According to Elon Tesla may release FSD Beta 10.12 with several key improvements this week.
The last major beta, version 10.11 started
going out in early March, but most testers didn't receive it until v10.11.2, which
was released in April.
We hope this beta will go out a little quicker than the previous one, but it's certainly shaping up to be an
exciting release.
Updated Vehicle Models
FSD Beta 10.12 will contain new, more
detailed vehicle models, at least for its sedan model, but it may include updated models for all the
various vehicle types.
The current sedan visualization is fairly abstract. It doesn't have wheels or many details. The visualization is
modeled after Tesla's key fob for the Model S.
FSD Beta can recognize far more things than it can display on the screen. However, the visualizations are an
important way of how the vehicle communicates with us on what it sees and understands. So with Beta 10.12 Tesla
is including a more detailed sedan model that has wheels and doors.
Although FSD Beta has been able to detect open doors for a while now, the model will now visually show us if any
nearby cars have open doors by highlighting the door in yellow.
Improvements to Unprotected Left Turns
Unprotected left turns have been a key focus over several betas and we're apparently going to see further
improvements in 10.12.
Crossing over multiple lanes when turning left can be intimidating, even for some human drivers. Tesla has
been making continuous improvements to make unprotected left turns more efficient and human-like.
For example, the car will now sometimes start inching slowly, anticipating the last vehicle to pass so that it
can complete the turn promptly and be out of the way of any further traffic.
According to Elon, FSD Beta 10.12 will specifically improve "tricky" unprotected left turns.
Chuck Cook on YouTube does a fantastic job covering some of these left turns. Below you can see how the latest
FSD Beta does taking a left turn onto a primary street with a divider.
Heavy Traffic
In Beta 10.12, we're also expecting to see improvements in heavy traffic. I haven't seen too many issues with the
beta in traffic, except that sometimes the car has a tough time differentiating between a parked vehicle and a
vehicle that's just waiting.
I've encountered situations where the beta tries to go around a car that is stopped due to a traffic light or
traffic and the beta waits for just a few seconds before trying to go around the vehicle.
Hopefully, this is one of the areas that Elon is talking about when he refers to improvements in heavy traffic.
Single Stack
Elon also mentions that Tesla is making good progress on single stack. Single stack refers to a single set of
technologies that will be used for both highway and street driving.
FSD beta is great, but once you get on the highway, you're right back in the old production version.
FSD Beta is far from perfect, but driving on city streets is a completed task and the beta actually does quite
well trying to figure things out.
When we start looking at Autopilot on the highway and some of the issues it still has, like bouncing between lane
markings or a sudden attempt to center itself in a lane that has become wider, those issues are practically
non-existent in city driving.
So while single stack won't be included in beta 10.12, it's good to know that Tesla continues to make progress.
When Tesla is finally able to complete their single stack software we should see huge improvements in highway
Autopilot use.
Release Date
The last FSD beta started going out more than a month ago, so a lot of users are definitely itching for an
update. Elon said earlier this week that beta 10.12 is "probably" going to wide release this week.
The beta could be in QA testing now, but it unlikely that it has been passed on to employees yet as release notes
usually get leaked when that happens.
Hopefully, some of us will be greeted by that sweet notification this weekend, prompting us to install the latest
beta.
Update: Elon tweeted today, Friday, May 6th that there have been "many upgrades to core code, so taking longer to debug issues. Probably Wed/Thurs release." So it looks like we're still a week out from a public release of beta 10.12.
Based On New Build
Lately, FSD betas have been a little behind the times. The latest beta is 2022.4.5.21,
which is roughly two major versions behind. That means that FSD Beta testers still don't have seat heaters in
the launcher, Dog Mode in the Tesla app, browser improvements, vehicle preconditioning improvements and more.
Most non-FSD Teslas are now on a 2022.12 release and 2022.16 is expected shortly.
While it's unlikely that the beta 10.12 will be based on a brand new upcoming build like 2022.16, it's almost
certainly going to be based on 2022.12, which
will please a lot of testers.
It appears that Tesla is as cautious as ever with beta releases. Lately, it has taken several revisions of a beta
before Tesla releases it to everyone.
Tesla says they're now at 100k beta testers in the US and Canada, so they're right to be cautious, but it's not
easy waiting.
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In just 8 months, Tesla has gone from breaking ground to delivering electrons at its most ambitious Supercharger project to date, just in time to be ready for the busy Fourth of July holiday weekend. Project Oasis, the world’s largest Supercharger site, is now partially open to customers for its first phase in Lost Hills, California.
What makes this remarkable is the speed of execution. In just eight months, Tesla has constructed a site that will eventually feature 168 stalls (84 stalls are now open), supported by 11 MW of solar power and 10 Megapacks of battery storage. That construction speed is pretty impressive, but what is even more impressive is how this new station operates and what it means for future Supercharging infrastructure.
Self-Sufficient Energy Oasis
Not a Tesla App
The first 84 stalls at Lost Hills are now open, and according to the Tesla Charging team, they are currently powered solely by the sun and operate off-grid.
This makes it more than just a new Supercharger site. It serves as a proof of concept for a new type of Supercharger. Unlike nearly every other charging site in the world, which draws power from local utilities, this station generates its own clean electricity from its massive solar array and stores it in its array of on-site Megapacks.
Self-sufficient charging stations are something completely different than what we see today. They are highly resilient since they’re not reliant on the grid. That means that even if there is a local power outage, brownout, or blackout, one can always come to Lost Hills to Supercharge.
If you’ve got a Cybertruck, you could take advantage of the Cybertruck’s Powershare feature and charge up at Lost Hills to help keep your home powered during a blackout, utilizing the Cybertruck as a portable battery charger. Now that’s true independence and self-reliance.
The Future of Charging
Solar-powered Superchargers help avoid massive new loads on already stressed electrical grids, especially during peak afternoon and evening hours, when demand is the highest.
This is Tesla’s vision for the future of charging: a clean, fully closed-loop ecosystem that sustains itself. The sun’s energy is captured, stored, and delivered directly to vehicles on site at any time of day without relying on the electrical grid or fossil fuels.
Largest Supercharger in the World
This opening of 84 stalls is just the first phase of the project. Tesla says that the remaining stalls, as well as a new on-site lounge, are coming later this year. Once complete, the 168-stall site will be the largest Supercharger site in the world.
While the speed of building such a massive project in just eight months is a testament to Tesla’s execution, the true innovation is actually that self-sustainability. Let’s hope we see even more large, self-sufficient Supercharger sites across the world in the near future.
Elon Musk is once again seeking to expand Tesla’s vertical integration in the energy sector, this time focusing squarely on solar power. Following discussions on X that highlighted the massive gap in solar deployments between the US and China, Elon is now discussing the need for a Tesla Solar Gigafactory in the United States.
This potential move is driven by a specific catalyst: the exponential growth of AI is creating an insatiable demand for electricity. For Tesla and xAI, two of Elon’s companies betting their future on AI, building the power generation required is a strategic necessity.
A new factory wouldn’t just be about making panels; it would be about manufacturing the final missing piece in Tesla’s vertically integrated energy ecosystem.
Maybe there should be a solar Gigafactory in America
The context for this renewed focus is pretty stark. In May, China reportedly added a staggering 93 gigawatts (GW) of solar power capacity. In contrast, the United States installed approximately 14 GW over the entire first quarter, roughly 20 times less than China.
The primary driver of this demand is the revolution in AI. Training ever-larger and smarter AI models involves operating vast data centers, which consume staggering amounts of power. Google, Amazon, and Microsoft have turned to small-scale nuclear reactors, with Microsoft petitioning to reopen the infamous Three Mile Island for its AI operations.
For Elon’s companies, whose future products like FSD, Optimus, and Grok are built on a foundation of real-world AI, securing a massive and sustainable energy supply isn’t a side quest. It is part of the main mission, especially in conjunction with grid-scale storage, such as Megapacks and Powerwalls. You can’t power a world of autonomous robots without a world of abundant, clean energy.
The Tesla Ecosystem
A US solar gigafactory would be the final, logical step in completing Tesla’s energy hardware ecosystem. While Tesla already manufactures some solar panels and the Tesla solar roof, the scale is too minuscule to matter.
By mass-producing its own panels, while also increasing Solar Roof production, Tesla would become a true one-stop shop for all things green energy. This would allow the company to supply its own large-scale projects, like the massive solar array for Project Oasis - the world’s largest Supercharger site.
It would also enable more complete residential packages, like the Giga-Small Haus concept home, combining Tesla-made panels and roofs with a Powerwall 3. This level of vertical integration would give Tesla complete control over the technology, cost, and supply of every major component in its energy ecosystem, from generation to storage to mobility.
Building a new Solar Gigafactory is about much more than just simply producing solar panels. It’s a requirement to power Tesla’s future products and make solar panels accessible to everyone.