Tesla’s update will start rolling out next week and will finally bring Apple Watch support to the Tesla app, including native phone key access. That means you can leave your smartphone behind to run errands or quickly pop your trunk to grab something after running outside without realizing you don’t have your phone or wallet on you (I’ve done this too many times with my Model 3 than I care to admit.)
The native Apple Watch experience lets you view the charge status, pop the frunk, and remotely warm up your car. Third-party smartwatch apps such as “Watch for Tesla” added this functionality in the absence of a first-party solution, but now Tesla has Sherlocked them all.
Another big new feature is the ability to view Dashcam and Sentry Mode recordings from your phone and save clips to your device to share crash footage with insurance or law enforcement quickly.
It wouldn’t be a holiday update without the return of Tesla’s light show that syncs the lights, sounds, and more between a number of vehicles. Tesla made two new shows this year and is also giving Cybertrucks a new Santa mode that turns the onscreen 3D Cybertruck into a Tesla Bot riding in a cyber sleigh. If Santa isn’t your thing you can also now add wraps and custom plates to your onscreen Cybertruck. The truck is also getting Arcade games in the rear seat screen and a larger onscreen rear camera feed with pinch-to-zoom support.
A couple other big features include bringing Model S and X’s auto-shift feature to stalk-free Model 3 vehicles that attempts to guess when you want to shift between drive and reverse. It’s a solution to a problem the automaker shoved onto customers as an apparent cost-cutting measure that is somehow not officially a safety concern.
Tesla does balance that out with a new and valuable safety update. There’s now a rear cross-traffic alert feature that gives drivers an audible warning and a red bar on their rearview camera feed if it detects cars or pedestrians coming from behind while in reverse. Music can also now reduce volume automatically when in reverse, a feature that has long been available from other automakers.
The update also lets you set “arrival energy at destination,” which means you can tell the Tesla how much battery charge you want at the end of the trip. That’s useful if you know you can’t charge at your destination and need to have reserve energy when you’re ready for your next drive.
Finally, there’s the ability to search for places on your route with detour time estimates, weather and precipitation indicators on the map for your destination, a new Sirius XM app (for Model 3, Y, Cybertruck), TuneIn app improvements, in-vehicle maintenance summaries, the ability to adjust unoccupied passenger seats from the screen, door handle pull alert notifications, and a new party game called Boomerang Fu among other features. Oh, and the fart app can now go off as soon as someone sits down on a seat. Whoopie!
