cfcf6e851fce21c43b9/robotaxi-app-25.7.0.jpg)
