• Tech Tech

Elon Musk makes bold claim about imminent update to self-driving tech: 'It feels alive'

It could give Tesla a much-needed boost.

It could give Tesla a much-needed boost.

Photo Credit: iStock

Following years of development and testing, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said the company's Full Self-Driving capabilities are more human-like than ever.

According to Musk, the highly anticipated V14 FSD update will feature a major overhaul. This includes a tenfold increase in model parameters for significantly improved perception and prediction, which could lead to more human-like driving.

That's something the EV and tech company could surely benefit from after facing a lot of public scrutiny over the last year, with much of it around its FSD and Autopilot technologies, such as YouTuber Mark Rober's viral video showing a Tesla plow through a Looney Tunes-style fake wall, various reports of traffic issues during Robotaxi testing in Austin, Texas, and a new lawsuit over Robotaxi FSD safety disclosures.

In an Aug. 10 post on X, Musk offered a positive spin on the direction of the technology. "It's going through training & testing now," Musk wrote. "Once we confirm real-world safety of FSD 14, which we think will be amazing, the car will nag you much less."


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Other key aspects of the upgrade will include better video quality and improved decision-making. The update will incorporate features that have been under development for the Robotaxi project.

In a recent interview, William Blair analyst Jed Dorsheimer discussed his takeaways from a number of Robotaxi rides. In a comparison to Waymo, Dorsheimer noted how Tesla's Robotaxi rides "felt a lot more like a person was driving."

While this can be seen as a victory for Tesla, Musk was quick to explain that Dorsheimer hadn't even experienced the latest update. "He was just on version 13. Version 14 is the second-biggest update to Tesla AI/Autopilot ever after V12. It feels alive," Musk noted.

While the jury is still out on how the update will perform in a large-scale release, it could give Tesla a much-needed boost. The electric vehicle manufacturer has experienced drops in sales throughout 2025. But as FSD technology improves, consumers may be more willing to give Tesla vehicles another look.

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