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Tesla Autopilot twists and turns through complex Sin City construction zone on its own
The owner of a Tesla Model S released footage of his electric sedan seamlessly navigating on Autopilot through the sharp and narrow twists and turns of a construction zone.
Model S owner Fred Hassen was traveling on South Las Vegas Boulevard in the “Sin City” while using the vehicle’s Navigate on Autopilot feature as part of the Full-Self Driving suite. The Model S car managed to recognize the confusing lane shifts and road changes and navigate through the cones and safety barrels that were set up by local construction crews. Hassen seemed pleased by his car’s flawless navigation through the make-shift lanes, as can be heard in his video.
The appearance of traffic cones and traffic light indicators on the Model S’ instrument cluster suggests that the vehicle is equipped with Tesla’s latest Hardware 3 and capable of responding to red traffic lights and stop signs, including automatically stopping.
Autopilot progress in clearly marked construction zones is mighty impressive https://t.co/tb1tsuRQaD
— TREV PAGE (@Model3Owners) April 23, 2020
Navigate on Autopilot is one of the most sophisticated driver-assistance features in the automotive industry today. The suite is capable of performing lane changes, navigating through on and off-ramps, and helping drivers make their way through confusing construction zones. The development of Tesla’s software for its self-driving features helps the company work toward a “feature complete” Full Self-Driving suite, which aims to revolutionize the act of driving for every owner in the world.
Tesla’s Artificial Intelligence and Autopilot systems were broken down by Andrej Karpathy, Director of the company’s AI team. Karpathy explained that Tesla’s use of vehicle cameras and artificial intelligence trains its neural network to help cars respond to road conditions safely and accurately. Tesla’s fleet of 1,000,000 vehicles uses “raw images to perform semantic segmentation, object detection, and monocular depth estimation,” according to its website. These images are then used as data to improve the safety of Autopilot.
The data compiled by the fleet of Tesla vehicles is critical to Tesla’s teams who determine improvements that need to be made within the company’s self-driving software. Tesla vehicles likely travel through construction zones every day, but the performance of the cars continues to improve through its continuously-learning Neural Network.
In the past, a Tesla hacker known as “green” has showed Tesla Autopilot’s thought process when navigating through construction zones.
and finally a bit of construction zone (this is the only one of the set where AP is actually on), nothing groundbreaking since it was widely reported already long ago, but still interesting to see it "from the inside": pic.twitter.com/TmGkqhGPQz
— green (@greentheonly) November 7, 2019
The technology seems to recognize cones as the guidance point for the lane, forgetting about painted “on-road” lines when construction zones are concerned. The car understands that the standard path of travel is obsolete because of construction. Autopilot instead uses the cones lined up on both sides of the lane as the new guidance markers for travel. This video is from a previous version of firmware, so the program has improved since then as more data has entered the Neural Network.
Tesla initial plans were to release the “feature complete” FSD suite by the end of 2019, but the program was not ready for a full release. After the company release Stop Sign and Traffic Light recognition in mid-April, all that is left for Tesla to unveil is city driving. As the cars seem to be navigating through tricky construction zones with relative ease, city street driving could roll out soon.
Tesla has officially launched the Model Y L in the United States and Puerto Rico for $61,990. It is the longer-wheelbase version of the Model Y, and has been available in China since last year.
Tesla brings the Model Y L to the U.S. just months after it phased out the only pure SUV in its lineup, the Model X. It is slightly longer than the Model Y configurations that are already available in the U.S., and features a three-row, six-seat setup with Captain’s Chairs being among the many features that make this a truly fantastic offering.
The Model Y L is priced competitively at $61,990, and features 325 miles of range and a 0-60 MPH in just 4.4 seconds.
Tesla also added a handful of new features that are not available in even the Premium Model Y. Here’s a full list of its features:
- Heated/Ventilated Front Seats with Powered Thigh Cushion
- Heated/Ventilated Captain’s Seats in Second Row with Powered Armrests & One-Touch Fold
- Heated Third-Row Seats with Power Recline, One-Touch Fold & Child Seat Anchors
- Improved Airflow, Increased Efficiency, More Range
- 89 cubic feet of trunk space
- Upgraded Acoustic Glass and Suspension to Minimize Road Noise
- Adaptive Damping for a Smooth, Stable Ride
- Staggered Tires for Enhanced Grip
- Larger Tailgate for Better Rear Visibility and Bigger Windows Overall
- 16″ First Row and 8″ Second Row Touchscreens
- 19-Speaker Immersive Tesla Audio
- 50W Wireless Charging Pads with Active Cooling and Charging Ports for All Other Seats
- FSD Supervised and Integrated Grok AI
Tesla is also delivering these first units as a “Launch Series,” which comes with additional features, such as:
- Door Trim Puddle Lights
- Suede Dashboard Wing
- Exterior and Interior Badging
- Floor Mats
- Sill Plates
The launch of the Model Y L in the U.S. marks a huge offering from Tesla to U.S. consumers. People have been calling for Tesla to bring a larger car to the U.S., and it needed it more than ever now that the Model X is gone.
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- Credit: Tesla
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- Credit: Tesla
It is a huge accomplishment for Tesla to get the Model Y L to the U.S., and after reporting strong deliveries today, it will be interesting to see how this car impacts future quarterly delivery reports.
Deliveries for the Model Y L “Launch Series” are slated for September or October of this year.
Tesla just told us twice that the Model Y L is coming to the U.S., and two social media posts definitely just tipped the company’s hand, as if they wanted it to be any other way.
The two social media posts basically confirm that the slightly longer version of the Model Y will be heading to the United States soon, and many have speculated that the company could launch the vehicle as soon as this weekend.
The first post was directly from Tesla, and it showed an incredibly long Dachshund, with words above that said, “Looking forward to the long weekend.”
Looking forward to the long weekend pic.twitter.com/URzH6zOUdn
— Tesla (@Tesla) July 1, 2026
Anyone who knows Tesla knows the company loves to troll its fans and have fun, and this is a perfect example of that. While not a direct acknowledgement, Tesla is very involved on social media, especially CEO Elon Musk’s platform X, and the company is well aware of what is being discussed within the community.
With recent sightings of Model Y L test mules in California, peeks of the vehicle at Giga Texas, and a large call for the car to come to the U.S., Tesla is simply stoking conversation with this.
However, the company also made another move that was recognized on social media. Tesla has a large gallery that includes photos of its products so media and others can use them. This gallery applies to the U.S. market specifically, unless otherwise specified.
Tesla uploaded a Model Y L to the Gallery last night:
This looks like a Model Y L https://t.co/TpnBwrLmH9
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) July 2, 2026
This seems to be another indication that the Model Y L is coming to the United States.
Musk said last year that the Model Y L could make its way to the United States late this year, but it was not something that was set in stone by Tesla. The company definitely needs to establish something in the SUV market that is larger than the Model Y, and the Model Y L might be the answer.
Even still, there are consumers out there who would love Tesla to develop something even larger, like a competitor to the Tahoe or Expedition. Tesla has not really given much of an indication that it will go in that direction.
Tesla is using the vehicles’ internal microphones to improve build quality, Vice President of Engineering Lars Moravy revealed recently.
It’s no secret that Tesla is always finding ways to make its manufacturing operations more efficient, accurate, and valuable. Constantly trying to make its cars better, the company has never placed any restrictions on what it will do to improve everything from panel gaps to paint.
As Teslas have been driving autonomously on the property of the Gigafactory Texas plant for a while now, Moravy revealed to Herbert Ong in a new interview that cars rolling off production lines now autonomously navigate themselves through a bumps, squeaks, and rattles (BSR) portion of the line. This helps to identify any loose or improperly installed internal parts.
The cabin’s microphones, which are used for a variety of things in ownership, simultaneously monitor any noises inside the vehicle while it rolls through the BSR portion of the production line. Moravy actually revealed that Tesla is trying to build “Full Self-Hearing,” an AI system that will detect minor imperfections so they can be corrected before delivery.
It’s no secret that build quality is something that Tesla struggled with as it scaled to a fully massive production operation that manufactures over 1.6 million vehicles per year. However, in recent years, especially, there have not been as many complaints. Tesla has truly improved upon its build quality and paint quality over the past several years, especially in the U.S.
Tesla’s ‘megacasts’ are key to massive build quality improvements
While those improvements have been evident, there are still some complaints; no automaker is perfect with this. But this step will now ensure that every single car that rolls off the production lines at Gigafactory Texas will be void of any creaks, squeaks, or squeals when it leaves the factory.
This measure is one of the most unique we’ve seen in terms of a strategy to avoid build quality issues, but it is not exclusive to Tesla.
Ford uses acoustic analysis AI to find abnormalities in seat motors, climate control units, and other components. Suppliers and OEMs will also use microphone arrays or particle velocity sensors in end-of-line stations.
The full interview with Lars Moravy is available below:
🚨 If you’re a Tesla investor, this is one interview you don’t want to skip. The full video posted below.
Jeff Lutz @thejefflutz and I sat down with Tesla VP of Engineering Lars Moravy, and it was packed with insights!
A few of the biggest takeaways:
• Cybercab is expected to… pic.twitter.com/fhYSr2dCqP
— Herbert Ong (@herbertong) July 1, 2026
Tesla brings Model Y L ‘Launch Series’ to the U.S. at $61,990
Tesla just told us twice that Model Y L is coming to the U.S.
