News
NVIDIA and Bosch partner on AI self-driving car supercomputer
NVIDIA CEO Jen-Hsun Huang announced to attendees at the Bosch Connected World conference in Berlin this week that they have partnered with Bosch to producing an artificial intelligence supercomputer aimed at the self-driving car industry.
“I’m so proud to announce that the world’s leading tier-one automotive supplier — the only tier one that supports every car maker in the world — is building an AI car computer for the mass market,” said Huang. “We’ve really supercharged our roadmap to autonomous vehicles. We’ve dedicated ourselves to build an end-to-end deep learning solution. Nearly everyone using deep learning is using our platform.”
The announcement made by NVIDIA comes on the heels of this week’s announcement that the world’s leading chipmaker Intel will be acquiring ex-Tesla Autopilot partner Mobileye for $15 billion.
NVIDIA’s Drive PX platform with Xavier technology can process up to 30 trillion deep learning operations a second while drawing just 30 watts of power. It is intended to provide Level 4 autonomy, where a vehicle equipped with the technology can drive on its own.
Huang noted that a wide variety of companies are actively working on self-driving solutions. From carmakers like Audi, Ford, BMW, and Tesla, to technology companies such as Waymo, Uber and China’s Baidu.
-->As the self-driving car industry continues to take shape, vehicles will require an unprecedented level of computing power to make instantaneous decisions on nearly an infinite number of scenarios that can take place in a real world environment. Though vehicles on the road today are equipped with driving-assist features like Tesla Autopilot that allows the car to detect object and handle acceleration and braking when needed, the requirements for autonomous driving are dramatically more demanding. Cars that stray from their lanes, objects that fall onto the roadway, rapid shifts in weather conditions, deer that dart across the road. The permutations are endless, said Huang.
Despite the positive outlook on a self-driving future being presented at Bosch Connected World, the conference also revealed a significant difference of opinion between the companies in attendance regarding when they expect full Level 5 autonomy – when a vehicle can drive entire on its own without human involvement – to become widely available. Huang told the conference he expects to have chips available that will permit Level 3 automated driving which still requires a human driver to intervene, by the end of this year. He sees those chips being incorporated into customers’ cars and on the road by the end of 2018. The following year will see chips capable of Level 4 full autonomy on the road. The distinction between Level 4 and Level 5 full autonomy is that Level 4 does not cover every driving scenario.
Elmar Frickenstein, the head of autonomous driving at BMW, told the conference his company will be ready to offer cars with Level 3 capability in 2021 with Level 4 and Level 5 autonomy following shortly thereafter. He thinks self-driving cars may first be produced in small numbers for fleet customers like Uber, Waymo, and Baidu.
Surprisingly, Bosch CEO Volkmar Denner told the attendees his timeline for fully self-driving cars for mainstream customers is not before 2025, if then.
Fully self driving cars that can operate in all environments require enormous computing power, Huang told the conference. “No human could write enough code to capture the vast diversity and complexity that we do so easily, called driving,” he said.
-->The conference highlighted the differences between traditional car companies, which think full autonomy is still 7 to 10 years away, and chip companies like NVIDIA who see a much shorter timeline. Huang thinks companies like his will drive the pace of change faster than predicted. “In the near future, you’re going to see these schedules pull in,” he says.
Tesla, which uses a supercomputer made by NVIDIA on Model S, Model X and the upcoming Model 3 that are equipped with Autopilot 2.0 full self-driving hardware, is perhaps the most optimistic of all when it comes to having fully autonomous vehicles on the road. Elon Musk believes every car equipped with the Hardware 2 package will begin seeing Full Self-Driving capabilities as early as this year, barring regulatory approval.
Tesla’s Full Self-Driving Capability to arrive in 3 months, “definitely” by 6 months, says Musk
Tesla is accumulating driving data from billions of miles of real world driving each day and using that information to improve its algorithm for Autopilot.
-->
News
Tesla Model 3 named New Zealand’s best passenger car of 2025
Tesla flipped the switch on Full Self-Driving (Supervised) in September, turning every Model 3 and Model Y into New Zealand’s most advanced production car overnight.
The refreshed Tesla Model 3 has won the DRIVEN Car Guide AA Insurance NZ Car of the Year 2025 award in the Passenger Car category, beating all traditional and electric rivals.
Judges praised the all-electric sedan’s driving dynamics, value-packed EV tech, and the game-changing addition of Full Self-Driving (Supervised) that went live in New Zealand this September.
Why the Model 3 clinched the crown
DRIVEN admitted they were late to the “Highland” party because the updated sedan arrived in New Zealand as a 2024 model, just before the new Model Y stole the headlines. Yet two things forced a re-evaluation this year.
First, experiencing the new Model Y reminded testers how many big upgrades originated in the Model 3, such as the smoother ride, quieter cabin, ventilated seats, rear touchscreen, and stalk-less minimalist interior. Second, and far more importantly, Tesla flipped the switch on Full Self-Driving (Supervised) in September, turning every Model 3 and Model Y into New Zealand’s most advanced production car overnight.
FSD changes everything for Kiwi buyers
The publication called the entry-level rear-wheel-drive version “good to drive and represents a lot of EV technology for the money,” but highlighted that FSD elevates it into another league. “Make no mistake, despite the ‘Supervised’ bit in the name that requires you to remain ready to take control, it’s autonomous and very capable in some surprisingly tricky scenarios,” the review stated.
-->At NZ$11,400, FSD is far from cheap, but Tesla also offers FSD (Supervised) on a $159 monthly subscription, making the tech accessible without the full upfront investment. That’s a game-changer, as it allows users to access the company’s most advanced system without forking over a huge amount of money.
News
Tesla starts rolling out FSD V14.2.1 to AI4 vehicles including Cybertruck
FSD V14.2.1 was released just about a week after the initial FSD V14.2 update was rolled out.
It appears that the Tesla AI team burned the midnight oil, allowing them to release FSD V14.2.1 on Thanksgiving. The update has been reported by Tesla owners with AI4 vehicles, as well as Cybertruck owners.
For the Tesla AI team, at least, it appears that work really does not stop.
FSD V14.2.1
Initial posts about FSD V14.2.1 were shared by Tesla owners on social media platform X. As per the Tesla owners, V14.2.1 appears to be a point update that’s designed to polish the features and capacities that have been available in FSD V14. A look at the release notes for FSD V14.2.1, however, shows that an extra line has been added.
“Camera visibility can lead to increased attention monitoring sensitivity.”
Whether this could lead to more drivers being alerted to pay attention to the roads more remains to be seen. This would likely become evident as soon as the first batch of videos from Tesla owners who received V14.21 start sharing their first drive impressions of the update. Despite the update being released on Thanksgiving, it would not be surprising if first impressions videos of FSD V14.2.1 are shared today, just the same.
-->Rapid FSD releases
What is rather interesting and impressive is the fact that FSD V14.2.1 was released just about a week after the initial FSD V14.2 update was rolled out. This bodes well for Tesla’s FSD users, especially since CEO Elon Musk has stated in the past that the V14.2 series will be for “widespread use.”
FSD V14 has so far received numerous positive reviews from Tesla owners, with numerous drivers noting that the system now drives better than most human drivers because it is cautious, confident, and considerate at the same time. The only question now, really, is if the V14.2 series does make it to the company’s wide FSD fleet, which is still populated by numerous HW3 vehicles.
News
Waymo rider data hints that Tesla’s Cybercab strategy might be the smartest, after all
These observations all but validate Tesla’s controversial two-seat Cybercab strategy, which has caught a lot of criticism since it was unveiled last year.
Toyota Connected Europe designer Karim Dia Toubajie has highlighted a particular trend that became evident in Waymo’s Q3 2025 occupancy stats. As it turned out, 90% of the trips taken by the driverless taxis carried two or fewer passengers.
These observations all but validate Tesla’s controversial two-seat Cybercab strategy, which has caught a lot of criticism since it was unveiled last year.
Toyota designer observes a trend
Karim Dia Toubajie, Lead Product Designer (Sustainable Mobility) at Toyota Connected Europe, analyzed Waymo’s latest California Public Utilities Commission filings and posted the results on LinkedIn this week.
“90% of robotaxi trips have 2 or less passengers, so why are we using 5-seater vehicles?” Toubajie asked. He continued: “90% of trips have 2 or less people, 75% of trips have 1 or less people.” He accompanied his comments with a graphic showing Waymo’s occupancy rates, which showed 71% of trips having one passenger, 15% of trips having two passengers, 6% of trips having three passengers, 5% of trips having zero passengers, and only 3% of trips having four passengers.
The data excludes operational trips like depot runs or charging, though Toubajie pointed out that most of the time, Waymo’s massive self-driving taxis are really just transporting 1 or 2 people, at times even no passengers at all. “This means that most of the time, the vehicle being used significantly outweighs the needs of the trip,” the Toyota designer wrote in his post.
-->Cybercab suddenly looks perfectly sized
Toubajie gave a nod to Tesla’s approach. “The Tesla Cybercab announced in 2024, is a 2-seater robotaxi with a 50kWh battery but I still believe this is on the larger side of what’s required for most trips,” he wrote.
With Waymo’s own numbers now proving 90% of demand fits two seats or fewer, the wheel-less, lidar-free Cybercab now looks like the smartest play in the room. The Cybercab is designed to be easy to produce, with CEO Elon Musk commenting that its product line would resemble a consumer electronics factory more than an automotive plant. This means that the Cybercab could saturate the roads quickly once it is deployed.
While the Cybercab will likely take the lion’s share of Tesla’s ride-hailing passengers, the Model 3 sedan and Model Y crossover would be perfect for the remaining 9% of riders who require larger vehicles. This should be easy to implement for Tesla, as the Model Y and Model 3 are both mass-market vehicles.
Tesla Model 3 named New Zealand’s best passenger car of 2025
Tesla starts rolling out FSD V14.2.1 to AI4 vehicles including Cybertruck
