Tesla is working towards the release of Full Self-Driving (FSD) Beta version 12. Current testers are still on some iteration of 11.3, and while 11.4 will be the next update, testers can expect to see a significant change when version 12 is released as it will feature “end-to-end AI,” according to the latest update on the company’s progress from CEO Elon Musk.
On Sunday afternoon Musk provided a timeline for when we might see 11.4, saying that it will be released to employees for internal testing starting on Monday. As with all other releases, a timeline for a public release will depend on how many bugs are discovered by employees, and how major those bugs are, but given previous iterations it will likely be at least a few weeks before we begin to see the start of wide public deployment.
Ships to Tesla employees tomorrow, then progressively wider as confidence grows.
We test as much as possible in simulation and with QA drivers, but reality is vastly more complex.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 7, 2023
While Tesla fans will be eagerly awaiting the release of 11.4, Musk later teased that “end-to-end AI” will come with the release of version 12. Currently FSD Beta only uses what can be considered partial AI, with the system using neural nets for the system to determine what is going on around it. The part that doesn’t use AI is what it does with that information in deciding what the vehicle should do next, for example slow down, accelerate, or taking a corner. According to Musk v12 will also use AI for the second part of the equation, taking what the cameras see (the inputs) and using to determine what to do (the outputs).
Arguably, v11.4 should be v12.0, as there are so many major improvements.
v12 is reserved for when FSD is end-to-end AI, from images in to steering, brakes & acceleration out.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 7, 2023
As for when we can expect to see the release of v12, Musk didn’t provide a timeline. That may be a good thing as the last significant change to FSD Beta, which was the switch to v11 and the merging of the FSD and legacy Autopilot highway stacks, the update was released nearly a year after it was supposed to, according to the original timeline provided by Musk.
