Tesla has been improving its FSD features since introducing it in 2016
Tesla
Elon Musk bought, gutted, and revived Twitter, now X, for many reasons, but one of the biggest was allowing free speech. Now, Tesla has positioned its defense against the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) on the grounds of free speech.
Tesla asserts that the DMV's accusations of false advertising, especially regarding its Full Self-Driving (FSD) feature, infringe upon its First Amendment rights. This defense follows years after the introduction of Tesla's automated driving features.
Background of the Dispute
The legal skirmish traces back to the DMV's investigation, initiated in May 2021. The agency accuses Tesla of misleading claims about its Autopilot and Full Self-Driving capabilities, suggesting that these systems could enable entirely autonomous trips without driver intervention. Tesla, however, contends that it has been transparent about the limitations of these systems in its owner's manuals and in-car notifications.
Tesla argues the DMV's lack of action against using terms like "Autopilot" and "Full Self-Driving Capability" since 2014 and 2016 amounts to an implicit approval. The company claims that this inaction over the years should now preclude the DMV from pursuing legal action.
Potential Consequences for Tesla
The stakes are high for Tesla in this legal dispute. Should the DMV prevail, Tesla could face the revocation of its California manufacturer's license and possibly be required to compensate customers who have suffered financial losses due to the alleged false advertising.
This legal tussle has significant implications for Tesla, particularly in California, its largest market in the United States. The outcome of this case could influence not only Tesla's business operations but also customer trust and perception of the brand's technology offerings.
Amidst this legal confrontation, Tesla also faces scrutiny from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) over safety concerns related to its Autopilot and Full Self-Driving features. These investigations are part of a broader examination of the safety and reliability of driver assistance technologies in the evolving landscape of autonomous vehicles.
Tesla continues to refine its driver assistance technologies amidst these challenges, with the removal of ultrasonic sensors in 2022 marking a notable change in its approach. FSD version 12 is rolling out to employees, introducing a major shift in autonomous technology. Instead of hundreds of thousands of coding lines, the new system relies on neural networks. As the legal and regulatory landscape evolves, Tesla's journey with its pioneering technologies will remain in the spotlight and under constant scrutiny.
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Winter is here, and temperatures are dropping, so one of the most common Tesla questions is about to resurface.
If you’ve landed here after frantically searching about “smoke” coming from your Tesla while Supercharging, take a deep breath—it’s completely normal.
Tesla Smoking While Charging
If you’re Supercharging in freezing weather—even with preconditioning—you might notice steam rising from your Tesla. But rest assured, your car isn’t smoking.
Your Tesla’s heat pump is hard at work warming both the cabin and battery to keep you comfortable and ensure optimal charging temperatures. Over time, condensation and ice build-up in the heat exchanger coils.
Why Does It Happen?
When you reach a Supercharger with your vehicle, the heat pump is still running hot, but without the cold air from driving to keep the heat exchanger coils cool, the ice and condensation quickly start to evaporate—creating what looks like smoke.
Since this typically happens near the front of the vehicle, where a car would traditionally have an engine, new vehicle owners can be startled by the discovery. However, rest assured that it’s just water vapor and it’s completely normal in cold weather.
In fact, this behavior can be experienced in any EV with a heat pump in cold climates. So, if you saw steam coming out of your vehicle and panicked, don’t worry—you’re not alone.
Now that you know what’s happening, go ahead and Supercharge with confidence.
Tesla made a lot of improvements in the 2024 Holiday Update, including more than 15 undocumented improvements that were included in the release. One of these was a stealthy performance improvement to the YouTube app.
Several people have mentioned they’ve seen improved performance on YouTube since this year’s Holiday Update - and there’s an interesting reason why.
YouTube Improvements
The improved YouTube performance in Tesla vehicles comes from an unexpected source—Tesla actually rolled back support for YouTube’s newer AV1 video encoding. Instead, vehicles now default to the older VP9 encoding standard.
While AV1 is highly efficient in terms of bandwidth, it requires considerably more processing power to decode and display videos. VP9, on the other hand, is less computationally demanding but uses more bandwidth to achieve the same video quality. This trade-off means smoother playback and better overall performance, even if it comes at the cost of slightly higher data usage.
Intel Inside
The VP9 video codec that the YouTube app is now using is much easier to decode, making it less taxing on the vehicle’s processor. This change is particularly beneficial for Tesla vehicles with Intel processors, which previously struggled to stream video at just 720p. When using AV1, these vehicles often experienced stuttering, sometimes forcing the YouTube app to automatically downgrade playback to 480p.
With this update, Intel-based Teslas should now be able to stream at 1080p smoothly. Streaming at 1440p is also possible, although occasional stutters still occur as the system keeps up with the decoding process.
Intel-based vehicles are the big winners with this change, but this appears to affect AMD Ryzen-based infotainment units as well, providing even smoother playback.
Chromium Web App
Tesla’s Theater apps aren’t native applications; instead, they run as chromeless web apps, leveraging the open-source browser built into Teslas known as Chromium (the open-source version of Chrome). Although this works quite well, there is a severe limitation - Chromium hardware acceleration isn’t supported on Linux, the operating system Tesla uses for their OS.
As a result, Tesla vehicles rely on software decoding instead of hardware decoding, which would otherwise handle video playback far more efficiently. A potential solution could be for Tesla to transition away from Chromium-based web apps in favor of a Mozilla Firefox-based browser, as Firefox does support hardware acceleration on Linux. This switch could also open the door to better streaming performance and the possibility of expanding Tesla’s in-car entertainment options.
However, Tesla’s choice of Chromium likely stems from Digital Rights Management (DRM) requirements for streaming services like Disney+ and Netflix, which rely on DRM-enabled playback. Firefox on Linux has had inconsistent support for DRM due to codec availability and variations in operating system versions.
We’re hopeful that Tesla will either adopt Firefox or develop a fully native application to improve video streaming, rather than continuing with the current web-based Tesla Theater. This shift could also pave the way for additional in-car applications built on Tesla’s native Linux environment—perhaps even reviving the long-rumored Tesla App Store.
Regardless, this update is a welcome improvement, particularly for YouTube, which remains one of the most widely used Theater Mode apps due to its accessibility, free content, and mix of short and long-form videos. It remains to be seen whether similar improvements are made for Netflix, Disney+, or other streaming platforms.
If you’ve noticed improved performance in Theater Mode, now you know why.