Tesla $TSLA’s TSLA Full Self-Driving (FSD) version 14.3 has entered an employee beta phase and may see a wider release by the end of the week, per CEO Elon Musk.
The update is expected to introduce a much larger neural network, with enhanced reasoning and reinforcement learning capabilities. It also aims to improve navigation, an ongoing concern among FSD users and deliver better performance in complex urban driving scenarios.
The rollout will initially focus on vehicles equipped with HW4 hardware. Owners of HW3 vehicles, who make up the majority of Tesla buyers promised full self-driving, will have to wait for a lighter version, FSD v14 Lite, which Tesla has loosely indicated could arrive around mid-2026.
This latest update comes as federal safety regulators step up scrutiny of Tesla’s automated driving technology, citing concerns over its performance in challenging road conditions. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recently launched an engineering analysis to assess Tesla’s FSD Beta and FSD (Supervised) system’s ability to detect performance degradation.
Officials pointed to several incidents, including a fatal crash, where the system did not adequately alert drivers in low-visibility situations.
Tesla’s FSD system is an advanced driver-assistance technology that relies solely on camera-based vision and software to interpret the road, identifying traffic signals, vehicles, pedestrians and other elements to determine a driving path.
Full Self-Driving (Supervised) can manage steering and acceleration but still requires constant driver attention and does not make the vehicle fully autonomous. TSLA stock currently carries a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell).
You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Updates on Autonomous Driving by Other Automakers
In December 2025, Rivian $RIVN Automotive, Inc. RIVN announced that its Universal Hands-Free (UHF) would expand hands-free driving beyond highways to any clearly marked road, covering about 3.5 million miles in the United States and Canada. It maintains lanes and follows distance, but doesn’t handle traffic lights or sharp turns. Unlike Enhanced Highway Assist, which was limited to mapped roads, Rivian’s UHF will remove map restrictions. It will be offered via Rivian’s Autonomy+ subscription, priced at $2,500 one-time or $49.99 per month, launching in early 2026.
In October 2025, Lucid $LCID Group, Inc. LCID announced that it is set to introduce “mind-off” driving, enabling cars to operate autonomously in normal conditions without constant human oversight. The system will use Nvidia $NVDA’s Drive AV platform along with cameras, radar and lidar for enhanced perception. Per Lucid’s Interim CEO Marc Winterhoff, the feature is expected in the coming years, but not by 2026. It will debut in Lucid’s upcoming midsize vehicle before expanding to other models.
TSLA’s Price Performance, Valuation and Estimates
Tesla has underperformed the Zacks Automotive-Domestic industry in the past six months. Its shares have lost 11.3% compared with the industry’s decline of 5.6%.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
From a valuation perspective, TSLA appears overvalued. Going by its price/sales ratio, the company is trading at a forward sales multiple of 13.52, higher than the industry’s 3.2.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Tesla’s 2026 and 2027 EPS has moved up a penny and 2 cents, respectively, in the past 30 days.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
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