FSD Beta V11 will be Tesla's next major FSD update
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Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but Elon Musk says Version 11 of Full Self Driving will be released in two weeks. Tesla’s CEO has promised the long-awaited FSD V11 a few times. Most observers were certain it would be part of the Holiday update, but here we are in the second week of 2023 without Version 11.
However, unprompted, Musk responded to a general tweet about Tesla and the stock price. Musk tweeted: Looks like V11.3 will be ready for wide release in about 2 weeks. Many major improvements.
Improved Highway Autopilot
This is the build that has been touted by the CEO as the big one for several months now. The big change in FSD Beta V11 will be the new highway Autopilot experience. Tesla is leveraging and adapting the neural nets they use for city driving to highway driving. Navigate on Autopilot hasn't seen many advances in the last few years, but that's expected to change with this update.
Highway driving is notably easier than city driving, but when Tesla finally merges the two tech stacks we should see several improvements to Navigate on Autopilot, including smoother lane changes, merges and better transitions when entering or exiting the highway.
FSD Beta V11.3 may also finally include Tesla's 'reverse creep' feature which has been talked about for some time. This will allow the vehicle to reverse and readjust or move out of dangerous situations.
Release Notes
The FSD V11 release notes were partially leaked in November. However, there are likely now even more improvements in V11.3. The notes for V11 stated:
Enabled FSD Beta on highway. This unifies the vision and planning stack on and off-highway and replaces the legacy highway stack, which is over four years old. The legacy highway stack still relies on several single-camera and single-frame networks, and was setup to handle simple lane-specific maneuvers. FSD Beta's multi-camera video networks and next-gen planner, that allows for more complex agent interactions with less reliance on lanes, make way for adding more intelligent behaviors, smoother control and better decision making.
Improved Occupancy Network's recall for close by obstacles and precision in severe weather conditions with a 4x increase in transformer spatial resolution, 20% increase in image featurizer capacity, improved side camera calibration, and 260k more video training clips (real-world and simulation).
It's Unknown Who Gets FSD Beta V11
It’s unclear who's getting FSD Beta V11 in two weeks. Will it include a wider range of employees, or will it go to the OG beta testers as well?
With the latest Tesla updates, it appears Tesla has finally merged FSD Beta software and production builds, meaning that FSD Beta is available to everyone in the U.S. and Canada. However, does that mean all FSD Beta users will get v11 right away? Likely not, as Tesla will probably want to roll it out slowly and release minor revisions before everyone has access to it.
What to Expect
Expectations are key. Whenever Elon Musk communicates a date, that is often the best-case scenario and delays are a real possibility.
We may see the first glimpse of FSD Beta V11 in two to three weeks, but it'll likely be in limited numbers.
We know that Tesla employees were testing V11 in November. At that time, it was believed that the program would soon roll out to a small group of public testers to get more input.
We don't know just how far into testing V11 has been. But for Musk, who has been busy with Tesla, Twitter, and SpaceX, to take the time to again give an update and a timeline for V11, the most advanced FSD yet must be coming soon. Right?
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Tesla recently showed off Giga Small Haus, an interesting new display project hosted at Giga Berlin. The small new house is located just outside the main entrance of Tesla’s Giga Berlin factory, with a Quicksilver Model Y parked inside.
Giga Small Haus is powered only by solar and Powerwall 3 - disconnected from the local grid and from Giga Berlin itself. It serves as a live demonstration of Tesla Solar and Tesla’s Powerwall battery backup.
Giga Small Haus
The centerpiece of the display is a Model Y in Quicksilver - a beautiful pick for a beautifully lit house. However, that’s not the real focus here - it's the Powerwall and Gateway on the wall.
The Powerwall is the focus of Giga Small Haus, and there’s a display with some additional information on the wall. Part of the display also includes a screen that displays the current output of the Powerwall itself versus the consumption of Giga Small Haus, as well as the input from solar.
The interior exhibit of Giga Small Haus
Not a Tesla App
The text on the exhibit is divided into several sections. Here’s a translated and edited version of what we can see from Tesla’s images. Some additional text is obscured. If someone visits Giga Small Haus, let us know.
Powerwall
Powerwall is a home battery system that stores energy from solar panels, the electrical grid, or during off-peak hours and powers your home during the day or during a power outage.
With Powerwall, you can use self-generated solar energy during the day and night, thus avoiding high electricity costs. You can also store excess energy produced during sunny periods for use during times of low production or power outages.
Key Features
Energy Storage: Powerwall stores excess energy from solar panels or the grid for later use or during power outages.
Backup Power: In the event of a power outage, Powerwall automatically switches to battery power to ensure continuous power supply.
Integration: Powerwall can be seamlessly integrated with existing solar systems and other power sources.
Scalability: Multiple Powerwalls can be installed to meet higher energy storage needs.
Smart Energy Management: Powerwall works with Tesla's software to optimize energy consumption and reduce costs.
How Powerwall Works
Storage: During the day, when solar panels produce more energy than needed, the excess is stored in Powerwall.
Usage: At night or during times of low solar production, the stored energy is used to power the home, reducing reliance on the grid.
Backup: During a power outage, Powerwall automatically provides power to critical circuits, ensuring continuous operation of essential appliances.
Benefits
Cost Savings: By storing and using solar energy, you can reduce your electricity bills.
Reliability: Provides backup power during outages, ensuring your home remains powered.
Sustainability: Promotes the use of renewable energy by storing excess solar production for later use.
Overall, Giga Small Haus is an interesting real-life demo of what Powerwall and Solar can accomplish. It would be neat if Tesla built more of these displays - perhaps near major Delivery and Service Centers and at Giga Texas, Fremont, Giga Shanghai, and other facilities. Many Tesla owners have yet to learn about and experience some of Tesla’s Energy products.
Tesla has added the Acceleration Boost option to the Tesla store for owners of the 2024 Model 3 Long Range - specifically owners in Australia and China. Acceleration Boost is an upgrade that provides a significant performance boost, drastically narrowing the performance gap between the Long Range and Performance versions of the same model.
This upgrade will likely become available in Europe, Canada, and the United States in the next few days as Tesla updates its shops globally.
Acceleration Boost
This new Acceleration Boost is retailing for $3,000 AUD, or approximately $2,000 USD. That’s the same price for current owners of older Model 3 or Model Y Long Range vehicles, which all have the option to purchase Acceleration Boost through the shop.
The boost provides improved 0-100km/h (0-60mph) performance, bumping the 2024 Model 3 LR from 4.4s to 3.8s. The 2024 Performance version comes in at a blazing fast 2.9 seconds, so while it isn’t equivalent to just buying a performance variant in the first place, it is still a noticeable and significant upgrade.
Performance variants also come with a different front fascia vent for cooling, performance drive units, sport seats, adaptive suspension, 20-inch wheels, and Track Mode V3. That’s a significant number of additional features in the $10,000 USD price difference between the Long Range and Performance versions.
Should You Buy It?
If you’ve purchased a Long Range model and are itching to go just that little bit faster at every red light, this is the upgrade for you. It previously came with the cost of slightly reducing vehicle range, but the Tesla store doesn’t make a note of reduced range this time around. The 2023 Model 3 and Model Y Long Range models had an efficiency loss of about 5% due to the additional always-available acceleration and cooling.
You could drive in Chill mode to mostly negate that efficiency loss, but what’s the fun in driving in Chill when you just got Acceleration Boost? Anyhow, the shop listing for the 2024 variant doesn’t include this detail, so it's possible Tesla may have worked some more engineering magic.
Overall, if you’ve got the $3,000 AUD burning a hole in your pocket, some Tesla referral credits sitting around, or just want to go faster, it's definitely an upgrade many users find valuable.