2024-03-22T15:16:50 Status: #blog Tags: #tesla #ai #fsd Links: [[AI]] | [[FSD]] | [[Tesla]] referral code: https://ts.la/alexander15067 # First FSD v12.3 Test Drive in NH I was very pleasantly surprised, when I got a notification last night that [[FSD]] v12.3 was ready to download onto my [[Tesla]] Model S Plaid, so I immediately started the update, and here is a screenshot of the countdown: ![[FSD Install Screenshot.png|300x505]] For my first test drive today, I did a 1 ½ hour loop visiting a couple of stores in Northern New Hampshire: Bretton Woods - Whitefield (Village Gun Store) - Lancaster (Polish Princess Bakery) - Littleton (Walmart) - Bretton Woods. ![[TestDrive12.3.png]] I do not have any cameras mounted in my car, so I did not take any video of the trip - there are already enough videos of FSD 12.3 available on [X.com](https:x.com) that I didn't feel one more video would be necessary or warranted. But I took one photo for context and to show road conditions and the typical landscape: ![[TestDrive12.3view.png]] The drive today included a mix of different road types and traffic situation, including the following: * Small single-lane roads within the ski resort * Dual-lane roads in towns, on state routes/highways, and also winding mountain roads with steep gradients and poor visibility around curves as well as obscured lines * Two short sections of federal highway I-93 * Small town street parking and large parking lots * Intersections with stop signs, without stop signs, with traffic lights, with railroad crossings, as well as a couple of unprotected left turns onto two-lane state highways/routes or from those onto a side street, and a couple of right turns on red opportunities And I have frequently driven this loop and many parts of it on prior FSD versions in the past two years, so I knew fairly well, where the previous v11.x and earlier versions would have troubles. I would typically see several disengagements on each of the segments of this loop in the past, which is why I picked this drive for my first test with 12.3... ![[afalk42_A_red_Tesla_Model_S_Plaid_with_red_brake_calipers_drivi_c1044181-b0b2-4381-a133-d7abbd7fd371.png]] So here are my notes from the drive today: * First of all: **wow**, just wow! It drove every segment with zero disengagements. All of the things that would previously trip up the v11.x and earlier FSD versions are just gone. * I was able to engage FSD right after I had backed out of my garage, and it drove down the hill and through the ski resort in an assertive manner when the road conditions allowed it, but was also cautious at steeper and curved road segments, as well as at a right turn when a large snow pile obstructed its ability to see around the corner, and especially when it had to go through the ski resort parking lot with people walking towards their parked cars with their ski equipment. * Coming out of the ski resort and making an unprotected left turn onto the state highway Rt 302 was flawless. It waited for traffic to clear from both directions, then swiftly accelerated and turned smoothly onto the highway. * On two-lane state routes/highways it drives a lot more naturally between the lines than any previous version of FSD. In a long curve to the left it hugs the center dividing line, in a long curve to the right it hugs the right delimiter line - and it no longer meanders back and forth in between the lane markings on straight portions of the road. I just drives like an experienced human driver. * There is an intersection between Rt 3 and 302 in Twin Mountain, where there is a 30mph sign a pretty good distance out from the intersection as you approach on Rt 302 from the East, so the speed limit goes from 55mph to 30mph, but the speed limit sign is so far ahead of the intersection, that nobody drops from 55 straight to 30 at that sign. Instead, people gradually slow down and drop from 60 to 50 to 40 and finally reach 35 right before they get to the intersection. And that's exactly what FSD v12.3 did - I had one car in front of me and one truck behind me, and it handled the speed change naturally and with the overall flow of traffic. * Similarly, there is a 30mph sign on Rt 3 just before you get into Whitefield, but it is there for a reason, because the road dips into the valley at that point and it is indeed advisable to drop your speed as you get to those curves going down into the town. This time I had nobody in front of me, but the car again handled the speed transition beautifully, and dropped from 55 to 45 to 35 in a very natural way and then actually went to 30 when the descent got steeper and the curves in the road required it. * I had stopped in Whitefield at a store and when I continued, the car pulled out of a parallel parking space and accelerated and merged into traffic in a smooth and natural manner. * A portion of my trip was a winding country road along the Connecticut river from Lancaster to Littleton, and there were stretches of the road where it was a bit hilly and curvy and visibility wasn't always great around those corners. Furthermore, the street markings were not always visible, because they were partially worn out, and partially obstructed by snow on the side of the road. Nevertheless, the car handled that stretch beautifully and decelerated and accelerated as needed for those curves and inclines as well as downward gradients in a smooth manner. Totally natural driving and perfectly appropriate for the road conditions at all times. * In Littleton I went into the Walmart parking lot and the car handled other cars as well as people walking around with shopping carts in a graceful and careful manner. There was one particular situation that was very impressive. A person was walking very slowly ahead of me and partially was in the opposing lane, but often would also get into my lane. The car made no attempt to pass and instead just slowly drove behind that person patiently, which was the smart thing to do. * Leaving the parking lot, there was one situation where another car waited for me to go, and FSD somehow got the message and went first, even though we didn't have the right of way. ![[afalk42_A_red_Tesla_Model_S_Plaid_with_red_brake_calipers_drivi_5ad9b0fc-4390-4a6e-b6f9-42d57493e315.png]] Overall, I only noticed the following handful of small issues - none of which warranted a disengagement: * I got the "Full Self-Driving may be degraded / Poor weather detected" alert a couple of times throughout the drive, even though today was actually a sunny day and there was no precipitation. However, it might just have been that my cameras were a bit dirty from the drive up to the mountains yesterday. In either case, there was no actual degradation of FSD behavior that I noticed, and I just ignored those alerts. * There is a 10mph sign on the way down the hill in the Bretton Woods ski resort on the way from our condo to the resort exit. Up until the sign, the car drove at a nice pace pf 20mph like everyone else does around here, and it moderated the speed based on the curves down the hill. From the 10mph sign to the exit onto Route 3, the car was reluctant to go over 12-13mph and I had to step on the accelerator to not get honked at by other cars. * FSD v12.3 has a new "Automatic Set Speed Offset" feature, which I turned on. Overall this made the drive very natural, as noted above, but it had exactly one disadvantage: in the past I was able to just roll the right scroll-wheel on the yoke up and down to tell the car what kind of target speed I wanted it to aim for. I tried doing the same thing when I hit the 10mph speed limit and wanted to just scroll up to go back to 20mph, but the scrolling now has no effect when Automatic Set Speed Offset is turned on. Instead I had to step on the accelerator to tell the car to go faster. * On one of the I-93 highway on-ramps in Littleton, the car didn't indicate a lane shift and didn't switch from the on-ramp acceleration lane to the traveling lane on its own, until I activated the left turn indicator. Then it made the transition smoothly. * Returning to the ski resort, it stopped and then proceeded twice on the way up the hill - most likely at places where the map showed the end of one named road segment and the beginning of the next road segment with a different name, and it misinterpreted these as intersections. In summary, this is one heck of an impressive AI system! The step up from 11.4.x to 12.3 is significant and a true quantum leap, as it feels incredibly natural and human-like in its driving behavior. I've read several people commenting that the new version 12.3 feels like it is driving like a teenager who just got their license. I must vehemently disagree with that assessment. The cautious driving in the Walmart parking lot, the patient waiting for cross-traffic to clear, the smooth acceleration and deceleration on a winding mountain road where lines were obscured by snowbanks - all those skills are much more akin to an adult, seasoned, and skilled human driver. I see this new end-to-end AI stack from Tesla AI as a very positive harbinger of [[FSD]] progress towards [[Robotaxi and Autonomous Mobility]] in the coming months and years. See also:  P.S. If you need a Tesla referral code, please feel free to use mine: https://ts.la/alexander15067 --- # References * [[FSD]] * https://teslascope.com/software/2023.44.30.25 * https://www.notateslaapp.com/software-updates/version/2023.44.30.25/release-notes * https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1771050036807295427?s=20 * https://ts.la/alexander15067