Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk has just announced that the latest iteration of the Full Self-Driving (FSD) software is finally entering internal testing this week.
Internal testing begins
Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s remarks came in response to an X user’s post on Wednesday.
The tech enthusiast jokingly warned that he would be on a hunger strike until Tesla finally released the FSD 12.4 to the public.
The X post attracted the Tesla boss’ attention, prompting him to announce that the latest iteration will be moving to internal testing on Thursday (June 27).
“12.4.2 is much smoother. Challenge is keeping safety high, while increasing ride comfort.
Build moves to internal testing tomorrow.”
Tesla CEO Elon Musk
Notably, the latest FSD build promises to eliminate the steering wheel nag. Instead of requiring drivers to keep their hands on the steering wheel, Tesla will utilize the cabin camera to monitor the driver’s behavior. However, the “nag” reminding drivers to grip the wheel will not be entirely gone. It will still activate if the car cannot see the driver’s eyes due to sunglasses or hats or lacks a cabin camera.
Major delays
Veteran Tesla FSD testers have been extremely excited about software version 12.4, primarily because of Elon Musk’s recent comments regarding the update. According to the Tesla boss, FSD V12.4 should bring significant improvements as the company has completely retrained its models.
Previous reports suggested that Tesla released the FSV V12.4 to employees in late May. However, the software update did not reach a larger fleet of FSD (Supervised) users.
The same happened to FSD V12.4.1, which entered internal testing on June 5. The electric vehicle giant took almost three weeks to fix the bugs found in this software version and advance to V12.4.2.
Again, Tesla CEO Elon Musk disclosed that this version finally entered internal testing yesterday. Unless Tesla initiates a wider release immediately, owners will not likely get their FSD V12.4 fix in June.
These setbacks (FSD) are causing major delays for other versions, including one for Cybertruck owners. The Tesla Chief had previously promised Autopilot and FSD functions for Cybertrucks with the release of FSD V12.5 in late June. However, due to ongoing bug fixes in the earlier V12.4 versions, V12.5 seems unlikely to arrive anytime soon. This means Cybertruck owners, who’ve been waiting for over seven months since the vehicle’s debut, would not yet have access to even basic driver-assistance features.
Tesla FSD V12.4.2 takes a step closer to public release
While Tesla has indeed started testing the FSD V12.4.2, it might still take a while before the company releases it to regular customers. Nonetheless, it still marks a significant advancement towards public release.
CEO Musk claims that this latest reiteration is already smoother but still needs to be safe. Tesla is working to guarantee that there will be no safety regressions compared to FSD V12.3.6 before replacing this version on customer EVs.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk sees full self-driving cars (FSD) as crucial for the company’s future success. To achieve its ambitious goals, Tesla is pouring significant resources into developing this technology. FSD is indeed a make-or-break for Tesla’s long-term vision.
