Tesla owners love over-the-air software updates, which add features to enhance performance, convenience and safety. But the updates can also make the Tesla experience more fun around Christmas time.
This year’s big “holiday update” brings a top feature that Tesla fans have been clamoring for: Apple Music on the infotainment screen. Also added was Zoom video conference integration using the in-cabin camera and microphone.
And in keeping with the celebratory theme of the season, Tesla vehicles can now perform synchronized light shows, with flashing exterior lights and moving motorized doors to songs such as Auld Lang Syne, Tesla said this week.
“More and more automakers are taking advantage of over-the-air capability to bring updates to a vehicle’s safety, infotainment and even drive systems,” said Robby DeGraff, industry analyst at AutoPacific. “Tesla’s been perhaps the leader in this practice for years now. And come each December, owners can look forward to being treated to to all sorts of gifts via this annual holiday software update.”
The Tesla light shows are not new, but now come with more options, including the ability to synchronize a multiple vehicle light show up to 10 minutes in advance, Tesla said during the software rollout to Model S, X, 3 and Y owners.
“During the holiday season, you show it off to your family, you show it off to your friends,” said a host of the YouTube channel ChargeGo about the light show. “It’s not even a car at that point, it’s a toy.”
Tesla’s popular Dog Mode, which controls the interior temperature and displays a message on the center touchscreen for bystanders not to worry, adds a live interior camera feed that can be viewed on a smartphone, Tesla said. That feed can also be used with Tesla’s Sentry Mode, a security feature that previously used only exterior cameras.
