In an impromptu demonstration on Friday evening, Tesla CEO Elon Musk took to the streets to showcase the capabilities of the Full Self-Driving (FSD) Version 12. The drive was conducted on a Tesla Model S equipped with Hardware 3.
“Alright, I think we are now live. Great, and I think it’s maybe better to go horizontal,” said Musk as he kicked off a live-streamed test drive that has since captivated millions. The Tesla CEO, along with Ashok Elluswamy, Tesla’s Director of Autopilot Software, showcased the Full Self-Driving (FSD) Version 12 on Friday evening. The event has already garnered over 1.8 million views and has the tech world buzzing.
The Test Drive
“We’re just leaving Tesla headquarters and we just dropped a random pin at Stanford,” Musk announced as he and Elluswamy navigated through Palo Alto, California. The pair even humorously attempted to visit the residence of Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, a playful nod to the recent verbal sparring between the two tech giants.
A Leap in Technology
“It’s really smooth sailing in the car itself,” Musk noted while driving through a construction zone near Tesla’s headquarters. “It has never seen this construction before, but it’s just driving around it.” The highlight of the drive was the FSD version 12’s reliance on machine learning rather than hard-coded programming. “There’s no line of code that tells the car to slow down for speed bumps or give clearance to bicyclists. This is all neural nets,” Musk emphasized.
Real-World Adaptability
The vehicle demonstrated its prowess by smoothly negotiating construction zones, speed bumps, and even yielding to bicyclists. “It’s doing all of this based entirely on video training,” Musk added. “It’s smooth right there, entirely AI and cameras just like our brain works, which is neural nets and eyes.”
Not Without Flaws
Despite the impressive display, the test drive was not without its hitches. “We’re sitting at a red light in Palo Alto,” Musk said, acknowledging the mundane aspects of the drive. He had to intervene at one point when the AI made an error at an advanced left-hand signal but assured viewers that such glitches could be ironed out through further training and data collection.
Industry Reactions and Future Investments
The demonstration received largely positive reviews from industry experts. Robert Scoble, a former tech evangelist from Microsoft, hailed the technology as a “paradigm shift” and predicted that “in 10 years we will look back at the first public demo of a robot that learned to move around the world by watching only videos.”
Our world changed tonight.
In 10 years we will look back at the first public demo of a robot that learned to move around the world by watching only videos.
This is a paradigm shift in how software is built.
At one point @elonmusk took over because the AI made a mistake.…
— Robert Scoble (@Scobleizer) August 26, 2023
Musk also announced Tesla’s commitment to the technology, revealing plans to invest $2 billion in 2023 and another $2 billion in 2024 for training computing, in an X Spaces prior to his drive.
Incredible spaces — @elonmusk joined to talk FSD 12 before live streaming his drive. Thanks so much Elon for taking the time to chat… only on X!
Watch in 4K: https://t.co/I90Hi5qBBU pic.twitter.com/dA8g8BfMx4
— Whole Mars Catalog (@WholeMarsBlog) August 26, 2023
On the test drive, Musk said FSD 12 can work without an internet connection. The AI neural nets can be trained just by watching videos.
Live-Stream Highlights
During the live-stream, Musk and Elluswamy engaged with viewers, answering questions and reading comments. “I’ll try to answer comments if I see comments,” Musk said, adding that future videos might be more engaging if edited and sped up to remove the “boring bits.”
Check out the live stream video by clicking here, or watching it below:
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 26, 2023