Tesla will add accident and road closure icons to its maps
Fortune
Tesla's navigation system is set to receive some additional capabilities, including some Waze-like features such as displaying accidents on the road. The information, courtesy of our favorite Tesla hacker, Green, details some of his findings when digging into some of the code for software update 2024.2.6. Tesla is not only expanding its map coverage and introducing a new dialect in select regions but also adding accident, and road closure information, as well as a new routing option.
Real-Time Updates: Accident and Road Closure Icons
According to code found in Tesla’s latest update, Tesla will add "accident" and "closed road" icons to its maps. These icons are expected to give drivers near real-time updates on road conditions, allowing them to make informed decisions and avoid delays. This feature, in addition to the previously added icons such as stop signs, traffic lights, and red light speed cameras helps Tesla maps compete with mobile apps that have this information such as Google Maps and Waze.
While Green found references to these new icons in the 2024.2 update, these features are not yet active but are expected to be added in the near future.
Accident and road closure information needs to be timely to be useful so it’s unlikely that Tesla is gathering this data themselves and instead leveraging an existing data provider that already supplies this information to other services. Waze relies on crowd-sourced data, and while possible, it's unlikely that Tesla will rely on driver input to display this information.
Much like stop signs and traffic lights icons, when Tesla introduces these new features they’re expected to require a subscription to Tesla’s Premium Connectivity. While drivers can get some premium connectivity features by using their phone’s hotspot feature, accident and road closure data will likely not be one of them. Similar to traffic data, Tesla will need to pay data providers for this information, which is part of what the premium connectivity fee helps pay for.
More Navigation Options: From Fastest Route to No Tolls
Tesla is also expected to introduce a new route option to its navigation system. Thanks to alternate routes, when adding a destination to the nav system, drivers can now pick from “shortest” and “fastest” routes. However, it appears Tesla is going to expand these options by offering a “no tolls” option in certain situations. Drivers can already force the navigation system to use toll-free roads, but it requires going into settings by tapping Controls > Navigation and choosing avoid tolls. This new option will allow owners to directly compare a toll-free option to the fastest and shortest route options.
While some owners have been looking to have a way to avoid highways, it does not appear that this will be introduced at the same time.
Expanded Maps and Languages: Latin America in Focus
Tesla breaks up its maps into various regions around the world to make them smaller in size. A map region includes detailed maps, routing and language options. With the recent expansion into Chile and Colombia, Tesla will soon introduce a new map region for Latin America. This addition will support Latin American Spanish, offering a local experience for users in the region. The new Latin American Spanish language will likely remain specific to this region and will not be available in other regions such as North America.
Requirements and Availability
While some of these features will require a subscription to Tesla's Premium Connectivity service, priced at $10/month in the US, they will also require drivers to enable Online Routing to view the additional data.
Accident and road closure data and toll options are also expected to be available in limited regions, likely dependent on where Tesla can gather the data.
Interestingly, map and navigation enhancements were on our Holiday Update Wish List, including several items Tesla owners hoped would be part of the big December update. We are more than happy to keep receiving gifts even after the holiday season.
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Tesla software update 2024.44.3 has started rolling out to customers in larger waves recently and it brings several new features - including Actually Smart Summon to Europe and the Middle East, as well as improvements to Autopark. But that’s not all, it also adds a new Blind Spot Monitoring feature to the new Model 3, and potentially the Cybertruck, but that’s still to be determined.
We previously covered the Blind Spot Warning While Parked as part of our preview notes for update 2024.44, but now that it's going out to customers, it's time to see it in action.
If the vehicle’s door open button is pressed, and a vehicle or object is near or incoming, the vehicle’s Blind Spot Warning Light (2024 Model 3 and Cybertruck) will illuminate, an audible tone will ring and the door won’t open. A message will also be displayed on the center displaying, letting driver’s know why the door didn’t open.
Pressing the button a second time will allow you to override the warning and open the door normally, providing a way to get out in case you just parked close to a nearby vehicle or obstacle.
The object detection for this new feature includes cars, pedestrians, cyclists, and other objects - like things including traffic cones, bollards, strollers, and other large obstacles that FSD and vision-based Autopark detect during normal operation. Of note - this only works for the front two doors. Thanks to X user Max, who did some testing for us, It does not work for the rear passenger doors.
Optional Feature
The feature is optional - it’ll be enabled by default for safety, but if you need to enable or disable it, you can do so under Controls > Safety. For now, the feature is only available on the 2024 Model 3, but we expect it to roll out to the Cybertruck at least. However, there’s no reason why it can’t be added to other vehicles as well, minus the small red dot. We expect Tesla to eventually add this feature to all Tesla vehicles, but it’s currently not a part of update 2024.44.
Enhauto’s S3XY Buttons & Commander
If that’s not enough safety and vision for you, Enhauto, the makers of the popular S3XY Buttons and Commander recently put out a new software update for the 2024 Model 3, which makes some fantastic use of the ambient lighting.
With Enhauto’s solution, users are able to tie their ambient lights to Autopilot use, turn signals or even if a vehicle is their blind spot. Check out the video below for this awesome implementation, where the ambient lights turn red when another vehicle approaches.
Maybe Tesla will integrate something like this into a future update? We’ve been hoping for more customizability with their ambient lighting - it's an easy safety win and a demonstration of Tesla’s do-more-with-less attitude.
I look forward to @enhauto updates more than Tesla...
Ambient light effects....
I set default color to white. Blinks green on turn signals Turns blue on FSD activation Yellow if someone in blind spot Blinks red if turn signal on and blind spot activity detected.
The feature is now possible thanks to what Wes Morrill, Cybertruck’s lead engineering, points out is a huge rewrite of Tesla’s Trip Planner, which not only makes it much more accurate but will now allow users to choose their arrival charge percentage.
More Accurate Trip Planner
When you navigate to a destination, your Tesla will automatically calculate when, where, and how much you need to charge. While the process seems straightforward, Tesla deserves a lot of credit for creating a simple user experience because a lot goes into accurately determining this information.
Tesla has to calculate many moving pieces in order to accurately predict when and where you should stop. First, it needs to consider your driving efficiency and wind direction, terrain elevation, traffic, vehicle speed, and ambient temperature. It also needs to predict the best Superchargers to stop at, taking into account congestion and charger speed.
This morning, in response to Dan Burkland, Wes shared that Tesla had significantly rewritten the backend portion of Trip Planner. These improvements, made by several engineers, were designed to improve Trip Planner’s accuracy and open the door to future features.
It sounds like these changes are mostly server-side, so thanks to their OTA connection, more accurate predictions should be available to all vehicles—no vehicle update is required.
Arrival State of Charge
Along with Tesla’s improvements to Trip Planner, Wes also stated that these improvements allow for a popular feature request — the ability to select your desired charge level at arrival.
Up until now, Tesla’s Trip Planner tried to get you to your destination as quickly as possible, which usually meant arriving with a low state of charge.
While this was fine if you have a charger at your destination, it’s not great if you don’t, or it could be even worse if there are no chargers nearby.
Max de Zegher said on X that he has heard the requests for a selectable arrival state of charge. Wes later clarified this by saying that these improvements to Tesla’s Trip Planner now allow for additional features to be added, such as “desired arrival charge.”
Actually trip planner got a huge rewrite on the back end. I had a great conversation with one of the engineers working on this over a morning run a few weeks back, it's pretty neat. The rewrite also unlocks additional features, like desired arrival charge.
Given that Max de Zegher’s comments came last night and Wes Morrill commented this morning, this feature request likely won’t arrive with the upcoming Holiday Update. Tesla actually hinted at such a feature being added in their last app update, so it does seem like they’ve already planned for it.
Although ‘Arrival State of Charge’ was on our wishlist for the Holiday Update, it looks like it may arrive soon after the holidays.