Tesla has issued yet another giant update for its Full Self Driving (FSD) software, dramatically improving vehicle behavior in numerous situations.
Despite the controversy that seems to consistently surround Tesla’s autonomous driving suite, it just keeps improving, with new features and capabilities added at an astounding rate. Now, Tesla has issued yet another dramatic update to Full Self Driving, bringing significant improvements in vehicle intelligence and the dream of fully autonomous vehicles one step closer to reality.
@Winnersechelon first reported the newest FSD update on Twitter, posting a screenshot of the release notes for the update.
Release notes for latest FSD Beta release pic.twitter.com/0lDmZbmEUb
— TeslaBull FSD BETA (@Winnersechelon) April 17, 2023
Perhaps more than previous updates, 11.4 focuses on vastly improving vehicle behavior, with new features taking a back seat. According to Tesla’s release notes, those improvements are seen throughout numerous environments.
Foremost, Tesla FSD is better than ever at recognizing and reacting to pedestrians that are either about to cross the street or are already doing so. This stems from an improvement in kinematic calculations, which allows the vehicle to predict where people, vehicles, and objects are going. Regarding pedestrians, the vehicle will act more smoothly, either progressing through the intersection or stopping.
This improvement also extends to other “vulnerable road users,” such as bikers and cyclists, which Tesla FSD will now react more quickly to and slow down for if necessary.
Another improvement that urbanites can enjoy is in “turn performance.” When in dense city areas or unexpected turns, the vehicle will now follow the turn more correctly, dodging parked vehicles and avoiding bus lanes. This improvement is paired with an update to bus lane recognition overall, helping to prevent the vehicle from being where it isn’t supposed to be.
Other updates focus on improving performance in more rural areas. One such improvement is improved lane, line, and edge of road detection, which can be helpful in areas with less consistent road painting and paving. This update feeds into two others, improved lane guidance, ensuring the vehicle is in the correct lane to reach its destination, and improved prediction of the movement of “partial cut-ins,” or cars that haven’t wholly dedicated to a lane. Tesla’s massive library of clips and auto-labeling system makes both upgrades possible.
In the case of improved lane guidance, Tesla states that this update will reduce driver interventions by 64%, ensuring the vehicle isn’t in the wrong lane and reaches the destination more consistently.
Another update affecting how Tesla vehicles behave in lanes is lane change speed control. Tesla FSD will now consider “upcoming navigation deadlines” and will use more or less speed if necessary to switch lanes. Moreover, the vehicle will more accurately calculate the number of lanes it needs to change, thanks to Tesla’s ever-improving vehicle network.
Vehicle speed also improves in countless other situations as well. Thanks to Tesla’s all-new “Vision Speed” network, its network of vehicles can now infer the typical driving speed of any given roadway, improving how the vehicle reacts to areas that typically require lower speeds, such as neighborhoods or parking lots.
The final speed update regards how the vehicle reacts to the weather. The max autopilot speed will now take into account current weather conditions and limit driving speed if visibility or traction is too poor. According to Tesla’s release notes, this calculation is quite advanced, as it will take into account not only its condition, such as tire tread, and its data on visibility and road wetness, but it will also account for outside factors, such as tire spray from other vehicles and traffic intensity.
The final two updates are far more general and will improve the vehicle’s autonomous operation overall. First, Tesla has improved “long-range path blockage,” meaning that its vehicles will more quickly merge into other lanes to avoid obstacles in the road. Second, Tesla has reduced “photon-to-control” latency by 2%, meaning the vehicle will react 2% faster to anything it “sees.”
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News
Tesla rolling out Robotaxi pilot in SF Bay Area this weekend: report
Similar to the Austin pilot, the Robotaxi rides will reportedly be a paid service.

Tesla is reportedly preparing to launch a Robotaxi pilot program in the Bay Area this weekend, with invites to a select number of customers reportedly being sent out as early as this Friday.
The update was shared in a report from Insider, which cited an internal memo from the electric vehicle maker.
New Robotaxi service launch
According to Insider, the Robotaxi service in the Bay Area is set to launch as soon as Friday. Thus, some Tesla owners in the area should receive invites to use the driverless ride-hailing service. Similar to the Austin pilot, the Robotaxi rides will reportedly be a paid service.
The publication noted that the Robotaxi service’s geofence in its Bay Area launch will be quite large, as it will include Marin, much of the East Bay, San Francisco, and San Jose. This is not surprising as California has long been saturated with Teslas, and it is home to several of the electric vehicle maker’s key facilities.
Unlike the Austin pilot, the Tesla Robotaxi service’s pilot in the Bay Area will use safety drivers seated in the driver’s seat. These drivers will be able to manually take over using the steering wheel and brakes as needed. As per a spokesperson from the California DMV, the agency recently met with Tesla but the company is yet to submit a formal application to operate fully driverless cars.
Tesla Robotaxi expansion
Interestingly enough, Tesla did tease the release of its Robotaxi service to the Bay Area in its second quarter earnings call. While discussing the service, Tesla VP of Autopilot/AI Software Ashok Elluswamy mentioned that the company will initially be rolling out Robotaxis with safety drivers in the San Francisco Bay Area. He did, however, also highlight that the electric vehicle maker is working hard to get government permission to release the service for consumers.
“The next thing to expand would be in the San Francisco Bay Area. We are working with the government to get approval here and, in the meanwhile, launch the service without the person in the driver seat just to expedite and while we wait for regulatory approval,” he stated.
News
Tesla is ready with a perfect counter to the end of US EV tax credits
Tesla executives have mentioned that these more affordable models would resemble the company’s current lineup.

The United States’ electric vehicle tax credit is coming to an end at the end of the third quarter. Tesla, the country’s leading electric vehicle maker, is ready to meet this challenge with a rather simple but clever counter.
Tesla executives outlined this strategy in the recently held Q2 2025 earnings call.
End of the US EV tax credit
While Elon Musk has always maintained that he prefers a market with no EV tax credit, he also emphasized that he supports the rollback of any incentives given to the oil and gas industry. The Trump administration has not done this so far, instead focusing on the expiration of the $7,500 EV tax credit at the end of the third quarter.
Tesla has been going all-in on encouraging customers to purchase their vehicles in Q3 to take advantage of lower prices. The company has also implemented a series of incentives across all its offerings, from the Cybertruck to the Model 3. This, however, is not all, as the company seems to be preparing a longer-term solution to the expiration of the EV tax credit.
Affordable variants
During the Q2 2025 earnings call, Vice President of Vehicle Engineering Lars Moray stated that Tesla really did start the production of more affordable models in June. Quality builds of these vehicles are being ramped this quarter, with the goal of optimizing production over the remaining months of the year. If Tesla is successful, these models will be available for everyone in Q4.
“We started production in June, and we’re ramping quality builds and things around the quarter. And given that we started in North America and our goal is to maximize production with a higher rate. So starting Q3, we’re going to keep pushing hard on our current models to avoid complexity… We’ll be ready with new, more affordable models available for everyone in Q4.,” Moravy stated.
These comments suggest that Tesla should be able to offer vehicles that are competitively priced even after the EV tax credit has been phased out. Interestingly enough, previous comments from Tesla executives have mentioned that these more affordable models would resemble the company’s current lineup. This suggests that the more affordable models may indeed be variations of the Model Y and Model 3, but offered at a lower price.
Elon Musk
Elon Musk reveals Tesla’s next Robotaxi expansion in more ways than one
Tesla Robotaxi is growing in more ways than one. Tesla wants to expand and hopes to reach half the U.S. population by the end of the year.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk revealed the company’s plans for its next expansion of the Robotaxi in terms of both the geofence in Austin and the platform overall, as it looks to move to new areas outside of Texas.
Tesla launched the Robotaxi platform last month on June 22, and has since expanded both the pool of users and the area that the driverless Model Y vehicles can travel within.
The first expansion of the geofence caught the attention of nearly everyone and became a huge headline as Tesla picked a very interesting shape for the new geofence, resembling male reproductive parts.
🚨 Elon Musk says Tesla’s Robotaxi geofence in Austin will get “even bigger and longer” in “a couple weeks or so” pic.twitter.com/0gLeKfURMi
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) July 23, 2025
The next expansion will likely absolve this shape. Musk revealed last night that the new geofence will be “well in excess of what competitors are doing,” and it could happen “hopefully in a week or two.”
Musk’s full quote regarding the expansion of the geofence and the timing was:
“As some may have noted, we have already expanded our service area in Austin. It’s bigger and longer, and it’s going to get even bigger and longer. We are expecting to greatly increase the service area to well in excess of what competitors are doing, hopefully in a week or two.”
The expansion will not stop there, either. As Tesla has operated the Robotaxi platform in Austin for the past month, it has been working with regulators in other areas, like California, Arizona, Nevada, and Florida, to get the driverless ride-hailing system activated in more U.S. states.
Tesla confirmed that they are in talks with each of these states regarding the potential expansion of Robotaxi.
Musk added:
“As we get the approvals and prove out safety, we will be launching the autonomous ride-hailing across most of the country. I think we will probably have autonomous ride-hailing in probably half the population of the US by the end of the year.”
We know that Tesla and Musk have been prone to aggressive and sometimes outlandish timelines regarding self-driving technology specifically. Regulatory approvals could happen by the end of the year in several areas, and working on these large metros is the best way to reach half of the U.S. population.
Tesla said its expansion of the geofence in Austin is conservative and controlled due to its obsession with safety, even admitting at one point during the Earnings Call that they are being “paranoid.” Expanding the geofence is necessary, but Tesla realizes any significant mistake by Robotaxi could take it back to square one.
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