First Look at Tesla’s FSD Beta v12.1 [Video]

Tesla’s next milestone for FSD Beta will be v12, which will include a fundamental shift in how the vehicle is controlled.

Last month, Tesla started rolling out FSD Beta v12 to employees. This was a small group of about 50 employees.

However, just last week Tesla released FSD Beta v12.1 and offered it to a wider set of employees.

Neural Networks

The highlight of FSD Beta v12 lies in its increased usage of neural networks. A neural network in artificial intelligence is akin to the human brain’s network of neurons. It is a complex system that learns from large datasets – in Tesla’s case, millions of video clips – to recognize patterns and make informed decisions. This machine-learning approach allows the system to adapt and improve continuously.

Neural networks are already used for determining surroundings, detecting objects, and more, but FSD v12 will be the first time Tesla adds neural networks that control the vehicle’s acceleration, braking, and steering. According to Musk, FSD Beta v12 features end-to-end neural networks, meaning that these AI networks are used for everything, from vehicle input (cameras) to vehicle output (steering).

Tesla will be able to replace more than 300,000 lines of explicit code with these new networks. 

Release Notes

Release notes for FSD Beta v12 were never obtained, however, the release notes for v12.1 confirm the use of neural networks for vehicle control.

The release notes are short, but hopefully, Tesla will expand them to offer additional details before v12 goes out to customers. The release notes currently only include one feature that states:

“FSD Beta v12 upgrades the city-streets driving stack to a single end-to-end neural network trained on millions of video clips, replacing over 300k lines of explicit C++ code.”

FSD Beta v12 Livestream

The public got an early glimpse of FSD v12’s potential back in August 2023, when Musk live-streamed his vehicle driving with an alpha version of v12 on X.

The livestream wasn’t without its share of issues, but it showed off some of its capabilities of v12 and it appeared to be at least on par with FSD Beta v11, even at this early stage.

Release Timeline and Inclusion of Updates

While the exact timeline for FSD Beta v12’s release to public testers remains unknown, the expansion to additional employees is a promising sign. FSD Beta v12.1 is currently Tesla update 2023.44.30.10, although we’ll likely see additional releases before it goes out to public testers.

FSD Still In Beta?

Back in June of 2023, Musk said that FSD would finally graduate out of beta with FSD v12, however, the release notes for v12.1 clearly state “FSD Beta v12.1.” Musk’s goal could be for FSD to come out of beta with an eventual v12 release, but at this time it looks like FSD will remain in beta – at least in its current state.

FSD Beta v12.1 Video

It looks like we’re not the only ones excited about the release of FSD Beta v12.

A video of FSD Beta v12.1 has been published online by an apparent employee. You can watch the video below. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfbRkNZWKvY

Keep in mind that with major changes to FSD Beta, there are often regressions as well, and it usually takes several revisions to iron out major issues.

FSD Beta v12 is a fundamental shift in how the vehicle is controlled and represents an exciting future for Tesla and its FSD ambitions.

With Tesla’s holiday update, version 2023.44.30 and above, Tesla has made several performance improvements to video-heavy features such as the Dashcam Viewer and Tesla Theater apps.

It’s not clear whether the improvements are only for Intel Atom entertainment units or if the changes are merely more noticeable on the slower processor, but video-related apps are now faster and more responsive.

Dashcam / Sentry Mode Viewer

When viewing Dashcam footage through the vehicle’s built-in viewer, you’ll immediately notice that video appears to load faster and play smoother.

When using the progress bar to scrub through footage, you’ll also notice a big improvement in responsiveness and less “jumpy” video.

These changes may be in part due to a new open-source Shaka player Tesla implemented in the update leading up to the holiday release. The new Javascript-based player supports a wide array of audio and video codecs that Tesla may be leveraging to improve performance.

Dashcam Icons

Along with improvements to the Dashcam Viewer, Tesla also added more informative icons to the Dashcam. If you commonly use the Dashcam app in your launcher, you’ll appreciate these additional badges that provide more information on the state of the Dashcam.

The dashcam icon will now display these states: 

Saving / Loading: This icon features a gray badge with arrows letting you know the Dashcam is saving or retrieving footage to the USB drive.

Saved Successfully: After successfully saving footage to the USB drive, a green checkmark badge will now briefly appear on the dashcam icon.

Error / Not Recording: If there is an error with your dashcam, USB drive or recording is turned off, there will be a gray badge with an ‘X’ that signifies that the dashcam is not actively recording.

Paused: A red pause badge shows up on the dashcam’s icon if the dashcam is temporarily not recording, like if the Dashcam Viewer is actively being used.

Tesla Theater

Similar to the improvements to the Dashcam Viewer, Tesla Theater is also seeing significant performance improvements while browsing and watching content.

The improvements are especially noticeable when scrolling through content, watching YouTube, or minimizing Tesla Theater. In general, the interface is smoother and fewer frames are dropped.

These improvements are significant for Intel Atom entertainment units (MCU 2), as these apps could sometimes be frustrating to use due to them being unresponsive or jumping around.

We’re not sure if the Shaka media player offers performance improvements over the previous player, whether Tesla switched to a less CPU-intensive video codec for MCU 2 owners, or if there are other underlying changes, but the difference to video apps is very much noticeable and appreciated.