Tesla usually packs a bunch of smaller, undocumented changes into every update, and this year’s holiday update isn’t any different. In fact, the holiday update contains massive improvements under the hood, especially for vehicles with the Intel Atom processor. The undocumented changes in this update are just as good as the features themselves, and for some owners, they may be even more of a gift than what Tesla has outlined in the release notes.
Come with us as we go through each feature that may have gone under the radar.
Update: Since we originally published this article, there have been an additional two undocumented changes found. They’re listed below.
Explicit Audio Content
The explicit content setting now applies to Apple Podcasts in addition to the 'Streaming'
Not a Tesla App
In the Audio Settings Options section, Tesla lets you block explicit content. Until now it only applied to the music service Tesla calls ‘Streaming,’ which is Slacker. However, with update 2023.44.30, this now applies to the new Apple Podcasts app as well. Unfortunately, it still does not apply to other streaming services such as Spotify or Apple Music yet.
More Wheel & Tire Options
New wheel options
Roz_420
Under the Wheel & Tire section, you can now select from additional wheel options. Tesla has added two new Gemini wheel options. Although the metallic aero wheels are only available in China, you can now select them from the Wheel & Tire menu in other regions as well. This will update your vehicle’s visualizations on screen and in the app to show these wheels instead of the vehicle’s default wheels.
The other new option introduced is the Gemini Cap Kit wheel option, which is the same Gemini wheel, but with the covers removed and with the bolt covers, known as the cap kit added.
Switching your wheels in these menus will cause the infotainment system to restart.
Improved Transition to Cellular
Tesla has improved their transition from Wi-Fi to cellular connections
Previously, if a vehicle was connected to WiFi, it would often not have an internet connection for a period of time until the cellular connection was established.
The transition from WiFi to cellular now appears to be instant. Tesla may be activating the cellular connection as you enter the car, instead of waiting until the vehicle is put into drive.
Improved Reverse Functions
These has made two improvements to the vehicle while in reverse
Not a Tesla App / KeaganGigatexas
There are two improvements to reverse in this update when the vehicle is in reverse.
The vehicle's visualization will now display reverse lane markers when the vehicle is in reverse, indicating the vehicle's path.
For vehicles equipped with ultrasonic sensors, the update brings an innovative feature - the distance to objects behind the vehicle will now dynamically change based on the steering wheel's position (video). For example, if the steering wheel is centered and will go straight backward, then the distance to an object will be for the object behind the vehicle. However, if the steering wheel is turned, then the distance will be for the object that is in the vehicle's direction.
View Supercharger Amenities on Map
When viewing details about a Supercharger in the vehicle, the amenity icons are now buttons that can be tapped to view the locations on the map. Before, Tesla would show you what type of amenities were nearby, but you can now view the exact shops or stores.
Autopilot / FSD Beta Strike Reset
FSD Beta strikes have been reset in the holiday update
Not a Tesla App
With the holiday update, FSD Beta strikes have been reset for everyone. This gives everyone a clean slate when using the updated system that now applies to FSD Beta and Autopilot use.
If your vehicle has a cabin camera, you’ll lose access to Autopilot and FSD Beta after accumulating five strikes. If your vehicle doesn’t have a cabin camera, then you’re limited to three strikes.
Cabin Camera Privacy
You can now view the features the cabin camera is used for
Not a Tesla App
You can now view which Tesla features have access to the cabin camera. Simply navigate to Controls > Software > Cabin Camera.
The vehicle will display all features that are enabled and have access to the vehicle's interior camera.
Dashcam Icons
Tesla has made various improvements to the vehicle's Dashcam feature
Not a Tesla App
The dashcam now features an icon that is more informative. The dashcam icon will now display these states:
Saving / Loading: This icon features a gray badge with arrows letting you know the dashcam is saving or retrieving footage to the USB drive.
Saved Footage: After successfully saving footage to the USB drive, a green checkmark badge will now briefly appear on the dashcam icon.
Error / Not Recording: If there is an error with your dashcam, USB drive or recording is turned off, there will be a gray badge with an 'X' that signifies that the dashcam is not actively recording.
Paused: A red pause badge shows up on the dashcam's icon if the dashcam is temporarily not recording, like if the Dashcam Viewer is actively being used.
Automatic Wipers
Windshield wipers no longer need to be set to Auto while in Autopilot
Not a Tesla App
Automatic windshield wipers can now be turned off, even while Autopilot or FSD Beta is enabled.
Previously, you could change the time interval between wipes, but you could not turn off the wipers completely.
Dashcam Viewer Improvements
Tesla's Dashcam viewer is now much faster
Not a Tesla App
Thanks to hardware video decoding, the Dashcam Viewer is now faster and more responsive. When scrubbing the progress bar, video is now smoother and jumps around less.
Tesla Theater Improvements
Thanks to hardware decoding, Tesla's video services are also seeing improved performance
Not a Tesla App
Similar to the Dashcam Viewer improvements, Tesla Theater is now much faster and smoother as well. Improvements are noticed while browsing content, playing content and minimizing Tesla Theater.
Automatic Emergency Braking, Now Required
If you have Autopilot or FSD enabled in settings, then AEB is now required
Not a Tesla App
Automatic Emergency Braking, which can help stop your vehicle for perpendicular dangers, or in reverse, must now remain enabled if your vehicle is set up to use Autopilot or FSD Beta, even if they are not active.
Ability to Turn Off Automatic 911 Calling
Automatic 911 calling is an optional feature
Not a Tesla App
With this update, your vehicle will automatically call 911 if airbags are deployed and your phone is actively connected to the vehicle via Bluetooth.
The vehicle shows a countdown in such as situation, which allows you to cancel the call, however, the feature is optional and can be turned off by navigating to Controls > Safety > Automatic 911 Call.
The holiday update appears to have been a massive clean up by Tesla, where they not only improved performance but included many quality-of-life features. This is resulting in a smoother experience for owners and hopefully leaves some additional bandwidth for additional features in the future.
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Tesla has filed four patents for wireless charging. Previously, Tesla acquired the experience and skills of Wiferion’s engineering team in an acquisition in June 2023. Tesla quickly sold off the company but kept the company’s engineers. This was an acqui-hire, where large companies rapidly onboard top talent by purchasing a company for human capital, rather than products, services, or intellectual products.
Following the Wiferion acquisition, Tesla showed off a wireless charging mat several times and even confirmed they are working on wireless inductive home charging. We expected this to arrive with the Cybertruck, but now we hope to see more details at the upcoming Robotaxi reveal event in October, at the Warner Bro.’s studio in Hollywood.
Wireless Charging Patents
First Patent
The first of the four patents looks at temperature sensors and applications for wireless charging. Tesla intends to track the temperatures across both the wireless charging pad, as well as the inductive charging coils in the vehicle. The third patent details how they’re planning to use this in an innovative way.
WIPO
Second Patent
The second patent is a shorting switch, which is designed to prevent or reduce leakage of energy to ground sources near the wireless charging mat. This shorting switch is used to create a short with the receiving side of the inductive charging, essentially making energy transfer faster and more efficient – while also reducing the amount of energy that is leaked out elsewhere. We’ll leave this one for the electrical engineers to explain in our forums.
Third Patent
The third patent is actually the wireless charging circuit itself, and how to manufacture it. This one is straightforward and explains how Tesla intends to design and build the prototype inductive wireless charging mats. Beyond the basic design, this document also details how Tesla intends to lay out the inductive charging coils and how it expects the entire assembly to function – which includes a small cable that runs to a wall-mounted energy source.
Fourth Patent
The final patent is for intelligently estimating and adapting to variations in wireless charging layouts and systems. This one is probably the most interesting of the four patents, as it involves adjusting the coils in the mat to dynamically account for the positioning of the vehicle, as well as responding to the information from the first patent – the temperature sensors.
Essentially, by varying the coil induction across the mat, Tesla intends to dynamically aim the wireless charger at different parts of the inductive coils in the vehicle, thereby reducing heat. This patent will also help Tesla to determine the adequate charge speed and other key information they may need to relay to the vehicle, or back to fleet management software.
Cybertruck Inductive Charging
While the Cybertruck never actually arrived with inductive charging, it was noted in the Service Manual to have 2 Inductive Charging Headers, so it is ready to be upgraded to have Inductive Charging support. We expect that Tesla will release this as a purchasable upgrade for the Cybertruck sometime in the future – likely as a package with the Inductive Charging Mat.
Robotaxi Inductive Charging
The Robotaxi will likely be the first of Tesla’s vehicles to feature inductive charging – which. makes sense given its autonomous nature. Plugging in a NACS charger will likely be fairly difficult to automate, and the 5-10% efficiency loss of wireless charging isn’t a huge deal. It’s possible Tesla chose this route due to cost, as having an automated NACS cable like the “snake” prototype we saw years ago could be costly.
Having a simple parking stall with an inductive mat on it, alongside all the tech and supplies needed to automatically clean and sanitize the Robotaxi makes far more sense. This means that a Robotaxi will be able to roll in, charge and clean itself, and then roll out to go pick up more customers. Tesla is planning a super-efficient system here that requires minimal intervention from real humans.
Essentially, by effectively managing the Robotaxi fleet, Tesla can offset the increased time that wireless charging would take, and also reduce the amount of waste energy by charging when energy is cheapest. While this could prevent Tesla from taking advantage of the sheer battery mass of a Robotaxi fleet – by selling power when it’s expensive and travel demand is low – this doesn’t make it impossible.
Smartphone manufacturers have demonstrated reverse wireless charging with the inductive charging coils already present in modern smartphones. We could see Tesla low-power bi-directional charging in the future too.
We’re looking forward to seeing Tesla unveil this at the upcoming Robotaxi event. It’ll be something special, for sure.
Tesla has made a spate of improvements to its vehicle software recently, starting with the big Spring Update, and then the Summer Update more recently. While we see most of the updates mentioned in the release notes, Tesla often also adds smaller quality-of-life improvements along the way.
Browser Controls
When using the Tesla Browser in the vehicle, you can now swipe left and right to go back or forward a page in your browser history. When you start swiping on the screen, Tesla’s Chromium-based browser will now display an arrow that slides out from the left or right. The circular icon is initially white, meaning that the action won’t be executed, but if you continue moving to the left/right, the icon will eventually turn blue. The blue icon means that the action will be executed once you let go of the screen.
This is a simple quality-of-life improvement that makes using the built-in browser easier.
We’re happy to see updates like these come to the browser, whose last major feature was the full-screen button that was added in update 2024.14.
Future Browser Improvements
While we’re on the topic, let’s look at some future Tesla web browser improvements we’d love to see.
Access to the Mic
Full access to the vehicle microphone isn’t allowed through the web browser right now. That means if you want to get into a Discord, Slack, or Teams call, you’ll only be able to listen – not speak. All of these apps fully function in the Tesla browser for sending messages, but are fairly limited for meetings.
Better Bookmarks
Tesla’s current bookmark system is simple and barebones. You can bookmark a page and give it a name. Once you visit a bookmarked page enough, it’ll show up as an icon in the center of the browser when you go to the homepage.
However, it's difficult to keep a larger set of bookmarks since there aren’t any organizational tools provided. A better bookmark system or the ability to sync bookmarks would be a welcomed feature.
Custom Homepage
Tesla’s current homepage in its browser is simply just a Tesla logo in black or white, depending on whether your car is in dark mode or not. A custom homepage that provides widgets with basic local news, stock information or other details would be fantastic. We’d ask for weather too, but the recent Summer update shows weather at the top of your screen.
If you’ve got more ideas for the fairly barebones Tesla web browser, let us know.
TeslaFi logs your drives and charging sessions, letting you keep a log of your vehice's activity. We highly recommend checking them out if you use your car for business trips and would like to keep track of reimbursements, if you like to see how much you spend on charging or if you just love statistics. Visit their site and see everything they have to offer!
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