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Tesla’s newest Autopilot under v8.1 on deck for December roll out

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It’s been a couple of months since Tesla first announced that new Model S and Model X vehicles coming off the production line, as well as the future Model 3, are equipped with hardware capable of driving completely on its own without human input.

Tesla vehicles with the new “hardware 2” have a 360-degree view of their surroundings through the use of eight cameras, advanced ultrasonic sensors and forty times more processing power than before. However, Autopilot, known as ‘Enhanced Autopilot’ under the new hardware, has been disabled on these vehicles as Tesla worked on collecting driving data in ‘Shadow Mode’, pitting the human driver’s response against a theoretical response from the vehicle’s Autopilot algorithm.

Now comes word via a tweet from chief Elon Musk that the company is ready to release the first iteration of its Enhanced Autopilot feature in mid-December. The newest Autopilot under version 8.1 is said to have the ability to automatically take highway exits using the onboard Navigation feature. Presumably, if a driver enters a destination address into Nav, the vehicle will be able to Autosteer and exit freeways on its own, when applicable.

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According to Tesla’s description of Enhanced Autopilot, the feature will also allow a vehicle to “match speed to traffic conditions, keep within a lane, automatically change lanes without requiring driver input, transition from one freeway to another, exit the freeway when your destination is near, self-park when near a parking spot and be summoned to and from your garage”. Not all of the features will be available at once and will be “rolled out incrementally in monthly releases”, according to Musk.

Version 8.1 and subsequent over-the-air software updates to Enhanced Autopilot will act as a primer to the company’s ultimate goal of releasing a fully autonomous system by the end of 2017.

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Tesla makes major production announcement at Giga Shanghai

On Monday, Tesla China Vice President Grace Tao announced a change at Giga Shanghai.

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Credit: Wu Wa/YouTube

Tesla has made a major production announcement at its Chinese production facility, Giga Shanghai. The change of plans comes right after the company announced its strongest quarter in terms of deliveries in its history.

On Monday, Tesla China Vice President Grace Tao announced that the production facility would begin ramping up manufacturing in preparation for an even stronger Q4.

Tao said on the Chinese social media platform Weibo:

“The Shanghai Gigafactory has recently begun its fourth-quarter production ramp-up! In the third quarter of 2025, Tesla delivered a total of 497,000 new vehicles worldwide, setting a new quarterly delivery record. As the fourth quarter begins, our colleagues at the Shanghai factory are working hard to expand production and fully charge their vehicles, so that car owners in China and Asia-Pacific can receive their vehicles as soon as possible.”

China is an extremely robust market for electric vehicles, and Tesla routinely delivers strong numbers in the sector.

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However, Giga Shanghai is responsible for much more than just China, as it is a major export hub for other markets, including Asian-Pacific countries like New Zealand and Australia, among others.

Tesla delivered 497,099 vehicles in Q3, its strongest quarter ever from a delivery standpoint. About half of those vehicles came from Shanghai, as estimates point to roughly 242,000 of those cars coming from the Chinese factory.

Tesla China comeback: Retail sales hit second-highest month of 2025

Ramping up production at Giga Shanghai signals some internal belief that there is a lot of strength in terms of demand for Tesla vehicles. Tesla has a strong track record of fulfilling the need for its vehicles at the Shanghai factory, as it is widely regarded for building some of the best-quality Tesla vehicles.

However, the company launched a new configuration of the Model Y, called the Model Y L, in China. It is only available from Giga Shanghai and features a third row of seating and additional length in the wheelbase.

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This additional space was widely sought out by customers, and Tesla listened. It could be a key to the company continuing its strength in the Chinese market, especially as there are many well-equipped competitors in the country.

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Tesla China comeback: Retail sales hit second-highest month of 2025

Tesla’s September numbers are just below the 74,127 units that were sold domestically in March.

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Credit: Tesla China

Tesla’s retail sales in China climbed to 71,525 vehicles in September, the company’s second-highest monthly total this year, as per data from the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA). 

The result reflects a steady rebound, narrowing Tesla’s year-on-year sales decline to just 0.93%, while showing a 25% jump from August’s weaker numbers. Tesla China’s September numbers are just below the 74,127 units that were sold domestically in March.

Tesla China’s September

Despite the uptick, Tesla China’s retail sales have now logged seven months of year-on-year declines this 2025, managing growth only in March and June, though a good portion of these lost sales was due to the changeover to the new Model Y. The Shanghai Gigafactory, which produces both the Model 3 and Model Y, continues to serve as a dual-purpose hub for domestic and export markets.

In September, Tesla exported 19,287 vehicles from its Shanghai facility, up 19.6% year-on-year but down 25.9% from August, as noted in a CNEV Post report. This is in line with Tesla China’s strategy of prioritizing exports early in each quarter. Including exports, Tesla China’s total wholesale volume reached 90,812 units in September, up 2.82% year-on-year and 9.16% month-on-month.

Model Y still leads

The Tesla Model Y still led the electric vehicle maker’s sales in China with 59,907 units sold wholesale during the month, rising 17.1% from last year, while Model 3 reached 30,905 units, dipping 16.8% year-on-year but up 27% from August. Tesla’s overall market share in China’s NEV segment rose to 5.52%, and its BEV share climbed to 8.66%, modest gains hinting at the company’s resilience in a fiercely competitive market.

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Across Q3, Tesla sold 169,294 vehicles in China, down 6.9% year-on-year, marking its second consecutive quarterly decline but a strong 31.4% recovery versus Q2. Year-to-date, Tesla’s retail total stands at 432,704 units, down 5.97% compared to last year.

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Elon Musk teases ‘Banish’ feature to pair perfectly with Summon

Tesla has long promised the possibility of completely hands-off parking: arrive, drop off at the entrance, the car parks itself, and the car retrieves you at the end of your visit.

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Credit: Tesla China

Elon Musk has once again teased the “Banish” feature that could come to Tesla vehicles in the near future. It would be a perfect pairing to the popular Assisted Smart Summon (ASS), which the company launched earlier this year.

Banish has been something Tesla has teased for years. The company has promised the possibility of completely hands-off parking: arrive, drop off at the entrance, the car parks itself, and the car retrieves you at the end of your visit.

Ultimately, even though it is technically a driverless feature, Tesla has not refined its parking portion of the Full Self-Driving (Supervised) suite enough to release Banish to the public.

Tesla recently started performing specified parking tasks at the driver’s discretion. In the FSD (Supervised) v14.1 release, Tesla has added the ability to pick your parking scenario. Drivers can choose a Charger, Parking Lot, Curbside, Street, Driveway, or Parking Garage.

To achieve Banish, Tesla would have to gather enough data with these scenarios to then gain the capability to park after dropping vehicle occupants off.

However, CEO Elon Musk recently hyped Banish to the point of stating Teslas will be capable of it “in the near future.”

His remark came in response to a video where FSD v14.1 drove around a Costco parking lot for twenty minutes looking for a spot:

Summon is a feature that has given Tesla its challenges, but the release of Assisted Smart Summon (ASS) has improved some of its capabilities.

I tested it after receiving v14.1, and it did a great job of taking the correct route and driving safely to my location:

There will likely be some time between now and when Tesla is able to release Banish. As previously noted, Tesla will need to collect enough data from real-world scenarios and obtain a proven track record of being able to handle lots and parking in a variety of environments while supervised.

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