Tesla Doubling Down on Destination Chargers

Tesla

Tesla has announced that it will be doubling the annual openings of its Destination Charging Network.

Destination Chargers are located at hotels, restaurants, parking garages, and other locations where you’ll be likely to spend several hours using a facility. These are all level 2 chargers, providing you with a chance to plug in, charge, and relax while you’re on a trip.

Today, Tesla has over 40,000 Wall Connectors installed at its destination charging sites – and it is planning to continue increasing that number.

Tesla previously announced back in 2023 that it was partnering with Hilton Hotels to equip 2,000 hotels across the United States, Canada, and Mexico with a staggering 20,000 Universal Wall Connectors – which are capable of charging any EVs – not just Teslas. Many of these locations are already on track to be installed or have been installed – as the plan began in early 2024.

Destination Charging

Destination charging locations are available through your vehicle navigation – they appear as either one-bolt or two-bolt chargers at many locations. While destination charging isn’t as fast as Supercharging, you can pick up a full charge overnight at a hotel with destination charging, or top off your charge with a 1-hour dinner at a restaurant. Most destination chargers will be 11.5 kW or 9.6 kW, which will charge about 35-44 miles every hour, depending on your model.

With its Certified Installers program, Tesla also partners with local companies to get Tesla destination or urban chargers installed into environments. The Certified Installers program allows businesses to quickly find and work with Tesla-certified electricians and contractors who will be able to install the correct charging solution – and once it's enabled – make it show up within vehicle navigation.

Cost & Charging

Using a Destination Charger is as simple as plugging your vehicle in, in most cases. Some locations may charge to use them, and the Tesla app will get you squared away with automatic recognition and billing – just like using a Supercharger. One item of note is that Destination Charging prices are set by the location owner – not Tesla – so prices may vary. Many businesses use them as a way to attract customers and offer free charging.

Destination Charging is a fantastic solution for EV drivers to get from location to location without relying on Level 3 charging stops if they’re taking it slow. It also serves as a way for urban areas to get charging added to parking garages, theaters, restaurants, and other locations.

The best part about Destination Charging installs is that because its Level 2 charging for the most part – it only requires 48-amp services, which doesn’t require special infrastructure like a Supercharger does. This means that most businesses can install it fairly easily and without a big bill. We look forward to seeing Tesla’s 40,000 sites rapidly expand to the next big marker – 50,000, and then 100,000.

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Tesla's Smart Summon Patent Describes How It Works and Hints at Future Abilities

Not a Tesla App

Tesla’s Summon, Smart Summon, and Actually Smart Summon features have long been a source of fascination (and occasional frustration), offering FSD users a glimpse into a future where your vehicle picks you up.

While we await further improvements to Actually Smart Summon to increase reliability and range, a recently published Tesla patent (US20250068166A1) provides an inside look into the intricate AI and sensor technologies that make these complex, low-speed autonomous maneuvers possible.

Notably, the list of inventors on this patent reads like a "who's who" of Tesla's AI and Autopilot leadership, including Elon Musk and former Director of AI Andrej Karpathy, among many others.

Though the patent is a continuation of earlier work, with some dates stretching back to 2019, it lays out the core logic that powers Tesla's vision-based system.

Step-by-Step Navigation

Tesla’s patent details a sophisticated system designed to allow a vehicle to autonomously navigate from its current position to a target location specified by a remote user. The remote user can also designate themselves as the target, even while they’re moving, and have the vehicle meet them.

This process begins with destination and target acquisition. The system is designed to receive a target geographical location from a user, for example, by dropping a pin via the Tesla app. Alternatively, it can use a “Come to Me” feature, where the car navigates to the user’s dynamic GPS location. In this same section, the patent also mentions the ability to handle altitude, which is crucial for multi-story parking garages, and even handle final orientations at arrival.

Occupancy Grid

At the heart of the system is the use of sensor data to perceive the environment. This is done through Tesla Vision, which builds a representation of the surrounding environment, similar to how FSD maps and builds a 3D world in which to navigate. A neural network processes this environment to determine drivable space and generate an “occupancy grid.” This grid maps the area around the vehicle, detailing drivable paths versus obstacles.

The patent still references the use of alternative sensors, like ultrasonic sensors and radar, even though Tesla does not use them anymore. The system can also load saved occupancy grids from when the car was parked to improve initial accuracy.

Path Planner

Once the environment is understood, a Path Planner Module calculates an intelligent and optimal path to the target. This isn’t just the shortest route; the system uses cost functions to evaluate potential paths, penalizing options with sharp turns, frequent forward/reverse changes, or a higher likelihood of encountering obstacles. The path planning also considers the vehicle’s specific operating dynamics, like its turning radius. Interestingly, the Path Planner Module can also handle multi-part destinations with waypoints - a feature that isn’t available yet on today’s version of Actually Smart Summon.

Generating Commands

Once the path is determined, the Vehicle Controller takes the path and translates it into commands for the vehicle actuators, which control the steering, acceleration, and braking to navigate the vehicle along the planned route. As the vehicle moves, the Path Planner continues to recalculate and adjust the path as required.

Since Actually Smart Summon is nearly autonomous with the exception of the user having to hold the Summon button (app update hints at not having to hold the button soon), continuous safety checks are integral. This includes using the Path Planner and the occupancy grid to judge if there is a chance for a collision, and overriding navigation if necessary. The patent also mentions the possibility of users remotely controlling aspects like steering and speed but with continuous safety overrides in place. This is another cool little feature that Tesla has yet to include with today’s Actually Smart Summon - being able to control your full-size car like an RC car. This feature could be used for robotaxis if the vehicles get stuck and need to be tele-operated.

Reaching the Target

Upon reaching the destination, or the closest safe approximation (like the other side of a road), the system can trigger various actions. These include sending a notification to the user, turning on the interior or exterior lights, adjusting climate control, and unlocking or opening the doors. Another yet-to-arrive feature here is the fact that the destination triggers in the patent also include correctly orienting the vehicle for charging if the destination is a charger. This part of the patent doesn’t reference wireless charging, but we’re sure there’s more to this than it seems.

A Glimpse Into the Future

While this patent has dates stretching back to 2019, its recent publication as a continued application tells us that Tesla is still actively iterating on its Summon functionality. It details a comprehensive system that has been well thought out for complex, confined spaces, which will be key for both today’s convenience features like Actually Smart Summon - but also for Tesla’s upcoming robotaxis.

The depth of engineering described, from neural network-based perception to sophisticated path planning and safety protocols, explains the impressive capabilities of Tesla's Summon features when they work well and the inherent challenges in making them robust across an infinite variety of real-world scenarios. As Tesla continues to refine its AI, the foundational principles laid out in this patent will undoubtedly continue to evolve, actually bringing "Actually Smart Summon" to reality.

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Tesla’s Impressive Sound Systems Are Missing One Thing: True Spatial Audio [Opinion]

Jack27 - Cybertruck Owner's Forum

Tesla has consistently demonstrated a commitment to high-quality audio hardware in its vehicles. The sound engineers go through a thorough design process - including integrating the subwoofer’s sound flow through the Cybertruck’s hollow body sections. Tesla offers, by and far, one of the best OEM audio experiences in its price range.

However, physical components and engineering magic aside, the current software that drives Tesla’s audio experience is sub-par when compared to higher-end audio systems on the market. It falls short of delivering truly spatial, three-dimensional audio that many audiophiles and even discerning casual listeners have come to appreciate from the likes of $100 earbuds with spatial audio support from their cell phones.

This really feels like a missed opportunity, especially when Tesla used to offer “Dolby Surround” in the past.

Immersive Sound… Kind Of

Tesla’s proprietary Immersive Sound option widens the sound stage by creating a surround-sound-like effect within the vehicle. It has evolved over the years from a simple “Off/Standard/High” to include slightly more granular control, as well as an Auto mode that intelligently adjusts the level of immersion based on the content being played.

For many, including myself, the experience often feels more like an improved stereo field rather than a genuine multi-dimensional soundscape. Even when set to High and paired with Hi-Fi downloaded music from sources like TIDAL, Immersive Sound struggles to open up the sound stage. The sense of height and precise placement of individual sound sources - hallmarks of spatial audio - are missing, leading to an audio presentation that, while clear and powerful, ultimately feels a little flat.

In reality, Immersive Sound often just turns on the A-pillar speakers and uses them for a wider set of sounds than they are normally used for, which really feels rather disappointing. 

A good example is Imagine Dragons’ song Believer. Try listening to it with Immersive Sound on, and then off. If you’ve got headphones with Spatial Sound / Dolby Atmos support, try listening to the same song there. You’ll find a world of difference.

The Gold Standard: Dolby Atmos

Technology like Dolby Atmos has become the gold standard for listening to spatial audio - and represents a substantial step above traditional “Surround Sound” and Tesla’s current Immersive Sound. Dolby Atmos does a lot to achieve that truly three-dimensional audio experience.

They use object-based audio, where sounds are treated as individual objects that can be placed and moved precisely in a 3D space rather than being confined to specific channels, like with 5.1 or 7.1 Surround Sound. They also include a vertical dimension, making the sound feel like it’s coming from above, below, or all around. This is done through dedicated processing (and sometimes dedicated down-facing speakers) to render the sound in a fully 3D space.

All that, alongside the ability to render complex mixes like 5.1 and 7.1 surround sound with exceptional clarity, means that individual instruments and vocal layers maintain their distinction.

The overall result is a refined listening experience that is genuine, more engaging, and compelling. It isn’t just better for music too - it makes video content consumption better with spatial sound matching what’s being displayed on-screen.

Amazing Hardware Deserves Amazing Software

Tesla’s investment in custom-engineered audio systems is commendable. The 17 speakers in the Cybertruck represent one of the best OEM-designed speaker arrays capable of producing detailed and dynamic sound. 

However, this amazing hardware is being asked to perform an orchestra with one hand tied behind its back. Without the extra spatial rendering capabilities of an industry standard like Dolby Atmos, we may as well only have five speakers. Tesla isn’t taking full advantage of the great hardware in these vehicles by letting the software lag behind.

Implementation

The barrier to entry for true surround sound may not be as high as some imagine; for perspective, a consumer license for Dolby Atmos on a PC is remarkably affordable - only $14.99. While commercial automotive licensing is on a different scale, this illustrates that access to the core technology isn't inherently prohibitive, suggesting it's more a matter of prioritization for Tesla.

Some might perceive the engineering effort to implement and tune true spatial audio as immense, but it's worth noting that advancements in calibration are constantly being made. For example, in a controlled home environment, initial spatial sound system tuning can sometimes be accomplished in as little as an hour. 

Naturally, the acoustic complexity and variability of a car interior demand a more involved process, but for a company with Tesla's engineering prowess, creating an exceptional in-car spatial audio experience is well within reach and arguably less of a monumental task than many might think.

This isn’t just about satisfying those with a particular ear for sound - a truly exceptional spatial sound system like Atmos, or at least a functional in-house one that genuinely matches its capabilities, would be a huge bonus for Tesla’s flagship vehicles. It would help to elevate the experience, especially as Tesla continues to narrow the premium feel between their flagship vehicles and their everyday vehicles.

Tesla builds vehicles with some of the most impressive audio hardware on the market, so there’s no reason not to match this with the most impressive audio software. Let’s bring back Dolby surround sound support.

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