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FSD 12.5 Which Feels Like What Elon Promised 12.4 Would Be - A Step Change Improvement Over 12.4 And Is Shown Handling Stubborn Cat

There are videos being shown now of FSD 12.5, Tesla's latest version of its full self-driving software, and it shows a step change improvement over version 12.4.
Released Last Night: FSD 12.5 Which Feels Like What Elon Promised 12.4 Would Be - A Step Change Improvement Over 12.4 And Is Shown Handling Stubborn Cat

Tesla FSD 12.5 - A Step Change Improvement Over 12.4

Tesla has released its FSD 12.5 software, and we have several people who have long been testers of Tesla's FSD software and their first impressions as the software was just released last night.

We're going to look at AI DRIVR, a veteran tester of Tesla's FSD software, and look at his thoughts on the software as he tested it out for the first time. He regularly posts updates, both positive and negative, about FSD had this to say:

- by far the smoothest version of FSD ever. the way it approaches stopped traffic, takes off, slows down for turns, etc etc has never felt better. turns feel drastically improved too, especially around other traffic (like multiple turn lanes). feels like there’s zero indecisiveness on the steering wheel and feels CONFIDENT

- “creeping” behavior improved, every unprotected turn it has been through so far it creeps and continues without coming to a secondary stop or even slowing back down. does them in “one motion” if that makes sense. will obviously need more testing on unprotected turns in general to form a real opinion though

- no more speed control issues where it speeds up and then slows back down (so far, at least). it still does speed a little fast in my neighborhood (33mph in a 25) but stays at a consistent speed now

- I tried to wear sunglasses and it disabled driver monitoring, meaning it still has steering wheel nags with sunglasses on

- highway definitely still feels like the old stack to me and not end-to-end. might not have made it into this release. no release notes and it still displays messages on the screen like “changing lanes into faster lane” and has manual speed control (no auto max speed). also doesn’t feel as smooth as city driving with its acceleration and braking

- my first ~35 mile drive to the supercharger was completely intervention free, charging up to do more testing in Concord, CA now because 12.4 struggled a lot here

It handled a stubborn cat in the middle of the road perfectly by stopping for it, and slowly creeping forward until the cat moved out of the way. You can watch it here:

AI DRIVR says specifically to the Tesla AI Team: "FSD 12.5 is a step change improvement."

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More Feedback on FSD 12.5 Including Smooth Steering

AI DRIVR also talks about the steering wheel, calling it seriously next level. He shares a video of the steering and that it is smoother than any Uber ride he has ever been in. You can watch the video here:

FSD 12.5 also seems to have fixed - at least in this video - the issue where it suddenly slows down during a yellow light. This was dangerous behavior because doing that could cause the car behind you to rear end you, creating an accident.

Here's the video of that:

FSD is driving very smooth and the next two videos show it handling a very confusing intersection, which I have to agree on.  And the second is it getting cut off by a biker.

When I watched this next video, I didn't even know where the car should have turned, but it followed the correct path to where I needed to go.

You can see that video here, and it is a very complicated intersection with many different multiple lane roads intersecting in different directions.

The next video shows FSD 12.5 getting cut off by a cyclist who pulls right out in front of the Tesla vehicle. The Tesla vehicle simply slows down for the bicyclist, not slamming on the brakes, and continues on its way. It was handled perfectly and delicately, how it should have been.

Here's the video for that:

All in all, this looks to be a promising release of Tesla's FSD software. Will it be perfect yet? No, but with the videos I'm seeing, many of the annoyances have been fixed. It will continue to be a march of "9's" in order to get the software to where Tesla wants it to be for driverless vehicles.

It's also important to note that according to Elon Musk, FSD 12.5 starts only in the Model Y with Hardware 4, but will eventually be put on the Model 3 with Hardware 3, and other Hardware 3 vehicles. This is due to the 5x increase in parameter count for AI and the code needs to be optimized and tuned for Hardware 3. But, it's coming.

Initial release FSD 12.5For Further Reading: Best Selling Tesla Cybertruck Will Finally Get FSD With Version 12.5: Also Merges Highway and City Streets Stacks

What do you think of FSD 12.5? Is it a step change improvement and if you own a Tesla, will you try it out?

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Hi! I'm Jeremy Noel Johnson, and I am a Tesla investor and supporter and own a 2022 Model 3 RWD EV and I don't have range anxiety :). I enjoy bringing you breaking Tesla news as well as anything about Tesla or other EV companies I can find, like Aptera. Other interests of mine are AI, Tesla Energy and the Tesla Bot! You can follow me on X.COM or LinkedIn to stay in touch and follow my Tesla and EV news coverage.

Image Credit & References: AI DRIVR

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