A team of Tesla drivers recently completed a trip from New York City to Los Angeles without touching the steering wheel or pedals. They used the new Full Self-Driving v14.3.2 software to travel 2,833 miles in 49 hours, 55 minutes, and 57 seconds.
Ryan Zohoury led the drive with copilots Dillon Burkland and Aaron S., and he shared the results online. The route started at the Red Ball Garage in Manhattan, and it ended at the Portofino Inn in Redondo Beach.
A major step for autonomy
This run beat the previous record by about eight and a half hours. Past attempts needed humans to take over many times for construction zones and confusing interchanges. But the new update handled every situation on its own. Zohoury confirmed the success online, stating, “Zero disengagements or human intervention on FSD v14.3.2 for 2,833 miles! Beating previous record by ~8.5 hours!”
Tesla built the v14 software generation around an end-to-end neural network. Instead of millions of lines of C++ code, the system relies on a vision-based system and learns from billions of miles of real-world video data. The car now reacts much like a human driver would when facing heavy traffic. And it performs smoother lane changes and acts more confidently on the road.
Route details
The traditional Cannonball route forces any car software to deal with harsh conditions. Drivers had to escape the heavy traffic in New York City, and they had to handle busy streets in Los Angeles. Then they crossed the Great Plains, the Rocky Mountains, and the Mojave Desert in different weather patterns. The car even routed itself to Tesla Superchargers and pulled in without human help. So people in the Tesla community see a zero-intervention trip like this as the ultimate test of the software.
Completing a 2,800-mile drive with zero human input brings Tesla closer to Level 4 autonomy. Under Level 4, the car can drive itself entirely under specific conditions. Analysts say regulators might approve unsupervised driving sooner if the company can repeat these results in different areas. Later, the team plans to release full interior video logs to back up their claims.
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