Tesla preparing for Steam games, will support external storage

By Lennon Cihak
Tesla to support external drives for games
Tesla to support external drives for games
Bram Van Oost

Tesla is expected to support external storage devices in an upcoming software update, according to Tesla hacker @greentheonly.

Teslas already support an external drive for storing dashcam and Sentry Mode footage, as well as local music files. It looks like Tesla may soon support games on an external drive as well.

This news comes on the heels of Elon Musk saying that Tesla is working on making Steam games playable in the car and will show a demo of their progress this month.

Tesla's internal hard drive is divided into several partitions, one of which is allocated solely for Tesla Arcade.

The size of the internal drive on a Tesla varies by model and MCU version. The smallest drive comes with MCU 1 at 8GB with an added SD card that is utilized for maps, however, not many games are supported for MCU 1 vehicles and Steam games are not expected to be available for MCU 1 vehicles.

Teslas equipped with MCU 2 include a 64GB drive and would likely benefit most from an external drive, as MCU 3 vehicles include much larger drives (up to 256GB NVMe drives, depending on the model and year).

According to Green, the ability to use external storage isn't user-facing yet, and it's not clear whether it'd be available for all vehicles.

Most USB ports in a Tesla are USB 2, which is only capable of transferring speeds of up to 60MB/s, which is slower than most portable hard drives available today. The only USB 3 port available is in the glove box, but it's only available on newer Teslas.

It's not clear whether Tesla would require a USB 3 port for external storage, as that would provide the best experience when loading content off the USB drive.

@Greentheonly also mentioned that games will be able to be installed and deleted by the user, which will be critical when you're managing a large library of games. Theora and VPX codecs will be added as well. Theora and VPX are video compression methods that could allow a larger variety of content available in Teslas.

Unfortunately, MCU 2 do not appear to be upgradeable to MCU 3, due to “totally different power and other harness and thickness of the unit,” according to @Greentheonly.

Tesla’s newer and more powerful AMD Ryzen-powered processor is showing a significant increase in performance across the board. The web browser and video streaming services like Netflix and YouTube are much more responsive.

Tesla’s most recent software updates have included significant improvements and new features, including energy prediction improvements, seat belt system enhancements, adaptive suspension adjustments when approaching rough roads, and the green traffic light chime for non-FSD vehicles, among others.

Tesla Is Now Offering Cybertruck Test Drives [List of Locations]

By Karan Singh
@brandonhd

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.

Once FSD V12.5 comes to the Cybertruck, we’re sure they’ll be demoing its capabilities FSD capabilities as well.

Locations

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.

  • Manhasset, New York

  • West Covina, California

  • Los Angeles, California

  • Houston, Texas

  • Orlando, Florida

  • Westmont, Illinois

  • Tucson, Arizona

  • Phoenix, Arizona

  • Delaware

Musk Confirms 'Actually Smart Summon' is Coming in a Revision of FSD V12.5

By Karan Singh
Not a Tesla App

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.

Just recently, Tesla returned the Model X’s self-presenting doors, using Tesla Vision. Vision has seen some fantastic improvements, and many people are waiting for ASS to bring forth these improvements to Smart Summon.

Smart Summon Today

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.

View All Upcoming Features

Latest Tesla Update

Confirmed by Elon

Take a look at features that Elon Musk has said will be coming soon.

More Tesla News

Subscribe

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

Sponsors

Find out how to become a sponsor and have your site listed here.

Although we share official Tesla release notes, we are not affiliated with Tesla Motors. We are Tesla fans and supporters.

Tesla Videos

Latest Tesla Update

Confirmed by Elon

Take a look at features that Elon Musk has said will be coming soon.

Subscribe

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter.