Tesla Releases FSD V12.4.1 With Update 2024.15.5; Adds Green Dot When Camera is Monitoring [Now Going to Owners] (2024)

Tesla has rolled out FSD V12.4.1 to its employees today. FSD V12.4.1 is expected to introduce significant improvements to FSD and a batch of new features. The deployment, version 2024.15.5, will soon be available to nearly all vehicles in the fleet, bringing together FSD and non-FSD branches and beginning the elimination of steering wheel nags.

Update: Slightly ahead of Musk’s estimate, Tesla started rolling out FSD 12.4.1 to a small group of owners late last night. Musk had estimated this latest update would start rolling out this weekend to a small batch of customers after going out to employees on Thursday.

One change in this update is the green dot that appears on the screen (shown in the image above), when the cabin camera is actively checking for driver attention. If no additional bugs are found, we may see 12.4.1 roll out to additional customers later this weekend. Follow our roll out page to keep an eye on further releases.

Includes Spring Update Features

Tesla has introduced FSD V12.4.1 on branch 2024.15.5 – which means that vehicles on 2024.3.25, 2024.8.9, and 2024.14.11 and below will be eligible for the update! This is good news, as the majority of the tracked fleet will be eligible.

Users on 2024.3.25 and 2024.8.9 will also be receiving all the features from the Spring Update, including the updated UI and all the other features. This is going to be a major update.

Elon Musk has previously mentioned that FSD V12.4 will bring the fractured FSD and non-FSD branches together, and this looks like it will come true shortly.

Green Dot When Monitoring

With this update, FSD will primarily rely upon the camera driver monitoring system (DMS) to determine whether the driver is paying attention. Of course, this is the initial implementation and has a few limitations. While the cabin camera is monitoring the driver, Tesla will now display a green dot on the screen to let the driver know the camera is active. This is similar to how phones show a green dot when one of the cameras is on.

Driver Monitoring

The cabin camera cannot be occluded or obscured, and it must have continuous visibility of the driver’s eyes to eliminate the steering wheel nag. This means that there must be sufficient cabin illumination, the driver cannot be wearing sunglasses or a low-brim hat, and nothing is preventing the camera from seeing the driver’s eyes. Legacy vehicles without a camera are expected to remain with the steering wheel method of detecting attention.

At this point, regular eyeglasses should not impact the use of the improved DMS – but looking away for extended periods will trigger a warning. Continuous inattention will escalate warnings, and eventually lead to a strikeout.

With this update, drivers will not receive requests for steering wheel nags while the updated DMS is confident that they are paying attention and fulfilling all the conditions.

FSD V12.4.1 Improvements

Besides the elimination of the steering wheel nag, Tesla will be adding quite a few other features to FSD V12.4.1, including an updated Strikeout and Suspension system.

You can receive up to 5 strikeouts before being suspended for a week. Good driving behavior (without a strikeout) will result in a strikeout being removed, once per 7 days.

Musk also mentioned previously that Banish Autopark and Park Seek would be arriving with 12.4, but the release notes for this version don’t mention this. These don’t seem to have arrived just yet, but they could still be coming soon in a V12.4.X update.

Expected Release Date

Given Tesla’s rate of updates and the recent positive news on FSD V12.4.1 from both Elon Musk and testers, we could expect the first customers to start receiving V12.4.1 by this weekend or early next week.

During Tesla’s shareholder meeting, Elon Musk was asked if FSD transfers could return for existing owners. He hemmed and hawed, but eventually gave in when an audience member asked if they could return for just one more quarter.

Final Chance?

This could be the last chance for FSD owners to transfer their FSD capability to a new vehicle. Elon Musk mentioned that it removes revenue from upcoming vehicle sales. Every time Tesla offers FSD transfers, it impacts Tesla’s potential earnings.

On the flip side, it does incentivize current owners to upgrade to newer vehicles, especially if it’s a limited-time offer. Tesla previously offered FSD transfers in Q3 of 2023. FSD transfers are expected to be limited to North America where FSD software is currently available.

When Will Tesla Offer FSD Transfers

Musk nor Tesla mentioned a timeline for when FSD transfers would begin. Tesla owners looking to upgrade their vehicles would likely wait for this offer to be available before buying their new Tesla. Since this would reduce some vehicle sales, it seems that Tesla wouldn’t want to wait too long before making FSD transfers available again.

FSD Transfers in the Future

While Elon Musk didn’t seem to be too enthused with the idea of continuing transfers but gave in to “just one more quarter”, there could be more down the road.

Musk has said that Tesla has various demand “levers” they can use to increase or slow demand as needed. FSD transfers and Tesla’s referral program are prime examples of those levers. Although Musk says Tesla will only offer FSD transfers one more time, Tesla won’t hesitate to offer it again if they need to increase sales. Tesla faced this situation when the new Model 3 was unveiled in China, but it took several months for it to be offered in North America.

Additional FSD Trials

Elon Musk confirmed that two free weeks of FSD would be given to all vehicle owners whenever a major FSD update hits. We don’t expect another trial of FSD with the upcoming update of v12.4, but perhaps with v12.5 or 12.6, especially if Tesla adds new features such as ‘Actually Smart Summon,’ which will be the first time Smart Summon is available on a vehicle without ultrasonic sensors.

With Tesla’s app update to v4.34 yesterday, it appears that Tesla may be looking to offer a live video feed of the vehicle’s various cameras while you’re summoning your Tesla.

Did you miss the Shareholder Meeting? Want to know what Elon Musk said?

We’ve got an easy-to-read recap for you below, split by sections. We’ll be writing more in-depth about many of these topics over the upcoming days as we unpack all the awesome news!

Robotaxi

• Fleet monetization planning is ongoing.

• Owners will be able to send their cars to the Robotaxi fleet and summon them back when they need them.

• Tesla will take a margin, but most of the income will go to owners.

• Tesla has plans to solve driverless interventions in the future, but expects them to be edge cases of edge cases.

FSD

• Headed towards Unsupervised FSD!

• New subversions are essentially new full versions; 12.4 and 12.5 are massive updates.

• Expect a 2-5x increase in performance between versions.

• Major versions will include a 2-week free trial.

• 10 thousand miles between interventions for some internal builds.

• Hardware 4 training will begin later this year, Hardware 3 will continue to be developed.

• Hardware 5 is 18 months from retail release.

Optimus

• Optimus will be able to do many simple and difficult tasks:

  • Teaching

  • Companionship

  • Babysitting

  • Factory Work

• Tesla expects 2 humanoid robots per person in the future.

• Tesla expects 1000-2000 robots working in its factories by next year, with a limited production run.

• 22 degrees of freedom in the next generation hand, one new major hardware revision coming this year.

Cybertruck

• China and Europe-compliant Cybertruck coming after production is scaled and costs are reduced.

• Foundation series ending soon, non-foundation series starting next quarter.

Semi

• Semi is in low-volume production, high-volume production starting soon.

• Companies are actively choosing Semi due to economic advantages.

• Massive potential impact on carbon emissions

• Big impact on the profitability.

Other New Products

• New products are coming soon, and Tesla is working hard on them.

• Possible 12-passenger van, added to the “To-do” list.

Supercharger

• 58K global sites, and continuing to grow.

• More superchargers deployed this year than the rest of the industry combined.

• Tesla is providing adapters to other car companies and providing them with support for Supercharger access.

• Tesla is moving to fill gaps and relieve congestion where possible.

Battery Production and Stationary Storage

• New 4680 innovations, best cell from a manufacturing and efficiency standpoint.

• 4680 will be a continuing focus to improve over time.

• Tesla has made their battery supply chain stronger and is working on further vertical integration.

• 2023 had 15GWh of Megapack production, 2024 is looking closer to 40GWh.

• 100-200% growth rate in the energy storage market.

• Tesla is constrained by Megapack and Powerwall 3 production, can’t keep up with demand, even as they scale rapidly.

AI and Compute

• AI growth is on a weekly basis, with Tesla taking in video and training on decision-making faster than ever.

• Tesla is not compute-limited for FSD, but scenario-limited.

• There is an AWS-style opportunity for parked vehicles to run distributed inference and compute.

• Tesla intends to introduce LLMs with customizable learning personalities to Optimus and its vehicle lineup.

Investor Facts

• Elon Musk expects $5-10 Trillion valuation for autonomy, and $20 Trillion for Optimus.

• Musk mentioned that Ark Invest has the closest scenario – with Robotaxi releasing in 2025 or 2026, for a 110x valuation increase.

• Elon’s stock award isn’t cash, and he has no intent to cut-and-run and is with Tesla for the long haul to accomplish the mission.

Other Items

• Tesla Home HVAC, with a built-in HEPA filter, humidity control, super-efficient, super-quiet, with Powerwall integration – one day.

• Kids Factory Tour Event – for children under 12!

If you’d like to watch the shareholder meeting, you can view it here, along with all the stockholder vote results.