A Look at Tesla's New Media Player, Nav, Fan and HomeLink Updates

Tesla has added a mini player to the Model 3 and Model Y

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Tesla's holiday update, which is update 2022.44.25.1, is jammed full of goodies, many of which require a second look. There are significant changes for Model 3 and Model Y owners. In addition, some features drivers use to operate daily, have changed location, size, and functionality.

Music Player

This one may take some getting used to. There is now a new mini-player that splits the music area into two sections. A smaller module for media controls is on the bottom left of the screen. This allows the most used buttons to be closer to the driver.

Users can swipe up on the mini media player to reveal sources, including Apple Music, Spotify, Bluetooth etc. Once a source is selected, the details open up on the right-hand side of the screen for users to select songs or playlists.

The mini media player also allows users to scroll to recent and favorites, settings, and a search function can also be found in this small, reconfigured player. The mini-player will automatically collapse after a few seconds if left expanded.

In addition, Tesla has reintroduced cards that can be found by swiping on the media player in the lower left corner. Cards allow you to view your odometer, trip meter and tire pressure. You can see the new UI cards in action which we took an in-depth look at earlier this week.

Media Player in the Center

Unfortunately, the media player can not be placed back in its previous location. At least, not most of the time. If you're confused, you're not the only one. Here's a breakdown of what's possible. If the music panel is expanded to reveal your song selection, the media controls can be placed on top of that panel, but only when the mini player is hidden.

If the mini player is visible, then the song selection panel on the right will only display your songs/playlists, which does create some additional vertical room to display songs and or album art. However, there is no way to have just the media controls on the right side in a minimal sort of fashion as you could before.

Your choices for media controls are now one of three on the Model 3 and Model Y. You can have the mini player on the left side, which is essentially the new default. You can have the media controls on the right side, but only when the music selection panel is fully expanded (covering the map) and the mini player is hidden, or you can have the media controls hidden completely. If your music controls are hidden, a gray music icon appears in your launcher to bring them back up again.

This can all be a little confusing, and it'd be nice to see Tesla introduce a simple toggle to have the media controls on the left or right.

If you're viewing your tire pressure or odometer in the new UI cards, the media player will also jump back to the center area.

Navigation UI

Tesla has improved the layout of the navigation information

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Tesla has redesigned the navigation user interface (UI) layout, which improves the placement of directions, such as the next turn and other available options. Tesla has split the nav UI into two pieces. At the top of the screen will be critical information about the route, including next-turn directions.

The rest of the information, previously found at the top of the screen, is moved to the bottom. These details include travel time, destination details, and options to alter or cancel your navigation.

Both of these modules can be expanded to show more information. For example, swiping down on the top module will reveal additional turns along your route, while swiping up on the bottom module, or tapping the three dots will bring up additional route options such as adding a stop or editing your navigation preferences.

Your current location/town has also been shifted slightly. It used to be placed at the bottom center of the screen, but it's now been shifted slightly and is at the far corner of the display.

Fan Controls

You can now tap to change the fan speed and remain in Auto

Teslamaniacs

When your climate system is set to Auto, Tesla now uses a 'LO', 'MED', and 'HI' fan speed, instead of the previous 1-10 scale. The slider is now gone and replaced with buttons to decrease or increase the fan speed.

Tesla will no longer automatically turn off the Auto climate when you adjust the fan intensity. Even when the fan speed is modified, the HVAC system will remain in Auto.

Manual Mode

You can still use fan speeds 1-10 in manual mode

Walgermo/Twitter

If you turn off Auto on your climate system, you'll still have granular access to the fan speed controls with the old 1-10 scale. You now also have the option to tap or use a slider to adjust the fan speed. A new slider will appear above the climate section, or you can tap the arrows to adjust the fan speed just like you do in Auto.

HomeLink

Tesla has made improvements to the HomeLink UI

Walgermo/Twitter

Tesla has made improvements to HomeLink as well. When near your home location, the HomeLink icon will now display in the status bar at the top of the screen with an 'Activate' or 'Cancel' button.

The HomeLink dropdown will automatically disappear if you shift into reverse, but the option to activate your garage door will remain.

Furthermore, if you have auto-open or auto-close enabled, the status bar will now display the number of feet or meters before the garage door is opened or closed.

Video of UI Updates

There are many more additions and changes in the latest update, but these will impact the user the most. Tesla owners usually love to drive and are accustomed to seeing information displayed the same way in the exact location on the screen. So be sure to give yourself a little extra time to familiarize yourself with the new layout.

Tesla’s Optimus Robot Learns to Walk Without Vision [VIDEO]

Optimus Falls - but catches itself!

Not a Tesla App

Tesla recently showed off a demo of Optimus, its humanoid robot, walking around in moderately challenging terrain—not on a flat surface but on dirt and slopes. These things can be difficult for a humanoid robot, especially during the training cycle.

Daily walks help clear your mind pic.twitter.com/dUsW58trS6

— Tesla Optimus (@Tesla_Optimus) December 9, 2024

A Look Behind the Curtain

Most interestingly, Milan Kovac, VP of Engineering for Optimus, clarified what it takes to get Optimus to this stage. Let’s break down what he said.

Optimus is Blind

Optimus is getting seriously good at walking now - it can keep its balance over uneven ground - even while walking blind. Tesla is currently using just the sensors, all powered by a neural net running on the embedded computer. 

Essentially, Tesla is building Optimus from the ground up, relying on as much additional data as possible while it trains vision. This is similar to how they train FSD on vehicles, using LiDAR rigs to validate the vision system’s accuracy. While Optimus doesn’t have LiDAR, it relies on all those other sensors on board, many of which will likely become simplified as vision takes over as the primary sensor.

Today, Optimus is walking blind, but it’s able to react almost instantly to changes in the terrain underneath it, even if it falls or slips. 

What’s Next?

Next up, Tesla AI will be adding vision to Optimus - helping complete the neural net. Remember, Optimus runs on the same overall AI stack as FSD - in fact, Optimus uses an FSD computer and an offshoot of the FSD stack for vision-based tasks.

Milan mentions they’re planning on adding vision to help the robot plan ahead and improve its walking gait. While the zombie shuffle is iconic and a little bit amusing, getting humanoid robots to walk like humans is actually difficult.

There’s plenty more, too - including better responsiveness to velocity and direction commands and learning to fall and stand back up. Falling while protecting yourself to minimize damage is something natural to humans - but not exactly natural to something like a robot. Training it to do so is essential in keeping the robot, the environment around it, and the people it is interacting with safe.

We’re excited to see what’s coming with Optimus next because it is already getting started in some fashion in Tesla’s factories.

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Is Tesla Close to Licensing FSD? GM Quits Cruise, BMW Praises Tesla

Not a Tesla App

In a relatively surprising move, GM announced that it is realigning its autonomy strategy and prioritizing advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) over fully autonomous vehicles.

GM is effectively closing Cruise (autonomous) and focusing on its Super Cruise (ADAS) feature. The engineering teams at Cruise will join the GM teams working on Super Cruise, effectively shuttering the fully autonomous vehicle business.

End of Cruise

GM cites that “an increasingly competitive robotaxi market” and “considerable time and resources” are required for scaling the business to a profitable level. Essentially - they’re unable to keep up with competitors at current funding and research levels, putting them further and further behind.

Cruise has been offering driverless rides in several cities, using HD mapping of cities alongside vehicles equipped with a dazzling array of over 40 sensors. That means that each cruise vehicle is essentially a massive investment and does not turn a profit while collecting data to work towards Autonomy.

Cruise has definitely been on the back burner for a while, and a quick glance at their website - since it's still up for now - shows the last time they officially released any sort of major news packet was back in 2019. 

Competition is Killer

Their current direct competitor - Waymo, is funded by Google, which maintains a direct interest in ensuring they have a play in the AI and autonomy space.

Interestingly, this news comes just a month after Tesla’s We, Robot event, where they showed off the Cybercab and the Robotaxi network, as well as plans to begin deployment of the network and Unsupervised FSD sometime in 2025. Tesla is already in talks with some cities in California and Texas to launch Robotaxi in 2025.

GM Admits Tesla Has the Right Strategy

As part of the business call following the announcement, GM admitted that Tesla’s end-to-end and Vision-based approach towards autonomy is the right strategy. While they say Cruise started down that path, they’re putting aside their goals towards fully autonomous vehicles for now and focusing on introducing that tech in Super Cruise instead.

NEWS: GM just admitted that @Tesla’s end-to-end approach to autonomy is the right strategy.

“That’s where the industry is pivoting. Cruise had already started making headway down that path. We are moving to a foundation model and end-to-end approach going forward.” pic.twitter.com/ACs5SFKUc3

— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) December 10, 2024

With GM now focusing on Super Cruise, they’ll put aside autonomy and instead focus solely on ADAS features to relieve driver stress and improve safety. While those are positive goals that will benefit all road users, full autonomy is really the key to removing the massive impact that vehicle accidents have on society today.

In addition, Super Cruise is extremely limited, cannot brake for traffic controls, and doesn’t work in adverse conditions - even rain. It can only function when lane markings are clear, there are no construction zones, and there is a functional web connection. 

The final key to the picture is that the vehicle has to be on an HD-mapped and compatible highway - essentially locking Super Cruise to wherever GM has time to spend mapping, rather than being functional anywhere in a general sense, like FSD or Autopilot.

Others Impressed - Licensing FSD

Interestingly, some other manufacturers have also weighed into the demise of Cruise. BMW, in a now-deleted post, said that a demo of Tesla’s FSD is “very impressive.” There’s a distinct chance that BMW and other manufacturers are looking to see what Tesla does next. 

BMW chimes in on a now-deleted post. The Internet is forever, BMW!

Not a Tesla App

It seems that FSD has caught their eyes after We, Robot - and that the demonstrations of FSD V13.2 online seem to be the pivot point. At the 2024 Shareholder Meeting earlier in the year, Elon shared the fact that several manufacturers had reached out, looking to understand what was required to license FSD from Tesla.

There is a good chance 2025 will be the year we’ll see announcements of the adoption of FSD by legacy manufacturers - similar to how we saw the surprise announcements of the adoption of the NACS charging standard.

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