All the undocumented changes found in Tesla update 2022.28.2

Tesla has updated the radio icon and removed the FM label

Not a Tesla App

With every major Tesla update there are often smaller changes or features that aren't mentioned in the release notes.

The main attractions of Tesla update 2022.28 are the ability to minimize a full-screen video and Alternate Routes, however, several undocumented features also made it into 2022.28.

Suggested Destinations

Tesla is adding suggested destinations

Randell/Discord

When tapping on the 'Navigate' button, you will now be presented with various suggested destinations. You will receive up to three suggested destinations that will appear at the top of recent destinations. These suggestions will automatically change depending on various factors. You can also find out more about suggested destinations.

Dark Mode Colors

Tesla has made some changes to dark mode

@ClemensBecher/Twitter

The dark mode color scheme has been adjusted so that various screens now use lighter gray tones. For example, prior to this update the car visualization area and apps like the media player both used the same dark gray color for the background.

However, with this update, Tesla has changed the background color of apps from a dark gray to a much lighter gray so that they stand out from the vehicle visualizations.

Changes to the Theater Status Bar

Most options in the Tesla Theater status bar have been removed

@ClemensBecher

With this update Tesla introduces the ability to minimize Tesla Theater, allowing you to access vehicle menus and settings without leaving your streaming video.

Previously while streaming video in full screen, there was a quick access bar at the top of the video that could be revealed by tapping near the top of the screen. This status bar lets you access some vehicle controls without leaving the video. Video controls such as cabin temperature, screen brightness and volume could easily be changed.

Since you can now minimize a full-screen video without leaving the video app, Tesla has mostly removed the options that once appeared at the top of a video.

When tapping near the top of the screen, the number of options has been reduced to minimize theater, a back button and the state of charge of your battery.

A gray line has also been added to the top of the screen to let you know that you can now swipe down on the full-screen video to access other car functions.

Phone Icon

The phone icon is now always visible when a call is active

Corey2002/Not a Tesla App forums

When you're on a call in the vehicle, the green phone icon will now always remain visible in the status bar, regardless if the phone card is hidden or not. The icon in the status bar has also changed shape slightly, going from a pill shape to a square.

Battery Calibration

A message will now be displayed when the vehicle is calibrating its battery

@roslan3d/Twitter

Your vehicle will now display 'Calibrating,' when charging is nearing completion. This will be displayed for all vehicles, regardless of their battery type.

New Radio Icon

Tesla has updated the radio icon and removed the FM label (rendering)

Not a Tesla App

The radio icon has also been updated to be more ambiguous with this update. The traditional analog radio markers have been flipped so that they now run vertically instead of horizontally.

The letters 'FM' have also been replaced with a generic circular icon so that it's more inclusive of other supported bands such as DAB, which is supported in many parts of the world.

HomeLink Buttons

The HomeLink button text has once again been changed. Tesla used to display the name of the garage door or gate inside of the button, with the words 'Activate' or 'Cancel' underneath the button. The problem with this approach was that the text underneath the button is far too small, and it wasn't obvious how to cancel a door from auto-opening.

However, recently Tesla swapped the location of the name and the action text so that 'Activate' would appear inside of the button and the garage door name underneath the button.

The HomeLink buttons have been changed once again. This time for the better.

daniel454/Not a Tesla App forums

This could lead to some confusion for those with multiple garage doors, as you would be presented with multiple buttons that would be labeled 'Activate,' with the only differentiating feature being the small text underneath the button.

With update 2022.28 Tesla has taken a hybrid approach. When pulling up to your garage door, the buttons will once again be labeled with the name you've given your garage doors (top photo).

However, if you have auto-open or auto-close enabled, then you will see the 'Cancel' text inside of the button for the specific door that will be opened or closed. The rest of the buttons will still show their given labels (bottom photo).

Of the several iterations Tesla has gone through, this approach appears to make the most sense. It's now more obvious how to cancel a garage door or gate from auto-opening and you'll still see the name of the garage doors in the predominate text most of the time.

Safety Menu Reorganized

Options in the Safety menu have been reorganized

Not a Tesla App

The vehicle options under Controls > Safety have been slightly rearranged. Sentry Mode, PIN to Drive and Glovebox PIN have moved up. This allows you to quickly enable or disable them without needing to scroll.

Have you noticed any other changes in 2022.28? Let us know.

Tesla Holiday Update Wishlist - Entertainment Edition

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As the holiday season kicks off, it’s time to turn our attention to our Christmas list of items we’d love to see in Tesla’s annual Holiday update—a tradition that brings some of the most exciting software features of the year. From game-changing additions to fun surprises, the Holiday update has become the most anticipated update each year.

This year’s update promises to be no exception, with Blind Spot Monitoring While Parked already leaking in an employee release earlier this month.

So, grab your hot cocoa and cozy up—it’s time to see what Tesla might have in store for the most wonderful time of the year.

Smart Voice Assistant

Tesla’s current system is a list of voice commands that, while useful, leaves a lot to be desired when compared to modern voice assistants such as Google Assistant and even Alexa. However, a smart voice assistant based on an LLM that uses AI like xAI’s Grok could be coming this season. Elon previously confirmed that Grok would make its way into Tesla vehicles—and what better time than the Holiday season?

Hi-Fi Audio & Dolby Surround Support

Previously, we saw a bug where Apple Music began showing as HiFi for certain tracks in July. We assumed that Tesla would eventually support lossless Hi-Fi audio streaming, but so far, TIDAL remains the only streaming option with high-quality streaming.

Bringing Dolby Atmos support to Tesla vehicles would make even better use of Tesla’s jaw-dropping soundstages. Dolby Atmos delivers an immersive, 360-degree music experience, making it feel like the sound is coming from all around you. This would be the perfect Holiday update feature to make those bells truly jingle.

Tesla already has several music streaming services that support Dolby Atmos, such as Amazon Music and Apple Music, while a couple of other manufacturers, such as Rivian, launched support for Atmos it this summer.

Pandora Music

Tesla has been on a roll with adding music streaming services over the last couple of years. Tesla most recently launched Amazon Music and YouTube Music support. While the biggest players have now been incorporated into Teslas, many users would still love to see Pandora added to the mix.

Adding additional music services means that more users subscribe to Tesla’s Premium Connectivity package, so expect this one to be added as well.

SiriusXM Streaming

While SiriusXM is already available in the Model S and Model X through a satellite receiver, SiriusXM may soon be available to a lot more users. We previously reported on SiriusXM mistakenly publishing a web post revealing a web streaming version of SiriusXM for Teslas, and it has been a few months since then. It's a quick update and seems to have already been partially implemented, given SiriusXM’s website. We could expect this wishlist item to be real, and hopefully soon.

Prime Video

While video streaming integration is much less important than music streaming, it still serves its purpose, especially in vehicles with a rear screen, where videos can be watched while the vehicle is in motion. With Tesla’s addition of Amazon Music this summer, we expect Tesla to add Amazon Prime Video as well.

X Integration

While you can pop open X pretty quickly in the web browser and have a fairly OK browsing experience, it's clear the site is designed for use with a mouse, not your fingers. A dedicated X app would definitely be easier for fans of the platform. Don’t forget to follow us on X or your favorite network (we’re “NotATeslaApp” on just about all of them, including Facebook, Threads, and Bluesky).

Productivity Apps

Zoom is the highlight of Tesla’s productivity apps—and it’s also the only one. With YouTube Music recently arriving, we could see Google Hangouts, Google Meet, and even Microsoft Teams making inroads as productivity applications to have in your Tesla. However, that’s only the tip of the iceberg.

Tesla App Store

While a suite of productivity apps would be a nice addition, it’s likely not a practical solution for Tesla. With so many available services, it would be a challenge to integrate each one individually.

Elon Musk once hinted at the possibility of an App Store for Tesla vehicles, where developers could create apps specifically designed for Teslas. However, we haven’t seen this come to fruition yet. So, the question remains: Is Tesla still working on an App Store, or is the expectation that users will rely on tablets and computers in their cars?

If Tesla does plan to launch an App Store, they would need to find a way to leverage existing platforms instead of building each app from scratch. One possibility is running Android apps through an emulation layer, allowing access to a wide array of apps from the Google Play Store, such as video streaming, video conferencing, and messaging platforms like Discord and Slack.

Another approach, similar to what Tesla already does with video streaming services, could involve using web-based versions of apps. While many services offer web versions, not all perform as well or provide the same functionality as native apps.

Both solutions are feasible, but we have to consider: What does Tesla gain by allowing users to run any existing apps on the car’s screen instead of using a separate device? While such apps could be useful, we believe Tesla will likely focus on integrating them where it makes sense—like music services—where a custom implementation improves the user experience and keeps the user interface consistent between services. For most other apps, users will probably continue to rely on their phones and other nearby devices.

Steam Games on AMD Vehicles

Tesla previously removed games from its vehicles, as it removed the dedicated gaming GPU in favor of AMD’s all-purpose APU. However, the all-purpose APU can hold its own while gaming, and in fact, the 45-watt 4-core Ryzen chip is fairly beefy. It could definitely hold its own against the mobile Steam Deck, especially since that also uses an AMD-based platform.

Using Valve’s Proton Compatibility Layer would allow AMD Teslas to game, and game pretty well!

This is our third wishlist in our series of features we’d love to be included in this year’s Holiday update. It shouldn’t be too long before we find out exactly what’s in it, but for now, keep those requests coming!

Wishlist 1 - Tesla App Edition

Wishlist 2 - Tesla Maps & Autopilot Edition

Wishlist 3 - Tesla Entertainment Edition

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Incoming U.S. Administration to Set Federal Rules for Robotaxi

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According to a recently published article by Bloomberg, the Trump administration intends to introduce a federal framework for autonomous vehicles. According to members of the administrative transition team, this new framework will be part of the Transportation Department’s list of priorities.

This places Tesla in a good position to begin working towards establishing and expanding its Robotaxi network and getting production, validation, and approval of the Cybercab off the ground.

Legal Limits

Today’s laws have fairly strict requirements for any vehicle that travels on the road—it needs to have steering wheels, pedals, mirrors, and plenty of driver-awareness or driver-assistance safety features. None of these are needed on a Robotaxi, and Tesla’s Cybercab also has none of these items. Instead, with no pedals and no steering wheel, it takes passengers from origin to destination with minimal user input.

The framework for autonomous vehicles could be spearheaded by former Uber executive Emil Michael, who could potentially take on the Transportation Department under the new administration. Uber previously worked on their autonomy program and is potentially a direct competitor to Tesla’s Robotaxi network.

The current regulation, in addition to having stringent hardware requirements, caps the number of autonomous vehicles a single company can operate at 2,500 units per year. This could drastically limit how Tesla’s Robotaxi network functions, especially since it doesn’t need additional high-resolution mapping to work in a specific location. FSD is extremely adaptable and learns on the fly.

Rather than deploying just a couple thousand units a year, Tesla needs to be able to deploy tens of thousands - the more units on the road, the faster they can collect data and iterate, especially with the recent deployment of their new Cortex Supercomputer.

State Laws

There’s one more obstacle to the mass deployment of autonomous vehicles—state regulations. Every state has its own set of regulations, and even with federal guidance and regulations becoming less limiting and more open, every state can choose to establish exactly how much autonomy it wants.

Tesla and other companies like Waymo, which are pursuing autonomous transportation, will have to navigate a regulatory maze to get their vehicles approved at a state-by-state level.

Tesla has already taken steps to get its Robotaxi network off the ground in Palo Alto, an affluent city that has been struggling to provide affordable transportation for its residents. With looser federal regulations, Elon’s timeline of deployments in Texas and California by late 2025 may move even sooner.

This is definitely a framework to watch — with Tesla’s stock up 8% this morning on the news, unsupervised FSD and Robotaxi could be coming quicker than anyone expects.

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