While Tesla’s exciting holiday update is now behind us, it left us with amazing new features, such as weather radar, Apple Watch support, mobile Dashcam viewer, SiriusXM, and so many other great features that some of us now use every day.
However, it doesn’t end there. Tesla always includes other smaller changes that don’t make it into the release notes, and the holiday update was a big one in terms of undocumented changes.
We’ll go through all the new features that are now available in your vehicle that Tesla didn’t show in their release notes.
Precipitation Map
Not a Tesla App
While this feature did make it to the release notes, some users may still not be aware that the Precipitation Map (weather radar) is now available on all Teslas with the Intel infotainment unit (except for legacy Model S/X). This feature was requested so long ago that, honestly, we didn’t think it’d ever be released. All Model 3, Model Y and 2021+ Model S and X vehicles now have access to the weather radar map overlay.
Fart on Sit
Not a Tesla App
For the Emissions Testing Mode easter egg, you can now have your vehicle fart when someone sits down in their seat.
The sound will come from the direction of their seat. For example, a fart sound will sound from the front-right speaker when someone sits in the front passenger seat. It will play the sound selected in the fart selection box, or play a random fart if you choose "I'm so random."
This option defaults to off after every drive.
Voice Assistant
Not a Tesla App
You can now say 'Hi' or 'Hello' to your vehicle through the voice command prompt, and the vehicle will respond with "Hello!"
If you use Tesla's voice commands, there are a few changes. When you press the voice command button on the steering wheel, you may now not get audible feedback that the button has been pressed. This will depend on whether there’s music playing or other circumstances.
When sending a text message through a voice command, you may now have to press the steering wheel button again to start dictation after choosing a recipient. It’s not clear what’s causing this change, as sometimes it goes straight into dictation mode, while other times it ask you to press the button to start dictation.
Equalizer
Not a Tesla App
You can now reset the equalizer settings with the touch of a button by tapping the new circular arrow to the right of the equalizer. This will bring all settings back down to 0.
Performance Improvements
Not a Tesla App
Intel users are seeing performance improvements while using the Tesla interface, especially in more demanding areas like Tesla Theater. Videos on YouTube now stutter less and Tesla Theater can be minimized more smoothly than before.
The media controls can now control YouTube videos and other web video content as well, even after the vehicle is put into drive.
Service Mode Updates
Not a Tesla App
Several screens in Service Mode have been updated to show larger visualizations, such as the Airbags and Seats menu.
Tesla has also introduced several new visualizations to vehicles with the Intel infotainment unit, that were previously only available on AMD-based vehicles. Some of these includes Coolant and HVAC options.
The only new feature in Service Mode is for the Cybertruck under Service Mode Plus, which includes:
Connector Reference (Service Mode Plus): A new Connector Reference panel is available to help find connectors and highlight harnesses on the vehicle. Rotate the 3D model to explore or type in the search bar to find a specific connector.
Rearranged Menus
Not a Tesla App
With the addition of the Seats menu to settings, Tesla has now rearranged the menu options so that the more used options are now more easily accessible.
The Software menu has been moved up, while other options like Navigation and Trips have been moved down to be close to WiFi, Bluetooth and Upgrades.
Selected Custom Lock Sound
Not a Tesla App
The currently selected custom lock sound is now shown underneath the Lock Confirmation Sound option in the Controls > Locks menu.
Ambient Lighting Easter Eggs
Not a Tesla App
The Rainbow Road and Santa Mode easter eggs have been updated on vehicles that include the ambient lighting feature.
There are new options in these easter eggs that let you enable or disable the ambient lighting while the easter egg is active.
If enabled, the light strips will cycle through colors of the rainbow when the Rainbow Road easter egg is enabled. For Santa Mode, the interior lights will cycle between red, green and white.
Updated Energy App
Not a Tesla App
The Consumption tab in the Energy app has been updated with several changes, including:
The last 200 miles are now shown, instead of a user-selectable, 5, 15 or 30 miles.
Instant Range / Average Range has been removed to simplify the interface.
The average range as moved to the top left and now shows the offset from the vehicle's EPA-rated Wh/mi
Total energy consumption is now displayed at the bottom left.
The colors now have different meanings. Before this update, yellow meant the vehicle was using energy, while green meant the vehicle was generating energy through Regenerative Braking. However, now, yellow means that the vehicle consumed more than the EPA average, and green means that the vehicle consumed less than the EPA average and doesn’t necessarily mean it generated energy.
Toll Roads
Not a Tesla App
When navigating to a destination, the alternative routes menu that is displayed when you first enter a destination will now show you which routes include tolls by displaying a dollar sign icon next to the travel time.
Limiting Explicit Content
Not a Tesla App
The Exlicit Content toggle under Audio Settings now applies to YouTube Music as well. This now supports LiveOne, Apple Music, Apple Podcasts, and TIDAL.
Charging Icons
Not a Tesla App
Tesla has redesigned the charging pins that appear on the map. Supercharger and third-party charger pins are now oval-shaped instead of circular.
Instead of just having the number of charging stalls available, Tesla has added the charging icon to make it more obvious these are charging stations.
Adjust Dashcam Viewer Speed
Not a Tesla App
You can now adjust the Dashcam Viewer's playback speed. Users can pick from 0.5x, 1x or 2x playback speeds by tapping the playback speed button.
Tire Pressure Indicator
Not a Tesla App
Tapping the tire pressure indicator will now open the tire pressure card on the left side of the screen instead of opening the Service menu under Controls > Service.
If you ever spot a change that isn’t listed in Tesla’s release notes, we’d love to hear about it!
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Tesla’s FSD has made some truly incredible strides since V11, and since FSD V12.5, the experience has been hands-free for vehicles with a cabin camera.
However, a persistent point of frustration for many users is the strictness of the Driver Monitoring System (DMS), often referred to as the “nag.” In a recent interaction on X, Mike P detailed his grievances about how strict the DMS was.
This post drew a response from Elon Musk, who said, “You’re right.” Just a few days and a relatively unassuming point release later, Tesla has already decided to take action to improve its DMS.
The core issue here, which many who use FSD can attest to, isn’t about wanting to be irresponsible. Instead, it is about the current system’s sensitivity. The DMS can feel overly punitive for brief, normal interactions with the vehicle’s center display.
User Experience Woes
Mike P’s experience was common - you can’t even glance at the display to change the song or add a nav stop without the DMS warning you to pay attention.
If you continue, then you risk receiving a FSD strike. This leads to most drivers disabling FSD and typing their destination in while manually driving. For the casual observer, you can tell that it is clearly far more dangerous.
This highlights a safety paradox: a system designed to ensure attentiveness can sometimes lead to less safe workarounds. One must acknowledge that Tesla is in an odd position, being incredibly cautious about safety and ensuring it stays within NHTSA guidelines. However, the nag today is overkill in some situations, such as glancing at the center screen.
Tesla Confirms Change
Musk’s relatively concise answer resonated with his previous outlook on the matter. During Tesla’s Q1 2025 Earnings Call, he acknowledged that the DMS can be too strict and mentioned that Tesla is actively looking into ways to loosen those restrictions. He also pointed out the irony between the current system encouraging users to disengage FSD for simple tasks, only to re-engage it moments later - a less-than-safe cycle.
In a post on X, Ashok Elluswamy, Tesla’s VP of Autopilot AI, delivered welcome news. He confirmed that the latest FSD update, V13.2.9, includes a loosening of the cabin camera nag. This is an undocumented change, and one that we’re very excited to see.
This undocumented change is the latest step in Tesla’s overall plan forward Unsupervised FSD, which would drop the DMS completely. Previous updates, like the shift to vision-based driver attention monitoring in V12.4 and V12.5, aimed to balance safety with user experience.
What Does This Mean?
While the full extent of changes in V13.2.9 will become clearer as Software Update 2025.14.6 rolls out to more FSD users, the confirmation of loosened cabin camera nag suggests a few things.
This likely means greater tolerance for brief glances at the screen for essential tasks, whether it be adjusting climate settings, inputting a nav destination, or changing the current song. It could also include a potentially more forgiving threshold for looking away, especially in low-speed scenarios. The DMS does not ding you for using the display or looking away while the vehicle is waiting at a red light today, but Tesla could expand this to driving under 10 mph (16 km/h).
Ashok Elluswamy, Tesla's Vice President of Autopilot and AI Software, recently discussed Tesla's artificial intelligence programs' current state and future ambitions. He covered FSD and then extended it to the broader topics of robotics and Artificial General Intelligence (AGI).
Journey to Truly Autonomous Driving
At the core of Tesla’s AI efforts lies the quest for fully autonomous vehicles. Ashok reiterated the long-term vision where, eventually, all newly manufactured cars are expected to be self-driving, with older, human-driven cars potentially becoming items for specialized hobbies or unique purposes.
However, he did acknowledge that the current advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), including Tesla’s own FSD, require better reliability before the human can be completely removed from the equation.
The development process, he emphasized, is fundamentally rooted in machine learning rather than traditional programming. A crucial aspect of this is that AI is consistent across every vehicle, learning collectively from the fleet’s experiences rather than being unique to each car.
Progress in AI is continuous.
Safety and reliability remain Tesla’s focus for FSD. Now, with Tesla just weeks away from launching its Robotaxi Network in Austin, Texas, this is more true than ever, as any accidents could cause a delay in the program’s expansion or stop the program entirely.
No LiDAR
Ashok confirmed that Tesla still has no interest in LiDAR while discussing Tesla's vision-based sensor suite. He reiterated that cost and scalability remain key concerns with LiDAR, adding that its perceived usefulness diminishes as vision-based systems continue to improve.
Beyond the Road: FSD and Robotics
Ashok described Tesla’s AI network poetically - a “digital living being.” This emphasizes the organic way FSD absorbs information from the environment and learns from it. But FSD isn’t just for cars. Tesla uses FSD, as well as the same AI4 hardware from its vehicles, for its humanoid robot, Optimus.
Ashok expects that there will be a tremendous wave in robotics over the next 10 to 20 years. A key part of this will be the development of humanoid robots, which he believes will eventually be capable of complex industrial and domestic tasks, interacting with natural language, likely by 2035.
This recent surge in AI capabilities has been heavily driven by advancements in deep learning and the availability of massive computing power. Tesla is making heavy investments in both software and hardware. It recently started construction of its Cortex 2.0 Supercomputer cluster at Giga Texas.
Envisioning Sustainable Abundance & AGI
The conversation also covered the topics of Artificial General Intelligence. Ashok offered a pretty bold prediction that AGI will arrive in as little as the next 10 years, based on the rate of advancement that he’s seen so far. He further projected that AI-based software could become capable of performing most human tasks, whether spreadsheets or even robotic athletics, within the next 15 years.
This technological leap, he believes, ties into Tesla’s newer mission statement of sustainable abundance. Sustainable abundance is where the combination of intelligent machines and effective robotics helps to move greater portions of society away from poverty. This has become Tesla’s guiding philosophy since the 2025 All-Hands Meeting earlier this year.
Sustainable abundance should be a win-win scenario for all involved, helping reshape both production and creative industries to help humans do what they want to do rather than what they have to do.
Future of Mobility
As FSD and other AGI tech mature, Ashok believes that all cars being manufactured by 2035 will become autonomous. By then, the very concept of car ownership may change and transform. Owning a car would be a more “premium experience,” as the convenience and efficiency of self-driving vehicles might make personal ownership less of a necessity for many people. This shift would also necessitate infrastructure improvements to accommodate potentially increased vehicle usage.
We took a look at what the future may look like when autonomous vehicles become commonplace. It’ll have a drastic effect on our society, as parking lots will need to be a fraction of the size they are today, drop-off and loading zones will need to be bigger, and, for the most part, road signs may no longer be needed.
Will need this big time in the future. With autonomous vehicles we'll have affordable premium transport for everyone. This will likely increase traffic due to the increased usage, even though each vehicle is much more efficiently utilized. https://t.co/xvdvmxmzxd
Touching on the Indian vehicle market, Ashok noted that EVs, especially when combined with technologies like FSD, are well suited to the typical travel patterns in India and could make a big difference. With Tesla putting its eyes on a potential factory expansion in the coming years in India, there’s a lot riding on Tesla being able to take on the challenge of Indian roadways, where traffic laws are not enforced and well known.
Ashok’s interview was a fantastic look into what he believes will be next for Tesla - and he left with some parting advice for the next generation of engineers.
Master core concepts and leverage the wealth of online resources available. There is an emphasis on talent and innovation over traditional corporate hierarchies, and don’t forget your priorities: work and family.
You can watch the full interview here. Closed captioning is available.
![Inside Tesla’s AI Genius: VP Ashok Elluswamy Talks FSD, AGI, and the Future [VIDEO]](https://www.notateslaapp.com/img/containers/article_images/2025/ashok_interview.png/0f2b3fb6e89a70255a0c6c31a2efa04f/ashok_interview.jpg)
![Tesla Updates Lane Departure Avoidance, Likely Now Using FSD Stack [Video]](https://www.notateslaapp.com/img/containers/article_images/tesla-screen/lane-departure-warning.webp/bac626b9acadf88ee44775c5ee187c06/lane-departure-warning.jpg)
