A great feature that all Teslas have is the ability to browse the web using the car's touch screen.
All Teslas have a Chromium-based browser, which is the same engine that powers Google Chrome. Although the browser is much faster in newer models, it's a great tool to have at your disposal.
With update 2022.12.1 (release notes) Tesla has made several improvements to make the browsing experience even better. Thanks to Dan Burkland (@DBurkland) on Twitter, we now have details and images on everything Tesla updated with its browser in 2022.12.
Top Row
In Tesla v11, the browser became a part of the Entertainment section, which meant that the browser now had an additional bar on top. The bar displayed the word Entertainment, and let you easily switch between Aracade, Theater, Toybox, or the Browser. Unfortunately, it also decreased the amount of space available to display a website's contents.
With 2022.12.1, this bar has been removed, so that back, forward and the address bar are now at the very top again.
Autocomplete
When typing in a URL or search phrase in the address bar, the browser will now display autocomplete results underneath the address bar.
The autocomplete results are similar to what you'd see on a desktop or mobile device, providing helpful suggestions based on your query or browsing history.
The browser itself has been updated to a newer version of Chromium which brings improved security and browser rendering.
Favorites
Your browser favorites dialog has also received a minor facelift. The information that is displayed remains the same, but the UI now has a cleaner look.
Tesla favorites received a minor facelift
DBurkland/Twitter
New Welcome Screen
The loading screen for the browser has been updated from a generic icon to the Tesla logo.
In addition to your favorites showing up in the Favorites menu, Tesla appears to now show you your most visited sites directly on the welcome screen as well. This is similar to how other major browser will display your most used sites when opening a new tab.
New Tesla browser loading screen
DBurkland/Twitter
Browsing History
Since your browsing history is now used for search autocomplete, Tesla has also added the ability to clear your browser history.
You can now clear your Tesla's browsing data
DBurkland/Twitter
You can remove a single result from your history by tapping on the X button in the address bar autocomplete dropdown, or you can clear your complete browsing history by navigating to Controls > Service and tapping on Delete Browser Data.
The web browser is certainly a useful function in Teslas, as it gives you the ability to view sites or open web-based apps that you might otherwise not have access to.
Since Tesla doesn't yet support apps, one use for the browser is to display web-based apps or games.
One feature I'd love to see Tesla add in the near future is a "full screen" mode that will let you browse the web using your vehicle's entire screen.
Update 2022.12.1 has brought many improvements to Tesla vehicles. One of the other major improvements included in this update is the ability to add seat heaters, wiper and window defrosts back to the launcher.
This update has just started rolling out, with only 2% of the entire fleet having access to the update so far, so be sure to keep an eye out for these exciting features.
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Tesla recently showed off a demo of Optimus, its humanoid robot, walking around in moderately challenging terrain—not on a flat surface but on dirt and slopes. These things can be difficult for a humanoid robot, especially during the training cycle.
Most interestingly, Milan Kovac, VP of Engineering for Optimus, clarified what it takes to get Optimus to this stage. Let’s break down what he said.
Optimus is Blind
Optimus is getting seriously good at walking now - it can keep its balance over uneven ground - even while walking blind. Tesla is currently using just the sensors, all powered by a neural net running on the embedded computer.
Essentially, Tesla is building Optimus from the ground up, relying on as much additional data as possible while it trains vision. This is similar to how they train FSD on vehicles, using LiDAR rigs to validate the vision system’s accuracy. While Optimus doesn’t have LiDAR, it relies on all those other sensors on board, many of which will likely become simplified as vision takes over as the primary sensor.
Today, Optimus is walking blind, but it’s able to react almost instantly to changes in the terrain underneath it, even if it falls or slips.
What’s Next?
Next up, Tesla AI will be adding vision to Optimus - helping complete the neural net. Remember, Optimus runs on the same overall AI stack as FSD - in fact, Optimus uses an FSD computer and an offshoot of the FSD stack for vision-based tasks.
Milan mentions they’re planning on adding vision to help the robot plan ahead and improve its walking gait. While the zombie shuffle is iconic and a little bit amusing, getting humanoid robots to walk like humans is actually difficult.
There’s plenty more, too - including better responsiveness to velocity and direction commands and learning to fall and stand back up. Falling while protecting yourself to minimize damage is something natural to humans - but not exactly natural to something like a robot. Training it to do so is essential in keeping the robot, the environment around it, and the people it is interacting with safe.
We’re excited to see what’s coming with Optimus next because it is already getting started in some fashion in Tesla’s factories.
In a relatively surprising move, GM announced that it is realigning its autonomy strategy and prioritizing advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) over fully autonomous vehicles.
GM is effectively closing Cruise (autonomous) and focusing on its Super Cruise (ADAS) feature. The engineering teams at Cruise will join the GM teams working on Super Cruise, effectively shuttering the fully autonomous vehicle business.
End of Cruise
GM cites that “an increasingly competitive robotaxi market” and “considerable time and resources” are required for scaling the business to a profitable level. Essentially - they’re unable to keep up with competitors at current funding and research levels, putting them further and further behind.
Cruise has been offering driverless rides in several cities, using HD mapping of cities alongside vehicles equipped with a dazzling array of over 40 sensors. That means that each cruise vehicle is essentially a massive investment and does not turn a profit while collecting data to work towards Autonomy.
Cruise has definitely been on the back burner for a while, and a quick glance at their website - since it's still up for now - shows the last time they officially released any sort of major news packet was back in 2019.
Competition is Killer
Their current direct competitor - Waymo, is funded by Google, which maintains a direct interest in ensuring they have a play in the AI and autonomy space.
Interestingly, this news comes just a month after Tesla’s We, Robot event, where they showed off the Cybercab and the Robotaxi network, as well as plans to begin deployment of the network and Unsupervised FSD sometime in 2025. Tesla is already in talks with some cities in California and Texas to launch Robotaxi in 2025.
GM Admits Tesla Has the Right Strategy
As part of the business call following the announcement, GM admitted that Tesla’s end-to-end and Vision-based approach towards autonomy is the right strategy. While they say Cruise started down that path, they’re putting aside their goals towards fully autonomous vehicles for now and focusing on introducing that tech in Super Cruise instead.
NEWS: GM just admitted that @Tesla’s end-to-end approach to autonomy is the right strategy.
“That’s where the industry is pivoting. Cruise had already started making headway down that path. We are moving to a foundation model and end-to-end approach going forward.” pic.twitter.com/ACs5SFKUc3
With GM now focusing on Super Cruise, they’ll put aside autonomy and instead focus solely on ADAS features to relieve driver stress and improve safety. While those are positive goals that will benefit all road users, full autonomy is really the key to removing the massive impact that vehicle accidents have on society today.
In addition, Super Cruise is extremely limited, cannot brake for traffic controls, and doesn’t work in adverse conditions - even rain. It can only function when lane markings are clear, there are no construction zones, and there is a functional web connection.
The final key to the picture is that the vehicle has to be on an HD-mapped and compatible highway - essentially locking Super Cruise to wherever GM has time to spend mapping, rather than being functional anywhere in a general sense, like FSD or Autopilot.
Others Impressed - Licensing FSD
Interestingly, some other manufacturers have also weighed into the demise of Cruise. BMW, in a now-deleted post, said that a demo of Tesla’s FSD is “very impressive.” There’s a distinct chance that BMW and other manufacturers are looking to see what Tesla does next.
BMW chimes in on a now-deleted post. The Internet is forever, BMW!
Not a Tesla App
It seems that FSD has caught their eyes after We, Robot - and that the demonstrations of FSD V13.2 online seem to be the pivot point. At the 2024 Shareholder Meeting earlier in the year, Elon shared the fact that several manufacturers had reached out, looking to understand what was required to license FSD from Tesla.
There is a good chance 2025 will be the year we’ll see announcements of the adoption of FSD by legacy manufacturers - similar to how we saw the surprise announcements of the adoption of the NACS charging standard.
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