What to Expect in Tesla’s 2024 Holiday Update

November 4, 2024

By Karan Singh

Not a Tesla App

Every year, Tesla releases a huge Holiday update, to celebrate the holiday season. Last year’s Holiday update was packed with features, such as custom lock sounds, alternative routes, high-fidelity park assist and more. We expect this year’s update to be just as packed.

So, what can we expect in this year’s Holiday update? We closely monitor features that are discovered in the vehicle’s firmware or in the Tesla app, but haven’t been released yet. So we have a good idea of some of the features that are likely to be included in this holiday update.

Some of the features mentioned below are highly likely to be included in the holiday update, while others have a chance of showing up in the year’s biggest update.

So we’ll quickly review those, and then move on to what else we think is coming. So, grab your stockings, watch out for the coal, and let’s get stuffing.

Holiday Update Features

We’ve got quite a few features we’re expecting to land with the Holiday Update, so let’s go through them!

Watch Support

First up in our expected updates is Apple Watch support for the Tesla app. A recent update to the iOS app revealed that a Watch app is on its way, and you’ll be able to access some key controls from your Apple Watch in the near future. We’re not sure whether Android watch support will also be included, or whether Tesla will work on this later.

Adaptive Headlights

Next up is Adaptive Headlights - which were confirmed to be “coming soon” to North America. Adaptive Headlights are a massive benefit for driving in the dark and are good for both Tesla owners and other road users. We’re excited to see this one land, as it's a huge safety benefit.

Voice Assistant

Tesla has been cooking up an updated Voice Assistant for quite some time now, with new voiceovers available on new vehicles, and Elon confirming that a Smart Voice Assistant is on the horizon. China recently got context-based voice commands, so we’re hoping for something a little smarter than what’s currently available.

We will say though, there are quite a few Voice Commands already available - but making them smarter and better is never a bad thing!

X App

License Plate Visualization

With an upcoming currently employee-only update, you’ll be able to set your vehicle license plate and have it show up in the vehicle visualization - both when parked and when moving. For now, this feature is China-exclusive, but we’re hoping that this will arrive globally with the Holiday Update, similar to other features that originally launched in China, like the Air Quality Index display, the trip meter that displays traffic along your route, and even the ability to change your vehicle’s color.

SiriusXM Streaming

SiriusXM is famed for its satellite streaming - and for Tesla owners, only the Model S and Model X are equipped with the receivers. For other owners, you were out of luck. However, In a web post that was taken down back in August, SiriusXM confirmed that a SiriusXM Web Streaming App was on its way to Tesla vehicles!

That means non-satellite (data) streaming of SiriusXM content to any vehicle. Lots of people love SiriusXM’s content, and expanding Tesla’s ever-growing library of streaming content is always a plus.

Amazon Prime Video

Tesla previously added Amazon Music back in Update 2024.26, and many remarked that Prime Video was missing. While you can technically access Prime Video through the web browser, you don’t get the same experience as Theatre Mode. So we’d love for Tesla to bring Amazon’s Prime Video to the list of theatre experiences.

Smart Child Seats

In Update 2024.32, Tesla added references to Smart Child Seats. These smart seats come with a slew of features, including real-time notifications for the buckle and occupant status. We’re sure all the parents are hoping to be able to better integrate their children’s safety with how safe and smart their vehicle is - including a forgotten child alert!

Avoid Highways

Back in June, Elon confirmed that an “Avoid Highways” option would be coming to Tesla’s navigation options. While this hasn’t landed just yet, we’re hoping this will land with the Holiday Update. Being able to avoid highways, just like you can avoid tolls, can be useful - and some drivers just prefer the scenic or non-highway route to their destination.

Caraoke Studio

Caraoke is getting a Recording Studio mode, where you’ll be able to record your Karaoke sessions, add special effects, and save the files to a USB stick. This will be a fun one - especially when you grab a set of Caraoke Mics!

Everything Else

There’s always more than we covered in just this article. Pretty much anything that a Tesla executive has discussed over the last year on X, or that we’ve seen the potential for arriving in partial updates could show up. This includes items like New Charging Visualizations, Fleet-Data Suspension Adjustments, Stuck Detection for the Cybertruck, and more.

You can read through our list of Upcoming Tesla Features here!

NHTSA to Streamline Approvals for Control-Free Vehicles Like Tesla’s Cybercab

June 16, 2025

By Karan Singh

Not a Tesla App

In a letter to industry, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has announced that it is overhauling its approvals process for vehicles designed without human controls.

The change addresses a regulatory bottleneck that has slowed down American companies like Tesla from deploying purpose-built Robotaxis, rather than relying on using traditional vehicles with steering wheels and pedals. The policy shift is outlined in a letter posted to the NHTSA’s website, which you can find here.

Reducing Approvals From Years to Months

Under the existing rules today, any vehicle that is built without a steering wheel or brake pedals must receive a special exemption from federal safety standards.

Obtaining exemptions for a particular vehicle was a time-consuming process for both the companies requesting exemptions and the NHTSA. The process was often a black box—nobody knew when an exemption might be granted, and approvals could take years.

The NHTSA, under the new administration’s guidelines for autonomous vehicle development, is now committed to streamlining this process. The agency will be implementing a new, faster approach immediately for receiving exemptions for autonomous vehicles without standard controls. The NHTSA expects decisions on exemption requests to be determined within months rather than years.

Accelerating the Cybercab

This change has massive implications for Tesla, which is banking on the production of the simplified and easy-to-maintain purpose-built Cybercab. The Cybercab is developed from the ground up as an autonomous Robotaxi and will be one of the key beneficiaries of this move by the NHTSA.

Knowing that a final design won't be caught in a multi-year regulatory limbo provides a level of certainty that has been missing. It allows Tesla to confidently plan the manufacturing, development, and deployment processes without worrying whether the project will get stuck in regulatory approvals.

According to the letter, the agency will publish its improved instructions for the streamlined process "shortly." With Tesla already having begun Cybercab pre-production and the goals for its deployment as soon as late 2026, there’s still a lot to be done to make autonomy a part of Tesla’s new sustainable abundance mission statement.

You Can Now Track Tesla’s Robotaxi Deployment

June 15, 2025

By Karan Singh

Not a Tesla App

Thanks to Tesla Yoda on X, we have found out that Tesla’s Robotaxi fleet is registered on the Texas Department of Transportation’s public-facing Automated Vehicle Deployment website. This makes the fleet’s movements publicly viewable and trackable, and marks a first for Tesla.

This isn’t just any old FSD test - this is the first officially acknowledged, government-tracked, and sanctioned deployment of a Tesla Model Y operating as a ride-share vehicle. But that’s not all - Texas DOT’s tracker notes that the Tesla does not have a safety driver.

View on the Map

Visitors to the Texas DOT website can filter for “Tesla”, and see, currently, a single active vehicle operating in the Austin Metro area. According to the state’s official data, here’s what we know:

Company: Tesla

Description: Ride-share service

Status in Texas: Testing

Safety Driver: No

The final point is definitely the most interesting here. While Tesla has been testing FSD with safety drivers for some time in Austin and LA for employee-only testing, this is the first time that a vehicle has been officially registered and deployed on public roads without a human behind the wheel for safety.

The fact that there is no safety driver officially shifts the liability from the occupant of the driver’s seat to Tesla, for the first time in a public setting. That’s already pretty significant - we previously dove into how Tesla plans to insure its own vehicles, and potentially owner vehicles in the Robotaxi fleets.

The status currently lists Tesla as “Testing,” confirming that the service isn’t available to the public, but this is expected to change in the coming weeks.

This testing phase is likely part of a short but crucial period that lets Tesla capture data on the safety levels of its current iteration of Unsupervised FSD without a driver supervising. Tesla already stated that they’d be avoiding difficult areas, so this testing can also expose additional areas Tesla may want to avoid, such as school zones or blind driveways.

Tesla will need to prove, both internally and externally, that FSD Unsupervised has the necessary performance to safely navigate the streets without any incidents.

Regulatory Milestone

For years, the concept of a Tesla Robotaxi has been a future promise. Now, it's a present-day reality, albeit in a testing capacity.

Having an official government body list a Tesla as an active, driverless vehicle shows that they’ve been able to clear regulatory hurdles, which Tesla has often pointed to as the issue. It demonstrates a level of confidence from both Tesla and Texas regulators in the system's capabilities.

While it's just a single vehicle for today, we’ll likely see this list slowly expand over time. Alongside being able to track Robotaxi incidents at the City of Austin’s website, we’ll be able to closely watch Tesla’s progress with its first Robotaxi deployments.