Tesla's mobile app now displays song information and destination details

By Lennon Cihak
Tesla's adding song title and artist information to the mobile app
Tesla's adding song title and artist information to the mobile app
@longzheng

Tesla has now started rolling out update 2022.36.1 (release notes). With this update Tesla's mobile application will now show users additional information for the media that’s playing in the vehicle, such as the song title, artist, and destination information.

The automaker has rolled out a number of improvements to their mobile app over the last few months, including the ability to order a vehicle directly in the app. Earlier last month, an app update suggested that Tesla would be adding a powered frunk to their vehicles.

This has not been confirmed by CEO Elon Musk or Tesla. Many owners have taken it upon themselves to add aftermarket parts to motorize the front trunk.

Song Details

With Tesla’s newest update to their mobile app, owners will now be able to see a song’s title, artist name, as well as the volume levels, pause/play, and forward and reverse.

The song details will show up directly above the pause/play buttons that were previously displayed.

Destination

Additionally, if the driver is using GPS to navigate to a specific location, the mobile app will display details about their destination.

This information will be displayed in the "Location" section of the app. When the GPS is in use, the location section will be renamed Navigation and it will display the driver's destination, distance, and ETA directly on the main app screen.

If you tap into the Navigation section, you'll be greeted by a map with the vehicle's location and nearby Superchargers like before, but you'll also see the vehicle's destination details.

In addition to displaying the vehicle's set destination and ETA, the app will also display the car's expected state of charge will be upon arrival.

This information is helpful as it provides additional transparency for owners into their vehicles’ battery consumption and how they’re being used. Tesla is also in the process of rolling out updates that include major revisions to their Energy application within the vehicle.

These improvements include the battery’s state of charge upon leaving and arriving and what the main causes of battery drain are.

For example, if it’s really hot outside and your A/C is set to a low temperature and the fans are blowing on 10, the vehicle will display how much power your A/C is consuming. The Energy application will also show driving, battery conditioning, elevation, and “everything else,” like charging a mobile device, onboard computers, lights, audio system, and more.

As we continue to see big updates to Full Self-Driving Beta, we’re sure to see more improvements to the mobile app as they continue to add helpful new features to the vehicle.

These new features require Tesla app version 4.13 or later and Tesla's 2022.36 update.

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Tesla Updates Santa Mode & Rainbow Road to Use Ambient Lighting and Updates SteamOS [VIDEO]

By Karan Singh
Flo / Roberto Bonato

While Tesla’s 2024 Holiday Update brought many new features, including Apple Watch Support, Cross Traffic Alerts, Weather Overlays, Search Along Route, and others, there are also several smaller items in this update that didn’t get much attention.

Ambient Lighting Now Affects Easter Eggs

The 2024+ Model 3 and Cybertruck both come equipped with ambient lighting, and Tesla is now taking advantage of this custom lighting feature by incorporating it into several easter eggs.

Rainbow Road: If you head over to Apps > ToyBox > Rainbow Road, you’ll find a new option available that allows the ambient lighting in the vehicle to also change shades while Rainbow Road is active. The Rainbow Road easter egg is a tribute to the iconic course course in Nintendo’s Mario Kart.

Check out the feature in action below:

Santa Mode: Just in time for Christmas, Tesla has improved Santa Mode by cycling the ambient lighting between Christmas colors. Similar to Rainbow Road, the use of ambient lighting for the easter egg is optional and can be enabled under Apps > ToyBox > Santa Mode.

When using Santa Mode with ambient lighting turned on, the lights will cycle just between Christmas colors, red, green and white, instead of the full rainbow. There’s a video of the feature below:

Update: It looks like it affects other Easter eggs as well, such as turning orange when using Romance mode.

SteamOS (Beta) Update

The Model S and Model X vehicles that support Steam gaming are receiving a Steam app update in the holiday update as well. This update could end up being very interesting, but for now Tesla says that the SteamOS, which also runs on Valve’s Steam Deck has been updated to version 3.6.

Valve outlines a wide range of fixes and improvements in their release notes for version 3.6, but Tesla simply states that the OS update includes performance enhancements and improved game compatibility.

The SteamOS hasn’t been updated on the Model S and X for quite a while, so we believe there may be more to this besides performance improvements and fixes. We’ll be looking to share some insights into this in the near future.

So, there you have it—three new features in the Holiday update that have mostly gone under the radar. While they may not apply to everyone, there are plenty of other cool features in the Holiday Update, like the arrival of Dynamic Road Closure Routing and Nearby Parking, that are coming to every vehicle, so go check out the full release notes.

New Report Offers Specs & Price for Tesla's Upcoming Next-Gen Model

By Karan Singh
A concept of Tesla's 'Model Q'
A concept of Tesla's 'Model Q'
@DominicBRNKMN on X

At the 2023 Q3 Earnings Call, Tesla provided an update on its next-generation model, what many are referring to as the “Model 2” or “Model Q.” Although the actual model name is yet to be determined, it is known internally as Redwood.

During the 2024 Shareholder Meeting, Musk again mentioned the upcoming model, saying that Tesla is working on new products, including a more affordable vehicle and a larger SUV.

While we know the next-gen vehicle is aimed at the $25k to $30k USD market, we now have some new information thanks to a new report out of China.

Launch & Price

According to the Chinese outlet CNMO Technology News (Sina Finance), Travis Axelrod, Tesla’s Head of Investor Relations, announced plans to launch a new model. Axelrod shared this update while addressing senior corporate investors at an investor conference hosted by Deutsche Bank on December 5, 2024.

The goal of Project Redwood, internally dubbed “Model Q” by Deutsche Bank, is to achieve a post-subsidy price of under $30,000 USD. With the Federal EV Rebate potentially expiring next year, this suggests that the Model Q’s starting price will be around $30,000 USD. For comparison, the Model 3 currently starts at $42,490 in the U.S.

We previously reported that Tesla has already been speaking to suppliers and is looking to begin volume production of the vehicle sometime around June 2025. Of course, prototyping is still necessary, but we haven’t seen any signs of Tesla testing a new vehicle since spotting the Cybercab on the streets ahead of We, Robot.

Specs

The Model Q will supposedly be about 15% smaller and 30% lighter than the Model 3, with an approximate length of 3,988mm, or 157 inches. For scale, the Mini is 157 inches, while the Model 3 is 185 inches, so it’s fairly compact.

The battery will also be smaller to match the vehicle’s smaller size as Tesla tries to reduce the vehicle’s price while maintaining a similar range as its other vehicles. Tesla is expected to offer two models—a single-motor RWD model and a Long-Range Dual-Motor AWD variant.

The lower trim level will include a 53 kWh lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery, while the AWD version is expected to include a 75 kWh LFP battery. The report says that the vehicle will be able to travel up to 500 km (310 miles) on a single charge, but it’s not clear whether this will be for the more efficient RWD version or the AWD variant.

Given the vehicle’s weight reduction compared to the Model 3, this type of range is likely for the lower trim level.

Variant

Motors

Battery Size

Estimated Range

RWD

1

53 kWh (LFP)

310 miles (500km)?

AWD

2

75 kWh (LFP)

?

There’s no news yet on the price of the AWD version, but we expect it to be about $5,000 more expensive than the RWD variant.

Once the vehicle ramps up in production, Tesla intends to produce about 10,000 of these per week globally or about 500,000 per year. As Tesla mentioned during one of their previous earnings calls, this next-gen vehicle will be built using Tesla’s current assembly lines with minimal changes. This should allow for a smoother and more predictable production ramp. While Tesla still plans to use its new unboxed assembly process, it’s now saving it for the robotaxi.

Project Juniper

One of the items that came up during the investor conference was Tesla’s Project Juniper—the Model Y refresh. Juniper has already had a few leaks, including some images and information that mention a return to the 7-seat, 3-row format—at least in China

We’re expecting Juniper to launch early next year, as production has supposedly already begun at Giga Shanghai, at least on a limited prototyping basis. If the rollout matches the Model 3 Highland refresh, we’ll see Juniper arrive in China first and then make its way to North America and Europe by the end of 2025. The performance variants should launch in early 2026, after the standard models.

If you’re excited about Juniper, so are we! Check out our wishlist of features for Tesla’s Model Y refresh, and see everything we know so far.

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