Elon Musk (일론 머스크), Tesla's CEO, said a pothole-avoidance feature will be added to its Full Self-Driving software, or FSD, "soon." Questions are being raised about when it will be applied, as the feature was also previously flagged 7 years ago.

Electrek, an electric-vehicle outlet, reported on Aug. 31 that Musk responded "coming soon" to a user question about FSD posted over the weekend on X, formerly Twitter. He made the brief reply after a user asked that FSD be able to avoid potholes.

Potholes are a common hazard on U.S. roads. They reduce tyre life and damage wheels, and in severe cases can lead to accidents. If FSD could detect potholes and avoid them by changing lanes or adjusting its position within a lane, it could improve everyday driving safety and convenience for Tesla vehicles.

But the latest remark appears less like a new plan than a repeat of a past promise. Musk said in 2019 that he would introduce a pothole-avoidance feature. Tesla has collected road-surface information such as potholes since then, but as of 2026 it is difficult to say the feature has been formally applied to FSD. Pothole avoidance is also being discussed in current FSD updates as a future improvement.

Tesla's FSD itself has undergone significant development over the past few years. It now supports driving on highways and regular roads and can park after reaching a destination. But FSD remains a driver-assistance system that requires continuous driver supervision, and the possibility of unexpected errors in real-world driving still remains.

The difficulty of pothole avoidance is also tied to Tesla's camera-based perception approach. Even if a vehicle detects a pothole through cameras, reliably executing actions to avoid it, such as changing lanes or adjusting position within a lane, is a separate issue. It has been pointed out that pothole avoidance has not yet been implemented even though Tesla has continuously collected road information.

The remark is also drawing attention as it comes ahead of an expansion of Tesla's robotaxi business. Tesla is set to hold a launch event for the steering wheel- and pedal-less Cybercab on Sept. 3 in Austin, Texas. The Cybercab is a robotaxi designed with the goal of full self-driving and is set to link with Tesla's robotaxi service currently operating in Austin.

Tesla is already expanding driverless robotaxi operations, but the service areas and operating scope are still limited. Rival Waymo operates fully autonomous services in multiple cities, extending the technology rivalry with Tesla.

Tesla shares also moved after the remark. Tesla stock rose 5.5 percent on Aug. 31, and the market cited factors including Musk's FSD-related comments and expectations for the Cybercab launch. But it is difficult to explain the share rise solely by the pothole-avoidance feature announcement.

Ultimately, the key is when the "coming soon" Musk mentioned will be implemented in an actual software update. With the same feature having been flagged in 2019, whether it is applied this time and how it performs is expected to become another test of trust in Tesla's self-driving technology.

Coming soon