Tesla Engineer Signals Upcoming Fixes for Full Self-Driving's Two Big Weak Spots

Tesla appears to be moving toward longer-awaited changes for its Full Self-Driving software, with a company engineer publicly confirming that improvements are in the pipeline for two of the system’s most criticized behaviors: pothole handling and route planning.

Phil Duan, Tesla AI’s Director of Engineering, said in a post on X that enhancements to both areas “are coming.” The message echoes similar promises Tesla has made before, though the length of time since the fixes were first teased suggests a rollout may be closer than usual.

Pothole avoidance has been on Tesla’s radar since the v14.3 update back in April, when it appeared as an “Upcoming Improvement” in the release notes. More than half a year later, it still has not appeared in the main release notes. Tesla has not explained why potholes have proven so difficult to address, though the same modeling weakness appears to affect how the system handles large bumps and abrupt changes in road surface. The result is a ride that can feel harsher than drivers expect at the speeds FSD chooses.

The second issue, navigation, may be even more familiar to FSD users. The system has drawn complaints for routinely selecting odd routes, mishandling local traffic rules, and occasionally suggesting maneuvers that are not legal. Tesla made progress with the Summer Update, which introduced Preferred Routes and Automatic Navigation, allowing the car to favor roads the driver has actually used rather than defaulting to the route it deems most efficient. That change has resolved many routing complaints, but the system still stumbles in parking lots and intermittently proposes strange turns.

Beyond potholes and navigation, FSD has long been dogged by speed control and left-lane lingering, both of which are among the reasons the suite remains classified as Supervised. Drivers are still required to stay attentive and ready to intervene, and each unresolved behavior adds to the argument that full autonomy is not yet at hand. Whether the coming updates finally close the gap between Tesla’s promises and real-world performance will only be clear once they reach the fleet.