Tesla has started rolling out the latest version of Full Self-Driving (FSD), v12.5.1.5, to owners of cars with the previous generation self-driving computer, Hardware 3.0 (HW3). The public release came just one day after Tesla released the software update to employees for internal testing.
Tesla first released v12.5 last month, but it was limited only to cars with the current Hardware 4 (HW4/AI4) self-driving computer. There was some concern among those with HW3 cars, as Elon Musk explained support for these cars would take longer as they would need to optimize the code to work on the older HW3 computers, with Musk saying it would require at least another 10 days to do so.
That 10 day delay turned into 23, but it did eventually arrive on employee cars on Wednesday. That testing apparently went well, as the first owners of HW3 cars reported receiving software update 2024.26.20, which contained FSD v12.5.1.5 on Thursday night. This update also includes all of the goodies contained in the big Summer Update.
As of Friday morning, there have been no reports of Canadians having received the update.
We noticed a new Tesla software update 2024.26.20 on a Model 3 Mid-Range (2018) in Texas, United States. View the rollout of this update here: https://t.co/gfIhjwnPaW
— Teslascope (@teslascope) August 23, 2024
The big question with the release of FSD v12.5 on HW3 cars was whether its performance would be comparable to the more powerful HW4/AI4. First impressions by AI DRIVR (@AIDRIVR) on X show impressive performance, with smooth handling, improved lane positioning, and better acceleration and braking than previous versions.
Another long-time FSD tester Zack (@BLKMDL3) also noted it performed well, although maybe not quite as polished as it is on HW4/AI4.
Just wrapped up after a few hours of driving around the Westside of LA and on the freeways. Can agree with what Omar said below.
— Zack (@BLKMDL3) August 23, 2024
Did the same drive as I did with @WholeMarsBlog the night FSD 12.5 came out from Westwood to Encino on 405/101 and it was also excellent on the… https://t.co/Wfh46Bh1Kb pic.twitter.com/NRkoA4AoIJ
So far there has just been one small wave sent out last night. Just like with employee testing, if testing amongst this small group goes well, we could see a wider release, including to Canadians, this weekend.
