Elon Musk has confirmed that reversing will soon be available in Full Self-Driving (FSD) for HW3/AI3 vehicles, giving hope to owners with these vehicles that the capabilities of their FSD may soon be getting closer to their HW4/AI4 brethren.
Last year Tesla released FSD v13, which based on accounts from users, is a step change in the performance of FSD. One of the major improvements in this version was the ability for the car to reverse autonomously, ending one of the big reasons for owners disengaging the software.
However, as we all know, v13 has so far been exclusive to HW4/AI4 vehicles. Now, a comment from Musk, along with hints of reversing in recent software builds for HW3, it appears Tesla is preparing to bring this capability to a broader range of cars.
Over the weekend Musk replied to a user on X, who was recounting a recent FSD v12.6.1 experience on a HW3 vehicle where it was limited by the inability to reverse, saying “it will soon though.”
Musk’s comment appears to be backed up by the most recent FSD update for HW3 vehicle, v12.6. Within this update Tesla has introduced visible reverse path planning on the user interface, a strong indicator that functional reverse driving under FSD control is on the horizon.
Elon says reverse in FSD will be coming to HW3/AI3 vehicles soon.
— Drive Tesla (@DriveTeslaca) January 20, 2025
Evidence of this can be seen in v12.6, which now shows the path planner when in reverse.
Thanks @Scotty4Scott for the video. https://t.co/xfpgQEvrrs pic.twitter.com/LeqtMoPwPz
Tesla says they have been working to optimize FSD v13 for HW3-equipped cars ever since the release of this version in late November 2024 on HW4 vehicles. However, with a lack of recent progress, and a lack of any indication of when it may be released for HW3 vehicles, many were thinking that Tesla would not be able to achieve this due to the lack of processing power compared to HW4.
But with Musk’s comment, and the reverse path planner in v12.6, it looks like Tesla may actually be able to release v13 on HW3 cars, or at least some of the capabilities. Now it becomes more a matter of when, not if.
