Elon Announces FSD Beta V11.3 Will Be Released Soon

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?

Tesla to Add New Navigation Options & Trailer Profiles in Update

Not a Tesla App

As part of the 2024 Tesla Holiday Update, Tesla hacker Greentheonly, has once again uncovered features that are coming in a future software update. Green regularly decompiles Tesla’s software updates and is able to see features that have yet to see the light of day. These features are in production code, but sometimes have only been partially developed or are being tested or waiting to be turned on remotely. Either way, it gives us an early look at features that are likely to be released in the coming months.

Recently Green spotted two new features, Trailer Profiles and new navigation routing options.

Trailer Profiles

According to Green, the new Trailer Profiles feature is expected to let you record your trailer mileage and select whether it’s an open or closed trailer. You’ll have the ability to keep track of up to 20 trailer profiles, letting you use various trailers without resetting your settings. This should let the vehicle give you more accurate range estimates, as the vehicle will be able to track your previous energy consumption when you used your trailer previously.

By creating multiple profiles, you can even account for different load types, such as transporting a car, boat, or lumbar.

This feature is expected to be available to all vehicles equipped with a tow hitch. Tow hitches are included on the Model S, Model X, and Cybertruck and as an option for the Model Y and some Model 3s.

Trailers normally have no way to record mileage, so this could be an extremely useful tool for owners to be able to see how much a trailer has been used. This could help indicate when new tires, new trailer brakes, or other relevant service may be required.

Prioritize Highways / Avoid Highways?

Navigation routing is expected to receive two additional preferences. The first one is “Prioritize Highways” - which, like its name, will likely prioritize the usage of highways whenever possible.

This is an interesting feature, as most people have been asking for the opposite - Avoid Highways, which Elon previously promised would make its way to Tesla vehicles soon. It’s not clear whether this is Tesla’s interpretation of an Avoid Highways option, where disabling this feature will try to avoid highways and prioritize backroad use.

Prioritize Time

The second feature is “Prioritize Time”. This one is interesting, as it likely will provide the option for drivers to have an optimized route for charging/efficiency, and a route that is more focused on spending less time on the road at the cost of using more energy.

While Tesla leverages Google’s API for features such as Points of Interest, reviews, photos, map tiles and satellite imagery, Tesla determines the vehicle’s route themselves. This lets them prioritize efficiency and calculate charging stops.

Alongside the arrival of FSD’s new Hurry Mode, this is going to give users more flexibility when driving.

When Do They Arrive?

These features aren’t available just yet, but their inclusion in production code likely points to them launching soon. However, the features could be in varying degrees of completion, from active development to dev complete and simply awaiting for Tesla to enable them remotely.

It’s possible we’ll see one or more of these features activated in the next couple of months.

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Tesla Cybertruck Santa Mode: All the Unique Features

Not a Tesla App

Tesla’s Santa Mode is one of the earliest Tesla Easter Eggs, and with the 2024 Holiday Update, the Cybertruck gets its own customized version of Santa Mode. While Santa Mode already has its own set of unique assets and animations, Tesla’s team went all out with the special Cybertruck version.

Cybersled

When you enable Santa Mode on the Cybertruck, you won’t get the classic-looking Tesla sleigh with Santa behind the reigns.

Instead, Santa’s been replaced by Santa Optimus, who’s doing all the chores from now on. Optimus is steering the Cybersled, and his trusty steeds, this time, are Cyber Reindeer with their own slick-looking goggles. The Cybersled has also been upgraded with some fancy levitating technology.

Turn Signals

While the reindeer’s harnesses will light up when you turn on your turn signal, Tesla also added a unique feature to the Cybertruck version. When you turn on your blinker, Optimus will actually stick out his arm and look in that direction. It’s a nice little touch that makes the whole thing come to life. You can check it out in the video below:

In the Cybertruck Holiday update Optimus will turn its head and point left or right with its hands when you initiate a turn signal. Cool little details @Tesla pic.twitter.com/ntxMFXjBtK

— Brandon (@brandontsla) December 26, 2024

Cybertruck’s Santa Mode otherwise has all the features of regular Santa Mode on other vehicles, including snowy roads and falling snow. The assets for people and other vehicles are also the same, with them being replaced by elves and reindeer, respectively.

Santa Mode Lighting

The Cybertruck, just like the 2024+ Model 3, features ambient lighting on the interior. When you activate Santa Mode, your Cybertruck’s ambient lighting will cycle between Red, Green, and White, fitting the Christmas theme quite well.

How to Activate It

Santa Mode can be activated year-round and isn’t limited to the holiday season. You can activate it via the Toybox menu or using a voice command.

Voice Commands

The first voice command is “Ho Ho Ho”. Just simply say that - and the Run Rudolph Run song will chime on for a single cycle, and you can go spread some Cyber Christmas Cheer.

The second voice command is “Ho Ho Ho, not funny.” That one is a variation of Santa Mode, and Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer will be played instead.

ToyBox

The third way to activate Santa Mode is to head over to the ToyBox app in your Tesla. You can then tap on the Santa Mode panel and turn it on by enabling ‘Jingle All the Way.’ That’s the equivalent of running the “Ho Ho Ho” voice command, so you’ll hear Run Rudolph Run cycle through once upon touching the button. Unfortunately, it’s rather loud, and you can’t control the volume, so you’ll need to wait for it to finish playing or turn off Santa Mode completely.

Spread Cheer

You can also spread some cheer with your Cybertruck. You’ll need to be in Park before enabling this option. It will play the Santa Mode music you’ve selected through the vehicle’s external speaker known as the Pedestrian Warning Speaker (PWS). You’ll need to toggle on Spread Cheer before enabling Santa Mode, as the song stops after its first cycle. Due to updated NHTSA regulations, Spread Cheer no longer works while driving.

If you’d like to see all the features of Santa Mode on other Teslas, be sure to check out our regular Santa Mode guide.

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