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Elon Musk extends thanks to FSD beta testers for giving valuable real-world data
Elon Musk has extended his thanks to Tesla owners who received the company’s limited Full Self-Driving beta last week. The information Tesla is gathering from early access FSD beta testers will be invaluable as the company’s AI team continues to enhance and refine the EV automaker’s autonomous driving software.
The founder of Tesla Owners Club Vancouver Islands James Locke asked Elon Musk about his view on the content early access FSD testers were sharing. “Yes, very helpful,” said the Tesla CEO. “Thanks to all beta testers.”
Last week, Musk announced that Tesla plans to roll out the FSD beta to the general public later this year. Tesla will need all the information it can get to make sure that the full release of the Full Self-Driving beta goes smoothly.
Videos and other content early beta testers have shared recently revealed how much more intuitive and human-like FSD responds to its environment while on the road. By far the most impressive detail to Tesla’s FSD beta would be how fast it improves.
Tesla enthusiast and “part-time comedy act” @WholeMarsBlog talked about FSD beta’s quick growth on Twitter. The Tesla owner’s first impression of FSD beta was that it operated like “a drunk baby driving a car.” “It’s a little questionable, but then you realize ‘holy s*** a baby is driving a car.’ Imagine what it’ll be able to do when it grows up,” tweeted @WholeMarsBlog.
Not long after, the Tesla enthusiast tweeted: “The FSD betas are improving shockingly fast. It almost seems like someone is fixing issues on the fly, and the time between builds is very short.” His recent assessment of Tesla Full Self-Driving beta suggests that the capabilities of the system are quite literally growing right in front of our eyes.
Elon Musk’s gracious thank you to early access beta testers highlights the role consumers play in Tesla’s quick software improvements. After all, the more data beta testers feed to FSD and the AI Autopilot team, the better the autonomous driving software will be in the near future.
Currently, Tesla has gathered the most real-world data for autonomous driving. Tesla’s Director of AI Andrej Karpathy revealed that the company has gathered up to 3 billion miles of real-world data from its fleet as of February 2020, noted Lex Fridman.
In comparison, Waymo has gathered 20 million real-world miles as of date. Waymo is one of Tesla’s biggest competitors in autonomous vehicles, and it’s already considered as one of the leaders in self-driving tech. Needless to say, the vast difference in the companies’ real-world data is striking.
Tesla owners can be credited for the billion miles worth of data the company has collected for FSD. Each and every Tesla on the road right now gathers bits of information that will help Karpathy and the company’s AI team polish Full Self-Driving.
Before any FSD updates are released to the entire Tesla fleet, however, it must be refined. Hence the importance of early access beta testers. The information they share via YouTube, Twitter, etc and feed to Tesla, the more refined FSD beta will be once it rolls out to the general public.
Here’s what Tesla’s limited FSD beta can do today.
News
Tesla Model Y seen testing under wraps in India ahead of launch
Tesla appears to be getting closer to launching vehicle sales in India, as a few wrapped Model Y units have recently been spotted.

Following years of back and forth between Tesla and the Indian government, the automaker is finally expected to launch sales in the country in the coming months, and one of the company’s vehicles was spotted testing over the weekend.
On Sunday, a privacy-wrapped Model Y was seen driving in India and was posted on Reddit, as Tesla prepares to debut vehicle sales in the country for the first time. The news comes a little over a month after Tesla began certifying the Model Y and Model 3 for sale in the country, and as the U.S. manufacturer gets ready to launch the nation’s first store in Mumbai.
The appearance of the refreshed Model Y comes just a few days after another recent sighting in the country, in which a wrapped unit was seen driving on the Mumbai Pune Express Way.

Credit: shameelck | Reddit
🚨 A Tesla Model Y has been spotted testing under a camo wrap in India on Mumbai's Pune Express Wayhttps://t.co/M082A3zoZE https://t.co/9UAHieBbqt
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) April 15, 2025
READ MORE ON TESLA INDIA: Elon Musk, President Trump share interesting dialogue regarding Tesla Gigafactory India
Tesla’s vehicles can regularly be seen under privacy wraps such as this one ahead of their launch, often with the company’s vehicles before they’re officially unveiled. As such, many have speculated following the sighting that Tesla could either be preparing to launch the RWD variant launched in some markets in recent weeks, or the Performance version of the SUV, which is widely expected to debut sometime this year.
According to local reports, Tesla also signed a five-year lease on Mumbai store at the Bandra Kurla Complex, while a second store is expected to open near the New Delhi airport at Aerocity. Meanwhile, Tesla has also been hiring for the stores in recent months, along with holding a recruitment day in Mumbai last month.
Much of the delay on Tesla’s entry into India came from the country’s high import tariffs on vehicles and other products, while one of the government’s conditions for the country selling cars there was to utilize local suppliers. Last month, a rumor started circulating suggesting that Tesla was partnering with automotive company Tata Group for the local production of components such as castings, forgings, electronics, and more.
Tesla India: Thousands of cars set to hit Mumbai in coming months, claims report
Elon Musk
Tesla doubles down on Robotaxi launch date, putting a big bet on its timeline
Tesla continues to double down on its June goal to launch the Robotaxi ride-hailing platform.

Tesla has doubled down on its potential launch date for the Robotaxi ride-hailing platform, which will utilize the Cybercab and other vehicles in its lineup to offer driverless rides in Austin, Texas.
Tesla said earlier this year that it was in talks with the City of Austin to launch its first Robotaxi rides, and it planned to launch the platform in June.
This has been a widely discussed timeline in the community, with some confident in the company’s ability to offer it based on the progress of the Full Self-Driving suite.
However, others are skeptical of it based on Tesla’s history of meeting timelines, especially regarding its rollout of FSD.
Nevertheless, Tesla was asked when it would be able to offer Robotaxi rides and where, and it clearly is not backing down from that June date:
In Austin, 🔜
— Tesla (@Tesla) April 18, 2025
It is getting to a point where Tesla is showing incredible confidence regarding the rollout of the Robotaxi in June. We have not seen this kind of reiteration regarding the rollout of something regarding autonomy from Tesla at any point in the past.
CEO Elon Musk has even been increasingly confident that Tesla will meet its target. Earlier this week, he said the vehicles will be able to roll off production lines and drive themselves straight to a customer’s house:
Elon Musk continues to push optimistic goal for Tesla Full Self-Driving
There could be some discussion of an acceptable grace period, as the timeline for the Robotaxi rollout could still be considered a success, even if it were a month or two late. However, if it were pushed back further into 2025 or even 2026, skepticism regarding these timelines would continue to persist.
As of right now, it seems Tesla is extremely confident it will meet its goal.
Elon Musk
Tesla Semi fleet from Frito-Lay gets more charging at Bakersfield factory

Among the several companies that have had the opportunity to add Tesla Semi all-electric Class 8 trucks to their fleets earlier than others, the most notable is arguably Frito-Lay, which has utilized the vehicle for a couple of years now.
However, as their fleet is making more local runs and there are undoubtedly plans to expand to more Semi units, the company has recognized it needs additional Megachargers to give juice to their trucks.
As a result, Frit-Lay decided to build more chargers at their Bakersfield, California facility, according to new permits filed by Tesla:
🚨 Frito-Lay is building an 8-stall Megacharger array at its factory in Bakersfield, California https://t.co/qARfJjogXF pic.twitter.com/gvorIVxsoc
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) April 18, 2025
There are already chargers at the company’s Modesto, California, factory, but Bakersfield is roughly three hours south of Modesto.
Interestingly, Tesla is calling the chargers “Semi Chargers” in the filing, potentially hinting that it is no longer referring to them as “Megachargers,” as they have been in the past. This is a relatively minor detail, but it is worth taking note of.
In 2022, Frito-Lay began installing these chargers in preparation for the Semi to become one of the company’s main logistics tools for deliveries in California and surrounding states.
Frito-Lay is not the only company that has chosen to utilize the Tesla Semi for these early “pilot” runs. PepsiCo has also been a company that has used the Semi very publicly over the past two years.
Additionally, the Tesla Semi participated in the Run on Less EV trucking study back in late 2023, where it managed to complete a 1,000-mile run in a single day:
Tesla Semi logs 1,000-mile day in Run on Less EV trucking study
Tesla is planning to ramp production of the Semi late this year. On the Q4 2024 Earnings Call, VP of Vehicle Engineering Lars Moravy said the company would be focusing on the first builds of the Semi’s high-volume design late this year before ramping production in the early portion of 2026:
“We just closed out the Semi factory roof and walls last week in Reno, a schedule which is great with the weather. In Reno, you never know what’s going to happen. But we’re prepping for mechanical installation of all the equipment in the coming months. The first builds of the high-volume Semi design will come late this year in 2025 and begin ramping early in 2026.”
Tesla will build these units at a new Semi production facility located in Reno near its Gigafactory. The company is getting closer to finishing construction, as a drone video from this morning showed the facility is coming along at a good pace:
🚨Tesla Semi factory progress update: pic.twitter.com/dlzIjKwfT3
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) April 18, 2025
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