About a month after releasing the first updates of Full Self-Driving (FSD) Version 14, Tesla has started rolling out on Friday, V14.2 — the one CEO Elon Musk previously suggested might make the car seem “almost sentient.”
With software update 2025.38.9.5, the new 14.2 series has begun early access testing on a limited number of vehicles, with the widespread rollout expected for the coming days.
On October 7, Musk said the 14.2 would begin rollout “in a few weeks,” adding that the 14.3 would be “a few weeks later, depending on safety testing.”
Since its release last month, the v14.1 series received weekly updates that added new features — including new speed profiles — and improved performance.
Musk has called FSD 14 the “second biggest update ever” to the software, trailing only Version 12.
As of early November, early real-world testing showed that the latest software made a significant performance improvement: version 14 averaged 1,454 miles between critical disengagements, more than three times the 443-mile average of version 13.2.
Version 14.2
According to release notes, the new software update includes Arrival Options, additional Speed Profiles and overall improvements to the system’s response.
Tesla has “upgraded the neural network vision encoder, leveraging higher resolution features to further improve scnearios like handling emergency vehicles, obstacles on the road, and human gestures.”
With Arrival Options, owners can “select where FSD should park: in a Parking Lot, in a Parking Garage, or at the Curbside.”
After introducing the Sloth and Mad Max driving modes last month, the new update introduces an “additional Speed Profile to further customize driving style preference.”
The rollout of the Max Max profile was controversial, leading the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to contact Tesla after drivers reported on social media that the mode could make vehicles exceed speed limits, raising potential safety and legal concerns.
Upcoming Improvements
In future upgrades, the company intends to improve “overall smoothness and sentience” and “parking spot selection and parking quality.”
Musk previously said “widespread use” of the new system would be available by version 14.2, adding that “by 14.3, your car will feel like it is sentient.”
Speaking at the Annual Shareholder Meeting earlier this month, the CEO hinted that while “the car’s a little strict about keeping your eyes on the road,” he was is “confident that in the next month or two” people will be allowed to “text and drive, essentially,” after the company looks “closely at the safety statistics.”
Tesla is pushing forward into full autonomy, with Musk saying that they’re just “a few months away from solving FSD Unsupervised.”
FSD in Europe
However, the company is still battling for regulatory approval of the software in a global scale.
In Europe, Musk keeps urging Tesla owners to pressure regulators to approve Tesla’s Level 2 autonomous driving system.
Ford’s BlueCruise, an L2-ranked software, is present in the continent.
On Thursday, the Tesla Europe and Middle East account on X wrote that “FSD Supervised saves lives,” adding, “Please reach out to your local governing authorities & make your voice heard to help accelerate approval.”
Yun-Ta Tsai, a Senior Staff Software Engineer for Tesla Autopilot, later replies to the post, saying, “Please save us from soul crushing bureaucracy hell.”
Replying to a user who said that “Tesla must save itself and should not ask its customers to do so,” Tsai wrote that he spent his weekend “writing docs for EU — until midnight. There’s no end.”
In a separate post, the engineer complained that European regulators “can always say they need more docs, but the truth is we put our ADAS report on the website for everyone to view beyond obligation.”
“You never saw that quarterly report from other OEMs despite they claimed they had beyond L2,” Tsai added. “The system is incentivized to say no than yes, but we cannot change the incentive if customers do not demand the products.”
