The first-gen Model 3 and Model Y will soon have support for their matrix headlights
According to a new document in the EU, Tesla is preparing to enable its matrix headlights on the current Model Y and first-gen Model 3.
The document, dated January 3, 2024, reveals that Tesla is introducing adaptive high-beam support to these vehicles, similar to what they recently released on the new Model 3.
A similar document was leaked in December that showed that Tesla was looking to add adaptive high beams to the new Model 3.
Software Update
In Tesla software update 2024.2, Tesla introduced support for adaptive headlights in their newest vehicle, the new Model 3.
While this was the first Tesla vehicle to receive support for adaptive high beams, it left many vehicle owners wondering whether Tesla would enable support for matrix headlights that have come on vehicles for several years.
Supported Vehicles
According to this document, the approval is only for the Model 3 and Model Y. However, it’s almost certain that the update will also arrive on the Model S and Model X as well, although it could come in a separate, later update.
The first Model X vehicles with matrix headlights were delivered in June/July of 2023, while the Model 3, Model Y, and Model S have had matrix headlights for a longer period. Support on the Model 3 and Model Y has varied by region and model, so the best way to tell whether your vehicle has matrix headlights is to look at them. If you see a large, round projector lens like the image below, your vehicle has the new matrix headlights.
Matrix headlights
Video of Adaptive Headlights on New Model 3
X user m.jr.88 posted a video (below) of his new Model 3 that has support for the new adaptive high beams feature. In the video, you can see how select parts of the road brighten and dim as vehicles approach.
Will It Be Available Outside of the EU?
Headlights play an important role in vehicle safety and therefore adaptive headlights are often highly regulated by safety agencies. Due to the leaked document, it appears the feature will be available across the European Union, however, it’s not immediately clear whether it will be available in other regions at the same time.
In 2022, the NHTSA issued a ruling that automakers could install adaptive headlights in their vehicles. However, there could be specifications that must be followed in the U.S. or another region that could differ from EU requirements.
Tesla would without a doubt want to make this feature available in as many regions as possible; however, potential adaptations may be necessary to align with local market nuances and regulatory requirements. At this time, we would expect matrix headlights to become available in the EU soon, with other potential markets available at the same time or soon thereafter.
Release Date
The original document for the new Model 3 was dated November 8th, 2023, so it was about two months before Tesla introduced the update that enabled adaptive high beams on the 2024 Model 3.
If Tesla follows a similar timeline, we may see support for matrix headlights in the next 4-6 weeks. Tesla could add it as soon as the next major update, which is expected to be version 2024.6 or 2024.8.
Update 2024.2, which includes support for the new Model 3 is still in the early stages of rolling out with only about 1% of Tesla's fleet having access to the update. However, we'll likely see bigger waves roll out in the next couple of weeks.
Adaptive High Beam Release Notes
The release notes for adaptive high beam support in update 2024.2 states that the high beams will now adjust to reduce glare for other drivers and cyclists. It goes on to say that by detecting road users and selectively dimming individual pixels of the headlights, the high beams can remain on longer and provide better visibility.
The new adaptive high beam feature is disabled by default but can be enabled in supported vehicles by going to Lighting > Adaptive High Beam in the vehicle's settings.
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During Tesla’s Q1 earnings call, Tesla talked about its plan for its upcoming robotaxi network and even showed off a design for the app that would allow customers to request vehicles, much like Uber and Lyft.
While Tesla plans to unveil the robotaxi, officially now called CyberCab this August, a true autonomous taxi is at the very least, a couple of years away. So why is Tesla so eager to show off an app and start offering a Tesla taxi service?
in 2023 Uber had a revenue of 37.28 billion, while Lyft had a much smaller revenue of 4.4 billion. For comparison, Tesla’s revenue last year was 96.77 billion. A taxi service, even one operated by humans can be incredibly lucrative. While Tesla’s ultimate goal may be an automated taxi service, they may be itching to get into the space.
Tesla’s robotaxi was initially supposed to be a taxi service owners would lend their vehicles to. While that’s still the plan, Tesla wants their own vehicles to be a part of the service as well.
Will the Robotaxi Service Start With Tesla Drivers?
Tesla comparing themselves to Airbnb and Uber during their earnings call is intriguing. While Tesla can start producing robotaxis almost whenever they want, it’d likely be smart to wait until autonomy is solved so they’re not limiting themselves to current FSD hardware.
While full autonomy is likely several years away, Tesla seems to be eager to make this push toward a Tesla-owned service. Is Tesla thinking about operating their own Uber-like service? Tesla could be thinking about releasing their future robotaxi app and service in “beta,” letting current Tesla owners operate their own vehicles on the service.
This could result in several benefits for Tesla, not only letting them test their service but also opening up another revenue stream. This would allow Tesla to start operating their robotaxi network as soon as this year, and then slowly replace drivers and owner vehicles with Tesla-owned robotaxis.
Tesla Shows Off Robotaxi App
Tesla showed off it's robotaxi app
At the earnings call, Tesla also showed off a design of their robotaxi app. While it feels early to design an app for a service that could be years away, Tesla appears to be preparing itself for the future and getting customers excited about the prospect.
Tesla showed off five screens of the app, essentially showing how you’d request a robotaxi, how you can view its progress, and control certain features of the vehicle. Through the various screens, you can see most of Tesla’s Autopilot features coming to fruition in terms of autonomy, such as summon, self-driving and eventually Autopark.
Summon - Much like Tesla has re-thought the interior of a car and so many features, you can see the same mechanics applied to the app. To request a vehicle, you simply hold down a summon button and you’ll be presented with an estimate of when a vehicle will arrive.
Set Preferences and Destination - On the second screen, you can see the vehicle’s current location on a 3D map, possibly alluding to future FSD visualizations. It also lets you set your destination and set the climate temperature to your preference.
Trip Progress - While you’re traveling in the vehicle, you’ll be able to view trip information as well as set entertainment options.
Recap
Tesla had a lot to talk about during their earnings call and specifically about the Robotaxi — more information was revealed than ever before.
While there are various things at play to make a service like this come together, we can easily separate them out into separate components.
There’s the robotaxi itself, which Musk recently said would be similar to Tesla’s next-gen vehicle without a steering wheel. However, during this earnings call, he revealed that Tesla will save its new “unboxed” manufacturing process for the robotaxi and use a more traditional method for their next vehicle.
Then there’s FSD itself, while it’s crucial to operating a driverless robotaxi network, it’s not necessary to start a Tesla taxi service.
The last piece is the ride-hailing component itself and how it’s managed, and Tesla was happy to show this off, which makes us believe that it may be closer to reality than many think. While Tesla needs all three of these components to come together to operate a true robotaxi network, they piece them together separately, much like they’ve done with Autopilot. Initially, Tesla only released auto-steer then slowly added on summon, Autopark and city driving.
When we look back at Tesla five years from now, we may very well look back to this earnings call and say this was the pivotal moment when Tesla started transitioning to a services company.
Tesla has invested billions of dollars over the years toward vehicle autonomy. The mission continues as Elon Musk and Tesla now prepare to unveil their ride-hailing product, Robotaxi this August. Or, as Musk called it on Tuesday, Tesla CyberCab.
Early Days
Five years ago, during Tesla’s Autonomy Investor Day in April 2019, Elon Musk said he felt “very confident predicting autonomous robotaxis for Tesla in the following year [2020]”. At the time, Musk added a bolder claim, predicting that Tesla wouldn’t even make cars with steering wheels or pedals by 2022. While timeliness may not be Musk’s strong suit, he has a track record for getting things done that others were unwilling to try or thought were impossible. Musk later admitted he can be overly optimistic and said “sometimes I am not on time, but I get it done.”
Now, 5 years later, we have the robotaxi unveiling scheduled for August 8th. After the release of FSD v12, it’s clear that we’re much closer to autonomy than we were in 2019, although FSD v12 is still a far cry from full autonomy.
While Tesla still has the robotaxi unveiling scheduled for August, Tesla announced yesterday that it’d be prioritizing a simpler “next-gen” model that could be released by early 2025.
Latest Updates
On the conference call, Musk added that Tesla now has over 300 million miles driven with FSD v12 since it was launched just last month. He added that it's becoming “very clear that the vision-based approach with end-to-end neural networks is the right solution for scalable autonomy”.
Tesla said it has been investing in the hardware and software ecosystems necessary to achieve vehicle autonomy and a ride-hailing service. The company is confident that it can establish a scalable and profitable autonomous driving business by employing a vision-only architecture.
think of it [Tesla] as combination of Airbnb and Uber meaning that there will be some number of cars that Tesla owns itself and operates
Tesla = Uber + AirBnb
Later on, Elon Musk unveiled that the new service will operate and result in a mix between Uber and Airbnb where the Tesla driver decides if and when he wants his Tesla to be used and by whom. Tesla stated:
“We believe the Tesla software experience is best-in-class across all our products, and plan to seamlessly layer ride-hailing into the Tesla App.”
Tesla’s CEO clarified that the owners will be able to add or remove their car from the fleet “whenever they want” adding that it will be up to them to decide if they want to only let the car be used “by friends and family or only by five-star users or by anyone at any time”. The flexible program will, just like Airbnb, allow the owners to take the car out of the market when they want.
The upcoming ride-hailing service will enable users to easily request a Tesla vehicle, control the car's temperature, monitor its real-time location, and adjust the audio system. The only question is when.
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