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Tesla Full Self-Driving’s biggest improvements from v13 to v14

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla Full Self-Driving (Supervised) v14 has been out for several weeks now, and there are a tremendous number of improvements, as we have now reached the fourth iteration of the semi-autonomous software.

Tesla began the v14.1.4 launch last night, which included minor improvements and addressed brake-stabbing issues many owners have reported. In my personal experience, the stabbing has been awful on v14.1.3, and is a major concern.

However, many things have improved, and only a couple of minor issues have been recurring. Many of the issues v13 addressed are no longer an issue, so Tesla has made significant progress.

Here are some of the most notable improvements Tesla made with v14 from v13:

Better Lane Switching on Highways

One of my biggest complaints with v13 was that the “Hurry” Speed Profile would often stay in the left lane, even when there were no passing cars. The legality of cruising in the left lane fluctuates by jurisdiction, but my personal preference is to drive in the right lane and pass on the left.

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That said, Tesla has improved FSD’s performance with more courteous lane behavior. It no longer camps in the left lane and routinely gets back in the right lane after passing slower cars.

More Awareness for Merging Traffic and Makes Courteous Moves

There have been times when FSD has been more aware of merging traffic, and even cross traffic, than most human beings.

Here are a few examples –

  • Full Self-Driving lets a car out of cross traffic during a busy time of day. This road tends to get very congested, especially during rush hour, so the car that was let in by FSD would have been sitting there for likely a minute longer if my Tesla had not let him in:

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  • A busy, four-lane expressway with a quick exit on the far side of the highway for this merging vehicle. I’ve seen some drivers be extremely inattentive and travel at the same speed as merging cars, making their entry onto the expressway less seamless. FSD doesn’t do that; it makes way for merging cars:

More Confident Driving Around Mail Trucks…and Amish

I encounter a lot of Amish in my area of Pennsylvania, and they commonly use both shoulders and the road, so traffic can get congested at times.

In the past, I’ve taken over when encountering Amish buggies, mail trucks, or other vehicles that are moving slowly or making frequent stops. I have felt it is more logical to just take over in these situations.

I decided not to yesterday on a long drive through Lancaster, PA, and the FSD did a wonderful job of confidently overtaking these vehicles:

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This was really impressive and fun to see. There was a slight stutter during one of the three instances, but overall, I didn’t have any concerns.

Object Avoidance

On v13, I almost let the car drive into a fallen branch in the middle of the road. A mile later, the car swerved out of the way for horse droppings. It was a beautiful, clear morning, and the fact that the car did not try to avoid the branch, but did steer away from poop, was concerning.

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Tesla has obviously done a great job at refining FSD’s ability to navigate around these road hazards. Last night, it swerved around a dead animal carcass in the middle of the highway. I didn’t see it until we were already going around it:

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It was awesome to see this and never feel alarmed by the sharp movement. The maneuver was smooth and really well done.

Better Speed Consistency

With v13, I felt I had to constantly adjust the Speed Profile, as well as the Max Speed setting, when using FSD. With V14, I don’t feel like I am making as many adjustments.

Tesla axed the Max Speed setting altogether with v14, which was a good move, in my opinion. Choosing the Speed Profile is now more intuitive by using the right scroll wheel. If the car is traveling too fast or too slow, just change the profile.

Three things Tesla needs to improve with Full Self-Driving v14 release

V13 had some issues with local roads, and I felt it would travel at strange speeds. In a 45 MPH zone, it would sometimes take a long time to reach 40 MPH, then hover between 43 MPH and 47 MPH. It would then fluctuate between those two speeds, frustrating drivers behind me, understandably.

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V14 gets up to speed much better and travels at speeds I’m much more comfortable with on both local roads and highways.

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 expands Robotaxi app access once again, this time on a global scale

Tesla said recently it plans to launch Robotaxi in Miami, Houston, Las Vegas, Phoenix, and Dallas.

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Credit: Grok

Tesla has expanded Robotaxi app access once again, but this time, it’s on a much broader scale as the company is offering the opportunity for those outside of North America to download the app.

Tesla Robotaxi is the company’s early-stage ride-hailing platform that is active in Texas, California, and Arizona, with more expansion within the United States planned for the near future.

Tesla said recently it plans to launch Robotaxi in Miami, Houston, Las Vegas, Phoenix, and Dallas.

The platform has massive potential, and Tesla is leaning on it to be a major contributor to even more disruption in the passenger transportation industry. So far, it has driven over 550,000 miles in total, with the vast majority of this coming from the Bay Area and Austin.

First Look at Tesla’s Robotaxi App: features, design, and more

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However, Tesla is focusing primarily on rapid expansion, but most of this is reliant on the company’s ability to gain regulatory permission to operate the platform in various regions. The expansion plans go well outside of the U.S., as the company expanded the ability to download the app to more regions this past weekend.

So far, these are the areas it is available to download in:

  • Japan
  • Thailand
  • Hong Kong
  • South Korea
  • Australia
  • Taiwan
  • Macau
  • New Zealand
  • Mexico
  • U.S.
  • Canada

Right now, while Tesla is focusing primarily on expansion, it is also working on other goals that have to do with making it more widely available to customers who want to grab a ride from a driverless vehicle.

One of the biggest goals it has is to eliminate safety monitors from its vehicles, which it currently utilizes in Austin in the passenger’s seat and in the driver’s seat in the Bay Area.

A few weeks ago, Tesla started implementing a new in-cabin data-sharing system, which will help support teams assist riders without anyone in the front of the car.

Tesla takes a step towards removal of Robotaxi service’s safety drivers

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As Robotaxi expands into more regions, Tesla stands to gain tremendously through the deployment of the Full Self-Driving suite for personal cars, as well as driverless Robotaxis for those who are just hailing rides.

Things have gone well for Tesla in the early stages of the Robotaxi program, but expansion will truly be the test of how things operate going forward. Navigating local traffic laws and gaining approval from a regulatory standpoint will be the biggest hurdle to jump.

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Investor's Corner

Tesla gets price target boost, but it’s not all sunshine and rainbows

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Credit: Tesla Europe & Middle East/X

Tesla received a price target boost from Morgan Stanley, according to a new note on Monday morning, but there is some considerable caution also being communicated over the next year or so.

Morgan Stanley analyst Andrew Percoco took over Tesla coverage for the firm from longtime bull Adam Jonas, who appears to be focusing on embodied AI stocks and no longer automotive.

Percoco took over and immediately adjusted the price target for Tesla from $410 to $425, and changed its rating on shares from ‘Overweight’ to ‘Equal Weight.’

Percoco said he believes Tesla is the leading company in terms of electric vehicles, manufacturing, renewable energy, and real-world AI, so it deserves a premium valuation. However, he admits the high expectations for the company could provide for a “choppy trading environment” for the next year.

He wrote:

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“However, high expectations on the latter have brought the stock closer to fair valuation. While it is well understood that Tesla is more than an auto manufacturer, we expect a choppy trading environment for the TSLA shares over the next 12 months, as we see downside to estimates, while the catalysts for its non-auto businesses appear priced at current levels.”

Percoco also added that if market cap hurdles are achieved, Morgan Stanley would reduce its price target by 7 percent.

Perhaps the biggest change with Percoco taking over the analysis for Jonas is how he will determine the value of each individual project. For example, he believes Optimus is worth about $60 per share of equity value.

He went on to describe the potential value of Full Self-Driving, highlighting its importance to the Tesla valuation:

“Full Self Driving (FSD) is the crown jewel of Tesla’s auto business; we believe that its leading-edge personal autonomous driving offering is a real game changer, and will remain a significant competitive advantage over its EV and non-EV peers. As Tesla continues to improve its platform with increased levels of autonomy (i.e., hands-off, eyes-off), it will revolutionize the personal driving experience. It remains to be seen if others will be able to keep pace.”

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Additionally, Percoco outlined both bear and bull cases for the stock. He believes $860 per share, “which could be in play in the next 12 months if Tesla manages through the EV-downturn,” while also scaling Robotaxi, executing on unsupervised FSD, and scaling Optimus, is in play for the bull case.

Will Tesla thrive without the EV tax credit? Five reasons why they might

Meanwhile, the bear case is placed at $145 per share, and “assumes greater competition and margin pressure across all business lines, embedding zero value for humanoids, slowing the growth curve for Tesla’s robotaxi fleet to reflect regulatory challenges in scaling a vision-only perception stack, and lowering market share and margin profile for the autos and energy businesses.”

Currently, Tesla shares are trading at around $441.

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Tesla Optimus dramatically collapses after teleoperator mishap

It seemed blatantly obvious that whoever was controlling the Optimus robot from behind the scenes did not disconnect their ability to manipulate its movements

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Credit: @xdNiBoR | X

Tesla Optimus dramatically collapsed after a teleoperator mishap at the company’s “Future of Autonomy Visualized” event in Miami this past weekend.

It seemed blatantly obvious that whoever was controlling the Optimus robot from behind the scenes did not disconnect their ability to manipulate its movements, then left the controls, causing Optimus to collapse.

A video captured at the event shows Optimus doing a movement similar to taking a headset off, likely what the teleoperator uses to hear guest requests and communicate with other staff:

After the headset removal motion was completed, Optimus simply collapsed backward, making for an interesting bit of conversation. While it was a mishap, it was actually pretty funny to watch because of the drama displayed by the robot in the situation.

This was obviously a mistake made by the teleoperator, and does not appear to be a spot where we can put any sort of blame on Optimus. It would have likely just stood there and waited for controls to resume if the teleoperator had disconnected from the robot correctly.

However, details are pretty slim, and Tesla has not announced anything explaining the situation, likely because it seems to be a pretty face-value event.

Tesla Optimus shows off its newest capability as progress accelerates

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The Tesla Optimus program has been among the most hyped projects that the company has been working on, as CEO Elon Musk has extremely high hopes for what it could do for people on Earth. He has said on several occasions that Optimus should be the most popular product of all time, considering its capabilities.

Obviously, the project is still a work in progress, and growing pains are going to be part of the development of Optimus.

In its development of Optimus Gen 3, Tesla has been working on refining the forearm, hand, and fingers of Optimus, something that Musk said is extremely difficult. However, it’s a necessary step, especially if its capabilities will not be limited by hardware.

All in all, Optimus has still been a very successful project for Tesla, especially in the early stages. The company has done an excellent job of keeping Optimus busy, as it helps with serving customers at events and the Tesla Diner, and is also performing tasks across the company’s manufacturing plants.

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