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Tesla Full Self-Driving changes your perception of travel — long or short

Tesla Full Self-Driving will ruin controlling your vehicle manually.

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla does not tell you what Full Self-Driving will do to your perception of travel. Whether your next trip is a two-minute ride up the street to the grocery store or a 1,500-mile trip across multiple states, you’ll never look at driving the same way.

This past weekend, I was lucky enough to have a new Tesla Model Y for the weekend. Equipped with the company’s Hardware 4 computer, the latest software version, and all of the new Model Y’s improvements from the legacy iteration, I knew much of my weekend would be spent testing FSD, as I have never had an extended experience with it.

By the time the weekend was over and it was time to pick up my non-Tesla car, I realized I was not ready to let go. Having the car drive me around from location to location all weekend was something I truly enjoyed, but it was more than just a convenience thing. I felt impressed, relaxed, and even, in some instances, safer.

What Tesla Full Self-Driving Did Well

Now, before I truly begin, I do want to say that I don’t think I’ll ever feel safer than when I’m in ultimate control of the vehicle. However, a lot of things that give me stress during a drive were handled with relative ease by the car — and I was happy I didn’t have to deal with it.

One instance was merging onto a busy highway with a very short merge lane. Full Self-Driving took a no-holds-barred approach, taking the space it was given and grabbing a spot in the right lane quickly.

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It was not willing to be passive, but it was also not willing to sacrifice safety. It will not wait for others to pull the trigger and go at intersections or four-way stops. If there are a few seconds of stagnation from the car and another driver in that instance, it will go, of course, proceeding safely.

It even did a handful of things I didn’t expect it to do. It would stay in the right lane if multiple on-ramps were approaching. I took it on a stretch of highway where three on-ramps are all within a mile of one another.

It passed a tractor-trailer just before we made it to the first of those three on-ramps. It stayed in that left lane after overtaking the 18-wheeler, as Driver Visualization showed more cars approaching to merge. It was one of those moments that, even though I have written about this topic for several years, was unbelievably impressive.

It not only drives people safely, but it is also considerate of other drivers, which is very impressive.

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I was incredibly surprised to see my Fiancè have so much ease when it was operating.

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I figured, just because she is not as familiar with what Tesla does to make FSD better and how it works, that she would be very on edge during our rides. This was the opposite. She felt comfortable enough to look away from the road while in the passenger seat. Scrolling her phone or looking out at the blooming flowers was what she did in the car. It was no different from when I’m driving, and I think that was what was most impressive to me.

Driving after FSD

I found that picking up my car and driving manually back home truly brought me back to real life. Everyone with a Tesla and Full Self-Driving says that when you go back to another car, you feel like you’re stuck in the past.

I really did feel that way. Not only because of the aesthetic of the interior, but just because I was doing something that I just realized could be done for me with the right vehicle.

While I love the car I own now, I’m still deciding whether I love it enough to keep it. To be completely honest, I have hopped around with the idea of trading in my car for the new Model Y. Whether I will or not truly depends on the next few weeks and how I feel, but I know that I will be considering it for the next few months easily.

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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 FSD (Supervised) fleet passes 8.4 billion cumulative miles

The figure appears on Tesla’s official safety page, which tracks performance data for FSD (Supervised) and other safety technologies.

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (Supervised) system has now surpassed 8.4 billion cumulative miles.

The figure appears on Tesla’s official safety page, which tracks performance data for FSD (Supervised) and other safety technologies.

Tesla has long emphasized that large-scale real-world data is central to improving its neural network-based approach to autonomy. Each mile driven with FSD (Supervised) engaged contributes additional edge cases and scenario training for the system.

Credit: Tesla

The milestone also brings Tesla closer to a benchmark previously outlined by CEO Elon Musk. Musk has stated that roughly 10 billion miles of training data may be needed to achieve safe unsupervised self-driving at scale, citing the “long tail” of rare but complex driving situations that must be learned through experience.

The growth curve of FSD Supervised’s cumulative miles over the past five years has been notable. 

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As noted in data shared by Tesla watcher Sawyer Merritt, annual FSD (Supervised) miles have increased from roughly 6 million in 2021 to 80 million in 2022, 670 million in 2023, 2.25 billion in 2024, and 4.25 billion in 2025. In just the first 50 days of 2026, Tesla owners logged another 1 billion miles.

At the current pace, the fleet is trending towards hitting about 10 billion FSD Supervised miles this year. The increase has been driven by Tesla’s growing vehicle fleet, periodic free trials, and expanding Robotaxi operations, among others.

With the fleet now past 8.4 billion cumulative miles, Tesla’s supervised system is approaching that threshold, even as regulatory approval for fully unsupervised deployment remains subject to further validation and oversight.

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Elon Musk fires back after Wikipedia co-founder claims neutrality and dubs Grokipedia “ridiculous”

Musk’s response to Wales’ comments, which were posted on social media platform X, was short and direct: “Famous last words.”

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UK Government, CC BY 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

Elon Musk fired back at Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales after the longtime online encyclopedia leader dismissed xAI’s new AI-powered alternative, Grokipedia, as a “ridiculous” idea that is bound to fail.

Musk’s response to Wales’ comments, which were posted on social media platform X, was short and direct: “Famous last words.”

Wales made the comments while answering questions about Wikipedia’s neutrality. According to Wales, Wikipedia prides itself on neutrality. 

“One of our core values at Wikipedia is neutrality. A neutral point of view is non-negotiable. It’s in the community, unquestioned… The idea that we’ve become somehow ‘Wokepidea’ is just not true,” Wales said.

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When asked about potential competition from Grokipedia, Wales downplayed the situation. “There is no competition. I don’t know if anyone uses Grokipedia. I think it is a ridiculous idea that will never work,” Wales wrote.

After Grokipedia went live, Larry Sanger, also a co-founder of Wikipedia, wrote on X that his initial impression of the AI-powered Wikipedia alternative was “very OK.”

“My initial impression, looking at my own article and poking around here and there, is that Grokipedia is very OK. The jury’s still out as to whether it’s actually better than Wikipedia. But at this point I would have to say ‘maybe!’” Sanger stated.

Musk responded to Sanger’s assessment by saying it was “accurate.” In a separate post, he added that even in its V0.1 form, Grokipedia was already better than Wikipedia.

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During a past appearance on the Tucker Carlson Show, Sanger argued that Wikipedia has drifted from its original vision, citing concerns about how its “Reliable sources/Perennial sources” framework categorizes publications by perceived credibility. As per Sanger, Wikipedia’s “Reliable sources/Perennial sources” list leans heavily left, with conservative publications getting effectively blacklisted in favor of their more liberal counterparts.

As of writing, Grokipedia has reportedly surpassed 80% of English Wikipedia’s article count.

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Tesla Sweden appeals after grid company refuses to restore existing Supercharger due to union strike

The charging site was previously functioning before it was temporarily disconnected in April last year for electrical safety reasons.

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Credit: Tesla Charging

Tesla Sweden is seeking regulatory intervention after a Swedish power grid company refused to reconnect an already operational Supercharger station in Åre due to ongoing union sympathy actions.

The charging site was previously functioning before it was temporarily disconnected in April last year for electrical safety reasons. A temporary construction power cabinet supplying the station had fallen over, described by Tesla as occurring “under unclear circumstances.” The power was then cut at the request of Tesla’s installation contractor to allow safe repair work.

While the safety issue was resolved, the station has not been brought back online. Stefan Sedin, CEO of Jämtkraft elnät, told Dagens Arbete (DA) that power will not be restored to the existing Supercharger station as long as the electric vehicle maker’s union issues are ongoing. 

“One of our installers noticed that the construction power had been backed up and was on the ground. We asked Tesla to fix the system, and their installation company in turn asked us to cut the power so that they could do the work safely. 

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“When everything was restored, the question arose: ‘Wait a minute, can we reconnect the station to the electricity grid? Or what does the notice actually say?’ We consulted with our employer organization, who were clear that as long as sympathy measures are in place, we cannot reconnect this facility,” Sedin said. 

The union’s sympathy actions, which began in March 2024, apply to work involving “planning, preparation, new connections, grid expansion, service, maintenance and repairs” of Tesla’s charging infrastructure in Sweden.

Tesla Sweden has argued that reconnecting an existing facility is not equivalent to establishing a new grid connection. In a filing to the Swedish Energy Market Inspectorate, the company stated that reconnecting the installation “is therefore not covered by the sympathy measures and cannot therefore constitute a reason for not reconnecting the facility to the electricity grid.”

Sedin, for his part, noted that Tesla’s issue with the Supercharger is quite unique. And while Jämtkraft elnät itself has no issue with Tesla, its actions are based on the unions’ sympathy measures against the electric vehicle maker. 

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“This is absolutely the first time that I have been involved in matters relating to union conflicts or sympathy measures. That is why we have relied entirely on the assessment of our employer organization. This is not something that we have made any decisions about ourselves at all. 

“It is not that Jämtkraft elnät has a conflict with Tesla, but our actions are based on these sympathy measures. Should it turn out that we have made an incorrect assessment, we will correct ourselves. It is no more difficult than that for us,” the executive said. 

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