

News
Comma.ai’s George Hotz talks Tesla Autopilot, AI Vision and the future of self-driving cars
One of the most outspoken players in the race to autonomous cars has some strong thoughts on where the future of self-driving technology is headed. George Hotz, the CEO and founder of Comma.ai, believes heavily in a future where AI-driven computer vision powers our self-driving cars. I sat down with Hotz on the NextMobility podcast to discuss everything from Tesla’s Autopilot to Comma.ai’s suite of products that take aim at converting the regular car into a self-driving vehicle. Listen below, or download it on Apple Podcasts or on other platforms.
So how do we get there? According to Hotz, computer vision technology is already good enough to be comparable to LiDAR. The real problem is getting AI to understand the environment and make intelligent decisions. Predictive complexity and being able to reason what course of action is needed is the challenging part of self-driving vehicles, George explains.
“That’s the easy part (Computer vision), the hard part is- okay I’m trying to merge up here, how is my model going to behave.” – George Hotz
Hotz famously showed a working prototype of his self-driving technology in a Bloomberg Businessweek interview with Ashley Vance in December 2015. Since then the company’s strategy has changed along with its technology. Hotz open-sourced their self-driving software last November and called it Openpilot after the NHTSA threatened to shut down his project.
Hotz has avoided dealing with regulators by creating a Comma.ai hardware ‘ecosystem’ this year that can run the open source software. Rather than simply making hardware that allows the vehicle to drive autonomously, the hardware creates an interface to allow computers to interact with the vehicle in several ways.
Comma.ai’s new product line consists of the EON dashcam that also doubles as a navigation and music interface, the Panda OBD-II connector, and a Giraffe connector to seamless tie into a vehicle’s system. Using all three products, one can run music, navigation and even their Openpilot driving agent on the vehicle.
In 2015, Hotz considered ‘contracting’ with Tesla to help develop their Autopilot software, but then decided to pursue the technology on his own. I asked Hotz why he thought Tesla has had trouble retaining leaders in the division and he shared his theory.
“Elon has an idea in his head that it (self-driving vehicles powered by computer vision and AI) should be easy, and he’s right- it absolutely should be easy. So every time someone doesn’t make it seem easy- he fires them. Which is actually a probably good strategy. So what’s the problem… it’s just actually implementing all the stuff, I mean implementation is hard. It’s not the theory, the theory is all there,” said Hotz on the NextMobility Podcast.
Hotz also believes that other automakers are still very behind Tesla in terms of vehicle architecture. While other companies are launching long-range electric vehicles or planning their development, they still have yet to compete with Tesla’s technological advancements.
“They (other automotive companies) are going to be like, holy crap- we are five years behind… the car manufacturers still have no idea how far they are behind. The Model S has sophisticated compute, OTA, Linux boxes, a large touchscreen, and a modern user interface. What does the Chevy bolt have?”
Who do you think will win the self-driving game?
News
Tesla Full Self-Driving v14.1 first impressions: Robotaxi-like features arrive
Tesla Full Self-Driving v14.1 is here, and we got to experience it for ourselves.

Tesla rolled out its Full Self-Driving v14.1 yesterday, its first public launch of its most robust and accurate FSD iteration yet. Luckily, I was able to get my hands on it through the Early Access Program.
The major changes in FSD v14.1 were revealed in the release notes, which outline several notable improvements in areas such as driving styles, parking, and overall navigation. Here’s what Tesla outlined fully in its release notes:
- Added Arrival Options for you to select where FSD should park: in a Parking Lot, on the Street, in a Driveway, in a Parking Garage, or at the Curbside.
- Added handling to pull over or yield for emergency vehicles (e.g. police cars, fire trucks, ambulances).
- Added navigation and routing into the vision-based neural network for real-time handling of blocked roads and detours.
- Added additional Speed Profile to further customize driving style preference.
- Improved handling for static and dynamic gates.
- Improved offsetting for road debris (e.g. tires, tree branches, boxes).
- Improve handling of several scenarios including: unprotected turns, lane changes, vehicle cut-ins, and school busses.
- Improved FSD’s ability to manage system faults and recover smoothly from degraded operation for enhanced reliability.
- Added alerting for residue build-up on interior windshield that may impact front camera visibility. If affected, visit Service for cleaning!
I wanted to try it for myself. My big must-dos were my complaints with v13.2.9, which included parking when arriving at a destination, Navigation when leaving a destination, and definitely a general improvement in the car traveling at an acceptable rate of speed, even when using the “Hurry” driving style.
Here’s what I noticed with the new Full Self-Driving v14.1:
Speed Profiles are More Realistic
I am driving on “Hurry” about 95% of the time when utilizing Full Self-Driving. In past versions, most notably v13.2.9, my Tesla would slowly reach the speed limit, and it would tend to hang out at about 1-2 MPH either above or below it.
My first observation with v14.1 was the vehicle’s tendency to get right up to speed and, since I was still on Hurry, drive slightly above the speed limit. It never got out of line; it traveled at speeds I would typically drive at manually.
I think this is a big improvement on its own, because I felt that I was pressing the accelerator too frequently in past FSD versions. Oftentimes, it just wasn’t going fast enough to justify the “Hurry” label; it felt more conservative and more like a student driver than anything.
Check it out:
🚨 Tesla Full Self-Driving v14.1 travels at more realistic speeds on local roads.
With 13.2.9, even on Hurry, it would hover the speed limit a little too much, often times traveling 1-2 MPH below or over.
It now travels at more realistic speeds. The removal of Max Speed and… pic.twitter.com/DPC0oBl3SC
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) October 8, 2025
This was among my favorite improvements, and it was the first thing I noticed as the car navigated me to the Supercharger, where my next positive is.
Navigating into parking lots, self-parking at Supercharger
One of the changes noted in the Release Notes was the addition of Arrival Options, which allows the car to select the appropriate parking situation. Since I was going to charge, the car had already chosen “Charger” as the parking option.
Pulling into a gas station or convenience store, especially during work days, can be stressful, as they are usually congested and full of foot and vehicle traffic. In past FSD versions, I have noticed the car being slightly “jumpy” and even hesitant to proceed through the lot.
Driving through parking lots was a noticeable improvement. It seems as if the car is much more confident in making its way through, while still being aware and cautious enough to safely navigate to the Supercharger.
It then backed straight into a Supercharger stall, which was recently repaired and is once again active. I was actually upset it chose this specific stall because it had been inactive for a while. However, Tesla got this stall back up and running, the car chose it, and backed into the spot flawlessly:
🚨 Check out Tesla Full Self-Driving v14 choosing and backing into a Supercharger
After selecting this Supercharger at the beginning of my trip, my Tesla had already selected “Charger” as the arrival option pic.twitter.com/jqLNwQ9x0o
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) October 8, 2025
This was super cool to experience, and I think it is a testament to how hard the Tesla AI team has worked. CEO Elon Musk recently stated that FSD would enable automatic parking at Superchargers, which was really awesome to experience firsthand.
I decided to leave the Supercharger and go to an auto parts store to pick up some interior cleaner and some microfiber towels. I love keeping my Tesla clean!
I also thought it would be a great opportunity to see how it would react to another parking lot, how it would navigate it, and let it choose a parking spot. It did it all flawlessly:
🚨 Here’s Tesla Full Self-Driving v14.1 navigating to a store, pulling in, choosing a parking spot, and backing right in
From v13.2.9, this is a drastic improvement. Typically, manual parking was required in past versions when arriving at retail locations. pic.twitter.com/kgFMu6dxnW
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) October 8, 2025
I had zero complaints about everything here. All of it was done really well.
Making a choice after being caught in the middle of an intersection
I arrived at a tight intersection in Dallastown, PA, and what my car did next has catalyzed quite a conversation on X.
It proceeded out into the middle of the intersection as the light was green. It had to yield to oncoming traffic, and while waiting, the light turned yellow, then red.
Most people, including myself, would have turned right and proceeded through the intersection since the car was already past the line. However, FSD chose to back up and wait for the next light cycle, which I felt was also a more than acceptable option:
🚨 Super cool thing Tesla FSD v14.1 did: it proceeded thru this intersection to turn left, but the light had gone to red before the turn could be completed.
It put itself in reverse and backed up to the “Stop Here on Red” sign/line. Didn’t proceed at a red or impede others. pic.twitter.com/AKb1AI32fK
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) October 8, 2025
There are some conflicting perspectives on what it chose to do here. Some said they would have proceeded and would want FSD to also proceed. I can agree with that perspective, but I also think it is not the worst thing in the world to back up. In Pennsylvania, I couldn’t find the exact law that says what is right or wrong. Instead, I did see that a left turn on red is only feasible when you’re going from a One-Way street to another One-Way.
I’m not totally sure what is “correct” here, but I think either option is fine. I have personally done both, and I’ve seen other drivers do both. I was more than fine with the car doing this, and I was honestly impressed that it did.
Navigated a busy grocery store lot, found suitable parking
This is not the busiest my local grocery store gets, but it was still congested enough for me to be impressed.
FSD decided to do one loop in the parking lot before it found a spot that it felt was good enough for me. I was perfectly fine with where it chose to park, and I thought it did a really great job. I was impressed with how stress-free I felt, as I have noted in the past that parking lots are definitely an area where Tesla needs to improve.
I was happy with its performance:
🚨 Here, @Tesla Full Self-Driving v14.1 searched for a parking space at the grocery store.
It did one loop, navigating safely through pedestrians and carts before it decided this spot was good enough for me.
This truly will take the stress out of parking at busy stores pic.twitter.com/73U3Bl7Odm
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) October 8, 2025
Strange right turn signal as if it saw an emergency vehicle
This was the first bug I noticed with FSD v14.1. While traveling on a local road, it put the right turn signal on and approached the curb as if it was pulling over for an emergency vehicle or as if it was going to park on the street.
It then realized its mistake and proceeded:
Now for a couple bugs 🐞
Tesla FSD v14.1 put its right turn signal on as if it was going to pull over. It did move closer to curb, but then realized this wasn’t the correct maneuver for our route.
It proceeded without much issue pic.twitter.com/yoUoyzWMDM
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) October 8, 2025
I’m not super sure what caused this, but I was a tad bit confused. There were no police cars, ambulances, or anyone with flashing lights to my rear. There was a dump truck on the other side of the road, and I almost felt like the way it navigated “around” that was probably what triggered it.
Navigation is still making strange decisions
I’ve written about navigation and my discontent with some of its decisions. It seems v14.1 didn’t resolve much of anything with navigation, and it did a couple of things wrong.
The first was that it tried to take the illogical and pointless path out of the Supercharger. I wrote about this a few days ago, as FSD tried to take my car the wrong way.
It did it again, but I overrode the decision, and it was all okay:
Bug 🐞 no. 3: I have this issue at this Supercharger and I talk about it frequently.
Navigation takes illogical and strange exit from Supercharger. I override, turning left instead of right, Nav adjusts and picks correct routing. Hoping this is resolved soon. pic.twitter.com/4VsCGHZbYW
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) October 8, 2025
This is a minor issue, but it is still pretty frustrating. Hopefully, the navigation will learn after performing this adjustment after enough times.
The next navigation issue was more frustrating than the Supercharger one, especially considering it completely ignored the route. The navigation had the vehicle very clearly heading straight, but out of nowhere, the right turn signal went on. I overrode it, but the car still turned right, ignoring the navigation completely:
Bug 🐞 no. 2: Navigation clearly shows the route continuing straight through the traffic light. I noticed the right turn signal coming on, so I overrode it.
The car turned right anyway. I took over and drove manually until I was able to get to a stop so I could re-activate FSD pic.twitter.com/nxt4UlRqkK
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) October 8, 2025
I ended up taking over here and driving until I could get to a stop sign.
Final Thoughts
I am really impressed with all of the changes Tesla made with FSD v14.1, and while there were a handful of bugs, things were tremendously better than v13.2.9.
News
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang regrets not investing more in Elon Musk’s xAI
The CEO stated that Nvidia is already an investor in xAI, but he wished he had given the artificial intelligence startup more money.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang revealed that one of his investment regrets is not putting more money into Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence startup, xAI.
Speaking in a CNBC interview, Huang said Nvidia is already an investor in xAI but wished he had given the artificial intelligence startup more money. This was due to Musk’s record of building transformative companies such as Tesla and SpaceX.
A new wave of transformative AI firms
Huang said he’s very excited about xAI’s latest financing round. He described Musk’s company as part of a powerful new generation of AI developers, alongside OpenAI and Anthropic. that are reshaping the computing landscape.
“I’m super excited about the financing opportunity they’re doing. The only regret I have about xAI, we’re an investor already, is that I didn’t give him more money. You know almost everything that Elon’s pat of, you really want to be part of as well,” the Nvidia CEO stated.
The CEO also clarified Nvidia’s investment in xAI, revealing that Elon Musk had offered the investment opportunity to the chipmaker. “He (Musk) gave us the opportunity to invest in xAI. I’m just delighted by that,” Huang stated.
AI investment boom
Huang contrasted today’s AI-driven economy with the early days of the internet. “Back then, all the internet companies combined were maybe $30 or $40 billion in size,” he said. “If you look at the hyperscalers now, that’s about $2.5 trillion of business already operating today.”
He also stated that the ongoing shift from CPU-based computing to GPU-powered generative AI represents a “multi-trillion-dollar buildout” that Nvidia is looking to support. Huang added that every Nvidia engineer now works with AI coding assistants such as Cursor, which he called his “favorite enterprise AI service,” and it has led to a major productivity boost across the company.
Watch Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s CNBC interview in the video below.
Investor's Corner
Stifel raises Tesla price target by 9.8% over FSD, Robotaxi advancements
Stifel also maintained a “Buy” rating for the electric vehicle maker.

Investment firm Stifel has raised its price target for Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) shares to $483 from $440 over increased confidence in the company’s self-driving and Robotaxi programs. The new price target suggests an 11.5% upside from Tesla’s closing price on Tuesday.
Stifel also maintained a “Buy” rating despite acknowledging that Tesla’s timeline for fully unsupervised driving may be ambitious.
Building confidence
In a note to clients, Stifel stated that it believes “Tesla is making progress with modest advancements in its Robotaxi network and FSD,” as noted in a report from Investing.com. The firm expects unsupervised FSD to become available for personal use in the U.S. by the end of 2025, with a wider ride-hailing rollout potentially covering half of the U.S. population by year-end.
Stifel also noted that Tesla’s Robotaxi fleet could expand from “tiny to gigantic” within a short time frame, possibly making a material financial impact to the company by late 2026. The firm views Tesla’s vision-based approach to autonomy as central to this long-term growth, suggesting that continued advancements could unlock new revenue streams across both consumer and mobility sectors.
Tesla’s FSD goals still ambitious
While Stifel’s tone remains optimistic, the firm’s analysts acknowledged that Tesla’s aggressive autonomy timeline may face execution challenges. The note described the 2025 unsupervised FSD target as “a stretch,” though still achievable in the medium term.
“We believe Tesla is making progress with modest advancements in its Robotaxi network and FSD. The company has high expectations for its camera-based approach including; 1) Unsupervised FSD to be available for personal use in the United States by year-end 2025, which appears to be a stretch but seems more likely in the medium term; 2) that it will ‘probably have ride hailing in probably half of the populations of the U.S. by the end of the year’,” the firm noted.
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