Tesla has an Emergency Brake: Here's how to use it

Model S
Model 3
Model X
Model Y
Parking, Braking
By Nuno Cristovao

By Emergency Braking, I’m not talking about Tesla’s built in Collision Avoidance. This Emergency Brake can be used when parking on a hill or other steep incline - OR - if you are driving and your brake pedal is failing.

Parking on a Hill

Like all cars, when parking on a hill it is advised to turn your steering wheel so if your car was to accidentally roll, it would roll away from traffic and not into traffic. It is also advised to enable your Emergency Brake. When you put your car in Park, it stops the rear wheels from turning. That may not be good enough on snow and ice or an incline. When you push on the end of the PRND stock, you put your car in Park. If you push and hold, it will also engage the Emergency Brakes making it even harder for your car to roll. When the Emergency Brakes are applied the ((P)) icon will be displayed. When ready to drive, just do as normal and put car in “R” or “D”.

Driving and car not slowing or stopping

Push on the Park button while car is moving, and brakes will be applied. Like going down a hill too fast. An Emergency.

Hear are two YouTube videos that will help explain.

How to use the e-brake when parking:

How to use the e-brake while driving:

Tesla to Reportedly Launch Robotaxi Network on June 12th

By Karan Singh
A concept of what the UI in the Robotaxi may look like
A concept of what the UI in the Robotaxi may look like
@dkrasniy

According to a report from Bloomberg (paywall), Tesla is planning to launch its Robotaxi network in Austin on June 12th. Bloomberg’s source noted that the date was still in flux, but this is the date Tesla is being planned around.

While the Robotaxi network may launch on June 12th, it’ll be exclusive to Tesla employees initially, allowing Tesla to iron out any issues.

The taxi network isn’t expected to open up to the public until late June at the earliest. During Tesla’s Q1 2025 Earnings Call, Elon stated that the Robotaxi service would only be available to the public in late June or early July.

June 12th is actually much sooner than we expected, so this is an excellent sign for Tesla, who typically pushes back events for finishing touches. The Robotaxi event, for example, was originally scheduled for August 8th but was rescheduled for October 10th.

The NHTSA recently reached out to Tesla, inquiring about how they’d handle certain scenarios, such as adverse weather conditions. This is a good sign that Tesla is satisfying those requirements.

Testing Happening Now

According to Bloomberg’s report, Tesla has already been operating test vehicles using FSD Unsupervised without a safety driver this week. A test engineer was in the passenger seat but did not intervene or provide any input.

Tesla has already been doing preliminary testing with employees in Austin and Los Angeles, but those have been with relatively small internal groups for the most part.

Start Small and Slow

Tesla plans to launch the service with approximately 10 Model Y taxi vehicles initially, providing an opportunity to gather data and user feedback. According to Elon, in the weeks following the launch, Tesla will expand the program to more vehicles, with it hitting several thousand by late 2025.

Tesla recently started the Early Access Program for FSD users in Texas. It’ll be interesting to see how Tesla leverages these users to gather more data or help expand the program when Tesla is finally ready to provide FSD Unsupervised to vehicle owners.

Reducing Variables

There are a ton of moving parts involved in launching an autonomous taxi network, including insurance, cleaning, charging, and more. There’s no doubt Tesla is eliminating as many variables as possible, such as automated charging. While the Robotaxi will support wireless charging, these Model Ys are expected to be charged manually since Tesla hasn’t built the “snake” charger, and Model Ys don’t support wireless charging.

Tesla already has at least some Robotaxi code built into the Tesla app, so it seems like they’re lining up all the pieces.

While Tesla has been relatively focused on California and Texas, we’ve also spotted some Robotaxi mules making their way around Boston and New Hampshire, meaning that Tesla is already thinking about expansion or at least finding out what it’ll take.

We may just be a couple of months away from seeing a Robotaxi revolution in some American cities. While expanding to additional cities with varying weather conditions may be slow, Tesla will be out there proving what they’ve been promising since 2016.

Tesla Adds Real-Time Charging Alerts With iOS Live Activities -- More Coming

By Not a Tesla App Staff
Geonardo10inchi

Tesla has updated its Tesla app for iPhones to version 4.45.0 and it adds a really helpful feature — Live Activities.

If you’re not familiar with Live Activities on iPhone, they’re essentially an interactive notification that displays real-time information. So, instead of receiving a notification that says that your vehicle has started charging, it’ll display real-time charging information.

What It Displays

Live Activities are displayed on your lock screen or Notification Center. With Tesla’s first implementation, it’ll display a variety of charging information when you’re Supercharging, such as the time until charging is complete, your current range, and the estimated cost.

The Live Activity will also display a photo of your vehicle with the color you’ve selected in the Colorizer feature, along with a charge meter, allowing you to easily see how much your vehicle is charged. The meter will be grayed out according to the charge limit you have set in your vehicle.

The “Charge” label of the notification shows your current range and will display percentage or distance, depending on which metric you use in your vehicle.

In all, the feature will display all of these details:

  • Time left to charge completion

  • Charge/range in miles or percentage

  • Estimated cost

  • Current Supercharger powe

  • Current Supercharger speed in miles/km

  • Total energy added in kWh

The battery meter is also different for the Cybertruck, featuring the same slashes for the meter as the vehicle uses inside the car.

triduchuynh

What It Will Support in the Future

Tesla may soon support Live Activities for more than just Supercharging. While the feature doesn’t support home charging, or other third-party fast charging, there are other areas that will receive this real-time information.

One that is not often used but is just as crucial as Supercharging is roadside assistance. Tesla could add a Live Activity that keeps you updated without having to open the Tesla app. It could give you the current status, such as help dispatched or offer an ETA when help will arrive.

Tesla will soon introduce a Supercharger queue system, which will be utilized when Superchargers are at full capacity. When you arrive at a Supercharger, you’ll be able to join the queue so that you don’t have to line up your vehicle to form a line physically. Instead, you’ll join the queue and be notified when it’s your turn to charge, letting you relax or eat until it’s your turn. This will be especially useful when there’s a long wait at a Supercharger.

Code for Tesla’s virtual Supercharger queue system is already being added to the Tesla app, and Live Activity support will be included according to code found in a recent Tesla app.

What It Supports

Dynamic Island

Geonardo10inchi

The Live Activity is great, but what happens if you’re not on your lock screen? If your phone includes a Dynamic Island (iPhone 14 Pro and later, iPhone 15 and later, but not the iPhone 16e or the iPhone SE), then the Tesla app also shows a circular indicator with your current charge percentage and the estimated time remaining until charging is complete

Apple Watch

JohnH2k23

The Apple Watch is also receiving support for Live Activities in this update as well. It’ll display the same information as the dynamic island, letting you know how many more minutes you have until charging is complete.

Android Support

While Live Activities has been an iPhone feature for years, Android will be offering similar capabilities in an upcoming OS release. Android 16, currently in beta testing and expected to be released in Q2, will add support for rich notifications similar to Live Activities.

Adding live notifications for Supercharger is a great addition that we hope Tesla will support on Android soon after the feature is released.

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