Elon Musk said he is testing Steam integration in-vehicle
Tesla
Elon Musk is a busy guy, but he even takes time to play video games. The Tesla CEO told his 105.6 million followers on Twitter that he was playing games. But when you're Musk, this is still working. He was testing the highly anticipated Steam integration with Tesla. It's not known which one of the 30,000 Steam games he was playing (or should I say testing), but the fact that he is telling the world he is trying it out could mean the release is imminent.
Steam is to the PC gaming world what Tesla is to the electric vehicle market. With nearly 20 years under its belt, it's estimated Steam takes up 75 percent of the global market share for the distribution of PC games. More than 100 million users are on the platform, and it is showing no signs of slowing down. In addition, it is releasing Steam Decks, a mobile device to take all of those games with you.
Tesla's gaming does not quite compare to Steam, with about 20 games available, and most are classics. However, this integration could put Tesla's gaming platform light years ahead. In fact, the new Model S and Model X have a gaming computer that keeps pace with PlayStation 5 and XBox Series X.
The new system has ten teraflops of processing power. A teraflop is the computer world's version of horsepower, and yes, 10 is a lot. The PS5 has 10.28, and for those keeping score, the Playstation 4 has 1.84. For anyone who has played the two consoles, you can attest to noticing immediately the difference those additional 8 TFLOPS provide.
Musk wants the Tesla to be the most fun you can have in a car. By adding this kind of computer power to the Model S and Model X, he ensures that the system can handle the top-end video games. He has demonstrated the game considered the most graphically demanding, Cyberpunk 2077. These complex and visually stunning video games also occupy a lot of space. The average Steam user has 55 games on their account. However, it looks like Tesla has already started to solve these problems.
With Tesla update 2022.24 Tesla now lets you uninstall games from Tesla Arcade. There's currently no need to uninstall a game because there's ample storage, but that won't always be the case.
The amount of storage available for games will vary depending on the MCU in the vehicle. While vehicles with MCU 2 only contain a 64GB hard drive for the entire vehicle (OS, games and data), newer vehicles with MCU 3 include up to a 256GB solid-state drive. Out of those 256GB, 155GB is currently reserved for games, so they'll be able to store significantly more games before requiring an external hard drive.
While there is still no release date for the Steam integration, a big event is on the horizon for Tesla, AI Day Part II. The event was initially scheduled for August 19 but has been pushed back to September 30. Musk has promised "many cool updates" at AI Day; perhaps Steam integration will be one of them.
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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.
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.
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.
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 10th 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.
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