FSD & Autopilot

Handelsblatt reports that Volkswagen has selected Wayve over Nvidia and around a dozen other suppliers to provide the AI driving model for its future cars, following a comparison held in a southern German city in August. Wayve would supply only the software, integrated by Cariad into Volkswagen's own chips and sensors, while Nvidia would have supplied a complete system — and VW is said to be negotiating a separate Nvidia chip deal anyway. Nothing is officially confirmed.

Rivian's VP of investor relations Chip Newcom and SVP of autonomy James Philbin told Evercore ISI's ADAS, AV and AI Forum in New York on 30 September 2026 that lidar now costs the company a few hundred dollars per vehicle, against thousands or tens of thousands historically. Point-to-point autonomy starts rolling out to early adopters on Gen 2 R1 hardware by the end of 2026, with operational limits including parking lots, and reaches the wider fleet later in 2027. R2s carrying lidar and Rivian's 1,600 TOPS RAP1 computer go to employees this year and paying customers in 2027. Tesla's long-standing argument against lidar was that it was too expensive to justify.

Germany's Federal Ministry for Transport says it is "technology-open and safety-oriented" on Tesla FSD (Supervised), with the KBA reviewing the file alongside the Dutch RDW and Tesla — the first time the biggest outstanding vote has called itself open. On the same day the European Transport Safety Council escalated from June's call for a pause to urging outright rejection, arguing the 50% speed offset should never have been treated as needing no Article 39 exemption. The Technical Committee on Motor Vehicles votes in December.

A Robotaxi app notification told Austin riders the Cybercab fleet had doubled. Availability went from 58 to 125 vehicles between 21 and 25 September 2026, while volunteer-tracked Texas registrations rose from 69 to 126 Cybercabs out of 546 robotaxis in total. The near-match between 125 available and 126 registered means almost every Cybercab is working — unlike the 420 registered Model Y robotaxis.

Correspondence reported by elektrowoz.pl shows Tesla asked Poland on 14 April 2026 to recognise the Dutch RDW's temporary Article 39 approval for FSD (Supervised). Poland's TDT, which would have to decide, says no manufacturer documents were ever submitted. The Motor Transport Institute wants the system tested in Polish conditions, and Tesla offered to run demonstration drives in Berlin rather than Poland.

Tesla named Ireland as an anticipated FSD market on 26 September 2026. Ireland's Department of Transport has said FSD can only be allowed domestically once it is approved at EU level — unlike the seven countries that recognised the Dutch authorisation nationally. With the EU vote slipped to December at the earliest, "in due course" means 2027.

The Brussels road-safety non-profit Johanna.be published its FSD30 study on 24 September 2026: over roughly 400 km driven in July, Tesla's FSD (Supervised) exceeded the limit in 55% of the 30 km/h segments tested, averaging 44 km/h, and in 42% of 20 km/h woonerven. In most 30 km/h zones the car displayed a 50 km/h limit despite having recognised the 30 signs. EU member states vote on extending FSD approval on 6 October.

Crowdsourced tracking says just eight Tesla robotaxis carried passengers in Austin in the seven days to 22 September 2026, against 476 VINs registered with the Texas DMV and 179 seen on the road in 30 days. The post-Cybercab surge above 100 has dissipated, leaving the service roughly where it launched in June 2025.

Tesla FSD v14.3.9 is raising false 'poor camera visibility' warnings and booking owners into service appointments they do not need. Tesla has acknowledged the bug and is cancelling the appointments itself. Whether v14.3.10 fixes it is still unknown.

Volkswagen's search for an outside investor in MOIA, its autonomous mobility arm, failed in its first round according to Manager Magazin, with Uber and Lyft both withdrawing. VW has invested roughly 2 billion euros already and reportedly cannot carry alone the further billion needed to reach commercial operation in the 2030s. Talks broke down over per-kilometre versus per-vehicle payment, whether the ID. Buzz AD would be the vehicle, and contract length. Volkswagen has not commented.

XPeng is trying to turn its self-driving and smart-cockpit technology into a licensing business, courting carmakers, suppliers and software firms well beyond its existing Volkswagen deal, according to a Reuters report on 18 September 2026. A strategic commercialisation team was formed around March 2026. No customers have been named. It is the same playbook Tesla has pitched for Full Self-Driving since 2021 — one that Ford's chief executive publicly declined and that Elon Musk admitted in November 2025 automakers had rejected.

A rider says a ten-minute north Austin trip took 70 minutes and cost $20 because Tesla's robotaxi avoids US-183, Loop 1 and at-grade rail crossings, forcing a long surface-street detour through East Austin. The trip itself is a single unverified account; the routing constraint behind it is well documented.

Internal Berlin Senate documents seen by Manager Magazin and Der Spiegel describe a Waymo plan for up to 50 test vehicles in the city before the end of 2026, with commercial robotaxi service in 2027. Waymo has not confirmed it, and the KBA has never granted anyone the operating licence such a service needs.

At a 42dot media day on 11 September 2026, Hyundai Motor Group said it had deliberately slowed its self-driving programme and would overtake rivals' cumulative driving data within five years of mass production starting. Mass production of its own Atria AI stack is set for the second half of 2029, so the five-year clock starts then, not now. The capability target for that date is Level 2++.

On 7 September 2026 a developer interface was left open on a Cybercab's cabin screen during a paid Austin ride, revealing an on-screen joystick for manual driving: slide to steer, tap-and-hold for throttle and reverse, plus brake, horn and door buttons. It appears capped below 8 mph and is intended for service technicians, not passengers.

Asked by a German rider in Austin whether the Cybercab would reach the EU, Elon Musk replied "Hopefully soon in Europe too" on 8 September 2026. There is no city, date or filing behind it: Tesla is still waiting on the 6 October EU vote for supervised FSD, and a car with no steering wheel is a separate, higher approval class.

Tesla AI lead Ashok Elluswamy reportedly said at the Cybercab launch that FSD v14 Lite for Model S and Model X was expected to ship 'last week'. HW3 Model 3s and Model Ys have had v14.1 Lite since earlier this year; the discontinued Model S and X are the last cars without it, and Tesla has confirmed nothing.

On 4 September a Cybercab to Lustre Pearl East in Austin quoted $7.77 against $12.10 for a Model Y robotaxi. By the weekend the same destination quoted $15.24 for the Cybercab and $12.04 for the Model Y, with Uber X at $7.95. The Model Y price barely moved; the Cybercab nearly doubled. Tesla publishes no surge-pricing policy, and the figures come from rider screenshots.

Tesla AI lead Ashok Elluswamy said on X on 4 September 2026 that round-the-clock Robotaxi service is "next month or so" away, gated on the next module of the FSD v15 stack. The service currently runs 6 AM to 10 PM - a window Tesla shortened by four hours in August. Waymo has run 24/7 for years. Tesla has announced nothing officially, and the only date on record is a reply to a tweet.

Crowdsourced tracking put Tesla's unsupervised robotaxi fleet at close to 200 vehicles across Austin, Dallas and Houston on 31 August 2026, up from roughly 28 three weeks earlier. The only cumulative-mileage figure Tesla has offered is unchanged from July, and empty Cybercabs are already running on Austin public roads.

French Transport Minister Philippe Tabarot, who refused to authorise FSD in July, said on 2 September 2026 after a videoconference with Elon Musk that France will support its homologation. Tesla has supplied two FSD-equipped cars for public-road testing, and two of the eight studies in Tesla's Article 39 filing answer France's July objections almost word for word. Nothing is approved yet, but France alone is worth roughly 15% of the EU population the 6 October vote needs.

Video from an Austin Supercharger shows a Tesla engineer repositioning a production Cybercab by holding directional buttons on the centre touchscreen, after automated parking left the car too far from the stall for the cable to reach. It is the first public look at how a car with no steering wheel or pedals gets moved by a human.

Elon Musk said over the weekend that FSD pothole avoidance is "coming soon". He said the same in April 2019, and described pothole mini-maps in 2020. The feature is still listed only as an "Upcoming Improvement" in FSD v14 release notes including v14.3.8, with no date and no published specification. No hardware upgrade would be needed. Tesla has not confirmed the capability.

Tesla Motors Australia has told owners that FSD v14 Lite, the Hardware 3 branch, is in active development for Australia and New Zealand — the first right-hand-drive market named for it. No date was given, and Europe's HW3 cars were not mentioned.