FSD (Full Self-Driving)

FSD stands for Full Self-Driving, Tesla's autonomous driving technology. It's the software system that enables Tesla vehicles to navigate roads, recognize obstacles, and make driving decisions with minimal human intervention.

Tesla's approach to autonomous driving is fundamentally different from most competitors. While companies like Waymo and Cruise use LiDAR sensors, Tesla has bet everything on vision-based AI.

Tesla's Vision + AI Approach

Tesla vehicles use eight cameras that provide a 360-degree view around the car. This visual data feeds into neural networks trained on billions of miles of real-world driving data collected from Tesla's fleet.

Camera-Only System — Eight cameras capture the environment like human eyes would. No radar, no LiDAR.
Neural Networks — AI processes visual data to identify objects, assess distances, predict behavior, and make driving decisions.
Fleet Learning — Every Tesla on the road contributes driving data. The AI learns from millions of edge cases and scenarios.
Over-the-Air Updates — The system continuously improves through software updates, getting smarter without hardware changes.

Vision vs LiDAR

The debate between vision-based and LiDAR-based autonomous driving is one of the biggest in the industry.

Vision + AI (Tesla)

Lower hardware cost
Simpler vehicle design
Scales to mass production
Mimics human perception
Relies on software advances

LiDAR (Waymo, Cruise)

Precise 3D depth mapping
Works in low light
Less dependent on AI
Expensive sensors
Bulky hardware

Why Tesla Chose Vision

Elon Musk's core argument: humans drive using vision alone. If biological neural networks can process visual information to drive safely, artificial neural networks should be able to do the same.

Cost at Scale — LiDAR systems can cost thousands of dollars per vehicle. Cameras cost a fraction of that, making mass-market autonomous vehicles viable.
Data Advantage — With millions of Teslas on the road, they collect more real-world driving data than any competitor. More data means better AI.
No Crutch — Musk argues that LiDAR is a "crutch" that lets companies avoid solving the harder problem of computer vision. Eventually, you need vision to work anyway.
Continuous Improvement — Vision-based systems improve through software. LiDAR systems require hardware upgrades for major improvements.

The Criticism

Not everyone agrees with Tesla's approach.

Cameras struggle in harsh weather conditions like heavy rain, snow, or fog
Depth perception from cameras requires complex AI that can fail in edge cases
Many safety experts advocate for sensor fusion: using cameras, LiDAR, and radar together for redundancy
Tesla's approach puts enormous pressure on software to be perfect

Current State

As of 2025, FSD is a supervised system. Drivers must remain attentive and ready to take over. Tesla continues to push toward full autonomy through iterative updates.

FSD Beta — Available to Tesla owners as a subscription or one-time purchase. Handles highway and city driving.
Supervised — Despite the name "Full Self-Driving," human supervision is still required.
Robotaxi Goal — Tesla aims to deploy unsupervised autonomous robotaxis, removing the need for human drivers entirely.