News
Tesla formally starts FSD Beta 10.3 rollout, includes drivers with 99 Safety Score
Tesla has formally started the rollout of FSD Beta 10.3 to its fleet. The latest iteration of the advanced driver assist system featured several improvements that were outlined in some detailed Release Notes.
As observed by members of the electric vehicle community, FSD Beta 10.3 is now being rolled out to drivers with a Safety Score of 99 and above. This was previously mentioned by CEO Elon Musk on Twitter, who noted that the advanced driver assist system would gradually be released to owners with Safety Scores below 100.
The following are the detailed Release Notes for Tesla FSD Beta 10.3.
- Added FSD Profiles that allow drivers to control behaviors like rolling stops, exiting passing lanes, speed-based lane changes, following distance and yellow light headway.
- Added planning capability to drive along oncoming lanes to maneuver around path blockage.
- Improved creeping speed by linking speed to visibility network estimation and distance to encroachment point of crossing lanes.
- Improved crossing object velocity estimation by 20% and yaw estimation by 25% by upreving surround video vehicle network with more data. Also increased system frame rate by +1.7 frames per second.
- Improved vehicle semantic detections (e.g. brake lights, turn indicators, hazards) by adding +25k video clips to the training data set.
- Improved static obstacle control by upreving the generalized static object network with 6k more video clips (+5.6% precision, +2.5% recall).
- Allowed more acceleration when merging from on-ramps onto major roads and when lane changing from slow to fast lanes.
- Reduced false slowdowns and improved offsetting for pedestrians by improving the model of interaction between pedestrians and the static world.
- Improved turning profile for unprotected turns by allowing ego to lane lines more naturally, when safe to do so.
- Improved speed profile for boosting onto high-speed roads by enforcing stricter longitudinal and lateral acceleration limits required to beat the crossing objects.
The release of FSD Beta 10.3 was initially set for Friday midnight. As Saturday rolled in, however, members of the FSD Beta group observed that no such updates were being received by their vehicles. Elon Musk eventually explained the slight delay, noting that Tesla had found some “regression in some left turns at traffic lights” was found by the company’s internal QA team. With a fix being developed for the observed behavior, Musk noted that FSD Beta 10.3 would likely be rolling out on Sunday instead. This estimate proved accurate.
Considering that Tesla is adopting a conservative approach to the rollout of FSD Beta, it would not be surprising if the company enforces even stricter rules for inattentive drivers or users who are using the advanced driver assist system irresponsibly. Just a few days ago, and as a copy of a message from Tesla issuing a warning to an FSD Beta tester made the rounds online, Elon Musk confirmed that the company is indeed kicking out users who are misusing the system by being inattentive to the road.
Tesla is currently experiencing some scrutiny from the NHTSA, with the agency probing the company over incidents where a vehicle in Autopilot crashed into a stationary emergency vehicle. Tesla has since rolled out a safety update for Autopilot, which, in turn, seemingly aggravated the NHTSA since the company did not issue a recall before releasing its over-the-air software update. During the Q3 2021 earnings call, however, Tesla executives highlighted that the company welcomes the scrutiny, and that the it is willing to work with any safety agency to make its the roads as safe as possible.
Watch Tesla FSD Beta 10.3 in action in the video below.
The Teslarati team would appreciate hearing from you. If you have any tips, reach out to me at maria@teslarati.com or via Twitter @Writer_01001101.
News
Tesla Roadster event gets delayed due to unfavorable weather
Tesla is delaying its event for the Roadster, moving it from this Thursday, October 1, to Thursday, October 15, due to unfavorable weather.
The company has said it has been tracking the weather for this Thursday closely with local meteorologists, and because the event can only be held outside, Tesla is making the call to delay it:
“We’ve been tracking the weather closely with local meteorologists, but given the severe conditions predicted & because this event can only be held outdoors, we’ve made the difficult decision to reschedule. New date is October 15. Additional details to follow.”
Roadster event update
We’ve been tracking the weather closely with local meteorologists, but given the severe conditions predicted & because this event can only be held outdoors, we’ve made the difficult decision to reschedule.
New date is October 15. Additional details to…
— Tesla (@Tesla) September 28, 2026
We are sure that this is bringing back PTSD for some Tesla fans, and we know it is not ideal, but this also reveals some things about the event. Tesla said that this can only be held outdoors, meaning it bodes well for the rumors that the vehicle could potentially hover.
Some believe that this was essentially confirmed by the FAA airspace restriction they were granted, but this could have been for a drone show or to keep drones from spying on the event.
Tesla Roadster is available for order once again following brief hold
The Roadster event has been long-awaited, and it is unfortunate that the weather is going to keep us all waiting a little bit longer.
The Tesla Roadster will be unveiled in Waco, Texas.
Elon Musk
SpaceX turned a heralding moment for Starship into its greatest
Starship reached orbit despite losing an engine, deployed 26 Starlink V3 satellites on Flight 14.
SpaceX’s Starship reached orbit for the first time on Monday, and for a few nail-biting minutes it looked like it wouldn’t. During ascent on Flight 14, one of Ship 41’s six Raptor engines shut down early, and SpaceX’s livestream host Dan Huot told viewers the team had decided not to commit to orbit. Minutes later, after what Huot described as a lot of conversation in the control room, the final poll came back in favor, and a roughly 19 second burn of a single Raptor pushed the ship into orbit about 170 miles up.
The reversal matters because SpaceX had written the exit ramp into the mission plan. The company said it would only fire the orbital insertion burn if flight controllers confirmed enough backup hardware remained for the deorbit burn, a condition Teslarati laid out ahead of the flight. Losing an engine was exactly the scenario that rule was built for.
Pressing forward fits Elon Musk’s history. Falcon 1 failed three straight times before its fourth launch reached orbit in 2008, with SpaceX nearly out of money, and Starship was developed by flying prototypes until they broke. What changed this year SpaceX going public, and with $SPCX sliding below its IPO price in July when Flight 13 slipped, the short interest climbed significantly, as Teslarati reported at the time. A Starship potentially lost today with revenue generating next-gen Starlink satellites aboard would have landed directly on shareholders.
Splashdown confirmed. Congratulations to the entire SpaceX team on the first orbital flight of Starship! pic.twitter.com/urjmiwnvNl
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) September 28, 2026
That pressure showed up after orbit. SpaceX cut a flight planned to last nearly 10 hours to about three, moving splashdown from west of Chile to the North Pacific near Hawaii. SpaceX gave no reason, though Musk said this month the company was being extremely cautious about debris risk. The single Raptor for deorbit worked, and Ship 41 completed its flip and landing burn before breaking apart in the water, an outcome SpaceX expected. Musk has structured SpaceX’s governance to shield long term bets from market pressure.
The payload is the bigger business story. Musk posted that all 26 Starlink V3 satellites deployed and are “operating nominally.” Each V3 is rated for about 1 Tbps of downlink and 160 Gbps of uplink, so this single launch adds roughly 26 Tbps, about 10 times what a Falcon 9 load of V2 Mini satellites adds. The V3 is too large for Falcon 9, making Starship the only vehicle that can build out the planned 100,000 satellite constellation, at up to 60 per flight once it reaches routine service. Unlike the 20 V3 units on Flight 13, which reentered on a suborbital path, these will raise their orbits and could begin serving customers within weeks and bring in hundreds of millions of additional dollars in projected Starlink revenue.
SpaceX has already begun winding down Falcon 9 Starlink launches from Florida in favor of Starship. Reported targets put Flight 15 as early as October 19, leaving about three weeks to diagnose Monday’s engine shutdown before the next orbital attempt.
Starship’s 14th flight is set to launch on Monday, Sept 28. The 75-minute launch window opens at 7:15 a.m. CT. Live coverage of the mission starts ~35 minutes before launch → https://t.co/uQKQvgaTmJ
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) September 27, 2026
News
Tesla Cybercab fleet doubles to well over 100 units
Tesla quietly doubled the size of its Cybercab fleet within the Robotaxi program in Austin, Texas, over the weekend to well over 100 units.
The move not only establishes more of the steering-wheel-less and pedal-less vehicles within the ride-sharing fleet Tesla has been operating for a year, but it also solidifies a more robust Robotaxi fleet as a whole.
Riders started receiving notifications from the Robotaxi app that stated: “Cybercab fleet has doubled: more rides available.”
I got this notification on the robotaxi app. They are saying the Cybercab fleet has doubled. Glad that they are advertising this pic.twitter.com/FFrnw4FRCF
— Abhimanyu Yadav (@WorldlyReviewer) September 26, 2026
Tesla first launched rides in the Cybercab in early September, although the Robotaxi fleet has been active for over a year, as rides began last Summer. Cybercab is truly Tesla’s most crucial vehicle release yet, as it is the first car any company has built that is geared toward full-fledged and end-to-end autonomy, never needing human intervention for anything.
Only available in Austin at the current time, Cybercab has two seats and has been spotted testing around various U.S. states and regions; Tesla plans to deploy the Cybercab in various U.S. cities in the coming months as a best-case scenario.
Tesla Cybercab gets initial tie-in to localized, in-house cathode plant
The availability of the Cybercab has doubled from just 58 units last Monday to 125 the following Friday. Marking a substantial increase in Cybercab availability, the additional ride-sharing units are more than welcome, as wait times for Cybercabs, especially, were quite high.
The dramatic increase is a sign that demand for Robotaxi is growing and Tesla is feeling more confident that its driverless ride-hailing suite, especially its Full Self-Driving software, is able to handle any traffic situation without explicit direction or supervision from a human being.