Elon Musk Says Tesla Pothole Avoidance Is Coming to FSD

Elon Musk Says Tesla Pothole Avoidance Is Coming to FSD

Elon Musk reaffirmed Tesla’s plan to enable its vehicles to avoid potholes. In response to a driver asking for Full Self-Driving (FSD) to actively steer around potholes, Musk said the capability is coming soon.

Musk did not share further details or specify which FSD release will include it, and the feature could arrive before FSD v15.

Pothole Support Is Coming

Tesla has listed pothole avoidance as an upcoming improvement since FSD v14.3, which was released on April 7th, 2026.

Current FSD builds have at times been observed maneuvering around large potholes. One recorded case showed FSD v14.2.2.5 positioning the car so the damaged section passed between its tires. It is unclear whether FSD classified it as an object in the roadway or a pothole, but the system does sometimes avoid potholes today. The expected update aims to deliver more consistent behavior, including for smaller potholes.

A Long Time Coming

The concept dates back to April 2019, when a Tesla owner requested slight within-lane steering adjustments to protect tires from potholes. Musk agreed with the request, although the feature likely ranked low on Tesla’s priority list.

In 2020, Musk said air-suspension height and damping would tie into FSD and adjust automatically. Tesla later added automatic adjustments for upcoming rough roads to Model S and Model X in update 2022.20. That suspension effort now has a narrower path after Model S and Model X production ended, leaving Cybertruck as Tesla’s only vehicle with adjustable air suspension.

Beyond having more memory and compute power than HW3, HW4 also has cameras with 4.5x higher resolution, improving the system’s ability to detect potholes.

Building and Sharing Road Data

Tesla already leverages fleet-based road mapping. Its adaptive-suspension system uses rough-road map data generated by other Tesla vehicles, allowing cars equipped with air suspension to adjust automatically before reaching a rough patch.

If the same approach is applied to potholes, Tesla could create a user-generated map of large potholes to avoid. Early awareness would let a vehicle plan an avoidance path or choose a smoother lane.

A comprehensive pothole database could also inform local governments and help prioritize repairs based on severity or frequency. Tesla has not announced any plans to share such information.