A team of three drivers recently completed a historic journey across the United States, claiming a new record for the fastest “Cannonball Run” using Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) technology.
The black Tesla Model 3 travelled from Manhattan’s Red Ball Garage to the Portofino Inn in Redondo Beach, California, in 49 hours, 55 minutes, and 57 seconds.
The Cannonball Run is essentially an unsanctioned, high-speed sprint from New York City to Los Angeles that began in the 1970s as a rebellious celebration of American car culture and a protest against federal speed limits.
According to the team (consisting of Dan Burkland, Zack and Aaron), the Model 3 used the latest FSD version 14.3.2 to navigate the 2,833-mile trip without a single human intervention or disengagement. This feat included the software managing lane changes, highway navigation, and even parking and unparking at each Supercharging station along the route.
The achievement beats the previous FSD record by approximately eight and a half hours.
Zack, the owner of the Model 3, shared that he never had to touch the pedals or turn signals during the entire cross-country trek. Tesla’s official X account celebrated the milestone, and company engineers described the performance of the latest software version as “magic.”
He added on Monday, “New Model 3 is insanely efficient. Across the entire country, we averaged just 248wh/mi (over 4mi/kWh) even with severe rain, cold weather, high winds and occasional 80mph+ speeds. Better efficiency = longer range, cheaper to drive and run.”
Tesla CEO Elon Musk said back in October 2016 a Tesla would be able to drive itself from L.A. to New York without a single human intervention, noting the achievement would take place by the end of 2017. While that didn’t happen, what we are seeing here is FSD Supervised achieving the feat, according to the trio.
This latest run marks another step in the effort to prove the endurance and capability of autonomous driving systems over long distances. High-quality video of the full trip is expected to be released by the team in the coming days.
Want to see more of our stories on Google?
P.S. — Buying a new Tesla? Click here to save $1,000 USD, while supporting independent news.
Help support us by shopping on Amazon here.
Links in this post are affiliate links, so we earn a tiny commission at no charge to you. Thanks for supporting independent media!
