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That's because the camera's positioned for cabin monitoring, rather than eye tracking. If they'd put a camera on the steering column like everyone else, it would work fine.

Well, what are we trying to achieve here? We're trying to make sure that the driver is paying attention, because they might need to take over at a moment's notice. Eye tracking seems to me to be much better than "hands on the wheel", since it's easy to get distracted (talking to a front seat...

That's a good point: that existing eye tracking systems are only used for highway auto driving. I don't know if any existing auto driving systems use a "hands on wheel" detection, but I'd guess that would involve making the wheel rim a capacitive touch sensor. These don't work with gloves, but...

Because the point of these nag systems is to make sure you're paying attention. Every other company offering similar L2 systems (Ford, GM, etc.) uses eye tracking _exclusively_. And it works. Nobody complains about it. It's a better, more reliable system than "just right, not too hard" tugs on...

If Tesla can reliably gauge eye position from the interior camera, you’d think they’d eliminate the FSD steering wheel nag on cars so equipped…

There are IR illuminators, but I'd be surprised if the centrally-mounted camera can track driver eye position. I'd guess it's looking for at head position. Every other car that tracks eye position has cameras mounted right in front of the driver. IIRC Tesla's central camera was originally...

Do we have any hard data-- as opposed to anecdotal data-- supporting this assertion?

Actually, that's not a correct quote. The actual quote is "It may do the wrong thing at the worst time, so you must always keep your hands on the wheel and pay extra attention to the road." It's "May" and not "Will". Normally I wouldn't nitpick this but you did specially say it was a quote.

No. You have one credit card linked to your account. You're not presented with any options when you plug into a Supercharger; it just charges-- the car and your card.

I suspect the assembly of the Model S isn’t automated to the degree that you assume it is. I’d bet the front trunk lid, doors, and rear hatch are all installed by humans, albeit with some degree of automated assistance. Back in the day, Tesla used to have factory tours in Fremont. I took one...

Are you talking about the two rear-facing jump seats under the hatch in early Model S cars? Those were never a popular option and haven't been offered for many years. I don't know the last year they were offered but I'm pretty sure no Model S from 2016 onwards would have them. As far as I know...

I agree; the matrix headlights in my 2023 Model S LR are the best I've seen, eclipsing the previous best (my 2018 Audi RS7.) Actual matrix functionality would be wonderful. One would think the algorithms and techniques for this would be well understood by now, considering how long they've been...

"Regulators", he spat. God save us from "regulators". Regulators stuck us with inferior sealed beam headlights decades after the rest of the world had moved on to brighter, safer replaceable halogen bulbs. Regulators decreed that all cars must have a "center high mounted stop light", aka "third...

I would bet rather a lot of money that not only does Elon understand the purpose of LIDAR, but that after a decade or so of hiring and working with some of the world's top experts in autonomous vehicle development, he probably has a much better handle on things like redundancy and sensor fusion...

They can't use the same set of training data for all countries for the simple reason that driving regulations and laws differ. A U.S. training set would be useless in countries where people drive on the left side of the road, for example. Road markings and signage differ. And so on.

I’m not sure it makes much difference. All the new matrix headlights buy you these days is the ability to write out the word “TESLA” on a wall. Granted their overall lighting seems improved, but given that Tesla can’t even make rain-sensing wipers work, I’m not holding my breath waiting for real...

I am on my third Model S (2013, 2016, and now 2023 LR), and all of then have had this noticeable gap variance in the hatch/rear fender shut line as shown in your photo. I find it actually kind of gob-smacking that after more than a decade of production, Tesla simply doesn't care enough to do...

Although both the 2023 and 2021 Model S LR cars can charge at 250kW, my understanding is that the newer car will maintain a much higher charge rate for much longer-- that is, the entire charging curve for the later car would be "higher" than for the older car, leading to significantly faster...

I assume they’re basing their performance claims on simulations, then? If do, how did they get access to other SOTA driving system simulators? I’m pretty sure that Tesla, for example, wouldn’t hand theirs out to competitors.

If only there were some kind of reliable short range distance sensor they can use. Maybe something with high frequency sound waves?

I've been in the FSD Beta program since summer of last year, and while I've seen updates with significant improvements, so far my limited experience with 11.4.2 has shown more improvements than I've seen in any prior release. (As always, YMMV). We've all developed a feel for what FSD Beta can...

That was true for a long time, but it's all single-stack now, so yes, it's FSD on the highway too.

Honestly, unless it punches you in the face every time you see it, I’d leave it alone. My 2023 Model S LR is my 3rd Model S, following my 2013 and 2016 cars. The earlier cars had some non-uniform panel gaps, and the paint quality wasn’t that great. The multi-coat red on the 2023 is vastly...

Well, Musk has said on several occasions that he's open to licensing it to other manufacturers: https://cleantechnica.com/2022/01/28/tesla-will-support-fsd-licensing-for-other-manufacturers/

Yes to all three.

That's the opposite of my experience. 11.3.4 is MUCH less laggy than 10.25.x, for me anyway.

But…but…”wide rollout” started a week ago! Elon said so!

The take rate _has_ plummeted. They don’t seem to care.

That’s honestly the best explanation of Elon I’ve ever seen.

Interesting study; thanks for the citation. According to it, a factual statement is on that “could be proved or disproved based on objective evidence.” When Elon said “We will be feature complete full self driving this year”, I think that’s a promise, with an implied date of ”at or before the...

Depending on the definition of "wide rollout" means, I guess. I mean, even 1% of about 400,000 cars is still 4,000 cars, and that's wide. right?

Wow. I've rebooted the computer during a drive-- it fixes a weird software bug a year or so back where the car would no longer make any noises, i.e. no turn signal "click"-- but I've never seen it crash while driving.

This is true. I’m looking forward to better lane selection logic myself.

Well, except that he does actually say that. I realize that detailed parsing Elon's pronouncements is a sport here, but still, when he says things like: "We will be feature complete full self driving this year. The car will be able to find you in a parking lot, pick you up, take you all the way...

Nice straw man. The answer, of course, is that nobody expected it to go to "every FSD owner". After many years of Elon's prevarications about when FSD or s specific version thereof would be available, even touting rollouts that, as far as anyone could never, literally never occurred (like last...

Pretty sure Tesla FSD team ain't agile, then. Agile principle #1: "Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable software." But seriously: the 12 principles of agile software development as shown here 12 Principles Behind the Agile Manifesto |...

Only intermittently. Most of the time just individual programmers in a room coding C++, later moving to Java, MySQL, JavaScript, etc. My admittedly brief impression of “agile development” could be summarized as “specifications and milestones are for the weak”, although that’s probably just...

As a retired programmmer-- excuse me, "software engineer"-- I understand how the traditional software development process works. How this relates to whatever it is Tesla does remains unclear...:-) I _just_ missed the Steve Jobs era at Apple; otherwise, I'd probably have more appreciation for...

This is the same guy who said it would go into wide release “in a few weeks” last November…

That "wide rollout" this weekend not looking so wide, is it?

I had something similar-- a horrible grinding noise the lift gate would make at the top of its travel. Fixed under warranty, took a couple of days as they had to order a new glass panel for the hatch (apparently Tesla's adjustment procedure for the rear hatch requires removal of the glass).

In other news, Elon says V11 FSD rollout starts this weekend. So there’s hope you won’t be waiting much longer. (Of course Elon also said it started rolling out last November 11….so there’s that…)

We have examples of actual tweets saying something was already released when it wasn't, specifically Elon's November 11 tweet that FSD 11 was rolled out at 11:11 on the 11th: Since nobody ever saw it back then, even in influencer videos, we assume that the "rollout" was to a tiny, internal...

FSD rollout is paused due to the NHTSA recall on same. Nobody is getting it now, and won’t until a new version addressing the complaint is available.

Remember when Elon said Tesla quality would be so good that if you measured something on a Tesla and it was out of spec, you’d suspect the measuring instrument first? Good times…

That is likely it. But I thought carbon fiber interior trim was standard on the Plaid…

Weird. My local service center flatly refuses. Oh well.

So how did you do this? My local showroom, where I bought my 2023 Model S LR about a month ago, says they can perform service I order through the Tesla app, and a carbon fiber interior retrofit is not listed. They say they can’t order the parts even if I supply the part numbers.

Except that Tesla has had lots of hardware upgrades. FSD purchasers with HW 2/2.5 cars got free camera and computer upgrades. I upgraded my 2016 Model S's MCU1 to MCU2 ($2500), even though Elon had previously said he thought this wouldn't be offered. Granted it does look like HW4 won't be an...

It's not new (at least for me): I've seen similar behavior with 10.69.<whatever> for months. Still, it's a minor annoyance, easily handled by pressing the accelerator yourself at an appropriate time.