Tesla owners who have opted-in to Tesla's Safety Score have been eagerly awaiting the expansion of the Full Self Driving Beta program.
Tesla has reportedly not added additional testers in the US since late 2021.
Since then, there have been many owners who have maintained a Safety Score of 99 or even 100, and are still waiting to receive access to the FSD software.
However, it looks like we may be getting closer to Tesla expanding the beta to additional owners.
On May 14th, Twitter user Dan Burkland asked Elon Musk if Tesla plans to expand the FSD Beta to owners who have a Safety Score of 98+ with beta 10.12.
Elon Musk responded and said that the beta would not only be expanded to additional users with 10.12.2, but that Tesla would also drop the required Safety Score to 95+ (a drop of five points from the initial testers group).
This conversation took place before beta 10.12 was released externally. Since then, Tesla has released FSD Beta 10.12 and 10.12.1 with many improvements and new visualizations.
FSD Beta 10.12.2 may be the next beta Tesla releases unless they decide to release a minor bug fix for 10.12.1.
Just a couple of days ago, Dan took to Twitter again to find out whether Tesla still plans to increase the size of the beta pool with 10.12.2.
Elon once again responded to affirm his earlier comment, with a simple "Yeah."
The newest FSD beta, version 10.12.1 has garnered attention from users for its incredibly detailed visualizations, including new car models, open car doors, and turn signal status.
It may be several weeks before we see FSD Beta 10.12.2, but it's good to know that Tesla's plan is still to increase the number of testers.
While the price of FSD has ranged drastically ($12,000 in the US now), one cannot deny the seemingly unfair nature of beta exclusion for seemingly mild safety infractions (as deemed by the Safety Score).
For the most part, Tesla’s choice to limit the number of users to top-tier safety scores has resulted in a low number of reported crashes.
As the FSD algorithms improve through the growing datasets being analyzed, one could expect the FSD Beta group to expand beyond the current anticipated 95+ Safety Score cut.
What remains to be seen is how much tolerance Tesla will have for drivers with lower Safety Scores that might endanger the reputation of FSD while still under Beta status.
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Last night, Tesla released software update 2024.45.25.15, which includes FSD V12.6.1. This update adds support for all HW3 vehicles, including the Model 3 and Model Y. We’re excited to see the continued support for HW3 owners.
FSD V12.6.1
V12.6.1 is now going wide, according to Ashok Elluswamy, Tesla’s VP of AI. This update is going to the Model 3 and Model Y for the first time - as only the Model S and Model X were included in FSD V12.6.
V12.6 is a big step forward for HW3 - it includes End-to-End on Highway, Improved City Streets Behavior, and Smoother and More Accurate Tracking - all contributing towards a better, smoother, and more comfortable build of FSD. You can read our comparison between FSD V12.6 and V13.2.2 here.
In short, FSD V12.6 performs considerably closer to V13 than V12.5.4.2 - which is a massive improvement. It performs as well as the Cybertruck version of FSD V13, which is still missing a few features when compared to other HW4 vehicles, but it’s a great sign for HW3. A lot of the improvements can be pointed to in the improvements to lane selection and decision-making - the vehicle tends to hesitate far less on V12.6, meaning the ride is a lot smoother. Many early V12.6 testers mentioned that it felt more like V13-mini than anything else.
Legacy Model S & X
We haven’t seen this update hit any legacy Model S and Model X vehicles just yet. We’re not sure whether Ashok’s statement of “generally” applies here - but it should. If you do get the update, please let us know.
Legacy Model S and Model X vehicles are still on an older FSD build and potentially won’t see another FSD update for a little while longer. While they do have the same FSD hardware as other vehicles, there are enough hardware differences that require a build specifically for these vehicles.
FSD V12.6.1 is going out now to the redesigned Model S and X with HW3 and all Model 3 and Model Y vehicles with HW3. The initial wave went out last night, and we expect to see more later today or tomorrow. If this release ends up going “wide,” we should see much larger waves go out next week.
Tesla has issued a recall for some vehicles due to issues linked to a revision of the Hardware 4 (HW4) computer that was introduced this past November. This recall affects all vehicles with the revised hardware except for the Cybertruck, as it uses a slightly modified version of the HW4 system.
Many vehicle owners have reported a complete failure of their Autopilot computer, which not only leaves the vehicle without FSD and Autopilot but also disables many of the active safety features that make a Tesla what it is.
Let’s take a look at this recall - because the recall is partially physical and partially a software recall.
HW4 Failure
Tesla has identified the failure and flagged it to the U.S. NHTSA (but not Transport Canada or Euro NCAP at the time of publishing) as a recall.
Tesla mentions that the vehicle’s FSD computer circuit board may short circuit, resulting in the loss of the rearview camera image. The recall itself is focused on the rearview camera - as not having a functional rearview camera breaks a Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard. However, it does impact more than just the rearview camera.
As previously mentioned, users have experienced the full loss of Autopilot and FSD on these vehicles, as well as reduced traction control and removal of safety features such as automatic emergency braking, collision avoidance assist, and forward collision warnings.
While the vehicle remains driveable, it is not necessarily a good idea to drive the vehicle with many of these features, especially with the reduced traction control noted by many people. We’ve already noted that while Tesla has been sending tow trucks to pick up some vehicles, it is also prompting owners to drive the vehicle to their service center in some cases.
Remedy
Unlike most of Tesla’s recalls, this one isn’t entirely an OTA recall, owing to the fact that people have already experienced circuit board shorts and are already waiting for replacements.
The software portion of the recall has already been mostly completed for any vehicles with Tesla software update 2024.45.25.3 or greater. However, a significant portion of the tracked fleet remains on update 2024.44.25.2 (approximately 20%), so we recommend updating your HW4 vehicle whenever you receive the notification.
On the hardware side, Tesla is immediately identifying and replacing hardware that has had circuit board failure. Tesla is also reaching out to customers who have expressed intermittent issues with Autopilot features, active safety features, or vehicle cameras that don't display correctly. If you have experienced any of these issues in a late 2024 vehicle, we recommend submitting a service ticket with Tesla to ensure that your vehicle isn’t affected by this recall.
