Secret Elon Mode In Tesla Autopilot and FSD

Tesla’s assistance functions keep making headlines because they are considered misleading. The manufacturer always points out that autopilot and full self-driving must be monitored by the driver. But there is a mode that turns off this compulsion.

Not only Tesla drivers know this: The assistance functions of a modern car are practical, but you have to keep your hands on the steering wheel and pay attention to the traffic – otherwise, there will be loud warnings. This is also the case with Tesla, both with the Autopilot assistance function and with the current beta of the Full Self-Driving (FSD) autonomy feature.

However, according to well-known Tesla hacker GreenTheOnly, Tesla vehicles have a secret or internal “Elon mode”. As he writes on Twitter, there are two ways to activate it: either you know someone in the company or you activate them unofficially – however, he says that his (unofficial) “method is tough”.

No more so-called “nag”.

This special mode removes the vehicle’s prompts for the driver to grab the steering wheel. GreenTheOnly also demonstrates “Elon Mode” in a YouTube video, showing the car driving “hands-free” for minutes without any warning.

According to the hacker, he’s already done 600 miles with it and it’s also working better than previous experiments of this type. The lack of prompts isn’t the only thing Elon mode does, in addition, braking is less intense, and “probably there some other under-the-hood changes that I haven’t fully explored,” GreenTheOnly said.

It is currently not clear whether this mode is intended for the public at all because such “hands-free” driving has repeatedly led to accidents, some of them fatal, in the past.