As Tesla CEO Elon Musk promised last week, FSD (Supervised) v12.4.1 started rolling out to a select few non-employee beta testers on the weekend.
Since Tesla employees on the FSD (Supervised) testing team are not allowed to share any information regarding new software versions, the only way to get updates is the Tesla owners when they get the update.
With the release of the FSD v12.4.1, Tesla is deploying the update to experienced beta testers most from the original Early Access Program (EAP).
According to TeslaFi.com data, only 4 out of 20,034 contributing Tesla vehicles are currently on the FSD v12.4.1 (firmware version 2024.15.5) update. Interestingly the tracking data also shows that there are no pending installs which means Tesla is not distributing it to more Tesla owners as of this writing.
Luckily or intentionally, the few Tesla owners who received the FSD v12.4.1 update include some social media influencers and YouTubers as well. These external beta testers shared their first impressions of the promising update across platforms.
Vision-Based Attention Monitoring is here
The biggest addition to the FSD (Supervised) v12.4.1 is the introduction of Vision-Based Attention Monitoring of the person sitting in the driver’s seat. The cabin camera of the vehicle keeps a constant check on the driver if he’s paying attention to the road or not.
Tesla detailed how this attention monitoring system works in the FSD 12.4.1 update’s official release notes. Now The automaker has also integrated a new Autopilot strikeout and suspension system with vision-based monitoring. This system is put in place to ensure maximum safety of the occupants, other vehicles, and vulnerable road users (VRUs) until the Full Self-Driving system reaches true Level 5 autonomy.
In addition to checking if the driver is actively looking at the road ahead, the FSD v12.4.1 attention monitoring function also looks for illumination in the cabin, if a person is wearing a hat or sunglasses, etc.
As we can see in the screenshot above, the Tesla Autopilot visualization is displaying a message on the screen saying “Attention monitoring unavailable — Low cabin illumination”. This issue is mostly related to older model Tesla cars which don’t have infrared LEDs installed with the cabin camera. The permanent solution to low cabin illumination is to get the camera setup upgraded to the new version.
So what happens when Vision-Based Attention Monitoring is disabled? The vehicle’s system falls back to the old steering wheel nags. The driver then needs to put his hands on the steering in order to keep using Autopilot/FSD.
Expanded Full Self-Driving Visualizations
Tesla has added expanded FSD visualizations in v12.4.1 (2024.15.5). If turned on, this setting expands the FSD visualizations to full screen on the center display screen.
This feature is now available under Controls > Autopilot labeled as ‘new’ (see screenshot below).
First Impressions (FSD v12.4.1)
Chris from the Black Tesla YouTube channel received the FSD v12.4.1 update and posted his first impressions in a video and as a graph on X (Twitter). He drove 22 miles on FSD 12.4.1 mostly on unmarked roads. He encountered 2 disengagements and had to intervene once during the 22-mile trip.
“I ended up going 22 miles with 2 disengagements and 1 intervention, but the 1 intervention was on the highway, so not really V12,” Chris wrote in the video description (watch below).
He compared the interventions in a chart that shows his historical testing with previous versions and how many miles on average each version drove the vehicle before an intervention.
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 v12.4.1 to a limited number of external beta testers and they register their first impressions of the self-driving software update (new features, videos, more).){kind=link}