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What will happen to Elon Musk’s Tesla on its space journey to Mars?
SpaceX has completed the last crucial step of Falcon Heavy’s inaugural test flight after successfully launching Elon Musk’s Tesla Roadster out of Earth’s orbit, on a trajectory into deep space. But what will happen to the car and ‘Starman’ as it makes its long journey to Mars? Let us explore the details.
Although Elon Musk indicated that the Tesla had been placed in an orbit that would nearly extend to the beginnings of the solar system’s first asteroid belt (on average more than 150 million miles away from Earth’s orbit), SpaceX updated that orbit estimate about 24 hours later and confirmed that the orbit was considerably closer to Mars’ orbit than the asteroid belt beyond the Red Planet.
Starman gives one final farewell to Earth as he departs for deep space aboard Musk’s Tesla Roadster. (SpaceX)
Understandably, the ultimate destination and state of the Roadster have been the source of an array of questions from those less familiar with interplanetary travel and orbital mechanics – most people.
How exactly does space travel work?
Before delving into the details, it’s crucial that I try to give everyone equal footing in the form of a basic understanding of what, how, and whens of spaceflight. To reach orbit, Falcon Heavy launched its Tesla payload horizontally. Once it rose vertically above the majority of Earth’s atmosphere, the rocket angled over until it was essentially thrusting parallel to Earth’s surface. Think of it like spinning a ball on a string: only after a certain speed will the ball successfully spin in a circle – spin too slow and the ball will simply fall. Reaching Earth orbit is very similar in concept: Falcon Heavy boosts the upper stage above Earth’s atmosphere, and the upper stage ignites and gains as much horizontal speed as possible.
All this time, both it and its Tesla payload are being pulled down by Earth’s gravity, but at a certain speed (8 kilometers per second, or ~18,000 mph), the rocket and its payload end up going faster around the Earth than its gravity can pull them down. A famous analogy can be found in a simple tennis ball: thrown normally, the ball will arc over and eventually fall to the ground. However, if a ball is thrown fast enough (and was also able to avoid being incinerated by friction against the atmosphere), one can imagine the ball going over the horizon, traveling around the Earth, and coming right back to the thrower.
Elon Musk walks among his recovered Falcon Heavy boosters at LZ-1 and 2. (Elon Musk)
Throwing a ball (or spaceship) into orbit
Amazingly, this becomes a far more reasonable proposition when dealing with asteroids, comets, and moons with much light gravity than Earth’s “1G.” For example, on Mars’ tiny moon Phobos, an astronaut could very nearly escape from the moon by running, and could almost effortlessly throw a ball fast enough to orbit Phobos (a blistering 25 mph would be required). Earth is just like that, just much, much, much larger, and with a thick atmosphere that both keeps us, humans, alive and also makes it quite a bit more difficult for us to get into orbit.
Back to Earth orbit. The first point of stability (when you are going faster forward than the Earth can pull you down) is called “low Earth orbit,” (LEO) being roughly the lowest height and velocity necessary to stably orbit the Earth. This is approximately where the International Space Station (ISS) is located (~ 250 miles above). Famously, astronauts and satellites at this altitude travel around the Earth once every 90 minutes, half in pure sunlight, half in the darkness of Earth’s own shadow – essentially a special sunrise and sunset every three-quarter of an hour.
Mars’ largest moon Phobos captured at the edge of the planet’s limb. Phobos is less than 15 miles in diameter. (ESA/Mars Express)
Now, expand that model of Earth and the Roadster in orbit around it to the entire solar system. In this model, Earth and all other objects are orbiting the Sun at different distances and speeds, like different bands of the same tree ring. The solar system is massive, however, and thus everything has to be scaled up: for example, the Earth orbits the Sun at 30 kilometers per second (~70,000 mph), nearly four times faster than our humble Tesla in LEO.
Remember: when orbiting Earth, objects are still under the firm hold of the planet’s gravity, but merely moving so fast that they are in a constant state of freefall. Take away the air, and being on the ISS is akin to skydiving, but if the skydive never ended. To truly escape Earth’s gravity and head to the Moon, Mars, or beyond, a rocket needs to go even faster still. In the case of the Roadster, this meant first speeding up to 8 km/s to reach a stable orbit around Earth, followed several hours later by one final burn that gave the payload another 3-4 km/s of speed. On the scale of the solar system, Roadster’s journey away from Earth can be thought of like, well, a Roadster making its way to the top of a steep hill. After climbing to the top, the Roadster is nearly out of energy but has just enough to accelerate as it begins its way down the other side. About six hours after launch, the rocket’s upper stage successfully crested the summit of Earth’s gravitational hill before rocketing down the other side, on its way to deep space, Mars, and beyond.
In essence, the rocket moved Musk’s Tesla from an orbit around Earth to an orbit around the Sun itself. Just as Earth takes 365 days (a year) to travel once around the Sun, the Roadster will complete an orbit of the sun every once in awhile, likely closer to the two Earth years it takes for Mars to complete its orbit. Similarly, evidenced by Earth and all the other planets in the solar system, orbiting the sun is typically very stable – humans do not exactly live in fear of the Earth falling into the sun, we just keep going around and around. Like the planets, Musk’s Roadster will almost certainly remain in its current orbit for millions of years – maybe even a billion years – quietly completing an orbit around the sun every two or so years for what is effectively an eternity on a human scale. Eventually, it’s possible that the Roadster and Starman will be pulled over time by the gravity of Earth in such a way that it reenters Earth’s atmosphere and burns up, but that is unlikely to happen for thousands of millennia.
Where is the Roadster headed?
The graphic tweeted by Musk serves as a good initial explanation of complex terms used to describe orbital mechanics. Because it is not circular, the orbit is known as elliptical, while the points closest to (perihelion) and furthest from (aphelion) the Sun also have their special names. The AU mentioned in the graphic refers to astronomical units, a standard measurement based upon the average distance between the Earth and the Sun – approximately 93 million miles. For comparison, a full trip around the Earth’s equator is a little less than 25,000 miles. Space is unfathomably immense.
Third burn successful. Exceeded Mars orbit and kept going to the Asteroid Belt. pic.twitter.com/bKhRN73WHF
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 7, 2018
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- Falcon Heavy explodes off of Pad 39A in a spectacle of fire, Roadster in tow. (Tom Cross)
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- The Roadster’s orbit will reach out on one end as far as Mars, SpaceX’s ultimate destination as a company. (SpaceX)
Falcon Heavy’s upper stage appears to have simply burned until it ran out of fuel, and managed with the far end of its orbit at about 1.61 astronautical units (~250 million km) is considerably less than Musk’s pre-launch press conference suggestion that the Roadster was expected to end up in an orbit of 380 to 450 million kilometers.
Musk: If the third burn goes as we hope, the Tesla will get as far away as 380 to 450 million km from Earth.
— Eric Berger (@SciGuySpace) February 5, 2018
Is the Roadster going to Mars?
Sadly, the answer is a hard “no.” At most, the Tesla might have been sent into an orbit around the sun (heliocentric orbit) with a very close approach to Mars – a flyby, so to speak. It appears that SpaceX managed to get quite close to that original goal, and it is entirely possible that Starman’s Roadster could pass close to Mars at points along its orbit, although there will be no way to capture or transmit images from the Roadster.
While there will be no cameras to capture it, it looks like Starman could actually – one day – pass close to the Red Planet on his billion year journey. (SpaceX)
Perhaps most importantly, to launch the Roadster into such a high orbit, SpaceX had to ensure that the rocket’s upper stage could coast for multiple hours in Earth orbit and still be able to precisely reignite its Merlin Vacuum (MVac) engine for a final burn. By successfully accomplishing precisely that, SpaceX has taken a huge step towards being able to compete with the United Launch Alliance for all government and defense-related launch contracts, even those requiring direct placement into geostationary orbit (GEO), versus a slower but more common geostationary transfer orbit (GTO). Not coincidentally, that capability also means that SpaceX can efficiently send payloads beyond Earth orbit, as they have now done for the first time with Musk’s Tesla Roadster.
How long will it take?
Because the Roadster is not actually going to any planets, moons, or asteroids, it will never reach them. However, the electric car’s newfound orbital home means that it will at least be far, far from Earth – at points, it’s trajectory will cross closest to the orbits of Mars and Earth. It will take a minimum of several months for the Roadster to reach those distances, even at its blistering speed of 12 kilometers per second relative to Earth. Jonathan McDowell, a practicing astronomer, estimated that the Roadster would pass Mars orbit – to be clear, not arriving at Mars, simply reaching the same distance away from the Sun as Mars orbits – in July 2018, approximately five months from today.
Corrected orbital data for the Roadster: 0.99 x 1.71 AU x 1.1 deg
C3 = 12.0, passes orbit of Mars Jul 2018, aphelion November— Jonathan McDowell (@planet4589) February 8, 2018
What’s going to happen to Starman and the Roadster?
Soaring through the hard vacuum of deep space, not a whole lot can be expected to happen to Elon Musk’s Tesla Roadster and Starman. As mentioned, the high heliocentric orbit it was placed in will be incredibly stable, likely allowing the car to remain in deep space for tens of millions of years. Now, that is not to say that future human explorers millions of years from now would recognize whatever remained – deep space is characterized by a relatively extreme radiation environment that will not be kind to many components that make up the Roadster’s structure. Carbon fiber, plastic, leather, and paint all contain organic components that will be assaulted by an environment far harsher than that in and around Earth.
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- Elon’s Tesla Roadster and his astronaut stand-in. (Elon Musk)
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- . . . . . . . . yep. This is a thing, now. (SpaceX)
Still, hyperbolic claims that “Radiation Will Tear Elon Musk’s Rocket Car to Bits in a Year” are ridiculously exaggerated. Vacuum is characterized by the absence of anything, and that includes all conceivable methods of erosion. While high energy radiation found in deep space can and likely will shred the Tesla’s structural integrity and eventually bleach or discolor the car, the Roadster will be perfectly suspended in microgravity (basically zero gravity) conditions with almost no chance whatsoever of impacts by even tiny space debris like micrometeorites. If an aspiring car collector tried to recover the eccentric and historic trophy from space in several centuries/millennia, Roadster would very likely fall to pieces or even crumble to dust when moved or placed in an environment with any significant gravity. But, it will almost without a doubt retain its recognizable shape almost indefinitely, at least on a human scale. Starman can be expected to react very similarly.
hyperbolic claims that “Radiation Will Tear Elon Musk’s Rocket Car to Bits in a Year” are ridiculously exaggerated.
Finally, it appears that SpaceX has not installed any method of power generation or communication on Starman’s ride, meaning that humans likely saw their last views of the vehicle after SpaceX cut the live feed to Starman. This sadly means that there will be no photo ops with Starman soaring past Mars or exploring the asteroid belt, although that option will certainly be reserved for any future eccentric, Muskian test payloads.
Why does sending a car into deep space matter?
Ultimately, this final success is an invaluable cherry on top of what was already a stunning achievement. Without a single scrubbed launch attempt or unintended hold during the final countdown, SpaceX’s first launch of what is now the most capable operational rocket in the world was a perfect success in almost all regards. Although the massive rocket’s center booster failed to land aboard the drone ship Of Course I Still Love You (OCISLY) due to an apparent shortage of the chemical components used to reignite the booster’s engines, both side boosters were recovered on land with what can only be described as well-oiled expertise. Meanwhile, the rocket simply survived the launch in general, didn’t destroy the pad, successfully tested its unproven side booster separation mechanism, and launched an eccentric payload into the highest orbit yet achieved by the commercial launch company.
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- It’s easy to understand why Musk himself laughed about Roadster looking very much like CGI. (SpaceX)
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- Is this real life? Who knows anymore. (SpaceX)
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- . . . . . . . . yep. This is a thing, now. (SpaceX)
In the case of Elon Musk, it certainly appears that it is possible to – at least once and awhile – have one’s cake and eat it too. Follow along live as launch photographer Tom Cross and I cover these exciting proceedings as close to live as possible.
Teslarati – Instagram – Twitter
Tom Cross – Twitter
Eric Ralph – Twitter
Tesla is now starting to ship a “Halloween Mode” that is filled with some creepy and fun features; the company says, “This spooky update turns your Tesla into a haunted house on wheels.”
The update is just the latest in a series of updates that Tesla typically ships out in a seasonal fashion. The Spring and Summer Updates provided some fun novelty items while also packing some cool features that are actually useful for the ownership experience.
This one seems to be more fun-forward, and there are not any updates to the Full Self-Driving suite or overall operation of the vehicle. Instead, these novelty features are geared toward getting you in the mood for the Fall and Halloween.
Halloween Mode now rolling out 🎃
This spooky update turns your Tesla into a haunted house on wheels
– Ghost costume on your car’s avatar
– Enable Trick or Treat to play spooky sounds & flicker the lights when visitors approach
– New haunting light show, wraps & lock sound
– A rather chilling Photobooth
– Frighten people remotely by speaking through the app…your car will say it in a voice of its own
Side effects may include neighborhood notoriety
— Tesla (@Tesla) October 6, 2026
New Ghost Costume on Car Avatar
Driver Visualization will now show your vehicle as a ghost, as an all-white sheet is draped over the vehicle. Pedestrians are turned into mummies or skeletons, and other vehicles are all a spooky green:
Credit: Tesla
Additionally, the Park Scene with your Tesla now displays that ghost costume draped over your vehicle in the foreground of a scary backdrop with Jack-o-Lanterns and a haunted house:
Credit: Tesla
Trick or Treat Mode
Trick or Treat Mode will enable the vehicle to play spooky sounds and flicker the lights as visitors approach. This might be a nice touch for when you’re handing out candy to kids on Halloween Night.
Other Features
Tesla is also adding a new Light Show, new Wrap Options, and a new Lock Sound with this update.
Credit: Tesla
Additionally, Photobooth has a new Halloween option:
Credit: Tesla
You will also be able to speak remotely through the app and transmit your voice to people outside, which is not a new feature, but the car will say it in a voice of its own, which is a new feature with that bullhorn-like feature.
Investor's Corner
SpaceX reveals how its 1 Million AI satellite network will work and prevent space collisions
SpaceX reveals plans for one million Starmind AI satellites and calls out operators hiding maneuvers.
SpaceX has put the largest satellite count it has ever published into writing, and it says that plan only works if every other operator in orbit starts sharing what it knows.
In a new Space Safety page highlighted Tuesday morning by Sawyer Merritt on X, SpaceX said it “plans to operate up to 100,000 Starlink satellites and up to 1 million Starmind AI satellites to meet the growing demand for broadband and supercompute.” Starlink has a little over 11,000 satellites in orbit today, so the target alone implies roughly a ninefold expansion of the broadband network.
Starmind is SpaceX’s orbital AI compute constellation. Elon Musk confirmed the Starmind name in June after an xAI trademark filing surfaced, and in August SpaceX said it was working with Nvidia on the compute payload. The FCC accepted the filing for up to one million satellites back in February.
FCC accepts SpaceX filing for 1 million orbital data center plan
SpaceX also released a new render of what a full Starmind constellation could look like. Alongside it, SpaceX VP Michael Nicolls explained why the satellites will not operate on their own. “We need to operate clusters of satellites in tight formation to get enough coherent compute to run AI models efficiently,” Nicolls said. “A cluster will be 10-ish satellites connected with 10 terabits or so of bandwidth between them, and interconnected to the broader constellation.”
That is the most specific detail SpaceX has given on how Starmind will be built. Instead of a million independent servers, the network would work as tightly packed groups of about 10 satellites acting as one compute unit, with Starlink’s laser links carrying results back to Earth.
There is a bright and exciting future for humanity ahead – and space is fundamental to that future.
To achieve this, space safety must be done right. We encourage every operator to not only share ephemeris data proactively the same way Starlink already does, but to also adopt the high standards of space safety that SpaceX and Starlink use every day → https://t.co/QizAkQZvEm
— Starlink (@Starlink) October 6, 2026
Packing satellites that close together, at that scale, makes collision avoidance the central problem, and most of the Space Safety page is aimed at other operators. SpaceX said Starlink encountered collision risks with about 650 unique maneuvering third party satellites in 2026, and only about half of them shared data. Over six months, Starlink recorded roughly 164,000 more collision risks where the closest approach came within four hours of an unannounced maneuver.
Some operators keep maneuver plans private over proprietary concerns, while others cannot get government permission to share them. SpaceX called those policies “counterproductive,” saying they “largely only serve to create preventable collision risk between satellites.” Starlink is also offering a free ephemeris sharing and screening platform that returns risk results within a minute, backed by its Stargaze network of 30,000 optical sensors.
The push comes as the Starmind application draws opposition from astronomers and environmental groups. In a September filing with the FCC, SpaceX said each Starmind satellite could weigh up to 4,000 kg, nearly seven times the mass of a Starlink V2 Mini. Musk has brushed off crowding concerns before, telling viewers in June that “space is enormous” and that SpaceX already knows how to run very large constellations safely.
SpaceX’s Starmind page says its Gigasat factory in Bastrop, Texas, is designed to produce AI satellites at scale, with deployment of thousands of units starting as soon as late 2027.
Tesla Full Self-Driving is really good. I have used it for over 76 percent of my driving since FSD v14 launched around this time last year, equating to about 76 percent of my miles using the suite. It’s truly the only way I prefer to travel, but admittedly I save some of the more fun drives for myself.
Even with all of the great things it has done for me, including saving me from being involved in an accident, there are still a handful of things that it needs to improve on. These issues recur from update to update, and while there have been some improvements, they still give me reasons to either soft or hard intervene.
A soft intervention means an adjustment that is needed without disengaging the suite, like manually using a turn signal to change lanes while the car still operates on FSD. What I’d consider to be a “hard intervention” is anything that requires me to disengage the suite altogether, like missing a turn or performing a maneuver I’m uncomfortable with. Of course, some hard interventions will be subjective.
Here are the five things I’d like to see Tesla really focus on through the final versions of v14 and hope to see completely improved with v15.
Speed Limit Recognition and Adjustment
There are entirely too many instances of FSD traveling at a speed that is just totally outrageous. While some of these events can occur on Hurry Mode, I’ve even had issues with it on Standard from time to time, and despite wanting more aggressive maneuvers or a slight bit of urgency, I don’t want to worry about getting a ticket while doing it.
The two areas I notice it the most are in school zones and on local roads. When a Speed Limit changes from 45 to 35, FSD does not always slow down in a way that would appease local law enforcement. On Hurry, 52-55 is pretty standard for a rate of travel in a 45 MPH zone. When it changes to 35, FSD shows zero urgency to slow down to an appropriate speed.
School Zones have been a true pain point, and as recently as last week, I had an issue with it:
Threw FSD into Sloth to see how it handled this school zone. You can see well before I enter it, the car is traveling 34 MPH, one MPH under the limit.
Still not slowing down nearly enough.
@Tesla_AI, not 25, not 30…15 MPH in School Zones https://t.co/YQuQ8ydhKh
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) September 29, 2026
Realistically, most Speed Limit issues are a soft intervention, as I simply scroll into a slower Speed Profile to get the car to slow down. School Zones are a hard intervention, as they require me to completely take over and travel at the posted 15 MPH limit. Even on Sloth, it simply does not get down to a low enough speed.
Parking
Parking is one thing that has really improved over time, but there are still some pretty considerable hoops Tesla needs to jump through to get it to a point where it can be unsupervised.
Parking preferences seem to be where a lot of these issues will be resolved, as most of my complaints come from the fact that the place FSD chooses to park are usually not where I would personally choose to park. This morning, for example, when I arrived at the gym, FSD chose to park next to a vehicle that was parked with its two tires in the spot that FSD picked.
This is a big reason Parking Preferences with Supervised FSD will be so valuable.
If possible, parking a little further away and being distant from people like this is worth it. https://t.co/3Ac71KQiQ3
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) June 7, 2026
There were three spots in between that car and the nearest car, so FSD could have chosen the spot that would have given a one-spot buffer between the two vehicles. In a parking lot full of empty spots, don’t be that guy who parks next to a car.
Generally, parking performance is vastly improved from where it was a year ago; I rarely am adjusting how it pulls or backs into a spot on v14.3.10, but in earlier versions, I definitely had my problems. It’s gotten really good since, and this version has been the best in terms of parking performance. It’s more about the places FSD choose to park, and not necessarily the parking itself.
There are also no options or map data to allow you to choose a charger at a place like a grocery store if it offers charging. These are things that are a bit more complex, but they will be needed for unsupervised FSD operation.
Navigation
Navigation was always going to be on this list, simply because it is one of the most inconsistent and mind-boggling things about FSD. Even after a year of intervening, sending voice notes, and overriding decisions, FSD still tries to take me out of my neighborhood the wrong way. You cannot turn left out of my neighborhood’s main entrance and exit, only right. Navigation still prompts a left turn out of my neighborhood’s main entrance and exit, instead of going around the neighborhood and exiting where a left turn is legal.
Tesla rolled out Preferred Routes with the Summer Update, and this has resolved some of the issues. I also found my own personal workaround:
🚨See if this cool Tesla Navigation Hack works for you!
I have used it to get out of my neighborhood legally with FSD, thus enabling completely hands-free drives! https://t.co/DlDsCQjxRI
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) July 16, 2026
Some of the more mind-boggling things that FSD used to do with Navigation have been remedied, but it is still a frequent complaint for me and many other owners. I’d just like to see it adopt those preferred routes more frequently and maybe learn them a little faster.
Certain Highway Behaviors
Highway travel is the most consistent and perhaps FSD’s best use case. There is nothing better than having FSD handle busy highway traffic or just long, monotonous, and boring drives. I love to use it for my trips to the Flight 93 Memorial where I volunteer. When I drove manually, I chose to get a hotel and stay overnight because it’s about a 2.5 hour drive. FSD lets me make the drive, put in a volunteering shift, and drive home, without much fatigue. I have found that this is where FSD is most valuable for me, personally.
However, there are a few things FSD does on the highway that are just weird.
One thing I’ve had issues with as of late is that there will be times when I’m about a mile from my exit, the car is in the left lane and is traveling faster than the traffic in the cruising late. Instead of completing a pass and then getting over with no traffic ahead, the car will sometimes drastically and suddenly slow down, switch to the slow lane, and get behind a vehicle — all with a mile until the exit. On average, I’ll have around one minute from the time I get to my exit if it’s a mile away, because in most cases, I’m traveling somewhere around 60 MPH on the highway.
There is no reason to not complete that last pass, then get into the right lane, and have an unobstructed path to the exit. This is one of the more strange behaviors I’ve seen it do, and it really does feel like a bug. Here’s an example of it from FSD v14.3.7:
🚨 Tesla FSD v14.3.7 did nearly the exact opposite — nearly 2.5 miles before the exit it got over into the slow lane and got behind much slower traffic.
Now, v14.3.8, anecdotally, waited til the last minute to get off the highway https://t.co/Lc9vAKDyQC
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) August 29, 2026
I ended up overriding the turn signal and using the accelerator to nudge the car to do what I wanted it to do. There was no reason to get in the left lane and add to the congestion in that lane.
Another thing that FSD does frequently is camps in the left lane, especially on Hurry. Cruising in the passing lane is illegal in Pennsylvania, and I know it is not a crime to do that everywhere. However, it is here, and I really wish the car was a little quicker to get over in the left lane when it’s cruising.
Here’s a pretty drastic example I had just a couple weeks back:
Recognizing Drastic Changes in Road Condition
I think anyone who has ever used FSD knows that potholes are a huge issue, but so are large bumps or sudden changes in road condition. At the intersection of Kreutz Creek Rd. and Rt. 462 in Hellam, PA the roads are nearly set up as a ramp, and going over it at a speed of over 35 MPH can send your head into the glass roof, your butt off your seat, and a brace for the sudden thud that is inevitably coming when you finally touch back down again.
You can see here I tried to change Speed Profiles quickly, but I did it a tad too late:
This is that big bounce that I mentioned in the quoted post.
It’s just a tad too drastic to take at the speed FSD wants to go over it. You can see me quickly swipe down into Sloth, but I intervened. https://t.co/81Oc82ZJcZ
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) August 2, 2026
There are other roads in my area that should not be taken at even the posted Speed Limit because of the damage it could do to your car. Here’s another, where I disengaged FSD altogether:
🚨 I’ve talked in the past about my struggles with FSD when large bumps or sudden changes in sloping are approaching.
Today I tried switching down into Sloth from Standard but I did it a tad too late and I had to take over. You can see this isn’t a bump you take at 35 MPH https://t.co/f4tK13hsz1
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) September 6, 2026
The recognition of these bumps is so crucial for two main reasons: they can cause injury, and they can cause damage to the car. These are reasons why the suite is supervised and drivers should remain attentive. I could not imagine going over that bump at an excessive speed if I had back issues, or if I were older.
Potholes are rarely recognized and usually require a lead car to avoid them. I had FSD use a lead car to avoid a pretty sizeable manhole cover a few weeks back:
🚨 Interesting observation on FSD v14.3.8 – Make note of the van in front of me as it swerves out of the way of a sewer cover
FSD followed this behavior, but interestingly did not swerve for the next sewer cover
What do we make of this? https://t.co/RO19941AIP
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) September 2, 2026
Tesla says that there are improvements coming for potholes, so hopefully that means these bumps will also be recognized consistently.
Tesla ships ‘spooky’ Halloween Mode with creepy and fun features
SpaceX reveals how its 1 Million AI satellite network will work and prevent space collisions
