Tesla's Full Self-Driving Is Getting A Major Update – Here's When It Lands

Over the past few weeks, Tesla chief Elon Musk has drummed up a lot of hype over the upcoming version 14 software update of its Full Self Driving software. It was meant to be released already, but due to an eleventh-hour snag, the update's release was pushed to the first Monday of October. Despite the brief delay, it seems the FSD V14 update is going to be a big shift in terms of autonomy. Musk even claimed that it "feels alive" and compared the cars running on it to "sentient" beings.

"Version 14 is the second biggest update to Tesla AI/Autopilot ever after V12," he shared in a post on X. Now, so far, the company has been mum on the big changes that are coming with the V14 update, but we can take a few educated guesses based on the previous builds. The V13 version, for example, reduced latency by 2x while increasing the compute scaling by a 5x factor.

More importantly, the changelog teased further upgrades to model size and context scaling, better emergency audio management, enhanced navigation, and reduced instances of false braking. There was also mention of new destination options, such as driveaway and garage, and better handling, as well. In its analysis, Forbes pointed out that FSD V13 has improved at navigating in congested spaces and that it was inching closer to Waymo's self-driving tech. The upcoming FSD V14 update should offer further improvements in the aforementioned areas. Will Tesla also offer clarity on the accountability aspect when FSD fails? That remains to be seen.

With the Full Self-Driving (FSD) V13 upgrade and the subsequent minor updates, Tesla delivered a fairly reliable self-driving system. Barron's tests concluded that the refined V13.2 update was really good. "The number of times I have to take over on the road is down substantially, and the driving is significantly better," said the test. However, it mentioned that the system still requires human oversight at all times, requires the occasional intervention, and is still far away from the dreams of the mythical better-than-human-driver autonomy promised by Musk.

It seems improved navigation autonomy and safety are going to be a big focus for the upcoming FSD V14 update. "We are increasing the parameter count by the order of magnitude," Musk said in a video appearance at All-In Summit. "Your car is going to be sentient by the end of the year." It will be interesting to see whether Tesla's self-driving suite adds more destination intelligence options, alongside improvements to the safety aspect. Automatic parking has remained a pain point for adopters, and it would be interesting to see how Tesla addresses that shortcoming with the update.

In related news, the company recently launched the Model Y Performance trim in the US market. Starting at $57,490, this one delivers 308 miles of EPA range and can go from still to 60 miles per hour in just 3.3 seconds. The company is also holding an event on October 7, and if the short teaser shared by the company is anything to go by, it looks like a new car will soon join the line-up, as well.