First Drive with Tesla Full Self-Driving Beta 11.4.6

Summary

In this video, the host takes viewers on a first-person drive experience with Tesla's FSD beta 11.4.6, navigating through various road conditions including pedestrians, construction, and challenging intersections. The FSD demonstrates impressive handling, with cautious and smooth driving, and only requires minimal human intervention. The host praises Tesla's FSD for its advancements in computer vision and autonomous driving capabilities, highlighting its potential as a game-changer in the self-driving car industry.

Takeaways

• 🚗 The video introduces the new FSD (Full Self-Driving) beta version 11.4.6 and features a first drive to Coit Tower.
• 🧑‍💻 The driver highlights how the Tesla FSD has become smoother and more cautious compared to earlier versions.
• 🚦 The FSD stops safely for pedestrians and smoothly navigates various driving situations, like offsetting for parked cars and stopping trucks.
• 🛑 Tesla's FSD is praised for its cautious driving behavior, stopping fully at stop signs and interacting well with human drivers and pedestrians.
• 🎮 Tesla FSD is compared to other services like Waymo and Cruise, with the driver stating Tesla is more versatile and useful in most scenarios.
• 👀 Tesla's FSD relies solely on computer vision, which the driver finds impressive given how well it handles complex driving tasks.
• 👨‍👩‍👧 The FSD has begun to demonstrate more human-like behaviors, like asserting itself when needed without being overly robotic.
• 🛠 Some challenges with construction zones, complex intersections, and pedestrian-heavy areas were handled well, though improvements on yellow light responses are desired.
• 🔄 Only one manual accelerator press was needed during the drive, making it largely autonomous and smooth.
• 📢 The video encourages viewers to check out the sponsor, Abacus AI, and promotes a referral link for purchasing Tesla with three free months of full self-driving.

Q & A

What is the latest FSD beta version mentioned in the script?

The latest FSD beta version mentioned in the script is 11.4.6.

What is the main purpose of the first drive in the script?

The main purpose of the first drive is to test the new FSD beta 11.4.6 and observe its performance during the drive to Coit Tower.

Who is the sponsor mentioned in the script and what do they offer?

The sponsor mentioned in the script is Abacus AI, which offers an end-to-end ML Ops and AI platform for training custom models without managing infrastructure.

How does the script describe Tesla's FSD compared to Waymo and Cruise?

The script describes Tesla's FSD as superior in every way that matters, being able to do more with less, and being more useful since it can be used on the driver's actual car at any time.

What safety feature does the script highlight that Tesla FSD performs?

The script highlights the safety feature of Tesla FSD performing full stops at intersections, which is described as a safety improvement that reduces crashes.

What is the significance of the 'fullness approved stop' mentioned in the script?

The 'fullness approved stop' is significant because it demonstrates the FSD's ability to stop completely at intersections, which is a behavior not typically seen in human drivers but is considered a safety improvement.

How does the script describe the FSD's handling of pedestrians and other obstacles?

The script describes the FSD as handling pedestrians and other obstacles smoothly and cautiously, with the ability to make adjustments and avoid abrupt stops when necessary.

What is the script's commentary on the FSD's ability to handle construction and traffic?

The script commends the FSD's ability to navigate through construction and traffic, noting its careful and assertive behavior in making turns and avoiding obstacles.

What is the script's observation regarding the FSD's behavior at a tricky intersection?

The script observes that the FSD was cautious at a tricky intersection, obeying traffic rules and being sensitive to the presence of pedestrians and other vehicles.

How does the script evaluate the FSD's overall performance during the drive?

The script evaluates the FSD's overall performance as impressive, highlighting its ability to handle various road conditions and traffic scenarios with minimal to no human intervention.

What is the script's final verdict on the FSD beta 11.4.6 after the drive?

The script's final verdict is positive, with the drive being described as 'pretty perfect' with zero takeovers and only one accelerator press, indicating high confidence in the FSD's capabilities.

Outlines

00:00

🚗 First Drive with FSD Beta 11.4.6 Begins

The speaker introduces the latest Full Self-Driving (FSD) Beta version 11.4.6 and prepares to take their first drive to Coit Tower. Before starting, they acknowledge their sponsor, Abacus AI, which offers an AI platform for managing machine learning models. As the FSD begins, the speaker notes smoother driving behavior compared to earlier versions, handling traffic lights, and pedestrians carefully. They also compare Tesla FSD favorably to other services like Waymo and Cruise, particularly praising its availability and smoothness.

05:02

🚦 Handling Intersections and Pedestrians with Ease

The FSD navigates through Chestnut Street, handling construction and busy pedestrian areas smoothly. The system demonstrates a more assertive driving style, creeping forward at pedestrian crossings to avoid unnecessary delays. The speaker praises its ability to balance caution with efficient driving, particularly noting improvements in recognizing and responding to pedestrians and traffic lights at complex intersections. The FSD's more 'human-like' behavior, such as not slamming on the brakes when unnecessary, is highlighted as a key improvement.

10:04

🛣 Complex Driving Challenges and Final Impressions

The final stretch of the drive involves navigating through areas with heavy pedestrian traffic, stopped vehicles, and even birds. The speaker marvels at the FSD's camera-based technology, allowing it to detect and respond to various obstacles effectively. They note a few minor issues, such as hesitation during a yellow light, but overall, the system handled challenges well without safety disengagements. The video ends with a promotion for Tesla's referral program and a mention of the promising future developments in FSD, particularly Alpha V12, currently in testing.

Keywords

💡FSD Beta

FSD Beta refers to Tesla's Full Self-Driving beta software, which is being tested for its capabilities in autonomous driving. In the video, the speaker is showcasing a test drive using FSD Beta version 11.4.6, highlighting improvements like smooth driving, cautious behavior, and handling challenging scenarios such as construction zones and pedestrians.

💡Pedestrian Detection

Pedestrian detection is a key feature of Tesla’s FSD, allowing the car to identify and respond to pedestrians crossing or near the road. In the video, the speaker praises how the system handles pedestrians cautiously, asserting itself in traffic while maintaining safety, such as when dealing with tourists near Lombard Street.

💡Computer Vision

Computer vision refers to the use of AI to interpret visual information from the car's cameras and sensors. Tesla’s FSD relies on this technology to recognize objects, lanes, and obstacles. The speaker mentions that FSD is impressive because it accomplishes complex driving tasks using just cameras and computer vision, without the need for lidar or other sensors.

💡Disengagement

Disengagement refers to the moments when the autonomous driving system needs human intervention, either because of system limitations or safety concerns. The speaker highlights that there were no safety-related disengagements during this test drive, meaning the system performed almost flawlessly without needing manual overrides.

💡Creeping

Creeping describes the cautious forward movement of the car when approaching intersections or pedestrians to assert its intention to proceed. The speaker notes that the FSD system has improved by adopting more human-like behaviors, like creeping into intersections to communicate with other drivers and pedestrians, rather than stopping abruptly.

💡Occupancy Network

The occupancy network refers to Tesla’s technology that maps and understands the environment around the car, helping it detect objects like other vehicles, pedestrians, and even birds. The speaker briefly mentions how the occupancy network plays a role in detecting obstacles, such as when the car responded to a bus encroaching into its lane.

💡Assertive Driving

Assertive driving in the context of FSD refers to the car's ability to navigate traffic proactively, such as by positioning itself for turns or moving through congested areas without unnecessary hesitation. The speaker appreciates how the car asserts itself at intersections, like creeping forward to signal that it is about to turn or proceed.

💡Autonomous Driving

Autonomous driving is the core theme of the video, referring to vehicles driving themselves without human intervention. The speaker repeatedly emphasizes how Tesla’s FSD is improving, comparing it to other autonomous driving systems like Waymo and Cruise, and showcasing how Tesla's technology handles complex driving scenarios.

💡Yellow Light Handling

Handling yellow lights is a challenging scenario for autonomous driving systems. The speaker discusses an issue where FSD hesitated to proceed through a yellow light, indicating a need for improvement in how the system handles these common urban situations. The system’s conservative approach contrasts with human drivers, who may be more likely to accelerate through a yellow light.

💡Abacus AI

Abacus AI is the sponsor of the video, offering an AI and machine learning platform that simplifies the process of model development by managing infrastructure, data cleaning, training, and deployment. The speaker highlights the platform as an easy way to create custom ML models, tying it into the overall theme of AI-driven innovation, similar to Tesla's FSD technology.

Highlights

Introduction of FSD beta 11.4.6 and the first drive experience.

Navigation to Coit Tower with a more challenging route.

Smooth and cautious driving behavior of FSD, a notable improvement from earlier versions.

FSD's ability to handle pedestrian crossings and car interactions.

Comparison of Tesla FSD with Waymo and Cruise, highlighting Tesla's superior performance.

The convenience of having FSD on an actual car for personal use.

FSD's full stop at intersections, a safety feature not commonly seen with human drivers.

Smooth left turn execution and pedestrian awareness.

Offsetting from a stopped truck and creating a comfortable driving experience.

Crossing Van Ness with caution and smoothness.

FSD's reliance on computer vision alone, showcasing its advanced capabilities.

Handling of a steep road with road work and knocked-over construction signs.

Negotiating a tricky intersection with multiple traffic light considerations.

FSD's smart response to a pedestrian crossing and a car approaching from the opposite direction.

Approaching a challenging situation with construction and a stopped vehicle.

FSD's impressive pedestrian detection and handling of complex urban scenarios.

Unexpected stop due to a misinterpreted traffic light, showcasing the need for improvement in certain scenarios.

Arrival at the destination with a summary of the FSD beta 11.4.6 drive, highlighting its capabilities and areas for improvement.

Promotion of Abacus AI as a sponsor and their end-to-end ML Ops and AI platform.

Transcripts

hey everybody what's going on we've got

a brand new FST beta update here FSD

beta

11.4.6 so I haven't turned it on yet

we're gonna go for our first drive

together

let's see how that goes

take me to Coit Tower

so go to Coit Tower for our first drive

let's maybe try and take a more

challenging route

and uh let's go but before we go huge

thanks to our sponsor Abacus AI Abacus

AI is an end-to-end ml Ops an AI

platform you don't have to manage your

own infrastructure you can just upload

your data and train your own custom

models right on their platform they help

manage the data clean it train on it and

then even deploy your model so go check

out abacus.ai all right let's head out

to Coit Tower

so I've turned on FSD

and we are off

looks like we got a green light so we're

going to continue through

very smooth

not accelerating too much and

scaring me like it used to do in some of

the very early versions of FSD it's

become a very smooth cautious careful

driver

looks like we've got some pedestrians

who are crossing the crosswalk right now

so we're gonna wait for them to finish

crossing the crosswalk before we

continue we've also got another car

there

and now that it's clear we're gonna make

a right turn

very good

you know I have to say I've tried waymo

I've tried cruise I've tried Tesla FSD

Tesla's better in every way that matters

they can do more with less

and I love that I can have it on my

actual car and then I can take it

anywhere I want to go

the other self-driving service I have

access to here cruise I can't use right

now because it's daytime

they only open after 9 pm

so that just makes Tesla so much more

useful even though I do have to be here

to supervise

all right fullness approved stop all the

way to zero

you're not going to see human driver

stop like that only robots

and it's got to be a safety Improvement

It's gotta reduce crashes otherwise why

would they even tell us to do that

all right now we're going to make a left

turn here

there's some pedestrians walking around

but it noticed that it was clear oh

there's cars coming there was even

somebody coming on the right side

walking up to their car door in the past

that might have caused it to slam on the

brakes when I saw that pedestrian coming

but it handled that very smoothly

realizing that they weren't going to be

in our way

right now we got a right turn

very good

looks like there's a stop truck up ahead

on the other side of the road

it's offsetting away from that very good

creates a very smooth comfortable

experience

stopping to zero

continuing

another stop truck in the lane to our

right parked in the shoulder

and now we're crossing Van Ness

so far so good

I mean I have to say

disengagements are getting prettier

they're really doing this with just

computer vision

it's kind of incredible

they're actually able to create a

piece of software that can drive better

drive more places

and actually have special less

requirements than anybody else

okay we got a green light

there was a guy walking really close

behind us so I think it kind of uh

slowed down for someone behind us which

is kind of an interesting choice

I think it just decides to act more

cautious anytime there's people around

okay slowing down for the speed bump

that's good

could have slowed down a little bit more

for the first one but for the most part

it was great

went down to about 17.

okay now we're going up this uh very

steep Road here there's a road work

ahead sign

so that sounds like it could potentially

uh

present some challenges depending on

what type of road work they're doing

okay doing a very good job here some

knocked over construction signs

and now we have to make a left turn here

onto Chestnut

oh there's the construction okay

doesn't seem to really be impacting us

okay it's creeping very carefully

there's someone also trying to make a

right on the other side

very good

I'm impressed

okay now there's a lot of pedestrians

over there I think they're trying to go

to Lombard Street

damn tourist okay here's a guy getting

out of his car

we offset for that and now get back over

to the right side of the road very good

now we're waiting for all these

pedestrians to cross but it starts

creeping I like that I don't like when

it would just wait at a dead uh stand

still for pedestrians because that would

create a situation often where um

okay here's someone coming head on so

it's load that's good yeah that would

create a situation often where uh you

know it would never get a chance to go

because people would see you stop and

they would stop yielding to you so even

though there's pedestrians and you're

waiting for them it's good to kind of

assert yourself and start creeping into

the road so people know okay this

person's trying to go so you can see

here there's people who are already

starting a creep we're asserting

ourselves we're communicating to the

people behind us that we're not just

stopped we are trying to go and we're

communicating to the other Crossing

traffic that this person is trying to

get across

so really good how it's starting to do

those kind of more human-like behaviors

rather than driving like a robot and

just slamming on the brakes and stopping

every time you see a person

okay

good

very good

now here's a tricky intersection I've

seen it get confused at this

intersection with Columbus before

because of how the traffic lights are

they're arranged in kind of a confusing

way this is actually a red light but um

you know it's also a no right turn on

red

okay so it is actually obeying the node

right turn on rat so that's good

previously uh that was kind of spotty

okay now the light's green but we have

some pedestrians coming on the right

side so it's being very cautious of them

there's also a guy crossing the street

over there

wow just beautiful

okay here's a guy crossing the street on

the other side

it offset uh over to the right side to

avoid them that was very smart so in the

past it might have like slammed on the

brake which is kind of a stupid way to

respond slamming on the brake and

stomping in the middle of the road until

they cross what it did kind of moving

over

to increase the time

between the intersection of The

Pedestrian and the car and allow the car

to continue that was very smart

it's really happening it's starting to

work

and not just work no safety related

disengagements but

be comfortable too

okay here we got a ton of traffic

approaching

so we're gonna have to wait for all of

this traffic to pass before we complete

our left turn

hope we don't get stuck here

in the intersection

but I like that it did get into the

intersection

so it's asserting that we can make our

left

oh here's the yellow light

okay I'm gonna hold down the accelerator

so that wasn't good that's kind of an

issue that I've noticed where

you know this is like a really common

thing in cities is the light turns

yellow and you often don't get a chance

to go until it turns yellow

so when the light turns yellow and then

red

you need to

go complete the turn if you're in the

intersection you can't just wait in the

middle of the intersection for the next

uh light so I think the autopilot team

knows this but they're just trying to be

conservative and

um you know not rush on a yellow light

when there's people coming there was

also like a guy on a scooter coming so

it wasn't totally clear that it was uh

it was good to go so that can be kind of

challenging but that's something I'd

like to see them improve on is just the

uh

the yellow light situation that's really

common in urban areas okay now here's a

challenging situation we got some

construction on the left and then a

stopped Amazon delivery driver on the

right so we go around the construction

on the left

go around the stop driver on the right I

didn't have to touch a thing

don't you love it wow

you literally you know don't have to do

anything anymore

your car will just do it all for you

all right here's a bird

sometimes I kind of

get nervous for the birds you know they

move out of the way but um

yeah I don't know

I have seen it kind of respond to birds

I think

uh with the occupancy Network okay

here's a guy with their door open

and I've also got a lot of pedestrians

here people trying to cross in front of

behind the car okay you're this person's

getting out of their car this person's

crossing the street

so we're gonna offset we're going to

slow down beautiful

this is such a game changer that you can

do all this with just cameras and we can

ship this into so many cars

it's just so exciting

that you could have such good pedestrian

detection okay here it looks like it

slowed and stopped unnecessarily because

it thought that was a traffic light

oh my God

that bus was a little bit over the line

there so the car stopped but that bus

was just looking really close to the car

so it's a good thing it stopped

all right and we're almost to our

destination now

it's right around the corner here

you can see the Transamerica Pyramid

here's a pedestrian taking pictures

no Lane markings here two directions of

traffic

all right now we're stopping I see a

bunch of pedestrians coming

okay they decided to stop and let me go

and here we are we're at the destination

so there you have it first drive with

FSD beta 1146

zero takeovers

one accelerator press to get it to go

through in a a yellow light

but other than that uh

pretty perfect Drive

so

Bravo Tesla team this is amazing I

can't wait to see what's next this is

just a start and Elon says he's testing

the alpha V12

so go ahead subscribe to FSD beta by FSD

if you want to use my referral link you

can get three free months of full

self-driving when you order any Tesla

and man the deals on some of these

Teslas are getting really good people

have no clue how affordable they're

getting

so use my link I'll show it on the

screen get three free months of full

self driving and uh let me know how fast

how FSD is working in your areas

and thanks again to our sponsor Abacus

ai go check out their product if you

want to train your own ml models uh it's

just an incredible product I've really

been loving using it myself and on my

Twitter profile I have a video of how I

trained uh uh custom chat llm fine-tuned

and open source model using their

platform