The Most Requested Tesla Features

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Every Tesla comes standard with tons of features – many of which aren’t provided by other automakers or they come at an additional cost. Since Teslas receive software updates regularly, there are always a ton of requests on what Tesla should add next. So let’s take a look at some of the most requested features.

We’ll categorize everything as best we can, but let’s start on the outside of the vehicle.

Exterior Features

Better Puddle Lighting

Tesla's official puddle lights accessory in China

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Tesla China has already gotten some gorgeous puddle lights as a store accessory. Nothing is stopping Tesla from making these puddle lights standard – it's simply a design formed into the plastic of the puddle light.

Bumper Camera

A front bumper camera would be extremely useful on most Teslas – and Cybertruck owners are already pointing out saying how useful it is when parking. We’ve heard that the Model S and Model X will eventually be getting them and the refreshed Model Y Juniper is expected to have it as well.

Rain Sensors

Rain Sensors are something we’ve talked about in great depth – and there are physical limitations to how well Tesla can detect rain with its existing cameras. While cameras work fine for FSD, the current implementation makes it difficult to drive with auto wipers in light rain.

Improved Front License Plate Mount

The provided front license plate mount for Tesla is held on with 3M double-sided adhesive. It falls off in car washes, heavy rain, and in general just doesn’t adhere well over time. We’d love to see a better OEM option. While many people remove their front license plates, there are plenty of districts that still require them throughout the world.

Interior Features

Adjustable Cup Holders

This one is an oddball – why doesn’t Tesla have properly adjustable cupholders? The rubber pieces in the cupholders barely adapt to anything but the biggest objects – but we do appreciate how big the cupholders are. They can fit a 16oz mug in them just fine.

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Better Acoustic Door Damping

Quite a few vehicles use acoustic foam or insulation in the vehicle doors – especially those closer to the price point of the Model S, Model X, and Cybertruck. We’d love to see Tesla fill the empty spaces in the doors with better acoustic damping material. Some users we’ve heard from have filled the empty spaces in their Model Y or Model 3 doors and found a noticeable improvement in road noise reduction.

Motorized Rear View Mirror

When you step into a Tesla, it immediately adapts to your user preferences while you’re using a phone key. However, the one single item that doesn’t adapt is the rear-view mirror. Some premium brands have begun to ship motorized rear-view mirrors, or rear-view mirrors that provide a video display of the rear-view camera. These would be some fantastic features for Tesla to bring to its more premium vehicles.

Frunk Drain Plug

The frunk needs a drain plug. If it fills with water, you’ve got three real options – vacuum it up with a wet/dry vacuum, let it evaporate, or take apart a good chunk of the frunk to remove it and drain it. You’d also be able to use the frunk as a cooler – putting in ice and cold drinks without having to keep them in a separately insulated container.

Heads-Up Display (HUD)

This one is a bit of a pie-in-the-sky request since Elon Musk has already turned it down, but having a heads-up display for the driver does seem pretty futuristic and high-tech. Modern fighter jets airliners, and even ships use this technology to get information right in front of the user, and it does have its use case.

Some luxury brands have already begun to provide this as an option for their vehicles, and upon trying it in the Audi e-Tron, it felt smooth once you got used to where it displayed navigation, speed, and other key information.

Bring Back Massaging Seats

Tesla once had massaging seats in the Model S and Model X. This is a feature that many users are missing now, in Tesla’s constant search for a reduction in vehicle unit cost. Massaging seats are another standard premium vehicle option, and we’d like to see these return at some point.

It would help to reduce the luxury gap felt between the Model S and the Lucid Air or other luxury vehicles.

Improved Wireless Phone Chargers

Tesla’s wireless phone chargers – in every one of their vehicles – have commonly been derided as phone heaters. Many modern phones are capable of efficient 35-watt or higher charging, so there’s no reason for Tesla to skimp with relatively tiny 15-watt chargers in an electric vehicle. We’d love to see Tesla bring better phone chargers to its vehicles, and we know they can do it – the portable wireless charger available in the Tesla shop is already much better than what comes in any Tesla.

Musk previously said that Tesla will add the option to turn off Tesla’s wireless chargers if you don’t use them.

Software Features

Altitude

Tesla has been adding more weather information and improving maps in update 2024.32. Some users would love to see the vehicle’s current altitude displayed on the screen.

Bird’s Eye View

YouTube/AI DRIVR

Tesla has mostly solved this feature request with the updated Park Assist, but we’d still like to bring some color and texture to the picture. It can help drivers pick out important information that is sometimes missed, even with the exceptionally detailed rendering that Park Assist provides.

Phone Left on Charger Alert

A simple alert that a phone has been left on the charger – one for the driver and one for the passenger when the door is opened, would be nice for those forgetful folk. Someone you know has probably left their phone on the charger when you’ve dropped them off, or maybe you’ve left yours.

Add More Cameras to Camera View

The Camera View in vehicle currently only displays 3 cameras – the side repeaters and the rearview camera. Tesla should allow all cameras on the vehicle to be easily displayed in the Camera View, especially when the vehicle isn’t moving. The Cybertruck, which includes a front bumper camera, can also swap between the front and rear cameras, but both can’t be displayed at the same time.

Tesla App Store

Elon Musk once mentioned that Tesla vehicles would receive an App Store, and developers could create apps specifically for Tesla vehicles. Sadly, we haven’t received anything of the sort, and we’ve only recently received additional music functionality like Apple Music, YouTube Music, and SiriusXM streaming is also coming soon.

Even Zoom came as a vehicle update – but there are plenty of users of other conferencing or communications software like Discord, Slack, Microsoft Teams, or Google Meet that could be brought onboard through an App Store.

Expanded Voice Control/Grok Support

Tesla’s current voice control scheme is pretty light in functionality. You can do some basic tasks, but ask it to compose a text message, and you’re going to get something that isn’t as useful. In addition, Elon previously mentioned in-vehicle Grok support – and Grok is eventually going to get voice support. We’d love to see this combined and get a proper AI assistant in-vehicle to handle voice tasks. Tesla has already added a smart assistant in China, so we’re hopeful this is coming soon.

Kickdown in Chill

This one is pretty simple. If the car is in chill mode, and you put the accelerator pedal to the floor, the car should “kickdown” and go to Standard. On vehicles with 3 drive modes, kickdown in Standard should go up to Plaid, Insane, or Beast mode.

Preconditioning Battery for 3^rd party chargers

Currently, there’s no way to manually precondition your Tesla’s battery for faster charger at a 3^rd party charger. Tesla currently automatically preconditions the battery for Superchargers and select third-party chargers in Europe. It’d be useful if Tesla expanded the feature to additional regions and also added an option to manually precondition the battery in certain scenarios. You may be navigating to a fast charger that’s not on the map, or if you have a Supercharger that’s nearby the short drive isn’t enough to precondition the battery. Letting users start the preconditioning manually and earlier would save them time at the charger.

Outside of Europe, you can trick the vehicle into preconditioning the battery navigation to a nearby Supercharger – you can navigate there and just not drive there. But other than that, Tesla offers no easy way to begin preconditioning your vehicle for DC charging. A simple button in the charging UI would solve that.

Entry Music/Chime

Selectable entry music or a selectable entry chime would be neat – just another way of making your Tesla yours. We’ve already got custom lock sounds, so why not?

Facial Recognition for Driver and Passenger Profiles

Teslas already automatically recognize drivers and automatically load vehicle profiles based on the cell phone closest to the driver’s side door. However, this sometimes doesn’t work properly, especially if someone has a Phone Key setup, and someone else is using a keycard.

Having facial recognition on entry to automatically correct and adjust the driver profile and the passenger profile would make this process more reliable, and simpler. Tesla already has a patent for facial recognition to load user preferences, so maybe this one is already in the works.

Set Minimum Battery at Destination

Being able to set the minimum battery when you arrive at a certain destination would be a useful feature – especially when you’re going somewhere, and then plan to drive around or won’t have a charger nearby. As it stands, Tesla’s Trip Planner will leave you with a minimum amount of battery — just enough to get to the nearest Supercharger.

While the optimized approach is nice, we’d love a slider to adjust the preferred arrival state of charge.

Tesla App Features

Watch Support

@niccruzpatane

It would be great to have official support for the Apple Watch and Android Wear. Other manufacturers, even legacy auto now support smart watches and Tesla needs to catch up in this regard. The app doesn’t need to do anything fancy, but being able to easily start your climate, unlock your vehicle, or use your watch as a vehicle key would be a huge addition. Musk has even confirmed that watch support is coming. Can we expect it as part of Tesla’s 2024 holiday update?

Start Lightshows from the App

Currently, the only way to start a Tesla Lightshow is in the vehicle itself. You’re currently unable to start one from the Tesla App. This would make it very simple to pick and choose a Lightshow saved on your USB drive and admire it from the outside at your convenience, rather than having to hop into the vehicle. We’d also love it if you could loop Lightshows, to keep the party going once it's started.

Precondition Battery Button

Similar to an in-vehicle preconditioning button for 3^rd party chargers, the Tesla App should also have a button to precondition the battery. This will make it easy for users, especially those who don’t have home charging – to get their vehicles ready for DC Fast Charging before departing.

Garage Door Controls

For Tesla owners who choose to equip their vehicles with HomeLink, or those whose vehicles came with HomeLink already installed, you have control of your garage door from inside the vehicle. While Tesla lets you open your first programmed garage door through the app, you’re limited to just the first one. It’d be nice to be able to choose which garage door you’d like to open when pressing the HomeLink button. This would be a pretty useful tool – especially in combination with Actually Smart Summon, whenever that arrives.

FSD / AutoPilot Features

More FSD Transfer Opportunities

While Elon previously stressed that the latest FSD Transfer opportunity is the last – we really hope that Tesla keeps bringing more opportunities like this – especially once Hardware 3 becomes legacy and AI5 is introduced. This is an excellent way to keep customer goodwill going.

Smart Summon Range Increase

As it stands, Smart Summon’s Range is very limited. It’s a lot shorter than the average parking lot – only 210 ft, or 65m. Once Actually Smart Summon arrives, we hope that Tesla increases that range, otherwise it's still only usable at certain times.

Other Feature Requests

Improve Service Times and Expand Mobile Service Rangers

Tesla recently cut quite a bit of staff in early 2024, and Tesla Service was one of the sections hardest hit. Because of this, many locations are experiencing heavy service loads and extended times to see vehicles. Tesla needs to focus on improving service times and also expanding its Mobile Service Rangers. This will help Tesla keep its reputation as a brand.

Referral Program

When we initially wrote this, we included the request for Tesla to bring back its referral program. Tesla ended their Referral Program earlier this year with Elon Musk citing that it was an additional cost that Tesla had to carry on each vehicle. In addition, Tesla also began issuing tax forms to US-based referral users, impacting their tax statements.

Just this past weekend, Tesla reintroduced its referral program in the U.S. Not only that, but they actually improved it over the previous program that only let you buy certain store items.

Vehicle-to-Load/Vehicle-to-Home Functionality

The Cybertruck finally introduced Tesla Power Share to Tesla vehicles, with Vehicle-to-Home functionality. This is a fantastic first step – but we’d like to see this across the entire lineup. This is especially important since recently a third party demonstrated that bidirectional charging does work on Tesla vehicles – namely on a 2022 Model Y.

This should be a standard feature across the Tesla lineup.

Wireless Vehicle Charging

This feature is likely to come with the Robotaxi first – but we’d like to see Tesla bring wireless or automated charging capabilities to its vehicles. Tesla previously purchased Wiferion – a company working on wireless EV charging and showed off a Wiferion charging mat underneath a Tesla parked in a garage. Since then, we haven’t heard anything on this front – but more on this on October 10^th most likely.

So that’s everything we’ve thought of. If you’ve got more ideas or want to discuss, head over to our forums and comment.

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Buyer’s Guide: Rivian R1S vs Tesla Model X

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The Rivian R1S and the Tesla Model X are two of the premiere choices when buying a large electric SUV. So, we put together a buyer’s guide to help customers search for their EV of choice.

Both the R1S and the Model X are fantastic vehicles, and we’re not here to put one up or the other down. Instead, we’ll be looking at the advantages each vehicle brings – everyone has different needs for their vehicle, and some may favor one over the other.

Price, Range, and Specs

The R1S and the Model X are both unique vehicles in their own right, but each has their own set of configurations that could work better for your family. The table below compares some of the basic specs of these vehicles.

* The Model X LR can be equipped with 5, 6, or 7 seat interiors.
** The R1S Quad Max pricing and range are unavailable today, and deliveries will begin in 2025.

All the prices listed above are without considering any Federal, State, or Provincial EV Rebates you may qualify for.

Seating

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The Model X offers more flexibility in terms of seating, with buyers being able to pick from a 5-seat configuration with a bench seat in the second row and more cargo room or go up to a 6-seat layout with captain chairs and a center row. The 7-seat configuration keeps the bench seat in the second row and the two rear seats in the third row.

The R1S only has a single-seat configuration with a bench seat in the second row and two seats in the third row.

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Interior

When looking at the interiors of each vehicle, both are well-equipped and luxurious right off the bat. Both vehicles come in vegan leather alternatives, and the seats are well-designed and comfortable.

Rivian

Rivian and Tesla both have unique interior finishes – the R1S comes with the improved Ascend finish on the Tri-Max and the Quad Max, while the Model X Plaid comes with carbon fiber trim throughout the interior rather than the standard wooden finishes.

Both also have a set of unique internal finishes to choose from, all with high-quality materials. Tesla, for its part, focuses on black, white, and beige, while Rivian offers a wider range of colors. We suggest looking at both interiors online, and in person if you have the opportunity to.

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Road Tripping & Families

Both vehicles have some fantastic advantages for both road-tripping, as well as every day errands with the family.

In terms of interior access, the Model X, with its 6-seat layout, offers better access to and from the third row. The falcon wing doors also make it easier for passengers to get in and out of any of the rear seats. Since they’re automated doors and require very little space to open, it’s also easier for kids to get in and out of the vehicle. If your child is in a car seat, the falcon wing doors also provide a significant advantage when putting your child into the car seat since the doors open up over your head instead of swinging outward.

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On the flip side, the R1S is a larger vehicle all around, and the 7-seat configuration leaves you with plenty of space for a large family. However, third-row access will be more difficult since it requires you to flip down one of the second-row seats. The middle row leaves plenty of space for even taller people to get into. In fact, with three people in the back, you’ll find a considerably larger amount of shoulder room and foot room than in the Model X. If you’ve got a big family or find yourself driving around lots of people, the R1S offers a definite advantage in this area.

Rear Screen

Tesla / Rivian

The Model X comes with a fully capable rear display measuring almost 9 inches, which passengers can use for a wide variety of things, including playing games, watching videos on Netflix, YouTube, or other services, in addition to controlling parts of the vehicle such as seat heaters and the rear climate.

The R1S 6.8-inch rear display is aimed more at being a utility instead of offering entertainment benefits. It’ll let passengers control music, adjust the climate, and see your trip’s progress, but currently doesn’t offer the ability to watch any video content.

Both screens are placed directly behind the center armrest of the front seats, which gives an adequate view for passengers in the second row, but not the third.

Tesla has the advantages hands-down on this one, with the rear screen not only supporting video streaming while the vehicle is moving but also supporting a second channel of Bluetooth audio so that passengers in the back can listen to different content than the front passengers.

Rivian may add video capability to their rear screen in the future. However, it’s not clear whether they’ll support separate audio for the rear display. The Rivian display is also much smaller and has a non-standard ratio, meaning that video content won’t fill the whole screen.

Tesla also provides passengers in the front the ability to control the rear screen. If you have young kids, you can actually bring up the rear screen on the main display in the front and load up a video for your kids.

Storage Space

While both vehicles are considered “SUVs”, the R1S is the clear taker in terms of available storage space, both up front in the frunk, and cargo space in the back. However, the Model X does offer a fairly large amount of storage, and that may be good enough for most people.

Let’s take a look at the overall storage space capabilities of each vehicle.

* This is cubic feet of space, with the third row folded flat in either vehicle.

** Towing specifications depend on tire size and motor options for each vehicle, and a proper weight-distributing hitch may be required. Consult the service manuals for exact details.

Charging

Both the R1S and the Model X are top-of-the-line electric vehicles, and both offer fantastic charging speeds and range.

The R1S offers a maximum charging speed of 220kW, while the Model X offers a maximum charging speed of 250kW. Overall, both vehicles, when pre-conditioned and at a low state of charge, will charge fairly quickly, making them both great choices for road-tripping. Of course, you can also use slower AC charging for either vehicle.

The largest difference in terms of charging is that the Model X is supported at every Tesla Supercharger - the largest and most reliable charging network in North America. The R1S can also be charged at some Tesla Superchargers, but it’ll need to be a V4 Supercharger that has a built-in adapter referred to as the “Magic Dock,” or you’ll need to have a NACS to CSS adapter.

Both vehicles are capable of charging at third-party CCS stations like Electrify America, but the Model X will require a CCS to NACS adapter. The R1S also supports charging at Rivian’s excellent Rivian Adventure Network (RAN) chargers, which are currently limited to Rivian vehicles. These chargers are typically located in adventuring hotspots throughout the continental United States.

Autonomy

On the autonomy front, Tesla is a clear winner – especially if you want a vehicle that can mostly drive itself today with minimal interventions. FSD is an exceptional software package that sees continuous OTA improvements, and for many subscribers and owners of the software – it’s a service that they couldn’t live without.

FSD Supervised today is a fantastic system able to route itself through city streets and highways, and get you from point A to point B, provided you’re paying attention and can intervene if the system can’t handle a situation.

And if you don’t want to use FSD, the Model X comes equipped with Basic Autopilot, which can provide adaptive cruise control and lane assist, as well as all the safety features that come standard on every Tesla.

Rivian, on the other hand, doesn’t offer a full autonomy package, but on their newer Generation 2 vehicles, it does offer some autonomy features that are similar to Tesla’s Basic Autopilot. Rivian is actively working on improving its autonomy software and promises to expand its functionality in the future. Rivian’s Driver+ on their Gen 1 vehicles (2024 and older) provides highway assist on select highways, as well as adaptive cruise control, lane assist, and lane change assist, alongside all of Rivian’s standard safety features.

Overall, Rivian’s package is less capable than Tesla’s today, but it still offers some driver-assist features on the highway.

Comfort & Luxury

When it comes to big SUVs, and especially luxury vehicle purchases in general, comfort is a big aspect in terms of the purchase. Both the R1S and the Model X bring adaptive air suspension, which means both vehicles ride more comfortably than most cars. The R1S does offer a few more adjustable comfort-focused options for its air suspension than the Model X, such as different drive modes, but the difference between the vehicles is remarkably close.

In terms of seat comfort, both the R1S and the Model X have spectacularly comfortable seats. The front seats on both vehicles are heated and cooled, while the second and third rows are limited to heated seats that can be controlled through the rear screen. Neither vehicle brings massage seats to the table, but if that’s a dealbreaker, we suggest waiting for Lucid’s upcoming Gravity SUV.

While the Model X has luxurious additions like auto-opening front doors as you approach, the amazing falcon-wing doors, and the ability to automatically open the frunk or trunk hands-free, the Rivian also has some of its own luxuries.

The Rivian R1S features a powered frunk which can be opened or closed from inside the vehicle or from the Rivian app. It also features some nice additions, such as the built-in flashlight, the optional built-in air compressor, or a dynamic glass roof that can be dimmed at the touch of a button. The R1S also includes customizable ambient lighting and support for surround sound using Dolby Atmos (requires a subscription to Connect+).

Rivian Wave

Software & Software Updates

Both brands offer very software-focused vehicles that receive software updates several times per year, roughly once per month. Both of these vehicles are constantly getting better and will receive new features that keep the vehicle feeling new and exciting. While the software user interface will be a personal preference, Tesla currently has more software features and entertainment options. However, both vehicles include features like Dog Mode / Pet Comfort, Sentry Mode / Gear Guard, Camp Mode, and Launch Mode for performance variants. Tesla and Rivian both like to toss in the occasional easter egg as well.

Summary

Both the Tesla Model X and the Rivian R1S are excellent vehicles in their own right, and each offers a unique and fresh take on the SUV experience. They’re both fantastic EVs, with some of the best battery and motor technology in the business, and you can’t go wrong selecting either one. In general, the Riviam R1S offers a more spacious interior with more cargo room with finer materials, while the Model X offers a more robust driver-assist system, a better charging network, more entertainment options, and a superior seat layout.

We highly recommend you head over to a Tesla Showroom and to a Rivian Space to get acquainted with both vehicles in person.

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Tesla Patents Ability to Adjust Suspension Based on Fleet Data

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Tesla has introduced a new patent on a unique system for adjusting vehicle suspension based on the environment around it.

This new patent addresses the Model 3’s adaptive suspension and future active suspension for other vehicles. Tesla already adjusts air suspensions based on air density, road elevation, and saved data points, but this patent is expected to be relevant for vehicles with air suspension as well.

Active Adjustable Suspension

This new system includes several steps. It generates a road roughness map that will be shared across the fleet to generate a comprehensive network of road conditions, which is updated every time a fleet vehicle passes over the same road.

This network is built of GPS coordinates along with data gathered from vehicle sensors, including accelerometers and suspension height data. Overall, a height map of road roughness and acceleration data is combined to build a dynamic suspension roadmap.

Essentially, by putting together an Active Adaptive Suspension system, road roughness map, and vehicle sensors, Tesla is building a global map of road conditions to change how vehicles adapt to roads in real-time. This is an innovative technique and something that Tesla’s uniquely connected fleet is capable of.

These features could provide several benefits, such as improved ride comfort and increased vehicle safety, by adjusting the suspension for conditions as they arrive. This also has the opportunity to increase vehicle efficiency, as riding over bumps while higher will slightly increase rolling efficiency as the suspension absorbs the impact rather than losing forward momentum.

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Air Suspension Saved Points

The Tesla Model S, Model X, and Cybertruck all save data points based on bumps in the road for regular routes. This means that speed bumps, steep driveways, bumpy dirt roads, or car washes will automatically trigger the suspension raising. After passing these points, the suspension will be lowered automatically.

This new active adjustable suspension will likely be a feature on all of Tesla’s future vehicles, which means a smoother ride will be coming soon to future iterations of the Model Y as well. Take a look at our Model Y Juniper Wishlist for more features we’d love to see.

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