First Look at Playing Steam Games in a Tesla

December 19, 2022

By Gabe Rodriguez Morrison

Tesla integrates Steam into the Model S and Model X

Tesla

Tesla has integrated Steam's library of thousands of games in its Model S and Model X electric vehicles. In July, Elon Musk said that Tesla would release a demo of the Steam integration by August. The demo never came to fruition, but Musk reiterated the plan to integrate Steam into Tesla vehicles. Tesla just launched a beta version of the video game library as part of its holiday update.

Supported Vehicles

For now, Steam is only available on newer versions of the Model S and X with 16GB of ram, but Elon has said that there will be a retrofit available for earlier S and X models in the future.

Although newer Model 3 and Model Y cars have the AMD Ryzen chip, they did not get beta access to Steam because these vehicles do not have a discrete GPU like the Model S and X. It's not clear whether Steam will eventually be integrated into other MCU 3 cars (with a smaller catalog), including the Model 3 and Model Y, but it's unlikely that it'll ever come to any MCU 2 vehicles.

Storage

Games must be downloaded on WiFi and stored locally in the vehicle. This could be in the vehicle's internal drive, which appears to have about an 80GB partition allocated for games or via external storage. The holiday update that added Steam also added support for external storage devices. Additionally, Tesla has released a 1TB SSD that costs $350 and will be available in February 2023. The SSD offers storage for any vehicle data including dashcam footage but is optimized for fast loading. It is also designed to withstand the potentially extreme temperature fluctuations that can occur inside a car and is guaranteed to have a long life span.

However, owners can use almost any solid-state drive they own. In fact, Tesla's own hard drive appears to just be a rebranded Samsung T7 SSD, which is known for its speed and durability. It currently sells on Amazon for less than $140.

Video

Cloud Saves

For games that support Steam Cloud, Tesla will automatically sync your game progress, so that you can pick up right where you left off, regardless if you're at home or in your car.

Premium Connectivity

Tesla's Premium Connectivity allows vehicle owners to access more bandwidth-hungry features such as streaming music and video. Although Steam games are downloaded over WiFi, Tesla requires Premium Connectivity to access Steam. This could be due to Tesla keeping your Steam profile and game process synced.

Rear Display

Unfortunately, Tesla does not currently allow users to play Steam on the vehicle's rear 8" display which can be used to watch streaming video while the car is in motion. Tesla could allow this in a future update, but at the moment Steam is limited to the vehicle's 17" display when the vehicle is in park.

Bluetooth Controllers

Along with Steam support, Tesla has added support for Bluetooth controllers and even keyboard and mouse setups in supported games. Tesla says that PS5 controllers work best with this feature.

In June of 2021, Tesla unveiled a proprietary controller which closely resembled a PS5 controller with two analog sticks, four directional buttons and four action buttons. The controller also resembles a steering wheel with a closed-loop design, likely to accommodate racing games. Since the unveiling, we haven’t heard much about the Tesla controller.

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Tesla to Allow Drivers to Display License Plates in Vehicle Visualization

October 30, 2024

By Karan Singh

Rendering of what Tesla's license plate feature could look like

Not a Tesla App

Tesla update 2024.38 has started rolling out to several regions and vehicles. Thanks to Tesla hacker Greentheonly, we have a behind-the-scenes look at some new features coming to Teslas.

License Plate Display

According to Greentheonly, it looks like Tesla may soon let you display your actual license plate in the vehicle’s visualization on the screen. In our article, The Most Request Tesla Features, several readers suggested displaying the vehicle’s license plate in the visualization instead of a blank, white plate.

It looks like Tesla will be doing just that, at least in China. Green found references that appear to conclude that you’ll be able to display your vehicle’s plate on screen. This will likely be user input, so you could have it say anything you’d like, and it doesn’t have to be your actual license plate.

For many owners, who may find it difficult to remember their license plate, this could serve a practical purpose in addition to adding to the visualization's realism.

While Green was only able to say it’ll be available in China, we expect this is due to China’s software development team working on it and that it’ll eventually be released worldwide.

We’ve seen several features originally released in China and later applied to everyone. Some of these include the Air Quality Index display, the trip meter that displays traffic along your route, and even the ability to change your vehicle’s color.

While code for this feature was found in update 2024.38, we may not be turned on in China yet. We suspect this feature may be a strong candidate for Tesla’s upcoming holiday update.

FSD Hardware Version Display

As part of the 2024.38 update, Tesla has now made it easy to determine whether your vehicle includes Hardware 3 or Hardware 4. You can now simply navigate to Controls > Software and tap Additional Vehicle Information. In addition to other hardware information about your vehicle, your Autopilot hardware version will now be listed as well.

You can see whether your vehicle has HW2.5, HW3, or AI4. This in-car display is useful, but if you don’t have access to the vehicle, you can always use our guide on how to determine the hardware version of a Tesla.

New Battery Health Test & Service Mode Improvements

Green found some additional things as well. There’s a new and improved Battery Health Test. The new test will show you how your car scores compared to similar vehicles in the Tesla fleet.

In addition, maintenance records can now be permanently stored “in the car.” It doesn’t appear that this feature is activated yet, but it’s likely in active development with some parts leaking out in the 2024.38 update.

Tesla has included various Service Mode improvements and new visualizations in this update.

Leaked Images of the Tesla Model Y Juniper Refresh

October 30, 2024

By Karan Singh

Mr Li on X

It’s been a while since we saw the last batch of leaked images of the Model Y Juniper refresh. That inspiring photo, alongside other images, set the blood of many concept artists on fire. We saw a ton of awesome concepts of Project Juniper, and now there are even more leaked images.

Mr Li on X came across some covered-up Project Juniper vehicles recently and he managed to get various shots of the vehicle.

Juniper Images

This front image reveals what looks like two rows of lights, possibly confirming the front light bar for the Model Y refresh — similar to the one on the Cybercab.

The rear side has a lot of lights on it!

Mr Li on X

The rear side shows a ton of brake lights, but it’s not clear why. While it looks like the Model Y refresh will also feature a rear light bar similar to the Cybertruck, there isn’t strong evidence of that in this photo.

Mr Li on X

There's an obvious set of lights at the bottom, so it looks like the Model Y refresh will be similar to the new Model 3 where the bottom lights can operate as brake lights when the one-piece tail lights and trunk are up.

Mr Li on X

In the last photo, we see that the overall form factor of the refreshed Model Y will remain unchanged, and Tesla is focusing the changes on the front and rear ends of the vehicle, much like the Model 3 refresh. However, in this one shot, we can also see what appears to be red light leaking out of the rear camera cover opening, possibly due to the rear light bar.

The Model Y is not only Tesla’s best-selling vehicle but also the world’s best-selling car in 2023. This year, it’s expected to be the best-selling vehicle in the United States and again in the world, so this refresh will be huge for Tesla.

We expect most of the interior to remain the same as the Model 3 refresh, which saw substantial improvements in quality, noise reduction, and performance. Check out our wishlist of more things we hope to see in the Model Y refresh.

Dominic’s Concept

Dominic's Concept, in all its glory.

@DominicBRNKMN on X

@DominicBRNKMN made another fantastic set of concepts based on these new images. Given he had the most accurate Model 3 Highland concept before the official launch, we’re pretty sure his latest work be close here as well.

@DominicBRNKMN

We’re super excited to see the eventual reveal of Project Juniper, which is expected in the first half of 2025. However, expect to see a few more leaks before production kicks off at Giga Shanghai.