Tesla Announces Major Safety Upgrades for Full Self-Driving v15

Tesla has outlined plans to deploy Full Self-Driving v15 with significant safety advancements aimed at preventing collisions. Ashok Elluswamy, Tesla's AI lead, indicated that the version would deliver "even earlier prediction of hazards, even faster reaction time and overall significantly better safety and collision avoidance."

Internally described as a larger architectural step, v15 represents a departure from previous incremental updates. The version incorporates a much bigger neural network and tighter coupling between prediction and control systems, enabling faster and more precise responses to potential hazards.

Tesla has already begun integrating early v15 software into select robotaxi operations. The company has simultaneously expanded deployment of safety features such as Automatic Collision Evasion into current customer vehicles, allowing the driving system to intervene even when the driver maintains manual control.

Tesla's safety claims rest on published telemetry data. North American Vehicle Safety Report data showed that vehicles with FSD (Supervised) engaged traveled between 5.1 and 5.7 million miles between major collision events—those involving airbag deployment—versus the U.S. average of approximately 699,000 miles. European data released in 2026 reported FSD as 3.5 times safer than unaided manual driving in the Netherlands. The company frames v15 as widening the performance gap between its autonomous system and human drivers rather than claiming risk elimination.