A Glimpse Into Tesla’s Autonomous Driving: The Hidden ‘Elon Mode’

Known for unearthing undisclosed Tesla features, Tesla hacker @GreenTheOnly has recently stirred the Tesla community with a remarkable discovery. His Twitter reveal uncovers a unique facet of Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) Beta software, cryptically named ‘Elon Mode’.

‘Elon Mode’ represents a significant shift in Tesla’s driver monitoring system, notorious for its steering wheel ‘nags’. Instead of urging drivers to hold the wheel to confirm their attention, ‘Elon Mode’ relies solely on the car’s internal camera to keep an eye on the driver, ensuring they’re alert. This shift towards a more advanced monitoring method could potentially herald hands-free driving.

@GreenTheOnly gave us an in-depth look at ‘Elon Mode’ through a virtual ride spanning almost 1,000km. This journey showcased the pleasures of a nag-free trip under the watchful gaze of Tesla’s computer vision-based driver monitoring system. Green observed that many of FSD’s more bothersome quirks, such as erratic lane changes, became less of an issue when he was free from continual steering wheel checks. He even suggested the possibility of reading a book during travel, underscoring the improved, less disruptive driving experience.

Commending the FSD’s performance on divided highways, Green hinted at the potential for a car to navigate between two points without any human intervention. He even suggested that if offered as Level 3 automation, where constant driver attention is not required, it could be a “solid deal at $15k” – a reference to historical FSD prices.

Despite these promising aspects, Green did not shy away from highlighting the downsides of ‘Elon Mode’. Unnecessary lane changes autonomously performed by the car might lead to road rage from other drivers, indicating that ‘Elon Mode’ still requires some fine-tuning before being rolled out for public use.

Ultimately, Green’s journey provides a tantalizing glimpse into the potential future of autonomous driving. The public accessibility of ‘Elon Mode’ remains uncertain, but it’s clear that we are one step closer to the future of driving than we ever thought possible.