How Tesla's 'Add a Stop' Feature (Waypoints) Works

Tesla has released the long awaited feature, waypoints. Add a Stop, as Tesla is calling the feature, lets you include multiple destinations in your GPS navigation.

Tesla's Add a Stop feature

Model3Owners/Twitter (Edited by NotATeslaApp

Up until now owners could only enter a single address address into their navigation. If you had multiple stops, you’d need to enter the second address after you arrived at the first.

Having the ability to set multiple destinations is especially useful when setting charging points. It allows you to plan your route and charging stops ahead of time.

It also lets you easily view your final destination’s ETA while still on route to one of your previous destinations.

To use waypoints, you add any destination in the same manner as before. However, now you’ll notice a new icon to the right of the Navigate box that has a map marker with a plus sign next to it.

Tapping on the icon will bring up the familiar dialog to enter another address, however this destination will now be added as a stop between your current location and your destination.

Your ETA to each destination is shown, letting you know precisely when you’ll arrive at each of your scheduled stops.

This feature comes with a couple caveats in its initial implementation. The first is that once you add a stop, you can’t remove it without canceling the whole trip and starting over.

Your destinations currently can also not be rearranged, so if you wanted to route to a different stop first or check what would be the optimal route, that also isn’t possible just yet.

This is Tesla’s first release of waypoints, so expect the feature to be enhanced in future updates as many Tesla features are.

Waypoints are available in Tesla software update 2021.40.6 and will be slowly rolled out to all Tesla models and regions.

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Tesla is Creating a Voice Assistant to Replace Voice Commands [Example of Voice]

It looks like Tesla may soon be replacing its archaic voice commands with something much more useful — a voice assistant.

Greentheonly, who often takes deep dives into Tesla software by decompiling the firmware and looking for changes, has now found the early integration of a voice assistant.

Voice Assistant Already Available in China

Tesla has already replaced its voice commands in China with a voice assistant that can not only control certain aspects of the vehicle using more natural language but can also answer common knowledge questions such as the current weather, stock quotes and more (video below).

Tesla Creating Own Assistant

According to Green's findings, it looks like Tesla may be rolling its own solution instead of integrating something like Amazon Alexa like Rivian has. Tesla created their own solution in China by using some of their own technology and several existing software solutions. However, some of them are only available in China so they don’t scale to support additional regions.

Grōk

The first thought that comes to mind is Tesla leaning on AI efforts by Grōk and xAI, which could help it support common knowledge questions and search the web for answers. However, that only gets Tesla partly there, as Alexa and Google Assistant already support a large ecosystem, one that may not be available if Tesla creates their own voice assistant. With Tesla’s solution, a driver may be limited to what devices they can control through the voice assistant, at least initially. Either way, just a more natural way to activate certain vehicle solutions will be an improvement over what’s available today. The ability to ask the assistant common questions will be the icing on top.

Wake Word

According to Green, the source code hinted at the voice assistant using a wake word, which would replace the need to press the scroll wheel on the steering wheel. Tesla has begun to use the left scroll wheel button for additional things lately such as wiper controls and a multi-function mode, so this may fit in with their plan.

It’s fun to speculate what the wake word would be or whether Tesla would add the ability to create your own. It could be something as simple as ‘Hey, Tesla’, ‘Grok’, or something more humorous as Tesla has a knack for. Unfortunately, there weren't any hints on what the actual wake word would be, but being able to set a destination, play a specific song or ask the assistant for the weather will be a much-needed improvement.

Supported Models

It's not clear which models Tesla would support a voice assistant, but with the release of software v12 with update 2024.14.3, Tesla is starting to leave more features out of older Intel-based vehicles. While a voice assistant may not necessarily be computationally heavy, it may depend on Tesla's implementation and whether voice commands are transcribed on device or carried over the internet for transcription.

Voice Model

In the software, there are references to Microsoft's text-to-speech technology and specifically to a voice named “Jenny Neutral.”

The “Jenny Neutral” voice seems like an acceptable voice, bringing a natural-sounding voice to Tesla's voice assistant, although it doesn't differ much from what you find on other assistants. You can view an example of Microsoft’s “Jenny Neutral” voice in the video below.

Tesla has been more mindful lately about adding information for unreleased features to its software to help prevent leaks, so by the time something like this is found by Green, it usually doesn't take long before it becomes available, although this could also make for an exciting Christmas present.

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Tesla Hints at Support for Amazon Music Streaming in Update 2024.14.3

Thanks to Tesla hacker Greentheonly, it looks like Tesla will soon offer a native experience for Amazon Music in their cars.

Green decompiled Tesla's latest update, version 2024.14.3, and found references to Amazon's music service, Amazo Music.

In this same update, Tesla added Audible playback, the audiobook service Amazon bought back in 2008.

For Tesla to add support for these music services, they need to have access to APIs that are provided by the music provider. Like everything else, there's likely a deal Tesla and Amazon struck, not only for Audible which was released in this update, but also for Amazon's other services. Given that there are already references to Amazon Music in 2024.14.3, it may not be long before we see the service launch in an upcoming update.

Prime Video 

Although Green doesn't mention any references to Amazon Prime Video specifically, it's possible we may see that service added as well. Tesla's Theater "apps," are essentially links to a browser without the user interface, so detecting references for Amazon Prime Video would be more difficult to discover in Tesla's source code. Since Tesla already implemented Audible and there are now hints of Amazon Music, it’s looking like we may see support for Amazon Prime Video as well.

Not the First Time Tesla Has Hinted at Amazon Music

Back in 2020, we saw Tesla add hints of supporting Amazon Music, although the code was scrapped in a later revision. The same source code in 2020 had references to Pandora, Audible and Apple Music. Since then we've seen Tesla add support for two of those services, with Pandora being the only one left out.

Top Music Services in the World

According to Exploding Topics, Amazon Music is the fourth most popular music service in the world as of February 2024 with a 13.3% share of the market. Number one is not surprisingly Spotify, with Apple Music and Tencent (Chinese music service) taking the second and third spots respectively.

Who Will Get Access

Amazon Music will actually be a great addition, especially if you don't pay for a separate music service like Spotify or Apple Music, but have Amazon Prime.

In the U.S., LiveOne, previously known as Slacker is the default music service that comes for free with Tesla — although Premium Connectivity is still required to listen while driving. Tesla simply calls it "Streaming" in the vehicle since this was named before Tesla had support for multiple music services. Tesla currently supports LiveOne, Spotify, Apple Music, TIDAL, TuneIn and SiriusXM on the Model S and Model X.

Although LiveOne is free, it has several limitations on audio quality, music curation and song selection. It also doesn’t allow you to jump to certain parts of a song.

Amazon Music offers a much more robust solution, so it's expected to be a nice upgrade for owners who already have access to the music service.

If you subscribe to Amazon Prime and get the free version of Amazon Music, it's expected that you'll have access to it in your vehicle without any additional charges, just like you do on your phone and other devices.

Amazon also offers a premium plan for $10 per month that includes higher-quality audio and access to a larger music library. However, we don't believe the premium plan will be required to use the service in the vehicle.

Tesla update 2024.14.3 is currently rolling out to customers around the world, although it could be several weeks before most customers have access.

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