An In-Depth Look at Tesla's New Music Player in Update 2024.14 [Photos & Video]

By Not a Tesla App Staff
Tesla redesigned its music player
Tesla redesigned its music player
Not a Tesla App

One of the exciting new features of Tesla update 2024.14 is the improved media player for the Model 3 and Model Y.

Tesla's media player has gone through some drastic changes over the years, but this appears to be the best revision yet.

The previous media player had four states... yes, four. It made for a confusing experience, even for owners who used the car every day.

The four states included:

  • The "default" state included a small player closest to the driver with some of the most used buttons

  • The second state was the enlarged view when you dragged up on the media player that revealed additional buttons such as shuffle and search

  • There was also its minimized state, which placed the music player’s icon in the dock and led to confusion

  • And lastly, if you had a music service open fully on the right part of the screen AND minimized the media player, then the player would hop over to the top of the larger music panel on the right.

It created an inconsistent experience and all of the players had their downsides. There just wasn’t a solution that worked all of the time. Thankfully the new music player addresses most of these issues.

Tesla used to have a media player that ran along the bottom of the right part of the screen
Tesla used to have a media player that ran along the bottom of the right part of the screen
Not a Tesla App

What’s New

The first thing Tesla did was reduce the number of states essentially down to two. You have a regular media player and a minimized player. You don't have to drag up on the player to access the shuffle or search functions and you can’t “lose” the player by minimizing it to the dock anymore.

Correction: When you minimize Tesla’s audio player and have Spotify or another music app open, the player controls will still shift to the top of the music app.

One-Tap Access to Shuffle, Repeat and Search

What Tesla did was move all of the crucial media functions from the previous larger player directly to the main player. This now gives you one-tap access to functions like shuffle, repeat, search, playback speed, audio levels, and search.

Not only were these functions hard to access before, but they were hidden underneath the player, making discovery for new owners difficult.

Improved Progress Bar

The progress bar on the previous player was difficult to see since it was just a slim line at the bottom of the player.

The new player has a thicker progress bar that separates the top portion of the player, which houses the album art, song title, and a couple of functions, and the bottom portion, which contains more controls. Tesla also added a circle to the progress bar, making it more obvious you can not only scrub through the media but also lets you easily see your current spot.

Accessing More Functions

More music player options open to the right
More music player options open to the right
Not a Tesla App

Since the larger media player was removed, so was some of the functionality that it included. All the important items were moved to the main media player such as audio settings and search, however, the other functionality such as access to Favorites, Sources, Recent Songs, and Next, was moved to the larger music app.

If you tap on the new music player, it’ll open up the current music app on the right side that includes music controls, as well as access to your favorites, music sources, upcoming songs and more.

This is also the only way to view the elapsed and remaining times for the current selection, which is useful for longer median such as audiobooks or podcasts.

New Minimized Player

Although the music player doesn't minimize to the dock, it does feature a minimalist version that docks to the bottom of the screen.

When you slide down on the audio player, it'll be reduced to a simple "one-line" player. It simply shows a music icon, the name of the title being played, and an arrow showing you the player can be made larger. There is no longer a gray music icon that appears in the dock when the player is in its “minimized” state.

The new music player no longer minimizes to the dock
The new music player no longer minimizes to the dock
Not a Tesla App

Modern UI

The player itself also looks more modern, it now features a translucent background, instead of a solid color like before. The new background lets vehicle animations subtly shine through, a lot like the effects used on modern operating systems.

What Models Will Support It

According to Tesla’s social media post on X, the ‘Visual updates’ in update 2024.14 are limited to AMD Ryzen-based Model 3 and Model Y vehicles, meaning only vehicles manufactured after about 2022+. The exact timeline depends on your vehicle and region, but you can check to see which processor your vehicle includes by navigating to Controls > Software > Additional Vehicle Information.

New Player in Action [Video]

DominicBRNKMN shows off the new music player in action below.

Will We See Intel Atom Support?

The new music player isn’t doing anything crazy in this latest iteration. We believe we'll see this updated player come to Intel Atom vehicles eventually. The Cybertruck already includes the new media player, among the other design changes, so when Tesla said only for “Model 3/Y with AMD chip” on X, they likely meant in this specific update.

There's nothing that’s more computationally intensive about this new player except for maybe the translucent background, however, that’s already being done on Intel-based vehicles for some of the navigation modules. There isn’t anything new that the slower Intel processor couldn't handle.

It’s in Tesla’s best interest to keep a common interface between vehicles. Tesla wouldn't want to drastically change the way a common item like the "radio" works between different Model 3 and Model Y years if they didn't have to. That would complicate issues with service and documentation. Tesla wants owners to have the same UI as much as possible, so we there’s a good chance that we’ll see the new media player apply to Intel in the future.

Update 2024.14.3

Installed on 0% of fleet
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Last updated: Apr 1, 5:00 am UTC

Hopefully, in an upcoming update, Intel owners will receive this streamlined music player. Update 2024.14 is currently rolling out slowly to some vehicles. 

Musk Confirms Robotaxi on Track for June, More Cities Coming, Customer-owned Cars in 2026

By Karan Singh
Not a Tesla App

Tesla signaled its intention to launch its first Robotaxi network in Austin, Texas, with company-owned and operated vehicles, back in January. This network will be Tesla’s first foray into truly autonomous vehicles - ones that aren’t being directly supervised by a driver. Later in February, Tesla’s executive team confirmed that the plans were on track for the launch of the Austin network both on X and during several interviews that they participated in.

At the end of February, we also found out that Tesla has applied for a Supervised Robotaxi license in California, where the network will also launch, but with safety drivers in place.

This is an ambitious plan, but FSD has really come a long way in the past year. FSD V12 was a massive step forward from V11, and V13 has made the experience smoother and safer than ever before. FSD V14 is expected to be another big step up with auto-regressive transformers and audio input.

Still on Track

Now, Elon has tripled down on the fact that Tesla will be launching their first autonomous robotaxi network in Austin - just two months away at this point. It seems that Tesla is fully set to launch their first fully unsupervised self-driving vehicles that will carry paying passengers in June.

Additional Cities

The best part is that Elon also confirmed that they’re targeting robotaxi networks launching in many cities within the United States by the end of this year. However, remember that this will be a Tesla-run network at first - Tesla owners won’t be able to add their vehicles to the Robotaxi fleet right away.

Adding Customer Vehicles

It will take some time before Tesla meets their strict internal safety requirements before it lets customers add their own vehicles to the network. Tesla’s executive team mentioned that they intend to let owners add their own vehicles to the fleet sometime in 2026. This happens to be the same time frame that Tesla plans to launch the Robotaxi across the United States, Mexico, and Canada — something that could only be done with customer-owned cars.

That final step will be bold—and it may come with complications, especially given that autonomous vehicle approval spans municipal, state or provincial, and even federal levels. There are plenty of regulatory hurdles ahead, but this is undoubtedly shaping up to be one of the most exciting times for Tesla.

Launch Event

With the Robotaxi network launching and Unsupervised FSD just around the corner, there’s a lot to get excited about. Tesla is expected to host a launch event at Gigafactory Texas in Austin to mark the debut of its first Robotaxi network. The company previously hinted that referral code users could receive invites—offering a rare chance to score an early ride in a Robotaxi outside the Hollywood studio lot.

Tesla Mule Model 3 Spotted With Front Bumper Camera

By Karan Singh
Ready_Medium_6693 on Reddit

Tesla’s engineering mule vehicles—used to test autonomy for future platforms—have resurfaced after an extended absence. The last time we saw them was back in July, when Tesla was gearing up for its initial We, Robot event. Since then, sightings have been scarce.

These vehicles typically signal that Tesla is testing new camera placements or validating FSD ground-truth data. This time, however, they appear to be outfitted exclusively with the updated camera hardware seen on the Cybercab.

New Sightings

The mules have now been spotted in Boston, Massachusetts, and Concord, New Hampshire—their first known appearances this far east. This suggests Tesla is actively collecting data to evaluate and optimize FSD performance in new regions. Thanks to Reddit user Ready_Medium_6693 for catching the one in Concord.

Elon Musk recently mentioned that Tesla plans to expand Robotaxi networks beyond the initial Texas and California launches. So while these sightings aren’t entirely unexpected, the speed of their arrival is. It suggests Tesla is confident in its ability to train FSD for local traffic rules and driving behaviors to the point it no longer needs a driver.

Bumper Cameras

The vehicle that’s been spotted in Boston is the usual Tesla engineering Model 3… except with one unique twist. It includes a front bumper camera. Shout out to @Dylan02939106 for catching the bumper camera in these photos.

The Refreshed Model 3 Mule with a Bumper Camera!
The Refreshed Model 3 Mule with a Bumper Camera!
@Dylan02939106 on X

We previously released an opinion piece regarding whether the front bumper camera would be required for Unsupervised FSD. In our eyes, Tesla will require a bumper camera for Unsupervised FSD - if only to improve direct visibility in the bumper area of the vehicle. This is key for low-speed maneuvering in crowded areas like parking lots and garages, as well as for key features like Actually Smart Summon. 

It isn’t surprising that Tesla is continuing to evaluate vehicles with a bumper camera - the Cybertruck, Cybercab, and Refreshed Model Y all have them now - and the rest of the lineup, including the flagship Model S and X, as well as the refreshed Model 3 - were supposed to eventually receive them as well.

With the Model S and Model X set for refreshes this year—and the front bumper camera on this Model 3 looking well-integrated rather than a temporary setup—it seems likely that front bumper cameras will soon become standard across Tesla’s entire lineup.

The Robotaxi Mule in Boston
The Robotaxi Mule in Boston
@Dylan02939106 on X

In fact, Tesla’s newest iteration of the FSD computer has a slot for the Bumper Camera on all AI4/HW4 vehicles, so a future retrofit could even be possible.

These are some pretty exciting times - we may see Robotaxi networks actually deploy in time for Tesla’s lofty goal of “sometime in 2026” for cities throughout North America. Once many American cities begin to accept their deployment, it will be easier to seek homologation in Mexico and Canada, enabling deployment throughout the continent.

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