Tesla Update 2024.8 Brings New Menus for WiFi and Bluetooth; Changes to Turn Signal Icons

Tesla's latest update has started going out to the fleet in small numbers, and along with the official changes, Tesla has also introduced smaller, undocumented changes that bring consistency across vehicles and introduce a better way to manage WiFi and Bluetooth.

Turn Signals

This update makes a couple of changes to the icons at the top left of the screen while driving.

Turn Signals: The turn signal icons are now plain arrows instead of being inside green circles. This makes it easier to distinguish between the left and right turn signals at a glance and better matches other vehicles.

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Hold Mode: Hold Mode (if enabled), prevents your vehicle from rolling after your vehicle comes to a complete stop.

Previously, when the vehicle was in 'Hold,' it would display the hold icon where the vehicle's speed is normally shown. With this update, Tesla now displays the hold icon next to the other indicator 'lights,' and continues to display your speedometer at all times.

Update: The Hold icon underneath the speedometer instead of replacing the speedometer has been available in Europe for a while and it is not expected to come to additional regions.

New WiFi Menu

There is a new WiFi menu that makes it easier to connect your vehicle to WiFi. The new menu can be found under Controls > WLAN (WiFi).

The updated menu replaces the old dialog box that appeared when you tapped the WiFi icon at the top of the Controls menu.

The status icons at the top of the screen are still present to let you quickly view whether the vehicle is connected to WiFi and its signal strength.

New Bluetooth Menu

Bluetooth now has its own menu

MiTMo

Similar to WiFi, the Bluetooth menu is now located under Controls > Bluetooth, instead of an overlay on the screen.

To make room for the additional WiFi and Bluetooth options in the left column, you can now scroll the column vertically, with WiFi, Bluetooth, and Upgrades being the last options.

The Bluetooth icon will also remain at the top of the screen to quickly let you know whether any Bluetooth devices are connected.

These changes come as Tesla continues to refine their software, making it quicker to find options and easier to use. Given the number of options and devices to connect to for WiFi and Bluetooth, it makes sense that these options would have their own menu instead of a small dialog window.

The changes to turn signals and Hold Mode are also welcomed ones, as Tesla better matches the display in other vehicles. The speedometer and turn signals offer crucial information that you should be glanceable while driving. In hindsight, replacing the speedometer, something drivers always expect to be on screen, with the hold icon may not have been the best choice.

These changes come just two updates after Tesla was asked to make changes to their indicator lights in the vehicle so that they would meet the minimum text size mandated by the U.S. government. The turn signals icons in particular are a small but needed change and it could be Tesla getting out ahead of any potential issues in the future.

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Tesla Adds Ability to Swipe Left and Right in Browser

Not a Tesla App

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.

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Tesla Updates FSD Package, Can Now Only Buy FSD Supervised

Not a Tesla App

Tesla has changed how they advertise and sell Full Self-Driving on their website. Although the text changes are small, this change could have greater implications in the future.

Previously, customers were offered the option to purchase “Full Self-Driving Capability,” with text saying that FSD will “continuously improve”. This specific text is no longer offered, and instead, customers can now only purchase “Full Self Driving (Supervised),” which no longer mentions continuous improvement.

You can view the old text on the Web Archive page (photo below) for the Model Y. This change comes right before the upcoming Robotaxi event, so we’re not quite sure what to make of it. Let’s look at what else has changed on Tesla’s website on FSD before we dive into the wording changes.

This news comes hot on the heels that Tesla recently pulled its blog pages for Elon Musk’s Masterplan Part II, which mentioned that all future Tesla vehicles would be Robotaxi capable. However, this has since turned out to be part of regular website trimming and maintenance. However, this FSD change is more intentional.

The previous FSD option you could buy from Tesla (left), and the new one (right)

Not a Tesla App

Definition Changes

These text changes are pretty broad, but that’s not all. There are a few other items that changed, including the removal of the following text:

The activation and use of these features are dependent on achieving reliability far in excess of human drivers as demonstrated by billions of miles of experience, as well as regulatory approval, which may take longer in some jurisdictions. As these self-driving features evolve, your car will be continuously upgraded through over-the-air software updates.

This has now been changed to say:

The activation and use of these features are dependent on development and regulatory approval, which may take longer in some jurisdictions.

That’s a pretty big difference overall, so let’s dig in.

Can Only Buy FSD (Supervised)

Tesla is now only offering the purchase of “Full Self-Driving (Supervised)”, instead of “Full Self-Driving Capability." This has a bit of an implication for the many people who have paid for FSD in the past, expecting their vehicles to become fully autonomous, without supervision being required. With the specific terms on Tesla’s website today, that promise doesn’t seem to be in place for future sales of Full Self-Driving.

Instead, future customers should expect that they may only receive Full Self-Driving (Supervised), which will always require some form of supervision. Tesla no longer states full autonomy on this page, but on the other hand, the Autopilot/FSD Support Page still contains the text for full autonomy.

This seems to be a legal wording change to prevent Tesla from making promises it may not be able to fulfill. On the other hand, Tesla has recently had a fantastic spate of updates this year, with the huge upgrade from FSD V11 to FSD V12. However, they’ve more recently had more trouble with moving on from FSD V12.3.6, which is what most vehicles are still on today. Tesla initially pushed FSD V12.4 and its subversions to early access testers but quickly halted that push. They moved on to FSD V12.5, and V12.5.3 with Actually Smart Summon will begin going out wide sometime next week, to both Hardware 3 and AI4 vehicles.

What Does This Mean for Customers?

For future customers, this likely means that Tesla is intending on only offering Full Self Driving (Supervised), rather than Full Self Driving. This could mean that Tesla will launch a new package for Full Self Driving (Unsupervised) for commercial entities or that it could only be available for Robotaxi vehicles.

For older customers – those who have purchased “Full Self-Driving Capability”, as the feature was previously called, we’re not quite sure whether Tesla will include you in this new ‘Supervised’ description, or if you’ll be offered Full Self-Driving (Unsupervised) when that ultimately becomes available. As for subscribers, Tesla can change their offerings at any point since you’re only paying for what’s available for that month.

Today, we’re not quite sure what to make of this change, especially since that same change hasn’t been reciprocated elsewhere on Tesla’s website. The changes could be anywhere from a protective legal change, to Tesla offering a new FSD (Unsupervised) package in the future, or fully autonomous FSD being something that Tesla will not commit a date or price to.

Let us know what you think in the forums.

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