Hey everybody, welcome back to the Elon Musk Podcast. This is a show where we discuss the critical Crossroads, The Shape, SpaceX, Tesla X, The Boring Company, and Neuralink. I'm your host, Will Walden. Tesla is changing the way that people drive their vehicles. The full self driving software is set to include hand gesture recognition in its upcoming updates. Now this feature is showcased in a video Tesla's X account where FSD version 12 responded to a
pedestrian's hand gestures. Now Elon Musk confirmed that this capability would be improved in version 12.4 and further enhanced in 12.5. Gesture recognition has been part of Tesla's plans for many years. Elon Musk mentioned hand gesture recognition in 2021 and the goal is for FSD to adapt safely to new and unique situations, such as following a police officer's instructions or also understanding a cyclist's hand signals.
Now, Boris Johnson, the former UK Prime Minister, recently experienced FSD version 12 while navigating the crowded streets of Los Angeles. He was accompanied by his wife and child, Johnson, and they tested the vehicle through complex intersections, heavy traffic, and among pedestrians with a Tesla assistant present now after approximately 45 minutes of driving, Johnson expressed his approval at the
end of about 45 minutes. I feel like he driving text examinator, except that I want to tell the car that has passed with flying colors. During his drive, Johnson encountered a situation where a hotel staff member gestured to him. The car did not respond to the gesture, even with FSD 12 Point 3.6 and a Tesla official confirm that this would be addressed in the next update, expected to be
ready by the following month. It's not entirely clear whether the Tesla employee was referring to FSD 12.4, which was scheduled to roll out to the public later in the week, or to the subsequent major release 12.5, according to Musk, and version 12.5 is anticipated to handle more complex scenarios and introduce vehicle to fleet communication. Now, solving FSD involves addressing challenges that have never been tackled before. Tesla's approach with FSD and AI
has evolved over time. Initially, the focus was on reading Rd. signs for autonomy. Now the system relies on recognizing patterns based on millions of examples without needing to understand each specific sign. And for hand gestures, Vehicle will not need to know the exact meaning of each gesture, Instead, it will recognize how to react based on previous examples. Tesla trains its AI by feeding it millions of instances showing various situations and how humans respond.
Now Tesla's continuous video processing and extensive fleet data collection contribute to the ongoing improvement of FSD. This year Tesla is expected to spend $12 billion on AI development primarily aimed at enhancing FSD. Now must claim that the next update to Tesla's supervised full self driving FSD software would result in a 5 to 10 times improvement in miles per intervention and if accurate, this would mark a significant advancement of Tesla's self
driving technology. Musk discussed the forthcoming FSD updates with the first being 12.4 which was expected to be released to employees over the weekend and delimited external beta testers the following week, and Musk estimated the roughly 5 to 10 times improvement in miles per intervention compared to 12.3 now. Achieving such an improvement would represent a major step in the development of Tesla's self
driving system. While Tesla does not publicly really lease FSD program data, version 12.3 already demonstrated A reduced driver intervention. Further improvements could elevate the system's performance significantly. I must also commented on the release of 12.5 expected by late June, predicting further improvements in miles per intervention and a single stack system eliminating separate code bases for highway and city
driving. Previously, version 11 was claimed to be a single stack integrating both driving environments. The anticipated FSD 12.4 is set for internal testing with employees and limited external testers. Several enhancements are expected, similar to the performance lead from version 11 to version 12, and version 12.4 will focus on user comfort by minimizing hard accelerations and sudden breaking.
And according to Musk, it will be moving closer to Tesla's goal of announcing a Robo Taxi service by August 8th, 2024. The steering wheel mag will be removed by FSD 12.4 with the camera based driver monitoring system taking over, enabling a hands free experience. This improvement will benefit owners with cabin cameras equipped with infrared lights, though the steering wheel mag may still be used as a fall back
mechanism. Another key feature potentially included in 12.4 is Banish Auto Park, previously known as Reverse Summon. This feature allows users to select a parking spot, exit the vehicle, and have the car park itself, and with its inclusion and 12.4 is not confirmed, Musk has indicated that driverless parking is forthcoming. Additionally, Tesla will soon automatically seek parking spots upon arriving at a destination entering auto park mode in
parking lots. This feature aligns with Musk's recent announcements on X and hand Gesture recognition has been featured in various videos, though Musk caution against expecting this in the current FSD version. However, a Tesla employee indicated it would be included in an update next month. They recently added FSD 12 point 3.6 to 12 or 2024.14 branch with updates 2024 dot 14.5 and 2024 dot 14.6. Now this suggests that the next FSD version will also be based on 2024.14, available to any
vehicle on this branch. And for users on update 2024, point 3.25, this means they will receive all features from updates 2024.8 and 2024.14, making it a substantial update. Hey, thank you so much for listening today. I really do appreciate your support. If you could take a second and hit this subscribe or the follow button on whatever podcast platform that you're listening on right now, I greatly appreciate it.
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