A screenshot of the new option was posted in the r/TeslaMotors subreddit, and while the Tesla owner in question, u/Callump01, admitted that the screenshot looks like something that could be easily fabricated, he did submit proof of his reverse-engineering to the community’s moderators. The moderators of the r/TeslaMotors subreddit confirmed the legitimacy of the Model 3 owner’s work, further suggesting that subscription options may indeed be coming to Tesla owners soon.

Did some reverse engineering on the app and Tesla looks to be preparing for subscriptions? from r/teslamotors

Tesla’s Full Self-Driving suite has been heavily speculated to be offered as a subscription option, similar to the company’s Premium Connectivity feature. And back in April, noted Tesla hacker @greentheonly stated that the company’s vehicles already had the source codes for a pay-as-you-go subscription model. The Tesla hacker suggested then that Tesla would likely release such a feature by the end of the year — something that Elon Musk also suggested in the first-quarter earnings call. “I think we will offer Full Self-Driving as a subscription service, but it will be probably towards the end of this year,” Musk stated.

While the signs for an upcoming FSD subscription option seem to be getting more and more prominent as the year approaches its final quarter, the details for such a feature are still quite slim. Pricing for FSD subscriptions, for example, have not been teased by Elon Musk yet, though he has stated on Twitter that purchasing the suite upfront would be more worth it in the long term. References to the feature in the vehicles’ source code, and now in the Tesla mobile app, also listed no references to pricing.

The idea of FSD subscriptions could prove quite popular among electric car owners, especially since it would allow budget-conscious customers to make the most out of the company’s driver-assist and self-driving systems without committing to the features’ full price. The current price of the Full Self-Driving suite is no joke, after all, being listed at $8,000 on top of a vehicle’s cost. By offering subscriptions to features like Navigate on Autopilot with automatic lane changes, owners could gain access to advanced functions only as they are needed.

Elon Musk, for his part, has explained that ultimately, he still believes that purchasing the Full Self-Driving suite outright provides the most value to customers, as it is an investment that would pay off in the future. “I should say, it will still make sense to buy FSD as an option as in our view, buying FSD is an investment in the future. And we are confident that it is an investment that will pay off to the consumer – to the benefit of the consumer.” Musk said.

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Tesla is currently hard at work developing key features for its Full Self-Driving suite, which should allow vehicles to navigate through inner-city streets without driver input. Tesla’s FSD suite is still a work in progress, though the company has released the initial iterations of key features such Traffic Light and Stop Sign Control, which was introduced last April. Similar to the first release of Navigate on Autopilot, however, the capabilities of Traffic Light and Stop Sign Control were pretty basic during their initial rollout.

2020.36 Showing Speed Limit Signs in Visualization from r/teslamotors

With the release of update 2020.36, Tesla has rolled out some improvements that should allow its vehicles to handle traffic lights better. What’s more, the update also includes a particularly useful feature that enables better recognition of speed limit signs, which should make Autopilot’s speed adjustments better during use. Following are the Release Notes for these two new features.

Green Traffic Light Chime

“A chime will play when the traffic light you are waiting for turns green. If you are waiting behind another car, the chime will play once the car advances unless Traffic-Aware Cruise Control or Autosteer is active. When Traffic Light and Stop Sign Control is activated, a chime will play when you can confirm to proceed through a green traffic light. To enable, tap Controls > Autopilot > Green Traffic Light Chime.

“Note: This chime is only designed as a notification. It is the driver’s responsibility to observe their environment and make decisions accordingly.”

Speed Assist Improvements

“Speed Assist now leverages your car’s cameras to detect speed limit signs to improve the accuracy of speed limit data on local roads. Detected speed limit signs will be displayed in the driving visualization and used to set the associated Speed Limit Warning.

“As usual, to adjust Speed Assist settings, tap Controls > Autopilot > Speed Limit.”

Footage of the new green light chime in action via @NASA8500 on Twitter from r/teslamotors

Amidst the rollout of 2020.36’s new features, speculations were abounding among Tesla community members that this update may include the first pieces of the company’s highly-anticipated Autopilot rewrite. Inasmuch as the idea is exciting, however, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has stated that this was not the case. While responding to a Tesla owner who asked if the Autopilot rewrite is in “shadow mode” in 2020.36, Musk responded “Not yet.”

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Tesla announced its new offer in an email sent on Monday. An image that accompanied the communication also teased Tesla’s updated and optimized Sirius XM UI for its vehicles. Following is the email’s text.

“Beginning now, enjoy a free, All Access three-month trial subscription to Sirius XM, plus a completely new look and improved functionality. Our latest over-the-air software update includes significant improvements to overall Sirius XM navigation, organization, and search features, including access to more than 150 satellite channels.

“To access simply tap the Sirius XM app from the ‘Music’ section of your in-car center touchscreen—or enjoy your subscription online, on your phone, or at home on connected devices. If you can’t hear SiriusXM channels in your car, select the Sirius XM ‘Subscription’ tab for instruction on how to refresh your audio.”

Tesla has actually been working on Sirius XM improvements for some time now. Back in June, for example, Tesla rolled out its 2020.24.6.4 update, and it included some optimizations to its Model S and Model X’s Sirius XM interface. As noted by noted Tesla owner and hacker @greentheonly, the source code of this update revealed that the Sirius XM optimizations were also intended to be released to other areas such as Canada.

Interestingly enough, Sirius XM is a popular feature that has been exclusive to the Model S and X. Tesla’s most popular vehicle to date, the Model 3, is yet to receive the feature. One could only hope that Sirius XM integration to the Model 3 may eventually be included in the future. Such an update would most definitely be appreciated by the EV community, especially since some Model 3 owners have resorted to using their smartphones or third-party solutions to gain access to the satellite radio service.

The fact that Tesla seems to be pushing Sirius XM rather assertively to its customers seems to suggest that the company may be poised to roll out more entertainment-based apps in the coming months. Apps such as Sirius XM, Spotify, Netflix, and YouTube, may seem quite minor when compared to key functions like Autopilot, after all, but they do help round out the ownership experience of Tesla owners. In a way, Sirius XM does make sense for Tesla’s next-generation of vehicles, especially the Cybertruck and the Semi, both of which would likely be driven in areas that lack LTE connectivity.

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Musk’s recent update came as a response to Tesla owner-enthusiast @WholeMarsBlog, who asked about the status of the company’s Autopilot rewrite. Musk’s response was optimistic. “Going well. Team is kicking ass & it’s an honor to work with them. Pretty much everything had to be rewritten, including our labeling software, so that it’s fundamentally “3D” at every step from training through inference,” he wrote. 

The CEO’s mention of 3D labeling is notable. In an interview on the Third Row Podcast last April, former Tesla Autopilot engineer Eshak Mir provided some details about the company’s ongoing work with its driver-assist system. According to engineer, the Autopilot rewrite actually started with 3D labeling, which improved the labeling accuracy for each frame used to train Tesla’s neural networks. Such a system allowed Tesla to “stitch” images together that are retrieved from vehicles. 

Interestingly enough, Mir’s mention of “stitched” training images for Tesla’s neural networks seem to be referenced in a patent from the electric car maker. Titled “Systems and Methods for Training Machine Models with Augmented Data,” the patent described a novel process that would allow the company to process these images quickly. This is done through the use of “cutouts” that could train neural networks in an optimized manner. 

Musk followed this up by elaborating that the upcoming Autopilot rewrite will allow the company to introduce several new features. Musk did not specify if these new functionalities will be distributed to the entire fleet, or if they are only unique for owners who have purchased the Full Self-Driving suite. That being said, the CEO noted that such upgrades will likely be ready for release in the next 2-4 months. 

The idea of an upcoming Autopilot rewrite is quite exciting. A rewrite of Autopilot, after all, was responsible for one of the most notable updates that were rolled out back in March 2018, v8.1 2018.10.4. Prior to the rollout of this update, Autopilot’s behavior was quite inconsistent at best, with Tesla owners complaining of jerky steering during lane changes, among other things. 

Yet with the rollout of v8.1 2018.10.4, Tesla community members were pleasantly surprised to see massive improvements in Autopilot’s performance. Amidst the positive reactions from the electric car community, Tesla AI Director Andrej Karpathy expressed his gratitude, explaining that the update was the result of a fairly extensive rewrite. Considering that the upcoming Autopilot rewrite hinted at by Elon Musk seems to be far more extensive, it would be very exciting to see just how well Tesla’s driver-assist suite could perform in the coming months. 

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The updated manual for Traffic Light Control was posted by known Tesla hacker-enthusiast @greentheonly, who was also the one who shared the initial notes on the FSD feature back in March. Back then, Tesla’s Traffic Light and Stop Sign Control manual clearly indicated that vehicles will be slowing down when they encounter a green light, even if a leading vehicle is present. This changes with the updated manual, at least for the United States.

Following is a new section under the manual’s “How it Works” portion.

“Note: IN THE US ONLY: If Model 3/Model Y is approaching a green light and detects that a vehicle in front of you is continuing through the intersection, Model 3/Model Y will continue through the intersection without requiring your confirmation, provided you are not in a turning lane and your hands are detected on the steering wheel.”

Under the updated manual’s “Traffic Lights” section, Tesla discussed how the vehicle will respond to green lights provided that there is a car in front that is also passing through a green light. A specific section is once more dedicated to vehicles operating in the US.

“IN THE US: If you are following a car in front of you that continues through the intersection, a green stop line displays on the touchscreen and provided your hands are detected on the steering wheel, Model 3/Model Y also continues. If a car is not in front of you, a red stop line displays on the touchscreen and you must confirm that you want to continue through the intersection by pressing down on the drive stalk or briefly pressing the accelerator pedal. If you don’t confirm, Model 3 stops at the red stop line.”

Overall, it is quite interesting to see how Tesla’s Traffic Light and Stop Sign Control feature is evolving. The fact that automatic green light response is now available in the US just a couple months after the Full Self-Driving feature was initially released shows that the improvements in Autopilot are now coming at a fairly rapid rate. After all, Navigate on Autopilot, another FSD feature, took over five months before the electric car maker could introduce automatic lane changes.

A good part of this is likely due to Tesla’s fleet, which has grown significantly with the Model 3 and the ongoing ramp of the Model Y. With a larger fleet, Tesla is likely able to train its neural networks much faster with real-world data, which, in turn, allows improvements to Autopilot and FSD to be introduced at a very efficient rate.

Tesla’s manual for its updated Traffic Light Control feature could be accessed below.

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In a recent talk, Tesla AI Director Andrej Karpathy discussed the key differences between the map-based approach of Waymo and Tesla’s camera-based strategy. According to Karpathy, Waymo’s use of pre-mapped data and LiDAR make scaling difficult, since vehicles’ autonomous capabilities are practically tied to a geofenced area. Tesla’s vision-based approach, which uses cameras and artificial intelligence, is not. This means that Autopilot and FSD improvements can be rolled out to the fleet, and they would function anywhere.

This rather ambitious plan for Tesla’s full self-driving system has caught a lot of skepticism in the past, with critics pointing out that map-based FSD is the way to go. Tesla, in response, dug its heels in and doubled down on its vision-based initiative. This, in a way, resulted in Autopilot improvements and the rollout of FSD features taking a lot of time, particularly since training the neural networks, which recognize objects and driving behavior on the road, requires massive amounts of real-world data.

Perhaps this is the reason why Elon Musk’s estimates for a “feature complete” version of Full Self-Driving has been moved to this year, or why Smart Summon was delayed for months before its release. But inasmuch as this seemed to be the case, recent software updates and features from Tesla suggest that the pace of improvement for Autopilot and Full Self-Driving features seems to be accelerating.

Take Traffic Light and Stop Sign Control, for example. The feature made its debut this April, and despite travel still being somewhat restricted due to the pandemic, Tesla was able to get enough data from its fleet that the company is now looking to remove green light confirmation for the feature. The period between the feature’s initial release and its upcoming update lasted less than two months, which is significant considering that it is related to inner-city driving, one of the more challenging aspects of FSD.

Part of this may be due to the fact that Tesla’s fleet is simply far larger now. With Model 3 production in full swing in both the United States and in China, and with the Model Y now ramping, Tesla’s high-volume vehicles are getting to more and more customers. Each of these cars helps gather training data for the company’s neural network, which, in turn, aids in refining features like Traffic Light and Stop Sign Control. What’s interesting to note is that Tesla’s fleet is not even gathering data at its full potential, since several areas across the globe are still recovering from the effects of the coronavirus.

Once Tesla rolls out a version of Traffic Light and Stop Sign Control without green light confirmation, the company would pretty much be just one step away from having an FSD suite that’s feature-complete. The company’s US vehicle configurator shows this, with the FSD page only listing “Autosteer on city streets” as the lone feature of Full Self-Driving that is still dubbed “upcoming.” Considering the pace of improvement being rolled out to Autopilot and FSD improvements, it would not be surprising if Autosteer on city streets gets released soon as well.

It should be noted that every Autopilot improvement and FSD feature is the result of an insane amount of neural network training. Neural nets require mass amounts of data to learn driving behavior well, and so far, it appears that Tesla has now reached a point where its fleet could provide ample training data at a relatively quick timeframe. Tesla seems to be pretty optimistic about this too, as hinted at by the company’s recent update, which included the option to activate the Model 3 and Model Y’s cabin camera.

Elon Musk has stated in the past that the Model 3 and Model Y’s cabin camera will be used primarily when the Robotaxi Network goes online. Together with the quick improvements of features like Traffic Light and Stop Sign Control, it definitely appears that Tesla’s data-intensive, controversial, vision-based approach to full self-driving is finally coming together. And just like everything that the company has achieved so far, it was the result of very hard, very tedious work.

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Fallout Shelter is arguably one of the most highly anticipated titles that were due for Tesla Arcade. The game was first mentioned last year when Elon Musk, during a conversation with gaming legend Todd Howard at last year’s E3 convention, revealed that the mobile game was coming to Tesla Arcade. This was met with much enthusiasm from the gaming community, as it showed that Tesla is starting to include premier titles to its in-vehicle gaming platform. 

As per the update’s Release Notes, “Fallout Shelter puts you in control of a state-of-the-art underground Vault from Vault-Tec. Build the perfect Vault, keep your dwellers happy, and protect them from the dangers of the Wasteland.” To access the game, owners would need to tap “Entertainment” from the Application Launcher, followed by “Arcade” and “Fallout Shelter.”

Apart from Fallout Shelter’s release, update 2020.20 also included some new convenience features for Tesla Theater. The capability to stream videos from platforms such as YouTube and Netflix is something that is quite unique for Tesla’s electric cars, as it gives drivers and passengers a convenient way to pass the time while their vehicle is on Park. 

That being said, Tesla Theater still has some areas for improvement, and a lot of it has to do with the feature’s controls. Prior to this update, controlling video streams required passengers to tap buttons on the infotainment display. But with 2020.20, drivers could play, pause, or skip videos using the steering wheel buttons. This makes Tesla Theater even more convenient to use. 

Lastly, Tesla’s recent update also included improvements to TRAX, a music-making app that was rolled out last year. TRAX has gotten a number of improvements over the past few months, and this time, the automaker opted to add a piano roll view that would allow users to edit and fine tune notes on a track. This adds to the fun factor and actual usability of TRAX, which would most definitely be appreciated by Tesla’s more musically-inclined owners. 

So far, it appears that Tesla’s 2020.20 update is being rolled out to members of the company’s early access fleet. 

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Musk covered several key developments at Tesla during his opening remarks in the recently-held Q1 2020 earnings call. The CEO discussed Autopilot developments at length, particularly the release of traffic Light and Stop Sign Control. Interestingly enough, Musk stated that Tesla is only exposing a part of its vehicles’ true capabilities today, just to be on the safe side.

“Regarding Autopilot, we released a new software update for traffic lights and stop signs to early access users in March and to all US customers with full self-driving package just last week. Our cars will now automatically stop at each stop sign or traffic light until the driver gets a confirmation to proceed. I should say that the car is actually capable of much more than this, but we are only exposing functionality that we feel quite good about and where we feel it is probably a safety improvement,” Musk said.

Musk did not provide more details about the other capabilities that Teslas already have today. That being said, his comments may suggest that Tesla is making headway in the development of inner-city Full Self-Driving features. Both inner-city driving and traffic light control are crucial parts of the electric car maker’s FSD suite, which, in turn, is a key component needed to introduce Elon Musk’s Robotaxi program. As noted by Tesla AI Director Andrej Karpathy, the development of FSD functions is really a matter of neural net training. Fortunately, Musk stated that Tesla’s neural network training is moving along very well.

“We are collecting data from over 1 million intersections every month at this point. This number will grow exponentially as more people get the update and as more people start driving again. Soon, we will be collecting data from over 1 billion intersections per month. All of those confirmations are training on neural net, essentially, the driver when driving and taking action is effectively labeling — the labeling reality as they drive, and making the neural net better and better. I think this is an advantage that no one else has, and we’re quite literally orders of magnitude more than everyone else combined,” Musk said.

A similar strategy was adopted by Tesla when it released Navigate on Autopilot. In its initial release, Navigate on Autopilot required drivers to confirm lane changes by using their vehicles’ turn signals. But as the data was compiled and used to train the neural network, the feature was refined until it reached a point where it could safely take lane changes on its own. Tesla then released Navigate on Autopilot with automatic lane changes, which remains as one of the company’s most advanced driver-assist features today. As noted by Elon Musk in the recently-held earnings call, Tesla intends to do the same with Traffic Light and Stop Sign Control.

“So, all those confirmations are training on neural net, and soon cars will be able to drive through an intersection without a confirmation, as well as to make turns. And we really feel we’re — I feel extremely confident that it will be possible to do a drive from your home to your office, and most of the time with no interventions by the end of the year,” Musk said.

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In a recent conversation on Twitter, longtime EV hacker-enthusiast @greentheonly mentioned that Tesla actually has code for a pay-as-you-go subscription plan for Full Self-Driving. The code has reportedly been around in the company’s vehicles for a while, possibly just waiting for the right time to be rolled out. 

Tesla’s Full Self-Driving suite is the company’s flagship software product for its electric vehicles. The system includes several advanced features that allow cars to operate practically on their own, such as Smart Summon and Navigate on Autopilot with automatic lane changes. There is no doubt that FSD includes a compelling set of features. The only thing that’s really preventing it from being adopted universally is its price, which commands a premium. 

Tesla currently sells the Full Self-Driving suite as a $7,000 option when purchased with a new vehicle. That’s a significant amount, and considering that its flagship features are all still in the process of being refined, some Tesla buyers may find its purchase difficult to justify. This limits the adoption of the system to a significant degree, but with a subscription model, things become a bit different. 

A pay-as-you-go subscription system for Full Self-Driving would provide access to Tesla’s most advanced features without requiring a huge upfront payment. The idea is extremely practical. Owners who love taking long road trips with their families, for example, could subscribe to FSD for the duration of their trip. This allows them to use features such as Navigate on Autopilot with automatic lane changes, which can make long drives much more comfortable and convenient. After their long trip, the Tesla owner can simply unsubscribe from FSD. 

Elon Musk has actually responded positively to the idea of an FSD subscription in the past. Last April, it was suggested that FSD would make sense as a pay-as-you-go service since it’s an expensive option to purchase outright. The Tesla CEO stated that such a subscription model will be offered, but sometime in the future. “There will be that too, but economics will favor initial purchase,” Musk wrote. 

H/T Drive Tesla Canada

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Tesla’s Traffic Light and Stop Sign Control has only started rolling out to the company’s fleet of eligible vehicles. The feature’s wide release is pretty much identical to the iteration rolled out to members of Tesla’s Early Access Program. This meant that cars would stop when a stoplight is encountered, regardless of what light is on. If the green light is on, drivers are required to push down the gear selector or press on the accelerator to instruct the vehicle to move forward.

As could be seen in real-world demonstrations of the feature, Traffic Light and Stop Sign Control works well provided that drivers are paying full attention to the road. Tesla warns drivers of stop signs ahead, which gives owners enough time to instruct their cars to move forward. As with all of Tesla’s other driver-assist features like Navigate on Autopilot, Traffic Light and Stop Sign Control is bound to get better after receiving updates. Tesla mentioned this in the feature’s Release Notes: “Over time, as we learn from the fleet, the feature will control more naturally,” Tesla wrote.

Such a system does not sit well with Tesla’s harshest critics on social media. Tesla and Elon Musk attracts avid fans and rabid critics, and some have actually done dangerous things in the past, all in the name of the anti-Tesla cause. It is then unsurprising to see Tesla critics up in arms following the release of Traffic Light and Stop Sign Control. The criticisms were varied. Some argued that the feature is fraudulent since it does not work as advertised. Others stated that it was extremely dangerous since Tesla drivers will be stopping at green lights now. Amidst all these, there are some that take things a bit farther.

Tesla critic and proud TSLAQ member @daltonnyuphilo1, for one, stated that with such a dangerous feature being deployed on the road today, it is now a matter of moral obligation to sabotage Tesla’s efforts. “Sabotaging Tesla self-driving cars so that they no longer can take the road is a moral obligation,” he wrote, while also suggesting that Teslas should be “destroyed or sequestered completely.” Strangely enough, this is not the first time Tesla critics and short-sellers promoted such dangerous ideas.

During the lead up to Tesla’s Autonomy Day last year, reports were abounding that the electric car maker was planning on holding a demonstration of its full self-driving system. In response, a number of Tesla critics and short-sellers proposed that TSLAQ members try to crash the company’s FSD test car to see if it really is prepared for real-world scenarios. Disturbingly enough, avid TSLAQ member and California resident Randeep Hothi seemed to have taken the suggestions to heart, stalking Tesla employees who were testing FSD on the road in a Model 3 test car.

Just as suggested by short-sellers and critics, Hothi performed several maneuvers in his Honda Accord that were deemed threatening by the Tesla employees. In one instance, Hothi drove so erratically and swerved so close to the Model 3 test car that the Tesla staff actually called the police to report the incident.

A look at forums dedicated to Tesla critics and Twitter threads populated by short-sellers shows something very interesting. Despite the irony in the entire situation, critics seem to be able to reconcile the allegations that Tesla’s Traffic Light and Stop Sign Control is nothing but a fake feature propagated by Elon Musk and AI Director Andrej Karpathy, together with the accusations that the function (which should not exist because it’s fake) is too dangerous and must be taken off the road. Is it possible that this is a case of mental gymnastics? Perhaps, but we’d have to take some time to see.

In the meantime, one can simply hope that no Tesla critic actually follows through with any sabotaging plans. That will likely result in legal action, or worse, injuries on the road.

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