Tesla has updated the radio icon and removed the FM label
Not a Tesla App
With every major Tesla update there are often smaller changes or features that aren't mentioned in the release notes.
The main attractions of Tesla update 2022.28 are the ability to minimize a full-screen video and Alternate Routes, however, several undocumented features also made it into 2022.28.
Suggested Destinations
Tesla is adding suggested destinations
Randell/Discord
When tapping on the 'Navigate' button, you will now be presented with various suggested destinations. You will receive up to three suggested destinations that will appear at the top of recent destinations. These suggestions will automatically change depending on various factors. You can also find out more about suggested destinations.
Dark Mode Colors
Tesla has made some changes to dark mode
@ClemensBecher/Twitter
The dark mode color scheme has been adjusted so that various screens now use lighter gray tones. For example, prior to this update the car visualization area and apps like the media player both used the same dark gray color for the background.
However, with this update, Tesla has changed the background color of apps from a dark gray to a much lighter gray so that they stand out from the vehicle visualizations.
Changes to the Theater Status Bar
Most options in the Tesla Theater status bar have been removed
@ClemensBecher
With this update Tesla introduces the ability to minimize Tesla Theater, allowing you to access vehicle menus and settings without leaving your streaming video.
Previously while streaming video in full screen, there was a quick access bar at the top of the video that could be revealed by tapping near the top of the screen. This status bar lets you access some vehicle controls without leaving the video. Video controls such as cabin temperature, screen brightness and volume could easily be changed.
Since you can now minimize a full-screen video without leaving the video app, Tesla has mostly removed the options that once appeared at the top of a video.
When tapping near the top of the screen, the number of options has been reduced to minimize theater, a back button and the state of charge of your battery.
A gray line has also been added to the top of the screen to let you know that you can now swipe down on the full-screen video to access other car functions.
Phone Icon
The phone icon is now always visible when a call is active
Corey2002/Not a Tesla App forums
When you're on a call in the vehicle, the green phone icon will now always remain visible in the status bar, regardless if the phone card is hidden or not. The icon in the status bar has also changed shape slightly, going from a pill shape to a square.
Battery Calibration
A message will now be displayed when the vehicle is calibrating its battery
@roslan3d/Twitter
Your vehicle will now display 'Calibrating,' when charging is nearing completion. This will be displayed for all vehicles, regardless of their battery type.
New Radio Icon
Tesla has updated the radio icon and removed the FM label (rendering)
Not a Tesla App
The radio icon has also been updated to be more ambiguous with this update. The traditional analog radio markers have been flipped so that they now run vertically instead of horizontally.
The letters 'FM' have also been replaced with a generic circular icon so that it's more inclusive of other supported bands such as DAB, which is supported in many parts of the world.
HomeLink Buttons
The HomeLink button text has once again been changed. Tesla used to display the name of the garage door or gate inside of the button, with the words 'Activate' or 'Cancel' underneath the button. The problem with this approach was that the text underneath the button is far too small, and it wasn't obvious how to cancel a door from auto-opening.
However, recently Tesla swapped the location of the name and the action text so that 'Activate' would appear inside of the button and the garage door name underneath the button.
The HomeLink buttons have been changed once again. This time for the better.
daniel454/Not a Tesla App forums
This could lead to some confusion for those with multiple garage doors, as you would be presented with multiple buttons that would be labeled 'Activate,' with the only differentiating feature being the small text underneath the button.
With update 2022.28 Tesla has taken a hybrid approach. When pulling up to your garage door, the buttons will once again be labeled with the name you've given your garage doors (top photo).
However, if you have auto-open or auto-close enabled, then you will see the 'Cancel' text inside of the button for the specific door that will be opened or closed. The rest of the buttons will still show their given labels (bottom photo).
Of the several iterations Tesla has gone through, this approach appears to make the most sense. It's now more obvious how to cancel a garage door or gate from auto-opening and you'll still see the name of the garage doors in the predominate text most of the time.
Safety Menu Reorganized
Options in the Safety menu have been reorganized
Not a Tesla App
The vehicle options under Controls > Safety have been slightly rearranged. Sentry Mode, PIN to Drive and Glovebox PIN have moved up. This allows you to quickly enable or disable them without needing to scroll.
Have you noticed any other changes in 2022.28? Let us know.
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Tesla has finally released their 2024 Impact Report, and it's filled with impressive new data on the company’s environmental and safety progress. However, the biggest news is the clear and concrete roadmap it provides for the next generation of Tesla products.
For the first time, the report provides specific timelines for Tesla to begin volume production of the purpose-built Cybercab and the ramp-up of the Semi factory. This year’s report shifts from documenting past achievements to defining Tesla’s next phase, with a focus on autonomy and industrial transport.
Upcoming Vehicles
The most significant new items in the report are timelines for Tesla’s anticipated future vehicles.
Next, Tesla is ramping up production of the Semi, following the completion of limited production runs used for testing. This development is closely tied to the ongoing construction of the new Semi Factory, which is nearing completion. Tesla expects this to be one of its largest markets going forward and one of the most impactful. Industrial trucks doing the last 200 miles of delivery account for 16.4% of US vehicle emissions, despite making up only 1.1% of vehicles on the road.
In terms of the Affordable Model, Tesla has mentioned that they intend to launch more affordable products in 2025 and address a key segment of the market. They did not elaborate on this further and seem to have missed the previously provided self-imposed deadline for the first half of 2025.
At this point, we’re unsure whether Tesla will actually launch a distinct and more affordable model or whether it will introduce cut-down versions of the Model Y, as rumored.
Safety
The report supports Tesla’s future plans with some impressive new data points that demonstrate the impact their technology is having.
First, Autopilot (and FSD) has achieved a safety record nearly 10 times higher than the US national average in terms of miles per incident. The data shows one accident for every 6.77 million miles driven with Autopilot (or FSD) engaged, compared to the national average of one accident per 0.70 million miles.
The report also highlighted the Cybertruck’s recent 5-Star overall safety rating from the NHTSA, marking it one of the safest vehicles on the market, especially for a truck. The best part is that Cybertruck holds the lowest overall probability of injury and the lowest rollover risk of any pickup truck ever tested by the agency. Skeptics have always complained about lacking crumple zones, but the results prove otherwise, with Tesla building crumple zones as part of the gigacast.
Sustainability
In terms of sustainability, Tesla’s growing fleet helped to increase the amount of reduced and avoided emissions by 60% year over year, to 32 million metric tons of CO2e. While that’s a small number when you compare it to a full country, it is still a significant impact, especially in cities where pollutants have already decreased due to the ownership of EVs.
Tesla also mentioned that 99% of their recalls reported in 2024 were resolved using OTA updates, saving owners a trip to the Service Center or a trip by the Tesla Mobile Rangers, all in the name of sustainability and reduced costs.
Impactful Report
Tesla’s 2024 Impact Report is actually one of the most forward-looking publications to date. It puts a clear roadmap of Tesla’s future goals, while also tying them into the sustainability and safety goals achieved last year.
We can’t wait till 2025’s report - because it’ll be even better with this year’s deployment of Robotaxi. You can read all 200+ pages of the impact report here.
Tesla has officially begun internal testing of its awaited virtual queueing system for Superchargers. The news was shared by Tesla’s Director of Charging, Max de Zegher on X.
The Tesla Charging team has begun pressure testing the new feature and is planning for public pilots as their next step. While most users won’t experience heavy congestion at Superchargers, for those who do, it could be a real pain point. Virtual queues are designed to make it easier to charge at congested Superchargers by having a digital queue, rather than relying on owners to remain in line with their vehicles.
Virtual Queues
When we originally delved into Tesla’s plans to introduce a virtual queue system, it seemed obvious that the virtual queue would replace the current “Wild West” first-come, first-served system of vehicles trying to get pulled into a stall. This process will likely have two key integrations.
First up is integration directly into the vehicle software for Tesla vehicles. This means that when you’re navigating to a Supercharger that’s busy and virtual queuing is enabled, you will be automatically placed into the virtual queue upon arrival.
Then, your position in line is displayed on-screen and provides an estimated wait time, allowing you to relax, eat, or take a bathroom break without worrying about your place in line. Finally, once a stall becomes available and it’s your turn, you will receive a notification on your vehicle’s screen, as well as on the Tesla app, directing you to the open stall that will presumably only allow your vehicle to charge. We imagine that there will be a grace period for owners to pull up with their car. If that doesn’t happen within a certain period, the next car will likely be offered the charger.
The second integration is in the Tesla app for non-Tesla drivers. As Tesla continues to install Magic Docks and open Superchargers to non-Tesla EVs, more and more traffic comes to the world’s most reliable fast charging network. That means that Tesla also needs to manage expectations and queue times for non-Tesla vehicles, likely through a similar process, but done over the Tesla app instead.
The Devil’s in the Details
A simple “first-in, first-out” queue sounds great, but Max noted that it is easy to exploit things with bad actors. What prevents a driver from joining a queue remotely to reserve a spot, ignoring a notification, or trying to hop into an unreserved spot?
Well, Tesla should be able to manage these fairly easily, but they still require technical effort to implement. That means GPS geofencing for those attempting to join a queue, a short countdown timer for those late to take their spot, and a lockout for those who try to skip the queue are all needed.
What’s Next?
As Tesla has just started internal testing of this feature, it likely means that public-facing user interfaces and flows aren’t quite ready yet, but the underlying functionality is. It also means that Tesla is working to refine the little details to make the process as smooth and as easily accessible as possible.
While no pilot locations have been announced yet, it seems likely that Tesla will launch the pilot at some of the most notoriously busy Supercharger sites to gather testing data in the near future, once internal testing is complete. That means holiday travel routes or major highways, likely in California first, before rolling out elsewhere.
Virtual Queuing is a fantastic tech-first solution for the Supercharger network that helps transform that experience into a more calm and orderly process. Additionally, establishing a fair system that allows both Tesla and non-Tesla EVs to access will likely improve the overall experience. Along with the pilot program for dynamic Supercharger pricing that incentivizes people to use less-congested Superchargers, these changes should improve the Supercharger experience.
While Max mentioned it was designed for “those rare cases with a wait”, that tends to be the experience in larger cities further North, especially in New York, Michigan, or within Canada, where the few smaller Supercharger sites in big cities tend to be heavily congested. These queues will make the experience smoother for everyone involved, so we’re looking forward to seeing this come to fruition.