Musk Confirms That Tesla Will Add Apple Watch Support in Future Update

Tesla App on Apple Watch concept by Naher94

Naher94/Reddit

Tesla is finally getting ready to release support for the Apple Watch and presumably Android wear devices. It’s anyone’s guess if development for smartwatches has been in the works or if the Tesla team found out at the same time as the rest of us. Despite this request being made several times before, Elon Musk recently responded to the request with a simple “Sure.” Although the response is short, Musk has a good record of delivering on items he has said “sure” or “okay” to on X/Twitter. A few examples are agreeing to add WiFi garage door support, a glovebox PIN feature, disabling mirror auto-dimming, and many others. When Musk responds to these requests, in all likelihood, they’re already on Tesla’s product roadmap.

The days of living in fear of your phone running out of juice and not having your key card may be numbered. X user @dani_elle831 described that exact situation: “well it finally happened. my phone died & I got locked out of my tesla thankfully the massage place let me use their phone & hubby unlocked it from his phone not sure why the car can’t be unlocked using an Apple Watch or other smart watch. any chance this could be incorporated @elonmusk?”

Sure

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 3, 2024

Phone Key Support on Watch?

One of the big advantages Apple Watch and Android Wear support could bring is the ability to use your watch as a vehicle key. From the context of the post on X, it’s not clear whether this will be included, as the post simply talks about unlocking the vehicle when you don’t have a working phone on you. It could mean having full-fledge key support on your watch, or simply being able to unlock and start the vehicle over the internet like you can already do through the app when you’re outside of Bluetooth range.

There’s no doubt that having ‘phone key’ support would be the best option, as it would work seamlessly and not require an internet connection, although it’s not clear what Tesla’s intentions are. Tesla has not added support for Apple’s CarKey and is unlikely to add it at this point. However, Tesla could add phone key support in the same method they already support on iPhones and Android devices.

Phone key leverages Bluetooth to unlock the vehicle when it’s nearby, and Tesla recently added ultra-wideband support, which brings even more precision to phone key. However, ultra-wideband is only available on newer devices, such as the iPhone 11 and later, some Samsung Galaxy 21 devices and later, as well as select other models. It also required a new Model 3, Cybertruck, or a newer Model S or X, with these sensors built in. Unfortunately, the previous generation Model 3 and the current Model Y do not include ultra-wideband support.

It is interesting to note that the Apple Watch has had ultra-wideband support since the Series 6, including the new Ultra models. Hopefully, we’ll be in for a treat and will see full phone key support through Bluetooth and Ultra-wideband, but either way, it seems like we’ll at long last be able to unlock the vehicle from our smartwatches in some form.

From Widgets to Watch Support

Tesla added lock screen widgets to the iPhone back in 2022

Tesla rolled out lock screen widget support on iPhones in app update 4.14, and we’re likely going to see these same lock screen widgets supported on the Apple Watch and possibly on Android Wear devices. Tesla has two lock screen widgets that display relevant vehicle information. The larger one displays the range left on the vehicle, the name of the vehicle and a progress bar showing the charge level. If you have more than one Tesla, you’ll need to choose which vehicle is displayed in the widget, however, you can have multiple instances of the same widget. There is also a smaller widget that is half the size and simply displays the vehicle’s state of charge. Both of these would adapt well to ‘complications’ on the Apple Watch..

Smartwatch Support Expectation

Another concept of a Tesla app on the Apple Watch by @niccruzpatane

@niccruzpatane

We don’t know what Tesla is developing and it could be anything from a full-fledged Tesla app for smartwatches that allows you to access most commands available in the Tesla app such as charging, unlocking, starting the climate, setting charge level (as shown in the concept above), and even include full phone key support. However, it could also be a slimmed-down app that introduces watch widgets and allows you to access the most important commands and information about the vehicle, such as seeing the vehicle’s range, unlocking it, and starting a charge. Smartwatch support has been a long time coming, and even if Tesla releases the latter, it will be a great addition.

Other Manufacturers

Tesla's development of smartwatch apps is a welcome step, but surprisingly a step behind the competition, which is unlike Tesla in terms of software. Companies like Porsche, BMW, Dodge, Toyota, and Ford have already introduced support for smartwatches. These apps offer a range of features such as remote engine start and stop, door lock and unlock, car finder, vehicle status, and parking meter assistance.

Timing is Everything

Tesla's consideration of a smartwatch app comes at an intriguing time, closely following Apple's announcement to cancel its electric vehicle project, which would’ve competed directly with Tesla. It’s likely a coincidence, and it could have more to do with the recent addition of ultra-wideband, as this new tech provides significant improvements in energy usage and precision. We should find out more soon, so stay tuned.

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The Differences Between the New Autopark on Intel vs AMD Tesla Vehicles [Video]

Tesla is starting to roll out its latest iteration of Autopark to additional vehicles. The feature that lets your vehicle park automatically was initially rolled out in North America to vehicles without ultrasonic sensors (USS). However, now with FSD v12.3.6, it's going out to vehicles with USS as well.

However, there are differences in how Autopark looks visually, depending on whether you have an infotainment unit that is based on the slower Intel Atom processor, or the latest AMD Ryzen processor.

What’s the Same

Both vehicles will receive the new Autopark and the functionality remains the same. The difference lies in the visuals and whether the vehicle is capable of displaying Tesla’s High Fidelity Park Assist. All vehicles will display available parking spots when you're traveling under 5 mph. You can then tap any of the spots to have your vehicle automatically park at the chosen location.

Intel Vehicles Will Still New New Visuals

Contrary to what was expected, vehicles with the older processor will still display some new visuals, beyond the parking spots. Think of it as a less intense version of High Fidelity Park Assist. Whereas Park Assist on AMD vehicles shows a complete 3D reconstruction of objects in 3D, Intel vehicles will display what looks more like a two-dimensional overhead view. However, it will still display road markings, like arrows and parking lines and even walls and barriers, but unfortunately, the view can not be spun in a 3D fashion like visualizations normally can.

This is a great summary of my AutoPark discoveries yesterday w/ FSD 12.3.6 on my Model 3 with Ultrasonic Sensors and INTEL Atom CPU.

More to come soon. 👊 pic.twitter.com/XH3ZR3ZGBN

— ⚡️TechGeek Tesla 🔋⚡️ (@jonbbc) April 29, 2024

The lines and objects displayed are different from the vector-based lines the vehicle normally displays on roads. FSD visualizations aren’t, in fact, recreating the environment they see, they’re simply detecting an arrow, line, or object and then replacing it with a pre-created 3D asset in the visualization. Although these reconstructions don’t look as sharp or pretty, they’ll mimic whatever is actually drawn on the road.

For vehicles with AMD processors, you'll see the previously released High Fidelity Park Assist (video below), which does look amazing.

If you’d like to always use High Fidelity Park Assist visuals even when you’re not using Autopark, then you’ll need to disable your ultrasonic sensors and give up the accurate measurements they display.

You can change your setting under Controls > Autopilot > Park Assist and toggle between Standard or Vision.

High-fidelity park assist is shipping this weekend to Tesla customers without ultrasonic sensors as part of the holiday release!pic.twitter.com/MEHL6w003r

— Ashok Elluswamy (@aelluswamy) December 17, 2023

Who Gets the New Autopark

If your vehicle has ultrasonic sensors, then the new Autopark is currently only available on FSD v12.3.6 , which is update 2024.3.25, but since Autopark only requires Enhanced Autopilot or above, it should be bundled with a non-FSD update in the future.

While the new Autopark is only available in North America, it is expected to be rolled out to additional regions in the near future as Tesla continues to test the feature.

If you're not sure if your vehicle has an Intel Atom or AMD Ryzen processor, you can double-check by going under Controls > Software > Additional Vehicle Information. You'll see your infotainment processor listed there.

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Tesla Lays Off Entire Supercharger Team as Musk Talks About the Future of Superchargers

Tesla chief executive Elon Musk emailed the company’s executives informing them about further layoffs including Supercharging, Public Policy and New Product Iteration teams. The reductions come in addition to the more than 10 percent staff cut announced two weeks ago.

In an email seen by The Information, Musk stated that the company needs “to be absolutely hardcore about headcount and cost reduction”.

“Starting at 10 AM EST Tuesday, I will ask for the resignation of any executive who retains more than three people who don’t obviously pass the excellent, necessary, and trustworthy test,” the Tesla CEO wrote.

Musk Talks About the Future of Superchargers

Tesla recently reached 50,000 Superchargers globally and marked the occasion with a special edition Supercharger. Superchargers are the world's most reliable, fast-charging network, partly due to Tesla’s real-time monitoring. As Tesla has recently started opening its Supercharging network to other automakers, the move to axe the entire Supercharger team caused perplexity among investors and customers.

On X, Musk commented on the concerns a few hours later saying Tesla still plans to grow the Supercharger network, "just at a slower pace for new locations”. The company will instead focus on “100% uptime and expansion of existing locations,” he added.

This statement is particularly odd given that Tesla’s Superchargers are already highly reliable with more than a 99% uptime. However, depending on your region, some charging locations can become rather congested, and this will likely worsen as more vehicles come equipped with NACS ports and get access to the Supercharger network.

Rivian recently announced that it will open up its much smaller network of fast chargers to Tesla and other EVs. This may help fill in some gaps, especially since Rivian tends to focus on more rural areas.

Tesla still plans to grow the Supercharger network, just at a slower pace for new locations and more focus on 100% uptime and expansion of existing locations

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 30, 2024

William Jameson, strategic charging programs lead at Tesla, confirmed on X that Musk had let the "entire charging org go”. Later on, Musk disclosed that all the sites that are currently under construction “will be completed, ” including the highly anticipated Hollywood Diner. There’s also a new Supercharger planned that will be New England’s largest and include a solar CyberCanopy.

Musk added that Tesla will add “additional Superchargers anywhere where there are gaps,” although as he previously said, it will be at a much slower rate than before.

Tesla announced the first generation of Superchargers in September 2012 with the first 6 locations in the US while expansion to Europe and Asia arrived in mid-2013.

Open of Supercharging Network

In May 2023, Ford announced that it became the first automaker to gain access to Tesla Superchargers across the U.S. and Canada. Less than two weeks later, GM CEO Mary Barra said in an X Spaces with Elon Musk, that GM customers would also access more than 12,000 Tesla Superchargers in North America.

Major automakers such as Volvo, Mercedes, and Honda plus EV startups including Rivian and Polestar have followed over the next months bringing up the number to 20.

Further Teams Affected 

Daniel Ho, Director of Vehicle Programs and New Product Introduction (NPI), has also left the company, along with the entire public policy team previously under Rohan Patel, former Vice President for Public Policy and Business Development.

At the time, Patel said on X that Tesla has “the best policy/biz-dev team in the business” while thanking Elon Musk for “empowering” to “lead big initiatives at the company”.

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