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Performance Gains after P85D Ludicrous Mode Upgrade
TMC member thimel recently had the Ludicrous mode upgrade installed on his Model S P85D. He carefully measured the performance of his car before and after, and found that Ludicrous mode is worth about a half second to 60 mph and a noticeable increase in power at all speeds up to 80.
Just how much faster is the the P85D with Ludicrous Mode upgrade? According to Tesla Motors Club (TMC) member thimel, the performance gains are significant, to the tune of 19% more power above 30 mph and a drop in 0-60 time from 3.2 to 2.9 seconds. Quarter mile time also drops from an already quick 11.8 seconds to an astounding 11.5 seconds.
thimel carefully measured the performance of the P85D both before and after the Ludicrous Mode upgrade. The performance data was then meticulously charted and plotted, painting a clear picture of the performance differences from the $5,000 retrofit.
[Image source: thimel via TMC]
According to thimel’s post from the TMC forum, “I started the before Ludicrous tests early in the morning and had not driven the car for many hours, but had charged it that night. The ambient temperature in my garage that morning was 59 degrees and it was 50 degrees outside during the tests. I started with a 90% charge and by the time I was done the charge was 70%. Creep mode was off to help avoid a very slow start. Insane mode was on of course. Climate control was off.
“I drove a few miles before starting the first test but did nothing else to warm the battery. I drove 5 miles at moderate acceleration and speeds between acceleration passes. This was both to give a chance for things to cool down and to return me to the same starting point for each acceleration pass.data shows the Ludicrous mode upgrade it worth nearly a half second in the sprint to 60 mph and several more miles per hour at the end of the quarter mile. ”
Next he charted his power and speed against time and found power to range from 380 kW, before the Ludicrous upgrade, to 451 kW after the upgrade with the Max Battery Power setting on. The setting heats the Tesla battery to a higher temperature thereby reducing its impedance and increasing current to provide short term acceleration and performance gains.
The biggest boost in performance after the Ludicrous upgrade happens above 30 mph. Below that, performance is about the same. But with Ludicrous mode engaged, there is a sizable increase in available torque. Before the upgrade, lateral acceleration reaches approximately 1.15 g at 15 mph, then falls below 1 g after 25 mph. After the upgrade, lateral acceleration peaks at 1.1 g and continues to pull over 1 g until slightly past 30+ mph. Most notably, the acceleration is consistently above the pre-Ludicrous Mode upgrade all the way until 80 mph.
[Image source: thimel via TMC]
In his notes, thimel makes some interesting points. “Above 30 mph, ludicrous clearly has more power. This is seen directly with the PowerTools readout…..which shows the maximum power increased from 380 to 451 kW, a 19% increase and by the shorter times to achieve speeds above 30 mph. The max power measured from the battery was 451 kW. This compares to 458 kW that Pete90D measured on his P90DL. So the battery doesn’t make much of a difference. The 0-60 time I got of 2.89 is also nearly identical to that Pete90D got of 2.901.”
He ends his post with this conclusion: “The P85D with ludicrous upgrade is significantly faster than without. There is 19% more power above 30 mph, 0-60 time drops from 3.2 to 2.9 seconds and the quarter mile time drops from 11.8 to 11.5. So it was fast before and is faster now. You get about two-thirds of the improvement if you don’t heat the battery with max battery power.”
Elon Musk
Tesla’s Elon Musk: 10 billion miles needed for safe Unsupervised FSD
As per the CEO, roughly 10 billion miles of training data are required due to reality’s “super long tail of complexity.”
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has provided an updated estimate for the training data needed to achieve truly safe unsupervised Full Self-Driving (FSD).
As per the CEO, roughly 10 billion miles of training data are required due to reality’s “super long tail of complexity.”
10 billion miles of training data
Musk comment came as a reply to Apple and Rivian alum Paul Beisel, who posted an analysis on X about the gap between tech demonstrations and real-world products. In his post, Beisel highlighted Tesla’s data-driven lead in autonomy, and he also argued that it would not be easy for rivals to become a legitimate competitor to FSD quickly.
“The notion that someone can ‘catch up’ to this problem primarily through simulation and limited on-road exposure strikes me as deeply naive. This is not a demo problem. It is a scale, data, and iteration problem— and Tesla is already far, far down that road while others are just getting started,” Beisel wrote.
Musk responded to Beisel’s post, stating that “Roughly 10 billion miles of training data is needed to achieve safe unsupervised self-driving. Reality has a super long tail of complexity.” This is quite interesting considering that in his Master Plan Part Deux, Elon Musk estimated that worldwide regulatory approval for autonomous driving would require around 6 billion miles.
FSD’s total training miles
As 2025 came to a close, Tesla community members observed that FSD was already nearing 7 billion miles driven, with over 2.5 billion miles being from inner city roads. The 7-billion-mile mark was passed just a few days later. This suggests that Tesla is likely the company today with the most training data for its autonomous driving program.
The difficulties of achieving autonomy were referenced by Elon Musk recently, when he commented on Nvidia’s Alpamayo program. As per Musk, “they will find that it’s easy to get to 99% and then super hard to solve the long tail of the distribution.” These sentiments were echoed by Tesla VP for AI software Ashok Elluswamy, who also noted on X that “the long tail is sooo long, that most people can’t grasp it.”
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Tesla earns top honors at MotorTrend’s SDV Innovator Awards
MotorTrend’s SDV Awards were presented during CES 2026 in Las Vegas.
Tesla emerged as one of the most recognized automakers at MotorTrend’s 2026 Software-Defined Vehicle (SDV) Innovator Awards.
As could be seen in a press release from the publication, two key Tesla employees were honored for their work on AI, autonomy, and vehicle software. MotorTrend’s SDV Awards were presented during CES 2026 in Las Vegas.
Tesla leaders and engineers recognized
The fourth annual SDV Innovator Awards celebrate pioneers and experts who are pushing the automotive industry deeper into software-driven development. Among the most notable honorees for this year was Ashok Elluswamy, Tesla’s Vice President of AI Software, who received a Pioneer Award for his role in advancing artificial intelligence and autonomy across the company’s vehicle lineup.
Tesla also secured recognition in the Expert category, with Lawson Fulton, a staff Autopilot machine learning engineer, honored for his contributions to Tesla’s driver-assistance and autonomous systems.
Tesla’s software-first strategy
While automakers like General Motors, Ford, and Rivian also received recognition, Tesla’s multiple awards stood out given the company’s outsized role in popularizing software-defined vehicles over the past decade. From frequent OTA updates to its data-driven approach to autonomy, Tesla has consistently treated vehicles as evolving software platforms rather than static products.
This has made Tesla’s vehicles very unique in their respective sectors, as they are arguably the only cars that objectively get better over time. This is especially true for vehicles that are loaded with the company’s Full Self-Driving system, which are getting progressively more intelligent and autonomous over time. The majority of Tesla’s updates to its vehicles are free as well, which is very much appreciated by customers worldwide.
Elon Musk
Judge clears path for Elon Musk’s OpenAI lawsuit to go before a jury
The decision maintains Musk’s claims that OpenAI’s shift toward a for-profit structure violated early assurances made to him as a co-founder.
A U.S. judge has ruled that Elon Musk’s lawsuit accusing OpenAI of abandoning its founding nonprofit mission can proceed to a jury trial.
The decision maintains Musk’s claims that OpenAI’s shift toward a for-profit structure violated early assurances made to him as a co-founder. These claims are directly opposed by OpenAI.
Judge says disputed facts warrant a trial
At a hearing in Oakland, U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers stated that there was “plenty of evidence” suggesting that OpenAI leaders had promised that the organization’s original nonprofit structure would be maintained. She ruled that those disputed facts should be evaluated by a jury at a trial in March rather than decided by the court at this stage, as noted in a Reuters report.
Musk helped co-found OpenAI in 2015 but left the organization in 2018. In his lawsuit, he argued that he contributed roughly $38 million, or about 60% of OpenAI’s early funding, based on assurances that the company would remain a nonprofit dedicated to the public benefit. He is seeking unspecified monetary damages tied to what he describes as “ill-gotten gains.”
OpenAI, however, has repeatedly rejected Musk’s allegations. The company has stated that Musk’s claims were baseless and part of a pattern of harassment.
Rivalries and Microsoft ties
The case unfolds against the backdrop of intensifying competition in generative artificial intelligence. Musk now runs xAI, whose Grok chatbot competes directly with OpenAI’s flagship ChatGPT. OpenAI has argued that Musk is a frustrated commercial rival who is simply attempting to slow down a market leader.
The lawsuit also names Microsoft as a defendant, citing its multibillion-dollar partnerships with OpenAI. Microsoft has urged the court to dismiss the claims against it, arguing there is no evidence it aided or abetted any alleged misconduct. Lawyers for OpenAI have also pushed for the case to be thrown out, claiming that Musk failed to show sufficient factual basis for claims such as fraud and breach of contract.
Judge Gonzalez Rogers, however, declined to end the case at this stage, noting that a jury would also need to consider whether Musk filed the lawsuit within the applicable statute of limitations. Still, the dispute between Elon Musk and OpenAI is now headed for a high-profile jury trial in the coming months.
Tesla’s Elon Musk: 10 billion miles needed for safe Unsupervised FSD
Tesla earns top honors at MotorTrend’s SDV Innovator Awards
