Teslas now drive from the factory to loading docks autonomously
- Tesla vehicles can now drive themselves out of the California factory
- The vehicles complete the 1.2-mile journey without human assistance
- They can even load themselves onto the loading docks
Published on Jan 30, 2025 at 1:20 PM (UTC+4)
by Alessandro Renesis
Last updated on Jan 30, 2025 at 4:53 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Tom Wood
Tesla vehicles are now capable of driving themselves out of the factory in California with FSD.
All new Teslas from the Fremont factory in the Bay Area in California will now be able to load themselves on their designated loading dock.
What’s more, they do it without any human intervention.
This is a big result for the company.
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Why FSD is so important for Tesla
Elon Musk never misses an opportunity to reiterate a point he’s been making for years.
In his view, Tesla is not a car brand, it’s a robotics and autonomy company that also makes cars.
This is why Musk’s company is heavily banking on FSD, Full Self-Driving, for its future.
And this is why this is an impressive result.
The Fremont factory in the Bay Area used to be Tesla’s main hub, but even though it isn’t anymore, the fact that all vehicles leaving the factory can drive themselves out of there is significant.
The 1.2-mile (1.9km) journey is completed fully autonomously by these vehicles on FSD.
How the company pivoted towards autonomy
Tesla has been using some form of autonomy for over 10 years.
The Autopilot system – basically the great-grandfather of FSD today – was introduced in 2014.
Over the last few years, the company has accelerated rapidly towards full autonomy, and its self-driving technology is now the most important part of the company.
Or at least that’s Elon Musk says.
Every vehicle in the line-up is now compatible with FSD, including Cybertruck, and unsupervised FSD should be available in at least two U.S. states starting from this year.
This is why Musk said there won’t be a non-autonomous version of Cybercab, a vehicle that, in his view, will end up making buses obsolete.
Elon Musk’s predictions are often inaccurate and over-optimistic but, aside from the prediction about buses, which quite frankly sounds a bit ludicrous, it is true that Tesla, along with Waymo is leading the race to full autonomy.
