Tesla Santa Mode Easter Egg: How to Activate It and Everything It Does

Model S

Model 3

Model X

Model Y

Updated: December 24, 2023

By Nuno Cristovao

Tesla's Santa Mode easter egg

Teslas offer numerous easter eggs. While most of them are fun to try, Santa Mode is easily one of the most popular and fun easter eggs. You'll find yourself coming back to Santa Mode again and again throughout the years.

What Santa Mode Does

After turning on Santa Mode you'll notice various visualizations have changed.

Santa Mode will turn your car on the screen into Santa and his sleigh. The sleigh will be pulled by two reindeer and you'll even see him carrying presents in the back. If you look closely, you'll see that Santa's sleigh is actually a modified Tesla.

You can pan and zoom the visualization to take a closer look at his sleigh.

You'll notice that the roads have suddenly been covered in snow. If you pay close attention, you'll even see that it has now started to snow.

Other vehicles that are normally rendered on the display will also change. Instead of other vehicle models, all cars will now be transformed into reindeer.

There are subtle details that show that Tesla went the extra mile with this easter egg.

For example, the speed at which your vehicle and the other vehicles are moving will affect how fast the reindeer's legs move. When you slow down, your reindeer will also slow down to a trot.

Your turn signals will also change. Instead of playing the traditional clicking sound that a turn signal makes, the sound has been changed to sleigh bells.

If you look closely at the collars your reindeer are wearing, you'll also see that they light up and flash red when you use your turn signals. If you use your left turn signal, the left reindeer's collar will flash, and if you're using the right turn signal, then the right reindeer's collar will flash. It's subtle but nicely done.

Two Variations

There are three ways to activate Santa Mode. There are also an alternate song that can be played. Two of activation methods are through voice commands while the other requires going into the All Apps menu.

How to Activate Santa Mode

"Run Rudolph Run": The most obvious way to activate Santa Mode is through the Toy Box. Tap on All Apps (the ... at the bottom), choose the Toy Box and scroll to the right to find Santa Mode. This will play the "Run Rudolph Run" song along with the visualizations, but unfortunately, the volume is fairly loud and can not be adjusted. The song will only play once through and will then stop.

"Ho ho ho": You can also activate Santa Mode via a voice command, by simply saying clicking the voice command button and saying "Ho, ho, ho." It's the same outcome as the method above, but easier to turn on.

"Ho ho ho, not funny": There's a second variation of Santa Mode that is also activated via a voice command. If you use the voice command, "Ho ho ho, not funny," then Santa Mode will turn on and the song "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer" will be played.

The only difference between the various ways of activating Santa Mode is the song that is played and the sound of the turn signals

Turn Off Santa Mode

To turn off Santa Mode, you can go back to the Toy Box and turn off the slider for Santa Mode. You should also be able to use the voice command "Turn Off Santa Mode," but unfortunately there's a bug that's preventing that from working right now, so you'll need to go through the Toy Box to turn it off.

External Speakers (PWS)

If your car is equipped with a Pedestrian Warning System (PWS), you'll also have the ability to play the Santa Mode music through the outside speaker of your car.

You'll know if your car is equipped with the PWS if it emits a low sound on the outside when traveling a low speeds.

To play ‘Run Rudolph Run' or ‘Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer' through your car's external speaker you'll need to activate the easter egg through the Toy Box and turn on the slider for "Spread Cheer."

Available on All Models

Santa Mode is available on all Tesla models, including the Model S, Model 3, Model X and Model Y. The Santa Mode easter egg remains largely the same regardless of the Tesla model you have. Although it does require a vehicle with the PWS to have the option to play music outside of your vehicle.

Tesla Is Now Offering Cybertruck Test Drives [List of Locations]

July 26, 2024

By Karan Singh

@brandonhd

Tesla has begun to reach out to customers in the United States and is offering demo drives of the Cybertruck on an invite-only basis. @brandonhd on X shared the first invite image, and it looks like it's going out quite quickly to multiple locations that have Cybertrucks on display.

Up until now, display vehicles have been for just that – looking, but no touching. Some Tesla delivery centers and showrooms have also allowed viewers to take a seat inside and open it up, but most are still locked away behind the velvet rope.

It’s exciting to see that Tesla has begun to demo them – and it can only be so long until demo drives open up to everyone.

Advisor-led Demo

This Demo Drive is led by a Tesla Advisor – while you’re driving, the advisor will be in the passenger seat, walking you through the experience. They’ll explain steer-by-wire, off-road controls, and will introduce new-to-Tesla buyers to all the features that are currently available.

Once FSD V12.5 comes to the Cybertruck, we’re sure they’ll be demoing its capabilities FSD capabilities as well.

Locations

The list of locations so far for demo drives appears to be fairly limited, but we will hopefully see demo drives roll out throughout the United States, and eventually Canada too. Here is the current list of city/state locations that have seen demo drive invites.

Manhasset, New York
West Covina, California
Los Angeles, California
Houston, Texas
Orlando, Florida
Westmont, Illinois
Tucson, Arizona
Phoenix, Arizona
Delaware

Musk Confirms 'Actually Smart Summon' is Coming in a Revision of FSD V12.5

July 26, 2024

By Karan Singh

Not a Tesla App

Actually Smart Summon, the successor to Tesla’s Smart Summon feature, has been confirmed to be coming as soon as next month as per Elon Musk. Colloquially known as “ASS”, Actually Smart Summon is supposed to improve on the regular Smart Summon capabilities, which have historically used ultrasonic sensors (USS) to navigate parking lots.

We’re looking forward to Actually Smart Summon, and we’re quite excited about what other features will be unlocked once it finally shows up at our doorstep.

Vision-based Improvements

ASS is supposed to bring Smart Summon to vehicles that don’t have USS – using Tesla Vision. Most recently, Tesla has brought Autopark to vehicles without USS, and Vision-based Autopark has been a huge success. It is faster, more reliable, and smoother than the older USS-based solution. It can also park and maneuver in tighter locations.

Just recently, Tesla returned the Model X’s self-presenting doors, using Tesla Vision. Vision has seen some fantastic improvements, and many people are waiting for ASS to bring forth these improvements to Smart Summon.

Smart Summon Today

Today, Smart Summon is sometimes useful at best, usually a party trick, or downright dangerous at worst. It’s excellent and best used in straight lines, where you have a clear line of sight of the vehicle, and can stop it if doesn’t see an obstacle.

I used Smart Summon today, just before writing this article – my 2022 Model Y (with USS) – did manage to show up just fine – in a straight-line location from where I was parked, after exiting the parking spot fairly cleanly. However, I’ve previously used Smart Summon and have had the vehicle turn towards obstacles, such as cart returns or curbs. Overall, it’s a sometimes-useful feature that has a lot of drawbacks right now.

Smart Summon is also restricted to a certain distance – and it's pretty small. The max distance is shorter than most parking lots, being only about 215 ft (65m). If you’re lucky enough to park close, it's very useful to bring your car right to you.

Actually Smart Summon

ASS will bring FSD V12-like capabilities to Smart Summon – the vehicle will primarily use Vision to drive toward you (or the location you’ve indicated). ASS has been supposed to be coming since about September 2022 and has seen many delays – we’re almost at the 2-year point today.

We’re looking forward to Actually Smart Summon being able to bring the vehicle – safely – right to you. ASS is also one of the key steps towards bringing some other cool features that Elon Musk has previously mentioned – Park Seek and Banish Autopark.

We’re also hopeful that Actually Smart Summon will increase the maximum range a vehicle can be summoned, because the current range is fairly small. Alongside Park Seek and Banish Autopark, we’re closing in on a Robotaxi-based future.

Park Seek and Banish Autopark

When the FSD v12.4 showed up, Elon also mentioned that going forward, vehicles would automatically park themselves when arriving in a parking lot – Park Seek – and that if you got out of the car at the entrance to a business, you could get it to automatically park itself in the parking lot – Banish Autopark. These are two features that are needed for Robotaxi to work – which itself is delayed to October 10^th of this year. We’re looking quite forward to them – as in combination with Actually Smart Summon, Tesla has reached the cusp of vehicle autonomy.

A vehicle that arrives, driverless, at the location you’re at, then drives somewhere, parks itself there, and waits for you – is the definition of a Robotaxi.

While we’re likely to have to wait for Banish Autopark and Park Seek just a bit longer, Actually Smart Summon being around the corner is exciting! Gone will be the days of having to run out to your car when you forgot your umbrella – your car will just come right to you instead.