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Tesla to wide-release Full Self-Driving ‘by the end of this year’

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Tesla’s Full Self-Driving suite is poised for a wide-release by the end of 2020 to all drivers who purchased the capability, Elon Musk said, during its Q3 Earnings Call.

“We’re starting very slow and very cautiously because the world is a very complex and messy place,” Musk said when talking about the Beta rollout of the FSD suite to a minimal group of people, which began late Tuesday night. “We put it out there last night, and then we’ll see how it goes, and then probably release it to more people this weekend or early next week. Then gradually step it up until we hopefully have a wide-release by the end of this year.”

On October 8th, Musk stated that the latest build of the FSD software would be capable of “zero-intervention drives. Will release limited beta in a few weeks.”

Four days later, Musk announced that the FSD suite’s limited release would be available on October 20th. Tesla kept its word, and some lucky drivers received the capability on Tuesday evening.

However, Musk is already looking toward wider releases of the FSD software if things go well. It is unknown who currently has the software or how they were selected to receive it. Still, the cautious build of the autonomous driving functionality will utilize Tesla’s Neural Network to improve its performance.

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“Of course, as the system collects more data, it becomes more robust,” Musk said. “It’s sort of like ‘How does Google, as a search engine, get better?’ It’s because people are programming it by asking it questions all the time and clicking on particular links.”

Tesla’s Neural Network operates in the same fashion. With every mile driven, the software gets more complex and accurate with its maneuvers. The constantly-learning Neural Net has received information from over 3 billion miles of Autopilot-assisted driving, according to Tesla’s Head of Artificial Intelligence, Andrej Karpathy.

Musk’s estimations for the end-of-year rollout of FSD lineup with his timeline for introducing Tesla’s Robotaxi fleet. The ride-hailing service would require a zero-intervention FSD suite that could operate without a driver. In order for the Robotaxi fleet to take shape by 2021, FSD would have to be completed beforehand.

With the pending release of the widely-anticipated technology, Tesla is setting itself up for the biggest year in company history. After marking a fifth-consecutive profitable quarter that showed production numbers are rising, Tesla is poised to produce 1 million vehicles a year. With more cars on the road, the FSD suite will only become more complex thanks to its partnership with the Neural Network.

Tesla readies Model Y Giga Press for next-level production efficiency

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Whether FSD actually makes its way to all customers by the end of the year remains to be seen. However, with Tesla’s recent ability to maintain timely and accurate releases of its new software, owners and enthusiasts have every reason to believe the electric automaker will get FSD out to all capable cars by the time 2021 rolls in.

Joey has been a journalist covering electric mobility at TESLARATI since August 2019. In his spare time, Joey is playing golf, watching MMA, or cheering on any of his favorite sports teams, including the Baltimore Ravens and Orioles, Miami Heat, Washington Capitals, and Penn State Nittany Lions. You can get in touch with joey at joey@teslarati.com. He is also on X @KlenderJoey. If you're looking for great Tesla accessories, check out shop.teslarati.com

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Tesla flexes incredible Robotaxi metric that skeptics will hate

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Tesla flexed one incredible Robotaxi metric during the Q2 Earnings Call that skeptics have to hate to hear. The company’s platform has already driven more than 380,000 miles of unsupervised ride-hailing across several states with no notable incidents.

During the company’s Q2 Earnings Call on Wednesday, Vice President of AI, Ashok Elluswamy, said:

“First of all, I’d like to state that the Robotaxi program has been operating extremely well. Especially in terms of safety, the program has had an impeccable safety record. We have driven more than 380,000 miles of unsupervised Robotaxi, now across six cities in two different states. We have had zero notable incidents. Any reports have been of other actors impacting us when we were stationary. I like to emphasize how safe the operation has been so far. Zero notable incidents over 380,000 miles.”

Elluswamy’s claim over Robotaxi miles is a significant milestone for Tesla in the grand scheme, especially considering this is a sizeable number of miles without any incident.

Tesla’s self-driving approach is much different than that of other companies. Tesla has maintained that vision is the only thing needed to have a solid and effective self-driving suite. Many self-driving companies utilize things like LiDAR, sensors, and other elements to improve performance, but Elluswamy sent a jab at those who believe it’s needed.

“Historically, the so-called experts have always claimed that you need LiDARs, radars, HD maps, and the entire kitchen sink to drive safely. Here we show that such is not true. You can have safe, comfortable, and affordable autonomy with just cameras. This record should be a huge validation of Tesla’s entire AI approach.”

The feat of accumulating this many miles without any driver behind the wheel is impressive. The thing is, Tesla is also doing this across several different locations, with varying traffic rules, pedestrian levels, weather patterns, and other important factors.

While Tesla is not ready to roll out an unsupervised platform completely, it is a slow but steady indication that the company is well on its way to figuring things out.

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The company’s attitude toward expansion is slow, safe, and controlled, and despite this huge milestone, it will still be some time until we see Tesla truly unleash unsupervised rides more aggressively.

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SpaceX Starship just nailed something it’s never done before

SpaceX’s Starship flew successfully Friday, landing both stages and deploying its first Starlink V3 satellites.

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Starship’s thirteenth test flight delivered exactly what SpaceX needed with a clean liftoff, two successful stage recoveries, and the first real payload the vehicle has ever carried to space. Booster 20 and Ship 40 lifted off at 5:51 p.m. CT from Starbase, and by the time the mission wrapped roughly an hour later, both halves of the rocket had done exactly what they were supposed to do.

Booster 20 separated from Ship 40 a few minutes into the flight and stuck a controlled splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico about six minutes after liftoff. That is a meaningful turnaround from Flight 12 in May, when the booster lost several engines during its boostback burn before a hard water landing attempt.


Starship 40’s performance was arguably the bigger win. The vehicle deployed the first 20 operational Starlink V3 satellites Starship has ever carried, then flew a suborbital arc to a landing in the Indian Ocean that SpaceX commentator Dan Huot called the company’s softest splashdown yet. “This is a dream scenario for this team that’s trying to get this heat shield data,” Huot said on the live broadcast, according to Space.com’s live coverage. “I’m a little over the moon right now. Wow. Lucky number 13.”

Unlike the mass simulators SpaceX flew on Flight 12, these were production Starlink V3 satellites, meant to extend solar arrays and antennas and attempt to link with the broader constellation before reentering minutes later. Getting real hardware through a full deploy sequence on only the second flight of the V3 generation keeps Starship on schedule for the payload work NASA is counting on for future Artemis lunar landings.

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— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) July 25, 2026

The flight also arrives at a moment when SpaceX needed a win. SPCX has traded below its $135 IPO price since mid-July, as Teslarati reported when the mission slipped to Friday, and short interest has climbed to roughly a third of the tradable float. A clean flight will not fix a balance sheet, but it does answer the one question SpaceX absolutely needed answered this week: whether the fixes made after the July 16 abort would hold up under real flight conditions. They did, on both stages, on the first try after the redesign.

SpaceX has not set a target date for Flight 14, though the company has said it wants to push toward an orbital attempt on the next mission. After Friday, that goal looks a lot more within reach.

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Tesla’s Supercharger Diner probably just secured more locations

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Tesla’s Supercharger Diner in Los Angeles dominated the company’s global usage rankings after just one year, proving the concept is more than just a one-off novelty location that will fade away.

The performance could incite the company to build more locations, something that CEO Elon Musk has hinted at for some time.

Tesla’s Supercharger Diner delivered 21.2 GWh of energy in its first year of operation, the company’s head of Charging, Max de Zegher, revealed on X. Of the top 10 most utilized Supercharger locations in Tesla’s global infrastructure, the Diner in Los Angeles was the most used by drivers, and it wasn’t particularly close:

On its launch day one year ago, nobody was too sure what the Tesla Diner would be about. It seemed like an interesting concept, and considering it had been in the works for years, it was a highly anticipated launch that many were looking forward to.

Based on its success, we could see additional Diners with Superchargers built throughout the United States, and potentially beyond. Musk has said on several occasions that the company would be willing to bring the Diner idea to more markets.

Tesla makes major change at Supercharger Diner amid epic demand

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Of the markets that Musk has mentioned, both Palo Alto and Austin have come to be perceived as ideal selections. However, there are no concrete plans as of now to build new Supercharger Diners anywhere; the location on Santa Monica Boulevard will remain the exclusive spot to pick up Tesla-inspired eats, at least for the time being.

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