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Elon Musk shares insights on Tesla’s Full Self-Driving and Advanced Summon development
During Tesla’s recently held Q4 2018 earnings call, Elon Musk provided some insights on the company’s upcoming Full Self-Driving features, including improvements to Navigate on Autopilot and the highly-anticipated Advanced Summon update. If Musk’s words are any indication, it appears that 2019 might be the year when Tesla’s possible lead in the autonomous driving field comes into focus.
Musk’s updates came as a response to one of the questions submitted by retail investors ahead of the fourth quarter earnings call. When asked for updates on Full Self-Driving, Musk was optimistic. Addressing the inquiry, the CEO hinted that the first of Tesla’s Full Self-Driving capabilities would be rolled out through improvements in Navigate on Autopilot. In true Musk fashion, the CEO seemed quite excited for the feature’s rollout, describing the experience of Full Self-Driving as “sublime.”
“Well, we already have Full Self-Driving capability on highways. So from highway on-ramp to highway exiting, including passing cars and going from one highway interchange to another, Full Self-Driving capability is there. In a few weeks, we’ll be pushing an update that will allow the option of removing stalk confirm (for Navigate on Autopilot) in markets where regulators will approve it, which would be the case in the US, for example.
“And over time, probably all regulators will approve it. But we kept stalk confirm there to make sure that we took care of any strange corner cases. It’s really quite sublime if you have stalk confirm off and the car goes from highway on-ramp, passed the slower cars, takes the interchanges and then takes the exit and then comes to a stop after the exit. It’s really quite profound to have that experience.”
Apart from upcoming improvements to Navigate on Autopilot, Musk also shared some insights on other FSD improvements set to be rolled out to the company’s electric cars, such as the capability to read traffic lights and stop signs. Musk further noted that Telsa owners would be able to glimpse a bit of Full Self-Driving’s capability to maneuver around complex environments when Advanced Summon gets rolled out.
“The next part of full self-driving is traffic lights cause they’re hard. Stops signs are pretty easy. Traffic lights and intersections are tricky ones and navigating complex parking lots, like if your underground in a mall parking lot with a lot of pedestrians and it’s on multiple levels. That kind of thing is kind of tricky. With the release of Advanced Summon, you’ll see the first indications of the car being able to navigate complex parking lots. That’s also coming out fairly soon, probably next month,” Musk said.
Ultimately, Elon Musk hinted that Tesla’s Full Self-Driving features are starting to take form. By the end of the year, Musk stated that Tesla’s Full Self-Driving features would likely be ready, and it would be up to regulators whether they approve of the feature’s full use on public roads or not.
“In Development Mode is quite all the things that I just mentioned. It’s really a question of getting your reliability of recognizing traffic lights to [the nines]. It’s like at 98% good right now, but we need it to be like 99.999. You know, really extremely reliable. When will we think it’s safe for full self-driving? It’s probably [toward] the end of this year. Then it’s up to the regulators to decide when they want to approve that,” Musk said.
Overall, credit must be given to Elon Musk’s hands-on leadership style for allowing Tesla to make headway in its efforts to bring Full Self-Driving to its fleet. As noted last year, Musk uses himself as the primary test subject for Autopilot’s development, using a special build of the software in his personal car that allows him to make the system as aggressive on the road as possible. In a statement to The Information, one of Tesla’s Autopilot development team members stated that Musk had found himself in “situations that many of us wouldn’t want to be in,” since he has a tendency to push the limits of the driver-assist system. Considering Musk’s recent statements, it appears that those risks are about to pay off.
It appears that Tesla may be preparing to roll out some subscription-based services soon. Based on the observations of a Wales-based Model 3 owner who performed some reverse-engineering on the Tesla mobile app, it seems that the electric car maker has added a new “Subscribe” option beside the “Buy” option within the “Upgrades” tab, at least behind the scenes.
A screenshot of the new option was posted in the r/TeslaMotors subreddit, and while the Tesla owner in question, u/Callump01, admitted that the screenshot looks like something that could be easily fabricated, he did submit proof of his reverse-engineering to the community’s moderators. The moderators of the r/TeslaMotors subreddit confirmed the legitimacy of the Model 3 owner’s work, further suggesting that subscription options may indeed be coming to Tesla owners soon.
Did some reverse engineering on the app and Tesla looks to be preparing for subscriptions? from r/teslamotors
Tesla’s Full Self-Driving suite has been heavily speculated to be offered as a subscription option, similar to the company’s Premium Connectivity feature. And back in April, noted Tesla hacker @greentheonly stated that the company’s vehicles already had the source codes for a pay-as-you-go subscription model. The Tesla hacker suggested then that Tesla would likely release such a feature by the end of the year — something that Elon Musk also suggested in the first-quarter earnings call. “I think we will offer Full Self-Driving as a subscription service, but it will be probably towards the end of this year,” Musk stated.
While the signs for an upcoming FSD subscription option seem to be getting more and more prominent as the year approaches its final quarter, the details for such a feature are still quite slim. Pricing for FSD subscriptions, for example, have not been teased by Elon Musk yet, though he has stated on Twitter that purchasing the suite upfront would be more worth it in the long term. References to the feature in the vehicles’ source code, and now in the Tesla mobile app, also listed no references to pricing.
The idea of FSD subscriptions could prove quite popular among electric car owners, especially since it would allow budget-conscious customers to make the most out of the company’s driver-assist and self-driving systems without committing to the features’ full price. The current price of the Full Self-Driving suite is no joke, after all, being listed at $8,000 on top of a vehicle’s cost. By offering subscriptions to features like Navigate on Autopilot with automatic lane changes, owners could gain access to advanced functions only as they are needed.
Elon Musk, for his part, has explained that ultimately, he still believes that purchasing the Full Self-Driving suite outright provides the most value to customers, as it is an investment that would pay off in the future. “I should say, it will still make sense to buy FSD as an option as in our view, buying FSD is an investment in the future. And we are confident that it is an investment that will pay off to the consumer – to the benefit of the consumer.” Musk said.
Tesla has started rolling out update 2020.36 this weekend, introducing a couple of notable new features for its vehicles. While there are only a few handful of vehicles that have reportedly received the update so far, 2020.36 makes it evident that the electric car maker has made some strides in its efforts to refine its driver-assist systems for inner-city driving.
Tesla is currently hard at work developing key features for its Full Self-Driving suite, which should allow vehicles to navigate through inner-city streets without driver input. Tesla’s FSD suite is still a work in progress, though the company has released the initial iterations of key features such Traffic Light and Stop Sign Control, which was introduced last April. Similar to the first release of Navigate on Autopilot, however, the capabilities of Traffic Light and Stop Sign Control were pretty basic during their initial rollout.
2020.36 Showing Speed Limit Signs in Visualization from r/teslamotors
With the release of update 2020.36, Tesla has rolled out some improvements that should allow its vehicles to handle traffic lights better. What’s more, the update also includes a particularly useful feature that enables better recognition of speed limit signs, which should make Autopilot’s speed adjustments better during use. Following are the Release Notes for these two new features.
Green Traffic Light Chime
“A chime will play when the traffic light you are waiting for turns green. If you are waiting behind another car, the chime will play once the car advances unless Traffic-Aware Cruise Control or Autosteer is active. When Traffic Light and Stop Sign Control is activated, a chime will play when you can confirm to proceed through a green traffic light. To enable, tap Controls > Autopilot > Green Traffic Light Chime.
“Note: This chime is only designed as a notification. It is the driver’s responsibility to observe their environment and make decisions accordingly.”
Speed Assist Improvements
“Speed Assist now leverages your car’s cameras to detect speed limit signs to improve the accuracy of speed limit data on local roads. Detected speed limit signs will be displayed in the driving visualization and used to set the associated Speed Limit Warning.
“As usual, to adjust Speed Assist settings, tap Controls > Autopilot > Speed Limit.”
Footage of the new green light chime in action via @NASA8500 on Twitter ✈️ from r/teslamotors
Amidst the rollout of 2020.36’s new features, speculations were abounding among Tesla community members that this update may include the first pieces of the company’s highly-anticipated Autopilot rewrite. Inasmuch as the idea is exciting, however, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has stated that this was not the case. While responding to a Tesla owner who asked if the Autopilot rewrite is in “shadow mode” in 2020.36, Musk responded “Not yet.”
Tesla has rolled out a free three-month trial subscription to Sirius XM, in what appears to be the company’s latest push into making its vehicles’ entertainment systems more feature-rich. The new Sirius XM offer will likely be appreciated by owners of the company’s vehicles, especially considering that the service is among the most popular satellite radios in the country today.
Tesla announced its new offer in an email sent on Monday. An image that accompanied the communication also teased Tesla’s updated and optimized Sirius XM UI for its vehicles. Following is the email’s text.
“Beginning now, enjoy a free, All Access three-month trial subscription to Sirius XM, plus a completely new look and improved functionality. Our latest over-the-air software update includes significant improvements to overall Sirius XM navigation, organization, and search features, including access to more than 150 satellite channels.
“To access simply tap the Sirius XM app from the ‘Music’ section of your in-car center touchscreen—or enjoy your subscription online, on your phone, or at home on connected devices. If you can’t hear SiriusXM channels in your car, select the Sirius XM ‘Subscription’ tab for instruction on how to refresh your audio.”
Tesla has actually been working on Sirius XM improvements for some time now. Back in June, for example, Tesla rolled out its 2020.24.6.4 update, and it included some optimizations to its Model S and Model X’s Sirius XM interface. As noted by noted Tesla owner and hacker @greentheonly, the source code of this update revealed that the Sirius XM optimizations were also intended to be released to other areas such as Canada.
Interestingly enough, Sirius XM is a popular feature that has been exclusive to the Model S and X. Tesla’s most popular vehicle to date, the Model 3, is yet to receive the feature. One could only hope that Sirius XM integration to the Model 3 may eventually be included in the future. Such an update would most definitely be appreciated by the EV community, especially since some Model 3 owners have resorted to using their smartphones or third-party solutions to gain access to the satellite radio service.
The fact that Tesla seems to be pushing Sirius XM rather assertively to its customers seems to suggest that the company may be poised to roll out more entertainment-based apps in the coming months. Apps such as Sirius XM, Spotify, Netflix, and YouTube, may seem quite minor when compared to key functions like Autopilot, after all, but they do help round out the ownership experience of Tesla owners. In a way, Sirius XM does make sense for Tesla’s next-generation of vehicles, especially the Cybertruck and the Semi, both of which would likely be driven in areas that lack LTE connectivity.
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