Tesla's Integration of WeChat Applets Might Hint at a Larger App Store Development [Video]

April 18, 2023

By Kevin Armstrong

Tesla introduced 'apps' with their WeChat integration in China

Not a Tesla App

Earlier this year Tesla integrated WeChat applets, or mini-programs, as part of their holiday update in China. This move has sparked curiosity and speculation about whether these applets are a sneak peek into Tesla's long-rumored app store. To understand the significance of this development, let's first explore what WeChat and its applets are and how they function.

What is WeChat and Applets?

WeChat is a popular messaging, social media, and mobile payment app developed by Tencent, a Chinese technology company. It offers various features, such as messaging, voice and video calls, social media sharing, mobile payments, official accounts for brands and public figures, and location-based services. Since its launch in 2011, WeChat has become an essential app for millions of users, particularly in China, where it has integrated into various aspects of daily life.

WeChat applets, also known as WeChat mini-programs, are lightweight applications that run within the WeChat platform. These applets offer various functionalities and services, similar to standalone apps, but without users needing to download or install them separately. They are designed to load quickly and integrate seamlessly with the platform, providing a smooth user experience.

Tesla's WeChat Applets in Action

Below you can view Tesla's extensive applets available through WeChat that offer video streaming, audio books, flight tracking and more. Huge thanks to one of our readers who recorded this video for us.

Tesla New Year Update

In the context of Tesla's New Year update for the Chinese market, these WeChat applets have been integrated into the Tesla OS, offering extensive features that behave like apps. The applets function like websites, but their app-like behavior comes from their seamless integration with the vehicle. For example, when users tap an audiobook within an applet, it will play the audio through the car's music player, showcasing the applets' app-like functionality.

Tesla's move towards applets is likely inspired by Progressive Web Apps (PWAs), a standard for developing websites that can be installed, made available offline, and have app icons and assets saved instead of being loaded each time. This approach could be a strategic move for Tesla as they plan to develop their app store.

Easier Developer Access

By leveraging existing PWAs like Twitter, Tesla could quickly offer a range of popular apps upon launch, making it easy for developers to add their apps to Tesla's platform. As PWAs gain popularity, the Tesla app store will continue to grow, offering more variety to Tesla users.

As we reported more than a year ago, Tesla is actively developing an app store for its vehicles, rumored to be released this year. Concept designer DeleetDesigns even offered a vision of what a Tesla app store could look like.

A Tesla app store is an exciting prospect, but it may differ from traditional app stores like Apple's or Google's. Tesla is likely to focus on apps well-suited for use in a car rather than replicating the smartphone experience.

Do Tesla Have the Computing Power?

For the Tesla app store to succeed, it must leverage the benefits of the car's larger screen and integration with the vehicle. Tesla will likely build developer tools to enable the creation of apps that integrate into their OS, such as SiriusXM, YouTube Music, and video streaming apps like YouTube TV and Amazon Prime Video.

Moreover, the Tesla app store could enable developers to port additional games to Tesla vehicles, offering owners a wider range of gaming options.

An app store would be a significant win for Tesla, allowing them to offload the development of entertainment apps to other companies while freeing up engineers' time and providing owners with the desired apps.

However, running apps like those on smartphones and tablets would require a more capable processor than most Teslas. Only MCU 3-equipped vehicles would likely support such an app store, which only became available in late 2021. Tesla's WeChat applets require the Ryzen processor in MCU 3, and if Tesla does offer more web-based apps, the requirement may remain.

Tesla's integration of WeChat Applets in China may indicate the company's progress towards an app store. Although we should adjust our expectations for what a Tesla app store will entail, it's an exciting development that could greatly enhance the Tesla experience.

NHTSA to Streamline Approvals for Control-Free Vehicles Like Tesla’s Cybercab

June 16, 2025

By Karan Singh

Not a Tesla App

In a letter to industry, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has announced that it is overhauling its approvals process for vehicles designed without human controls.

The change addresses a regulatory bottleneck that has slowed down American companies like Tesla from deploying purpose-built Robotaxis, rather than relying on using traditional vehicles with steering wheels and pedals. The policy shift is outlined in a letter posted to the NHTSA’s website, which you can find here.

Reducing Approvals From Years to Months

Under the existing rules today, any vehicle that is built without a steering wheel or brake pedals must receive a special exemption from federal safety standards.

Obtaining exemptions for a particular vehicle was a time-consuming process for both the companies requesting exemptions and the NHTSA. The process was often a black box—nobody knew when an exemption might be granted, and approvals could take years.

The NHTSA, under the new administration’s guidelines for autonomous vehicle development, is now committed to streamlining this process. The agency will be implementing a new, faster approach immediately for receiving exemptions for autonomous vehicles without standard controls. The NHTSA expects decisions on exemption requests to be determined within months rather than years.

Accelerating the Cybercab

This change has massive implications for Tesla, which is banking on the production of the simplified and easy-to-maintain purpose-built Cybercab. The Cybercab is developed from the ground up as an autonomous Robotaxi and will be one of the key beneficiaries of this move by the NHTSA.

Knowing that a final design won't be caught in a multi-year regulatory limbo provides a level of certainty that has been missing. It allows Tesla to confidently plan the manufacturing, development, and deployment processes without worrying whether the project will get stuck in regulatory approvals.

According to the letter, the agency will publish its improved instructions for the streamlined process "shortly." With Tesla already having begun Cybercab pre-production and the goals for its deployment as soon as late 2026, there’s still a lot to be done to make autonomy a part of Tesla’s new sustainable abundance mission statement.

You Can Now Track Tesla’s Robotaxi Deployment

June 15, 2025

By Karan Singh

Not a Tesla App

Thanks to Tesla Yoda on X, we have found out that Tesla’s Robotaxi fleet is registered on the Texas Department of Transportation’s public-facing Automated Vehicle Deployment website. This makes the fleet’s movements publicly viewable and trackable, and marks a first for Tesla.

This isn’t just any old FSD test - this is the first officially acknowledged, government-tracked, and sanctioned deployment of a Tesla Model Y operating as a ride-share vehicle. But that’s not all - Texas DOT’s tracker notes that the Tesla does not have a safety driver.

View on the Map

Visitors to the Texas DOT website can filter for “Tesla”, and see, currently, a single active vehicle operating in the Austin Metro area. According to the state’s official data, here’s what we know:

Company: Tesla

Description: Ride-share service

Status in Texas: Testing

Safety Driver: No

The final point is definitely the most interesting here. While Tesla has been testing FSD with safety drivers for some time in Austin and LA for employee-only testing, this is the first time that a vehicle has been officially registered and deployed on public roads without a human behind the wheel for safety.

The fact that there is no safety driver officially shifts the liability from the occupant of the driver’s seat to Tesla, for the first time in a public setting. That’s already pretty significant - we previously dove into how Tesla plans to insure its own vehicles, and potentially owner vehicles in the Robotaxi fleets.

The status currently lists Tesla as “Testing,” confirming that the service isn’t available to the public, but this is expected to change in the coming weeks.

This testing phase is likely part of a short but crucial period that lets Tesla capture data on the safety levels of its current iteration of Unsupervised FSD without a driver supervising. Tesla already stated that they’d be avoiding difficult areas, so this testing can also expose additional areas Tesla may want to avoid, such as school zones or blind driveways.

Tesla will need to prove, both internally and externally, that FSD Unsupervised has the necessary performance to safely navigate the streets without any incidents.

Regulatory Milestone

For years, the concept of a Tesla Robotaxi has been a future promise. Now, it's a present-day reality, albeit in a testing capacity.

Having an official government body list a Tesla as an active, driverless vehicle shows that they’ve been able to clear regulatory hurdles, which Tesla has often pointed to as the issue. It demonstrates a level of confidence from both Tesla and Texas regulators in the system's capabilities.

While it's just a single vehicle for today, we’ll likely see this list slowly expand over time. Alongside being able to track Robotaxi incidents at the City of Austin’s website, we’ll be able to closely watch Tesla’s progress with its first Robotaxi deployments.