A mockup of what Tesla's upcoming 'Transfer Audio' feature will look like
Not a Tesla App
Without question, Tesla is the world's most innovative vehicle, although there's always room for improvement.
For example, when you're in the middle of an important phone call and as you open the door of your car, your phone connects to your vehicle and the call starts playing over the vehicle's speakers. Then, there's that awkward moment where the person on the other end of the call is trying to determine if they have been cut off. At the same time, you try to hurry to get into the car, or quickly try to transfer the call back to your phone. If this hasn't happened to you, count yourself lucky; for those who've fallen victim to the automatic transfer, the concerns of another instance may soon be a thing of the past.
Tesla plans to change how your phone connects in an upcoming update. Soon, when you're on an active phone call, the audio will now remain on your phone, even after you open your car door and your phone connects to the vehicle over Bluetooth.
When you're finally inside the vehicle, you can choose to transfer the phone call to the vehicle's audio system or dismiss the prompt, leaving the call's audio on your phone.
Bluetooth Troubleshooting
Until that happens, smartphone companies sometimes advise users to turn off Bluetooth to avoid calls being automatically picked up by paired devices such as automobiles. While that may work with most vehicles, Tesla owners rely on their smartphones to unlock and operate the car via Bluetooth.
Major Updates Are Coming
We don't have any details on when this improvement will be released, but we expect it to be available soon, possibly as soon as 2022.44, but it's now being tested and we expect it to be released this year.
There are several Tesla updates on the horizon. Full Self Driving Version 11 is expected to be available to everyone who has purchased FSD by the end of this year. In addition, it's believed the new Actually Smart Summon or ASS, will be included with Version 11. Those updates will get a lot of attention and likely overshadow this smaller improvement, but it is righting an inconvenience.
A Brief Bluetooth History
Let's take a quick look back at a technology that is now commonplace. It was Intel, Ericsson and Nokia who put aside competition and together developed the short-range radio technology in 1996. Bluetooth was a creative code name because King Harald Gormsson united Denmark and Norway in 958. He had a discolored dead tooth that earned him the nickname of Bluetooth.
Since the industry leaders were uniting on this technology, they used it as a temporary name. It was to be renamed RadioWire, but they needed more time to get the trademark done. The other option was PAN, which stood for Personal Area Networking, but there were too many PANs coming up in searches. Bluetooth started appearing in cars in 2000 and it was Chrysler who lead the way with incorporating the technology in it's vehicles.
Now, we appreciate the convenience of Bluetooth daily, and with a minor tweak by Tesla, King Harald Gormsson's namesake will be much more enjoyable.
Last night, Tesla released software update 2024.45.25.15, which includes FSD V12.6.1. This update adds support for all HW3 vehicles, including the Model 3 and Model Y. We’re excited to see the continued support for HW3 owners.
FSD V12.6.1
V12.6.1 is now going wide, according to Ashok Elluswamy, Tesla’s VP of AI. This update is going to the Model 3 and Model Y for the first time - as only the Model S and Model X were included in FSD V12.6.
V12.6 is a big step forward for HW3 - it includes End-to-End on Highway, Improved City Streets Behavior, and Smoother and More Accurate Tracking - all contributing towards a better, smoother, and more comfortable build of FSD. You can read our comparison between FSD V12.6 and V13.2.2 here.
In short, FSD V12.6 performs considerably closer to V13 than V12.5.4.2 - which is a massive improvement. It performs as well as the Cybertruck version of FSD V13, which is still missing a few features when compared to other HW4 vehicles, but it’s a great sign for HW3. A lot of the improvements can be pointed to in the improvements to lane selection and decision-making - the vehicle tends to hesitate far less on V12.6, meaning the ride is a lot smoother. Many early V12.6 testers mentioned that it felt more like V13-mini than anything else.
Legacy Model S & X
We haven’t seen this update hit any legacy Model S and Model X vehicles just yet. We’re not sure whether Ashok’s statement of “generally” applies here - but it should. If you do get the update, please let us know.
Legacy Model S and Model X vehicles are still on an older FSD build and potentially won’t see another FSD update for a little while longer. While they do have the same FSD hardware as other vehicles, there are enough hardware differences that require a build specifically for these vehicles.
FSD V12.6.1 is going out now to the redesigned Model S and X with HW3 and all Model 3 and Model Y vehicles with HW3. The initial wave went out last night, and we expect to see more later today or tomorrow. If this release ends up going “wide,” we should see much larger waves go out next week.
Tesla has issued a recall for some vehicles due to issues linked to a revision of the Hardware 4 (HW4) computer that was introduced this past November. This recall affects all vehicles with the revised hardware except for the Cybertruck, as it uses a slightly modified version of the HW4 system.
Many vehicle owners have reported a complete failure of their Autopilot computer, which not only leaves the vehicle without FSD and Autopilot but also disables many of the active safety features that make a Tesla what it is.
Let’s take a look at this recall - because the recall is partially physical and partially a software recall.
HW4 Failure
Tesla has identified the failure and flagged it to the U.S. NHTSA (but not Transport Canada or Euro NCAP at the time of publishing) as a recall.
Tesla mentions that the vehicle’s FSD computer circuit board may short circuit, resulting in the loss of the rearview camera image. The recall itself is focused on the rearview camera - as not having a functional rearview camera breaks a Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard. However, it does impact more than just the rearview camera.
As previously mentioned, users have experienced the full loss of Autopilot and FSD on these vehicles, as well as reduced traction control and removal of safety features such as automatic emergency braking, collision avoidance assist, and forward collision warnings.
While the vehicle remains driveable, it is not necessarily a good idea to drive the vehicle with many of these features, especially with the reduced traction control noted by many people. We’ve already noted that while Tesla has been sending tow trucks to pick up some vehicles, it is also prompting owners to drive the vehicle to their service center in some cases.
Remedy
Unlike most of Tesla’s recalls, this one isn’t entirely an OTA recall, owing to the fact that people have already experienced circuit board shorts and are already waiting for replacements.
The software portion of the recall has already been mostly completed for any vehicles with Tesla software update 2024.45.25.3 or greater. However, a significant portion of the tracked fleet remains on update 2024.44.25.2 (approximately 20%), so we recommend updating your HW4 vehicle whenever you receive the notification.
On the hardware side, Tesla is immediately identifying and replacing hardware that has had circuit board failure. Tesla is also reaching out to customers who have expressed intermittent issues with Autopilot features, active safety features, or vehicle cameras that don't display correctly. If you have experienced any of these issues in a late 2024 vehicle, we recommend submitting a service ticket with Tesla to ensure that your vehicle isn’t affected by this recall.
