News
Tesla FSD Beta 10.5 Release Notes leaked, teases significant improvements
Tesla FSD Beta 10.5 is expected to be released soon, though a copy of the update’s Release Notes has been shared online. Based on what could be seen from the upcoming update’s notes, it appears that FSD Beta 10.5 would be a significant step up from its previous iterations.
If Tesla does release FSD Beta 10.5 this weekend, it will fall right into Elon Musk’s estimate for the update’s release. Earlier this month, Musk hinted that V10.5 would be released around November 20. Musk doubled down on this estimate on November 19, with the CEO noting on Twitter that he was hoping for FSD Beta 10.5 to be ready very soon.
We've confirmed with one Tesla employee who received this update tonight that this is Full Self-Driving Beta 10.5. Tesla is pushing the beta to employee-owned vehicles initially.
They have communicated that a rollout is expected Sunday night assuming last-minute checks go well. https://t.co/cQUULe2KST
— Teslascope (@teslascope) November 21, 2021
It did not take long before reports emerged from the Tesla community that the latest iteration of the advanced driver-assist system was starting to roll out. Tesla update tracker service Teslascope noted in a later post on Twitter that it had been able to confirm that FSD Beta 10.5 was indeed being released, but only for employees for now. Assuming that last-minute checks were deemed satisfactory, a release to members of the FSD Beta program was reportedly still expected for Sunday night.
Amidst these reports, the Release Notes of FSD Beta 10.5 were also shared online. Similar to previous updates, V10.5’s notes were detailed, describing exactly what was improved in the update. As could be seen from the notes, Tesla has improved FSD Beta’s VRU once more, as well as the system’s cone and sign detections. More importantly, V10.5 also provide FSD Beta with the ability to change lanes away from a merging vehicle instead of slowing down. “False slowdowns” have been reduced as well. Overall, these improvements should make FSD Beta 10.5 perform more humanlike on the road.
Here are release notes for #FSDBeta V10.5. Looking like some great areas of focus. I'm really looking forward to improved creeping and "reduce false slowdowns" 🙂 pic.twitter.com/5VRAntHoP7
— Dirty Tesla (@DirtyTesLa) November 21, 2021
The following are the leaked Release Notes of FSD Beta 10.5.
– Improved VRU (pedestrians, bicyclists, motorcycles) crossing velocity error by 20% from improved quality in our auto-labeling.
– Improved static world predictions (road lines, edges, and lane connectivity) by up to 13% using a new static world auto-labeler and adding 165K autolabeled videos.
– Improved cone and sign detections by upreving the generalized static object network with 15K more video clips and adjusting oversampling and overweighting strategies (+4.5% precision, +10.4% recall).
– Improved cut-in detection network by 5.5% to help reduce false slowdowns.
– Enabled “emergency collision avoidance maneuvering” in shadow mode.
– Enabled behavior to lane change away from merges when safe to do so.
– Improved merge object detection recall by using multi-modal object prediction at intersections.
– Improved control for merges by increasing smoothness of arrival time constraints and considering possible merging objects beyond visibility.
– Improved lane changes by allowing larger deceleration limit in short-deadline situations.
– Improved lateral control for creeping forward to get more visibility
– Improved modeling of road boundaries on high curvature roads for finer maneuvers.
– Improved logic to stay on-route and avoid unnecessary detours/rerouting.
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Energy
Tesla launches Powerwall Lease for affordable home backup
Tesla Energy has introduced the Powerwall Lease in conjunction with Tesla Electric, making the service available in Texas. This new option delivers whole-home backup power using two Powerwall units for a net monthly cost of $35 after credits, accompanied by a low fixed electricity rate.
Under the lease terms, customers pay a one-time order fee of $100. The base lease payment for the two Powerwalls is approximately $122 per month during the first year, subject to a 3 percent annual escalator thereafter. Enrollment in a qualifying Tesla Electric Backup plan or Virtual Power Plant plan provides an $87 monthly credit.
Powerwall Lease is now available with Tesla Electric in Texas
Whole-home backup for $35/month, with a low fixed electricity rate
– Two Powerwalls, $0 installation
– Storm Watch outage protection
– One app to manage it all pic.twitter.com/oTzqc6K3aF— Tesla Energy (@teslaenergy) August 13, 2026
This credit lowers the effective cost to roughly $35 per month plus applicable tax.
Installation of the standard system carries no additional charge. The package features Storm Watch for outage protection and allows complete management through a single Tesla application. The system supplies continuous whole-home backup capability.
The Powerwall system enables households to maintain electricity during severe storms that disrupt the utility grid. When outages occur, the batteries automatically provide seamless backup power to the home.
Tesla announces 100k Powerwalls are participating in Virtual Power Plants
Tesla Storm Watch monitors weather forecasts and ensures the units are fully charged ahead of anticipated severe weather events so that power remains available throughout the disruption, keeping lights, refrigeration, and other essential systems operating without interruption.
Availability is restricted to select Texas locations where retail electric choice exists. Participants must lease exactly two Powerwall units and maintain continuous enrollment with Tesla Electric. Solar panels cannot be included under this particular lease arrangement.
The monthly credit activates automatically once the system is installed, receives permission to operate, and enrollment is confirmed. To retain the credit, customers are required to stay enrolled in Tesla Electric and fulfill all program conditions.
Nonstandard installations that involve electrical upgrades or special permitting may lead to extra expenses and might impact eligibility for the credit, so be sure to check with either your installer or Tesla to ensure you will still qualify.
News
Elon Musk teases Tesla Roadster unveiling once again
Elon Musk continues to tease the unveiling event for the Tesla Roadster, a continuing trend that has grown into a bigger game of “When” for fans who have been waiting years for the car to finally enter production.
A video shared on X of the Joe Rogan Experience podcast that Musk appeared on last year, teasing the Roadster unveiling, was shared once again on the social media platform. The poster said the Roadster event will be “unforgettable.”
Musk agreed:
Yes
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 12, 2026
The timing is interesting because just yesterday, Musk said that we will be getting flying cars, and for years, Tesla has hinted that it could develop a SpaceX cold gas thruster package that would help the car float or fly for a short period of time.
It would be reasonable to assume Tesla’s major delays with this unveiling event are likely caused by the company’s need to break the rules and push the envelope on nearly everything. Last July, Lars Moravy, Tesla’s VP of Vehicle Engineering, said:
“Roadster is definitely in development. We did talk about it last Sunday night. We are gearing up for a super cool demo. It’s going to be mind blowing. We showed Elon some cool demos last week of the tech we’ve been working on and he got a little excited.”
The latest updates that Tesla has given us are that the Roadster is in design development, and it did have several potential dates for an unveiling event this year, including April. It was then pushed to August.
However, there are no clues as to when Tesla will be ready, and fans are certainly getting frustrated with the delays.
For what it is worth, Franz von Holzhausen told Jay Leno this week that the event would be “very soon.”
We sure hope.
Lifestyle
Tesla’s driverless Cybercab just passed a big test with State Governor
Florida’s governor rode Tesla’s Cybercab at a closed test track and called the experience impressive.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis rode in a Tesla Cybercab on a closed test track this week and came away impressed, posting on X that the vehicle “successfully navigated all hazards — a kid running into the street, a crash with police stopping traffic, a Model S cutting us off, etc.” He called the ride “impressive.”
The stop was part of a broader event Monday at SunTrax, a 775 acre state owned proving ground in Auburndale that Florida built specifically to test autonomous and connected vehicles before they reach public roads. Standing next to a gold Cybercab, DeSantis described the car in plain terms: “You go in there and you just sit. You have a screen. There’s no steering wheel, no pedals. Clearly these things could be very beneficial.”
We took a ride on a robotaxi on the Suntrax course and it successfully navigated all hazards — a kid running into the street, a crash with police stopping traffic, a Model S cutting us off, etc.
Impressive! https://t.co/FVAkzFLz3r
— Ron DeSantis (@RonDeSantis) August 11, 2026
DeSantis paired the praise with a caveat that has followed autonomous vehicles since the category existed. “You don’t want to be in an autonomous vehicle and it drives you into a ditch. That would not be good,” he said, framing safety validation as the gate before wider deployment.
SunTrax, the 2.25 mile oval which the state calls the only high speed autonomous vehicle test track in the Southeast, can simulate rain, pedestrian crossings, hills and crowded urban conditions at highway speeds, letting companies push a car past what an early public rollout would risk. Tesla, Waymo and Beep all use the facility, and Florida’s regulatory approach, among the most permissive for autonomous vehicles in the country, doesn’t require a human operator inside a fully autonomous car.
Tesla has reason to want the blessing of Florida and states beyond, as the Cybercab entered volume production at Gigafactory Texas this spring and has since self certified as SAE Level 4 under Texas law. Public road testing so far has kept a safety monitor in the passenger seat, and Florida is where Tesla has been expanding its existing Model Y based Robotaxi service instead, adding Miami in July and then Orlando and Tampa two weeks later. A closed track endorsement from a sitting governor doesn’t change any of that, but it does put Tesla’s newest hardware in front of a state that has already shown it will move fast on rules.
