Tesla's New 'Tap to Park' Autopark Feature [Updated With Video]

Updated: March 24, 2024

By Not a Tesla App Staff

Tesla is launching its improved Autopark feature

Not a Tesla App

Tesla has released the much-anticipated new Autopark feature that is expected to be based on the new neural networks that power FSD Beta v12.

Teslas have had Autopark capability for several years, although it has several shortcomings, besides not being available to any recent vehicles that do not include ultrasonic sensors (USS).

This refined version of Autopark is available as part of update 2024.2.11, although the update appears to be limited to employees at this time.

This new iteration of Autopark is expected to be a big improvement over the previous version. According to Musk, it contains “major improvements” over the previous version.

Video

Update: The first video of the new Autopark feature is now available thanks to X user Space Cat, who drives a Model Y with Enhanced Autopilot and without ultrasonic sensors. In the video below you can see the new parking visuals and how easily the vehicle detects parking spots, something the current Autopark feature struggles with.

The driver can pick from any of the highlighted spots. It’s impressive how the vehicle shifts to drive or reverse depending on what’s needed. This appears to be similar behavior to what we’ll see in FSD, according to Tesla’s Autopilot director.

Tesla made the process to initial Autopark easy with this release. The vehicle automatically displays available parking spots and defaults to one nearby. All the driver has to do is stop the vehicle and tap ‘Start’ on the screen to start Autopark. There’s no need to tap a button to have the vehicle detect parking spots or even to select a particular spot, unless you have a preference.

Tesla autopark for vision only non-USS Model Y! At long last! So far I'm pretty impressed. It's way better than the old autopark.@AndyZeGerman @28delayslater pic.twitter.com/Hi25l7T1XL
— Space Cat 🐈🚀 (@raderje) March 24, 2024

Tap a Parking Spot and Exit the Vehicle?

Musk has been talking about the new ‘Tap to Park’ feature for several months. In December 2023, Musk said "We are working on a feature where the car identifies probable viable parking spaces. You tap on one, exit the vehicle and it parks there."

The release notes in this version don't mention the ability to exit the vehicle before the vehicle starts parking, although it sounds like that's Tesla's goal for this feature. This first iteration could be Tesla's MVP (Minimal Viable Product) that they'd like to ship and they'll slowly add on features as the feature is refined.

There are several hints beyond Musk's comment that Tesla will eventually support tapping a parking spot on the screen and allow the driver to exit the vehicle while the car parks itself.

A look under the hood at Tesla's recent app update showed that Tesla is building Autopark features into the app, hinting that you may even be able to initiate Autopark directly from your phone in the future.

This is very similar to what you can already do with Summon on vehicles with USS. From your device, you can wake up the vehicle and have it drive a short distance to you. It's not far-fetched to think that Tesla has sights on being able to do this in reverse.

Available to Vehicles Without USS

Tesla has been delivering vehicles without USS, Autopark, and Smart Summon for over a year now. This updated feature is expected to have improved vision to make up for the lack of USS. A similar situation occurred with Park Assist, where vehicles without USS could no longer show distances to objects when parking.

Tesla then introduced High-Fidelity Park Assist in the holiday update and surprised everyone with what they were able to accomplish. Instead of just displaying distances to objects, Tesla created 3D models of surrounding objects and colored them based on the vehicle's proximity.

High-Fidelity Park Assist is still limited to vehicles without USS, but we know Tesla is working on adding the feature to vehicles that include ultrasonic sensors as well. It's not clear whether the new Autopark may also only be rolled out to vehicles without USS, or if it'll be available to all vehicles at the same time.

Autopark is part of Tesla’s Enhance Autopilot (EAP) suite, so only users with EAP or FSD are expected to receive the feature when it rolls out.

Improved Visuals and Selection

The image Tesla released shows an improvement in Autopark visuals. The current iteration of Autopark only shows one parking spot at once, and it's difficult to even have that come up on the screen.

This new version appears to be a drastic improvement, not only outlining a parking spot on the display but also displaying various parking spots at once - including parallel spaces.

According to the release notes, the parking spots will appear any time you're driving slowly through a parking lot, although the exact speed isn't specified.

Improved Autopark

Musk previously talked about a vast improvement in the new Autopark, which he called Tap to Park. This new Autopark is expected to be based on the same neural networks that power FSD Beta v12, which has been a drastic improvement over FSD Beta v11.4.9. We should see a much improved Autopark experience when this feature becomes available to Tesla owners.

Although the previous version of Autopark worked, it was difficult to have it detect a parking spot and display it on the screen. It often also parked very slowly, making it less almost useless if there were other vehicles around. However, the result was usually quite good, with the vehicle parking safely and well between the parking lines. We expect the two shortcomings of the current Autopark to be drastically improved in this latest revision.

Public Roll Out / Release Date

Just a few days ago, Musk revealed that Tesla would release a new version of Summon (Actually Smart Summon) and a new Autopark feature with "major improvements" next month (April).

It's surprising to see this feature added to update 2024.2.11 when Tesla is already rolling out 2024.8.4. This leads us to believe that this update may be currently in a testing phase with employees and is not yet ready to go to a public release.

When Tesla is ready to ship this feature to owners, we'll likely see it introduced in a revision to 2024.8, or even the next major update, which could be 2024.12.

Either way, it looks like we'll be getting it fairly soon, and if the new Autopark has anywhere near the improvements in Tesla's FSD Beta v12.3, then we're in for a real treat.

Tesla Updates Santa Mode & Rainbow Road to Use Ambient Lighting and Updates SteamOS [VIDEO]

December 10, 2024

By Karan Singh

Flo / Roberto Bonato

While Tesla’s 2024 Holiday Update brought many new features, including Apple Watch Support, Cross Traffic Alerts, Weather Overlays, Search Along Route, and others, there are also several smaller items in this update that didn’t get much attention.

Ambient Lighting Now Affects Easter Eggs

The 2024+ Model 3 and Cybertruck both come equipped with ambient lighting, and Tesla is now taking advantage of this custom lighting feature by incorporating it into several easter eggs.

Rainbow Road: If you head over to Apps > ToyBox > Rainbow Road, you’ll find a new option available that allows the ambient lighting in the vehicle to also change shades while Rainbow Road is active. The Rainbow Road easter egg is a tribute to the iconic course course in Nintendo’s Mario Kart.

Check out the feature in action below:

🇮🇹 Con l’aggiornamento di Natale, quando attiviamo la pista arcobaleno, anche i LED interni diventeranno arcobaleno. Questa è una novità non documentata, scovata da un utente di TESLERS (chiaramente riguarda le Model 3 Highland)

🇺🇸 UNDOCUMENTED CHANGE: With the Holiday update,… pic.twitter.com/xyocOIrWfX
— 𝗧𝗘𝗦𝗟𝗘𝗥𝗦 (@TeslersOfficial) December 8, 2024

Santa Mode: Just in time for Christmas, Tesla has improved Santa Mode by cycling the ambient lighting between Christmas colors. Similar to Rainbow Road, the use of ambient lighting for the easter egg is optional and can be enabled under Apps > ToyBox > Santa Mode.

When using Santa Mode with ambient lighting turned on, the lights will cycle just between Christmas colors, red, green and white, instead of the full rainbow. There’s a video of the feature below:

Yup and in Santa Mode it cycles between red white and green pic.twitter.com/HVQUlfUyze
— Roberto Bonato (@BonatoRoberto) December 9, 2024

Update: It looks like it affects other Easter eggs as well, such as turning orange when using Romance mode.

SteamOS (Beta) Update

The Model S and Model X vehicles that support Steam gaming are receiving a Steam app update in the holiday update as well. This update could end up being very interesting, but for now Tesla says that the SteamOS, which also runs on Valve’s Steam Deck has been updated to version 3.6.

Valve outlines a wide range of fixes and improvements in their release notes for version 3.6, but Tesla simply states that the OS update includes performance enhancements and improved game compatibility.

The SteamOS hasn’t been updated on the Model S and X for quite a while, so we believe there may be more to this besides performance improvements and fixes. We’ll be looking to share some insights into this in the near future.

So, there you have it—three new features in the Holiday update that have mostly gone under the radar. While they may not apply to everyone, there are plenty of other cool features in the Holiday Update, like the arrival of Dynamic Road Closure Routing and Nearby Parking, that are coming to every vehicle, so go check out the full release notes.

New Report Offers Specs & Price for Tesla's Upcoming Next-Gen Model

December 10, 2024

By Karan Singh

A concept of Tesla's 'Model Q'

@DominicBRNKMN on X

At the 2023 Q3 Earnings Call, Tesla provided an update on its next-generation model, what many are referring to as the “Model 2” or “Model Q.” Although the actual model name is yet to be determined, it is known internally as Redwood.

During the 2024 Shareholder Meeting, Musk again mentioned the upcoming model, saying that Tesla is working on new products, including a more affordable vehicle and a larger SUV.

While we know the next-gen vehicle is aimed at the $25k to $30k USD market, we now have some new information thanks to a new report out of China.

Launch & Price

According to the Chinese outlet CNMO Technology News (Sina Finance), Travis Axelrod, Tesla’s Head of Investor Relations, announced plans to launch a new model. Axelrod shared this update while addressing senior corporate investors at an investor conference hosted by Deutsche Bank on December 5, 2024.

The goal of Project Redwood, internally dubbed “Model Q” by Deutsche Bank, is to achieve a post-subsidy price of under $30,000 USD. With the Federal EV Rebate potentially expiring next year, this suggests that the Model Q’s starting price will be around $30,000 USD. For comparison, the Model 3 currently starts at $42,490 in the U.S.

We previously reported that Tesla has already been speaking to suppliers and is looking to begin volume production of the vehicle sometime around June 2025. Of course, prototyping is still necessary, but we haven’t seen any signs of Tesla testing a new vehicle since spotting the Cybercab on the streets ahead of We, Robot.

Specs

The Model Q will supposedly be about 15% smaller and 30% lighter than the Model 3, with an approximate length of 3,988mm, or 157 inches. For scale, the Mini is 157 inches, while the Model 3 is 185 inches, so it’s fairly compact.

The battery will also be smaller to match the vehicle’s smaller size as Tesla tries to reduce the vehicle’s price while maintaining a similar range as its other vehicles. Tesla is expected to offer two models—a single-motor RWD model and a Long-Range Dual-Motor AWD variant.

The lower trim level will include a 53 kWh lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery, while the AWD version is expected to include a 75 kWh LFP battery. The report says that the vehicle will be able to travel up to 500 km (310 miles) on a single charge, but it’s not clear whether this will be for the more efficient RWD version or the AWD variant.

Given the vehicle’s weight reduction compared to the Model 3, this type of range is likely for the lower trim level.

Variant	Motors	Battery Size	Estimated Range
RWD	1	53 kWh (LFP)	310 miles (500km)?
AWD	2	75 kWh (LFP)	?

There’s no news yet on the price of the AWD version, but we expect it to be about $5,000 more expensive than the RWD variant.

Once the vehicle ramps up in production, Tesla intends to produce about 10,000 of these per week globally or about 500,000 per year. As Tesla mentioned during one of their previous earnings calls, this next-gen vehicle will be built using Tesla’s current assembly lines with minimal changes. This should allow for a smoother and more predictable production ramp. While Tesla still plans to use its new unboxed assembly process, it’s now saving it for the robotaxi.

Project Juniper

One of the items that came up during the investor conference was Tesla’s Project Juniper—the Model Y refresh. Juniper has already had a few leaks, including some images and information that mention a return to the 7-seat, 3-row format—at least in China.

We’re expecting Juniper to launch early next year, as production has supposedly already begun at Giga Shanghai, at least on a limited prototyping basis. If the rollout matches the Model 3 Highland refresh, we’ll see Juniper arrive in China first and then make its way to North America and Europe by the end of 2025. The performance variants should launch in early 2026, after the standard models.

If you’re excited about Juniper, so are we! Check out our wishlist of features for Tesla’s Model Y refresh, and see everything we know so far.