Tesla has updated its Full Self-Driving software to version 14, replacing the longstanding Autopilot steering wheel icon with bold blue 'Self-Driving' text and a blue neon glow under the vehicle visualization. This change aims to modernize the interface for indicating when the system is engaged. The update marks a subtle but significant shift in how drivers recognize autonomous operation.
The Autopilot icon, a blue circular steering wheel symbol, has been a staple in Tesla vehicles since October 2015, when the company first introduced its Advanced Driver Assistance System using Mobileye hardware. It provided an instant visual cue for drivers to confirm the system's active status, evolving over time from a plain icon to one with a solid blue background.
In FSD v14, Tesla removes this traditional icon entirely. Instead, the center display shows the words “Self-Driving” in blue text when the system is engaged. Beneath this text, drivers can select from profiles including Chill, Standard, Hurry, or the new Sloth Mode. Complementing this, the vehicle's on-screen model—referred to as the ego car—features a blue neon-glow underglow that activates only during supervised FSD operation, making the status more prominent than the previous icon, which turned blue when active and gray when inactive in FSD v13.
Tesla VP of AI Ashok Elluswamy explained the rationale, stating that the steering wheel icon had become outdated: “it’d be like the floppy disk icon for the save function.” He noted that younger generations might soon fail to recognize steering wheels, drawing a parallel to obsolete tech symbols. This update enhances clarity, though text may pose challenges in multilingual settings compared to universal icons.
FSD v14.1 also introduces other improvements like new arrival modes, emergency vehicle handling, and automatic parking at destinations. The ego car rendering appears crisper, leveraging the AMD Ryzen GPU in Hardware 4 vehicles for detailed 3D visuals. While the change ends an era for the iconic symbol, Tesla may refine it further, potentially combining text with new graphics for better at-a-glance recognition.