This Week in Tesla - Top Three New and Notable Things About the New Tesla Update

Tesla Releases Surprise Holiday Update

Late last week, Elon Musk announced that there would be an upcoming “Holiday software update”:

The new update gives one a look at what is coming up for Tesla as far as Full Self Driving and the future of their infotainment go. Here are the top three new and notable things about the update:

1. New Voice Commands and Mobile Phone Interactions

The new update carries with it several changes to the way in which the car interacts with a mobile phone connected via bluetooth. The update allows one to listen to and respond to text messages received on one’s phone while connected to their car. The voice commands have now also been improved to recognize more ways of saying the same thing. The range of actions one is able to control via the voice controls is also improved, for example, one can now open the glovebox or change temperatures via the voice controls. This update is likely a move towards keeping driver’s hands and attention on the wheel and the road as more and more autopilot features are introduced in the near future.

2. Full Self Driving Sneak Preview

When CEO Elon Musk announced that the update would contain a “FSD sneak preview” many Tesla fans were concerned as to what exactly he meant. Now that the update has been pushed to most of the fleet, Tesla cars equipped with the Hardware 3 computer can select the option in the Autopilot menu to see the “Full Self Driving Visualization Preview” which will allow them to see exactly what their car is seeing.

The new visualization shows that the car sees markings on the road as to lines of where to stop as well as turning lanes. The cars also see stop lights, and what color they are as well as stop signs. There are also a few little features which are less notable. For example, the car now recognizes trash bins on the side of the road and will show them on the screen. With Autopilot now being capable of all highway driving with Navigate on Autopilot as well as parking lot- low speed driving with Smart Summon, the next step will be automatic driving on city streets. This will be possibly the most difficult task yet for the Autopilot team spearheaded by Elon Musk.

3. The Little Things

As with all new Tesla updates, the new version 2019.40.50 update has a few little features that will be fun for owners to play around with to kill time while charging or just waiting in general. There are two new games, Backgammon and Stardew Valley, the latter being a video game in which the player attempts to maintain a farm. There is also the new TRAX feature which allows owners to morph their vehicles into mobile music producing machines.

The new “Camp Mode” feature which gives owners the ability to use their car as a camping setup. Previously, one would set up an air mattress or otherwise make themselves comfortable in their cars just to find that the air conditioning, charging ports and lights shut off after a certain period of time. With the new update one can now enable “Camp Mode” and the car will leave the air conditioning, lights and charging ports on for as long as one wishes. This feature is also important for the upcoming release of the Cybertruck as that vehicle is geared towards a much more outdoors customer.

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