Tesla to use internal microphone to detect emergency vehicles and aid in FSD

By Nuno Cristovao

As Tesla continues to inch closer to releasing Autopilot on city streets, and one day full self-driving, they need to account for more occurrences on the road. As we talked about briefly, Tesla now detects brake lights on vehicles in the latest beta and will soon also detect turn signals and even hand signals.

Elon has also said that Tesla will soon detect emergency vehicles such as ambulances, police cars and fire trucks. For Tesla to assess the situation properly they will also need to detect whether the vehicle is in an emergency situation so that it can follow proper driving procedures, such as pulling off, stopping at a green traffic light or letting the vehicle pass.

In order for Tesla to be able to do this, they will not only detect the emergency vehicles lights, but will also look for sirens.

Tesla Model 3 interior

Teslas do not currently have external microphones. The only microphones they have currently is the internal one used for voice commands and hands-free calling. Elon Musk confirmed that Tesla will start utilizing the internal microphone to help detect the presence of emergency vehicles.

Listening for sirens may only be the beginning if Tesla is successful in detecting situations using sound alone. What if they could detect other sounds that help the car further understand the environment and the current situation. Maybe listening for car honks, screeching tires or crashing sounds may be helpful. This may even be the start of Tesla adding a “Hey, Tesla”-like wake command to activate the voice-assistant like VW does in their ID vehicles. When Tesla starts to use the microphone for things beyond Bluetooth calling and voice commands, it could open up a whole new door of possibilities.

It’s great to see Tesla moving forward and increasing Autopilot’s capability, but this feature comes with some possible issues. How will Tesla distinguish between real emergency vehicle sounds and sirens coming from music or a ringtone?

The short answer is they probably won’t. In fact, who hasn’t been tricked before when hearing police sirens on the radio only to look around them and realize it’s not real. Tesla appears to be building FSD features based on human abilities, such as seeing and hearing. If a human can do it based on vision and hearing, then why not a machine? Especially if that machine has 360-degrees of vision and the ability to make pinpoint calculations in a fraction of a second.

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Tesla Says 12V Power Socket Access Will Not Return With Sentry Mode

By Karan Singh
Not a Tesla App

It turns out that the big undocumented change in Tesla update 2024.32 that disables the 12V power and USB ports while Sentry Mode is active is not a bug but an intentional change.

A fan contacted Tesla Service to see if the change was intentional and what the reason behind the change was. Surprisingly, they received a response pretty quickly.

No 12V Power Access

Tesla has decided to restrict 12V power access for safety reasons—namely, to “reduce the likelihood of thermal events” when third-party devices are left powered on without users present. Tesla reached out to the fan in question by phone, and they seemed to be sticking to that line.

It seems that Tesla is resolute that it was due to safety reasons and that the change would not be “fixed” or allowed in a future software update – as this was an intentional change for safety reasons.

Other sources have reported that the change was due to potential misuse of the 12V power access, with people wiring 1200w microwaves and kettles or jury-rigging 240v to 120v adapters, which had apparently been the cause of multiple fires in Tesla vehicles within China.

Workarounds

Thankfully, for those who camp or need to keep their sub-trunk fridges powered while still having security in their vehicles, there is a simple, although inconvenient, workaround. You can enable Camp Mode, then manually lock your car (since Camp Mode turns off walk-away door locking) and turn off climate controls from the app.

While Sentry will NOT be active with this workaround, the car's power sockets remain powered. While this workaround is fine to use occasionally, it’ll be tiresome for those who use a fridge regularly.

We’re still hoping Tesla considers bringing the Cybertruck’s Power Control menu to the rest of its vehicles and is somehow able to limit the max draw from these outlets to prevent dangerous situations.

Join Our Tesla Robotaxi Event Prediction Contest

By Karan Singh
Tesla

With the Robotaxi event just a day away, we thought it would be a fun idea to run a contest to predict what Tesla will announce tomorrow evening.

We’ve outlined a list of questions below; simply answer them on our forums or social media (X or Threads), and be entered for a chance to win some great prizes.

The individuals who have the most correct answers will win one of five prizes mentioned below. If more than five people get them all right, a random drawing will be held from the pool of winners.

We’ll reach out to the winners either by email or by DM on social media.

The Questions

  1. Will Tesla let attendees experience Robotaxi at the event?

  2. Will Tesla first start the network with human supervision (ridesharing), or with Robotaxis only?

  3. What year will the network start? When will it become fully autonomous? (if announced)

  4. When will Robotaxi production begin? (if announced)

  5. Will it be Robotaxi or Cybercab?

  6. Which of these Robotaxi Concepts will be the closest to the one announced?

  7. Will Robotaxi include:

    1. Front-facing camera?

    2. Stainless-steel body?

    3. Steer-by-Wire or No Steering Wheel? (if announced)

    4. Which current Tesla model has the most similar door-opening mechanism?

    5. How many seats will the robotaxi have?

  8. Will the robotaxi include AI5/Hardware 5, HW4 or something completely different?

  9. Where will Tesla’s first Rideshare/Robotaxi location be established?

  10. Will customers be able to purchase a Robotaxi?

Requirements

Please use the template below to answer the questions on social media or in our forums. You can post your answer as a comment to our forums, to our X post, or to our Threads post.

Once you do that, repost or quote post your favorite article from us.

1. Yes

2. Ridesharing

3. 2025/2027

4. 2025

5. Cybercab

6. Dominic's

7. Yes, Yes, SBW, No, 2

8. HW5

9. LA

10. Yes

Prizes

Prizes are generously provided by Enhance and Jowua, makers of some of the best Tesla accessories and amazing Tesla community members. Prizes will be mailed out directly by them. Winners will get to choose their prize from the list below. First place will have the first pick and so on. There will be five winners in total.

  • S3XY Buttons (including a commander and wiring)

  • S3XY Knob for Model 3/Y

  • Tesla Gaming Controller - Multi-Device Wireless Controller (Wireless Charging)

  • Tesla Gaming Controller - Multi-Device Wireless Controller (Wireless Charging)

  • Tesla Gaming Controller - Multi-Device Wireless Controller (Wireless Charging)

Disclaimer

This is a Tesla event, and Tesla normally likes to hold their cards close to their chest. If an answer is ambiguous, we’ll go with the best choice decided by our staff. We’ll do our best to be fair. This

With all that said, we wish our entrants the best of luck, and we’ll announce the winners at the end of the week.

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