Yesterday, Tesla released FSD v12.5.4 with update 2024.27.25. The update includes improvements to Tesla’s vision-based attention monitoring and Actually Smart Summon. This update initially rolled out to early-access testers yesterday, but since then, it has rolled out to more users, with the latest wave coming just moments ago.
This update includes more than just FSD bug fixes, so let’s take a look at what’s changed.
Actually Smart Summon Improvements
Actually Smart Summon is now officially known as Actually Smart Summon (Supervised), as per Tesla’s latest video on X (see it below). When Tesla released Actually Smart Summon, it added support for Tesla Vision, live camera feeds, and additional options.
Range Increase: Now, Tesla has brought even more improvements to the table. To start, Actually Smart Summon has had its range increased by about 50 feet – for a total range of 279 feet, or 85 meters. This also comes alongside a few new features, including completion and abort sounds.
Sounds: You can now choose to have the vehicle play a sound when Summon completes successfully. You can select from several – including Applause, “Ta Da,” “Ba-dum Tiss,” and Random. For now, unlike with your vehicle lock sounds, you can’t customize it just yet. To play summon sounds, your vehicle will need a functional Pedestrian Warning Speaker, or PWS. The abort sound only has one option right now – Emissions. Tesla’s engineers love their fart jokes.
Actually Smart Summon 🍑 enables your car to come to you from anywhere in the parking lot
Sadly, Actually Smart Summon is also missing a couple of features—HomeLink compatibility isn’t available for Summon, and Tesla says it's coming soon. The Side Clearance option, which previously let you choose between Standard and Tight clearances, is also gone.
For now, you’re also required to use Continuous Press to summon your vehicle. Usage without Continuous Press is coming soon though.
Actually Smart Summon Requirements
This new version of Actually Smart Summon also comes with some interesting requirements. Just like with previous versions, the doors, tailgate, and frunk must be closed before the vehicle is moved. However, the vehicle must also have a TPMS PSI of 34 or higher (on a Model 3 – this is likely the optimal PSI for your vehicle’s standard tires).
You’ll also need a Tesla app update – v4.37.0 is now the required version, which is currently available for iOS, but not available yet in the Google Play store..
The tire pressure requirement could be a big change, especially as many people who use aftermarket winter tire sets don’t run TPMS units. If you don’t have TPMS sensors in your tires, you may not be able to use Actually Smart Summon at all.
The second major update with 2024.27.25 is for Vision-Based Attention Monitoring. Vision monitoring allows FSD to function without users constantly having their hands on the wheel. Instead, it monitors the driver’s eyes to see if they’re paying attention.
Previously, this was limited to users not wearing sunglasses, although Tesla said the functionality to support sunglasses use would be coming soon. With this update, users can wear sunglasses and enjoy no-nag Full Self Driving.
This is a major update, as one of the biggest consternations with FSD V12.5 was that while vision monitoring was fantastic, it wasn’t always available to the driver if they wanted to wear sunglasses.
An undocumented change for vision monitoring is that if it detects a device—such as a cellphone—in your hand, it will say “Attention Monitoring unavailable—Detected device in hand.” This popped up when the user, @WifeDirtyTesla, leaned her head on her hand while her elbow was on the center console. It may have appeared that she was holding a phone up to her head.
That’s definitely an interesting little undocumented change, and we’re glad to see that Tesla is working to improve user safety for FSD (Supervised).
As with all Tesla updates, a slew of smaller features often go undocumented. If you’re anything like us, you love to know all the little changes in a release.
Below are all of the changes that were included in Tesla update 2024.26 but didn’t make it to the official release notes.
Show Next Preconditioning / Charging Event
If you have scheduled a preconditioning or charging event, Tesla will now show you the next event that will take place.
An event to precondition the cabin will appear at the climate screen's top right corner. If you have set a charging schedule, your next charge time will now show up in the charging menu under Controls > Charging.
Hide Music Services Per Profile
Not a Tesla App
When you hide a music service, the music service/app will no longer show up in the all apps menu. Music search will also not display results for services you have hidden.
With this update, Tesla now saves hidden music services per driver profile. This allows a driver to hide any services they don't use while making them accessible to other drivers.
Your audio balance that controls how much sound goes to each speaker is now saved per driver profile. This allows each driver to save their own preferred listening preferences.
You can set your audio system's balance by tapping on the audio levels icon in the music player and choosing Balance.
Service Center Tips
Not a Tesla App
If you have a Service Center appointment, your Tesla will now display tips on screen when you arrive at your appointment.
The tips will remind you that you can see your service appointment status and review your summary in the Tesla app.
Reduce Fan Speed Hint
Not a Tesla App
As Tesla points out in 'Other Updates,' they have improved the the climate menu by simplifying the screen by removing certain options when they're unavailable and reshuffling buttons around to make them easier to access for drivers and passengers.
Reduce Fan Speed Option
Not a Tesla App
When in Auto, the fan speed may now automatically lower to reduce the sound of ambient noise during a phone call.
This feature can temporarily be turned off under Controls > Bluetooth if you need to prioritize cooling or heating the cabin.
New Key Required Screen
Not a Tesla App
This update introduces a new key-required screen when you try to perform an action that requires a key and there isn't one nearby.
Improved Front Camera Clarity
Not a Tesla App
Video post-processing is now applied to the front camera for hardware 3-based vehicles.
With this update, Tesla appears to now be applying the same techniques to the vehicle's front-facing cameras.
Traffic-Aware Cruise Control Chime
Not a Tesla App
In Tesla update 2021.40, Tesla added the option to receive an audio alert when Traffic-Aware Cruise Control is enabled.
This was an option that could be turned on or off under Controls > Autopilot > Traffic-Aware Cruise Control Chime, however, with update 2024.26, this option has now been removed. With this update, TACC will always chime when the feature is engaged or disengaged.
New Ambient Lighting Options
Greggertruck/X
There are now additional options for your vehicle's ambient lighting. Under Controls > Lights, you can now control the brightness of the vehicle's accent lights. In addition, you can choose for the accent lights to only turn on when the vehicle detects dim conditions outside.
If you’ve seen any other changes in update 2024.26, be sure to let us know.
Over the weekend, Elon Musk commented on a post about electric buses in Norway – and confirmed that Tesla doesn’t intend to build electric buses.
Let’s examine the context of the comment and then see what we know about Tesla’s future plans.
Norwegian Electric Buses
Norway launched a set of electric buses last year, which struggled to perform their routes in the cold winters. As many know, EVs tend to lose range at colder temperatures as some energy is used to keep the battery warm. Some of this energy use can be offset by preconditioning the battery and the cabin and using bigger batteries in colder regions.
These Norwegian buses, the Urbino series built by Solaris, have batteries that are too small to operate on the routes planned by Norway’s transport services in the winter. Heating the massive cabins takes too much energy, which isn’t too big of a surprise.
What’s most interesting is that these Solaris buses are heated with a heat pump—which is still hyper-efficient. Sadly, the battery is just too small, and Norway’s transport services didn’t account for the loss in efficiency in the winter months. Depending on ambient temperatures and the exact route, that could be anywhere from a 5% to a 30% reduction in range.
Instead, Norway intends to install mini diesel generators to power the cabin heating – thereby making these buses into hybrids rather than pure EVs. This is an interesting move – especially as Norway is a leader in the EV transition, with a 92% pure EV market share for new vehicles.
Tesla and Electric Buses
Elon’s confirmation that EV buses aren’t needed comes on the heels of some other super-important statements. He confirms that Teslas – in particular – can handle operating well even above the Arctic Circle. This is especially true after the Cybertruck Arctic Expedition where two Cybertrucks traveled all the way to the Arctic Ocean.
What’s key here is that Elon is implying that when Tesla rolls out Unsupervised FSD, there won’t be a need for buses. Instead, people needing a transportation option in urban areas can look forward to using a Robotaxi to get around in warmth. He has previously mentioned that we can expect the price of a Robotaxi fare to rival the cost of a bus ticket.
While traditional taxis are less efficient pound-for-pound in transporting people and reducing traffic, Robotaxis on the other hand have the option to reduce traffic by intelligently speaking to the fleet, analyzing traffic patterns, and autonomously adjusting their routes to best fit the destination.
Tesla also didn’t have anything nearly bus-shaped in their investor decks, so this seems to be in-line with their long-term goals. We can likely expect a commercial van though, so there’s plenty to look forward to.
All in all, Tesla won’t need an EV bus – instead, they’ll just produce a few more Robotaxis to make sure one is available to pick up passengers. Speaking of Robotaxi – the event is coming up very soon! We just saw a camouflaged prototype, and sign-ups for the Robotaxi Event draw just ended.
![Video Reveals the Cybertruck's Unique User Interface [Video]](https://www.notateslaapp.com/images/news/2023/cybertruck-ui-1_300w.jpg)
