Tesla has commenced the deployment of its latest iteration of Full Self-Driving (FSD) beta, version 12.2, to its employees, marking a significant step ahead of the anticipated public release later this year.
Reportedly, FSD beta v12.2 is being distributed to Tesla employees and select “special groups” for the first time. The version, noted on software version 2023.44.30.15, began its distribution on Friday, according to Teslascope.
Full Self-Driving (Beta) v12.2 is now going out to @Tesla employees and special groups for the first time.
— Teslascope (@teslascope) February 9, 2024
Responding to inquiries within the thread, Teslascope speculated that Tesla might still introduce FSD beta v12 to the wider public before March, underscoring that they have received indications suggesting an imminent update release.
V12 is the right build for this to happen. Wonāt happen immediately but sometime this year we believe.
— Teslascope (@teslascope) February 9, 2024
Last month, Tesla initiated the limited rollout of FSD beta v12.1.2 to select customer vehicles, following its initial introduction of the highly anticipated FSD beta version 12 to employees back in November, as confirmed by CEO Elon Musk. Despite previous assertions by Musk that FSD v12 would shed its “beta” label, recent versions distributed to employees and special groups have retained the term in their release notes. Observers, including Teslascope, anticipate that while the initial release of v12 may retain the beta designation, it is likely to be dropped at some point this year.
Musk had also showcased FSD beta v12 in a public livestream last year, highlighting its transformative potential in autonomous driving technology, despite some observed imperfections.
Expected to include new functionalities such as the automatic set speed offset, version 12 is anticipated to represent a comprehensive software overhaul, with Tesla upgrading the “city streets’ driving stack to a single end-to-end neural network trained on millions of video clips,” according to the company.
In a biography of Musk published in September, author Walter Isaacson provided insights into the development of FSD beta v12 and the recent transition to a “neural network planner” approach within the software.
