A Sneak Peek at Tesla’s Holiday Update; to Include Improvements to Nav and Music

Tesla's Holiday Update will include some navigation improvements

Tesla

If you sneak a peek at Christmas presents, then you’ll enjoy this article. Santa Musk and the Tesla Elves outdid themselves with the Holiday Update, which will be update 2022.44.25.

First, some quick stocking stuffers, before we get into some big ones:

Auto Turn Signals

Your vehicle will now be able to turn off turn signals automatically

Tesla

Turn signals can now automatically be deactivated when changing lanes or merging. This feature is carrying over from the new Model S and Model X which are capable of turning off turn signals after the vehicle changes lanes.

We're already used to turn signals turning off after completing a turn, however, that doesn't work on the highway where a lane doesn't require turning the steering wheel enough to turn off the turn signals.

Tesla is using Tesla Vision to detect when you've completed a lane change or merge and will automatically deactivate your turn signal for you.

Rainbow Road

An improved Rainbow road visualization

Tesla

We've had the Rainbow Road easter egg for years, however with the introduction of the improved visuals in the FSD Beta, this feature was removed on city streets.

Tesla is now adding support for Rainbow Road with the improved FSD visuals. When Autopilot is activated users can have Rainbow Road appear on the screen, regardless if they're on the highway or city streets. This means you don’t always have to have a cowbell when you want a colorful road. It sounds like Tesla may be adding an option to automatically enable Rainbow Road visualizations when Autopilot is in use.

Fan Speed

Tesla has an Auto climate system like most cars these days, however, if you change any of the settings, the car will automatically remove the system from Auto. However, that is now changing with this update.

Even when modified the fan speed, the HVAC system will now remain in Auto. Naver, who reported on some of these new features also appears to indicate that Tesla may be switching its fan speeds, removing the 1-10 scale and putting in a much simpler Low, Medium or High.

Phone Call Transfers

As Not A Tesla App first reported, Teslas will request confirmation before transferring a phone call from your smartphone to the speakers in the car.

In addition to the vehicle prompting you before transferring a call to the vehicle, you'll also be able to search your contacts from within the vehicle, instead of being forced to scroll through it.

Improved Navigation UI

Tesla's Holiday Update will include some navigation improvements

Tesla

Enhancements are coming to the navigation UI as well. Tesla is redesigning the navigation module that displays your next turn and displays your ETA.

Currently, the module appears at the top of the screen and displays your next turn, your ETA, destination name or address, and battery level on arrival. It also includes controls to cancel navigation, toggle Navigate on Autopilot and a 'more' button.

Tesla is essentially splitting this UI into two pieces. The first will remain at the top of the screen and will include critical information about your route, such as your next turn.

The rest of the information will be moved into a new module and appear at the bottom of the screen. This will include your travel time, destination details, as well as options to alter or cancel your navigation.

Apple Music

Tesla's Holiday Update will include Apple Music

Apple

Without a doubt, Apple Music support has shown up on several wish lists, and Santa has been listening. Tesla will add to its already robust entertainment system with the addition of Apple Music and its 100 million songs. Yes, Tesla’s Bluetooth already enables users the ability to listen to Apple Music, but including the app on the Tesla screen adds another level of awesome.

Mini Music Player

Tesla's Holiday Update will include a new music player

Tesla

Sticking with the tunes, Tesla is releasing a mini music player that is customizable. Just like the moveable blind spot camera that was introduced a few updates ago, the mini-player can be dragged around the screen. We're being told it can be placed on the left side, center or right side of the screen.

It’s possible the player will be similar to the one already available in the new Model S and Model X. That player turns mini when docked to the left and becomes a full column when docked on the righthand side of the screen.

You'll be able to swipe up on the mini music player to reveal additional music options. When swiping upward additional music sources will be revealed. You'll also be able to switch between favorite stations or playlists.

Zoom App

Zoom let the cat out of the bag early on this gift. During Zoomtopia, the video conferencing platform's annual event held in early November, Zoom announced it would soon be available in Teslas. The web interface will operate like Netflix and YouTube in a chromeless browser and will only be accessible in park.

From the Zoom announcement video, Tesla will use the interior camera. The cabin camera has a resolution of 1280x960, which is a 4:3 aspect ratio. But Tesla may crop the feed to 16:9, resulting in a resolution of 1280x720 or 720p. To use the Zoom app in your Tesla you'll need to subscribe to Premium Connectivity.

MyQ Integration

MyQ is a program that enables users to control supported garage doors, gates and lights over WiFi. Until now, users could only control MyQ devices from their smartphones, but Tesla is adding support to their vehicles. Tesla will let users open and close MyQ-supported garage doors in a similar way to how HomeLink works.

HomeLink is included with the Model S and Model X, but it's a $350 USD add-on for the Model 3 and Y.

However, MyQ integration does not appear to be free. MyQ charges $179 for a 5-year subscription for vehicle use. You also need a smart garage door opener. Most openers can be made smart by adding a MyQ device available at various retailers for approximately $20.

New Video Games

Elon Musk has repeatedly stated that he wants the Tesla to be the most fun you can have in a car. While we've heard that there will be at least one new video game in the holiday update, there may be more.

Steam may be part of the Holiday update. It’s estimated Steam has 50,000 games, very different from Tesla’s 20, mostly classic games.

The new Model S and Model X have a gaming computer that keeps pace with PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X. The system includes ten teraflops of processing power. A teraflop is the computer world's version of horsepower. The PS5 has 10.28, compared to the PlayStation 4 with 1.84. The average Steam user has 55 games on their account. There is code showing up that could support external storage to load additional games.

Cards Make a Return

Prior to last year's Christmas update that brought Teslas to software v11, the Model 3 and Model Y featured cards in the bottom left corner of the display. These cards let owners flip through bits of information such as the odometer, trips distances, tire pressure readings and access to some controls such as wipers.

With this year's update, some of these cards are coming back. Tesla is set to reintroduce cards that give you quick access to the vehicle's odometer and tire pressure readings.

Light Show Sync

While turning on the Light Show easter egg is being added to the smartphone app, there will also be a way to schedule it from your vehicle. This would enable Tesla owners to synchronize their cars to play the show simultaneously. That may make the next Tesla meet-up even more fun.

When turning on the Light Show from your vehicle, you'll be able to start it immediately or have it wait up to 10 minutes.

More Features in App Update

Remember, there is also the good ol' Santa Mode easter egg. Now is the time to use it! There are plenty of additions to the Tesla App as well. Read all about the app updates here.

While this is everything we've heard, there is likely to be more included in this year's holiday update. We should find out more in the coming days and weeks.

Now that you’ve spoiled your Christmas morning, you had better order something from one of the many suppliers we feature. Be sure to click the Accessories tab to find discount codes. Merry Christmas!

Update: Tesla has now released this year's Holiday Update with release 2022.44.25.1. Check out the release notes to view everything included in the Holiday Update.

Tesla Doubles Robotaxi Service Area, Now Larger than Waymo

Not a Tesla App

To show off its scalability, Tesla has officially launched its first major expansion of its Robotaxi service area in Austin, Texas. The expansion comes just 22 days after the program’s initial public launch.

That’s a stunningly quick pace that sets a benchmark for how fast we’ll be expecting Tesla to roll out additional expansions as they validate and safety-check in additional area and cities. The new geofence not only adds a significant amount of new territory, but also makes Tesla’s service area in Austin approximately 4 miles larger than Waymo’s.

The expansion, which went live for users in the early access program earlier today, reshapes the map into… what we can call an upside-down T. It helps connect more parts of the city, and increases the service area by more than double.

So far, the initial launch has been operating without any significant issues, which means Tesla is ready and willing to continue expanding the program.

Rapid Scaling

While the larger map is a clear win for early-access users and especially those who live in Austin, the most significant aspect here is just how fast Tesla is going. Achieving a major expansion in just over three weeks since its initial launch is a testament to Tesla’s generalized autonomy approach with vision only.

Unlike methods that require intensive, street-by-street HD mapping that can take months or even years just to expand to a few new streets, Tesla’s strategy is built for this type of speed.

This is Tesla’s key advantage - it can leverage its massive fleet and AI to build a generalized, easily-applicable understanding of the world. Expanding to a new area becomes less about building a brand-new, high-definition map of every street light and obstacle, but instead a targeted safety validation process.

Tesla can deploy a fleet of validation vehicles to intensely focus on one zone, allowing the neural nets to learn the quirks of that area’s intersections and traffic flows. Once a high level of safety and reliability is demonstrated, Tesla can simply just redraw the geofence.

Geofence Size

Tesla went from approximately 19.7 sq mi (51 sq km) to 42.07 sq mi (109 sq km)in just 22 days, following the initial launch and safety validation. Within a few short days of launch, we began seeing the first Tesla engineering validation vehicles, hitting Austin’s downtown core, preparing for the next phase.

The larger footprint means more utility for riders, and that’s big, especially since the new service area is approximately four square miles larger than Waymo’s established operational zone in the city.

Highways and Fleet Size

The new territory enables longer and more practical trips, with the longest trip at tip-to-tip taking about 42 minutes from the southern edge of the old geofence to the northern edge of the new geofence. For now, Tesla has limited its fleet to operating exclusively on surface streets and does not use highways to complete its routes.

We also don’t know if Tesla has increased the vehicle fleet size quite yet - but if they’re intending to maintain or reduce wait times for even the early-access riders, the fleet size will easily need to be doubled to keep up with the new area.

This video clip shows the @robotaxi follows the Interstate (I-35) but does not take the highest.

Nice views of downtown Austin too! pic.twitter.com/rAn9McBH7e

— Joe Tegtmeyer 🚀 🤠🛸😎 (@JoeTegtmeyer) July 14, 2025

Next Expansion Underway

Perhaps the most telling bit about how fast Tesla is expanding is that they’re already laying the groundwork for the next expansion. Validation vehicles have been spotted operating in Kyle, Texas, approximately 20 miles south of the geofence’s southern border.

Robotaxi Validation vehicles operating in Kyle, Texas.

Financial_Weight_989 on Reddit

This means that while one expansion is being rolled out to the public, Tesla is already having its engineering and validation teams work on the next expansion. That relentless pace means that if this keeps up, Tesla will likely have a good portion of the Austin metropolitan area - the zone they’ve applied for their Autonomy license for - serviceable by the end of 2025.

The pilot? A success. The first expansion? Done. The second expansion? Already in progress. Robotaxi is going to go places, and the next question won't be about whether the network is going to grow. Instead, the new questions are: How fast, and where next?

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How to Retrofit a Front Bumper Camera on a HW4 Model S and Model X

Tutrifour/X

One of the most welcome features of the recently refreshed 2026 Model S and Model X is the addition of a front bumper camera. Now, thanks to some clever work by the Tesla community, it has been confirmed that this highly requested feature can be retrofitted onto older HW4-equipped (AI4) Model S and Model X vehicles.

The discovery and first installation were performed by Yaro on a Model X, and Tesla hacker Green helped provide some additional insight on the software side.

Unused Port and a Software Switch

The foundation for this retrofit has been in place for a long time, laid by Tesla itself. All HW4-equipped Model S and Model X vehicles, even those built before the recent refresh, have an empty, unused camera connector slot on the FSD computer, seemingly waiting for this exact purpose.

While the physical port is there, getting the car to recognize the camera requires a software change. According to Green, a simple configuration flag change is all that is needed to enable the front camera view on the vehicle’s main display once the hardware is connected and ready.

The Hardware: Parts & Costs

Yaro, who performed the installation on a Model X, provided a detailed breakdown of the parts and approximate costs involved.

• Front Camera - $200 USD

• Bumper Grill (with camera cutout) - $80 USD

• Bumper Harness - $130 USD

• Washer Pump - $15 USD

• Washer Hoses - $30 USD

The total cost for the Model X hardware comes to around $455 USD, which isn’t too expensive if you were to DIY it. Tesla’s Electronic Parts Catalog has some of these parts available for order, and some can be ordered via your local Service Center. Yaro did note that he had to jerry-rig the camera connector cable, having salvaged the cable from a different camera harness.

The Model S vs Model X

This is where the project varies significantly. For the Model X, the retrofit is relatively simple. Because the main bumper shape is the same, only the lower bumper grill needs to be swapped for the version with the camera opening, along with installing the camera itself and the washer hardware.

For the Model S, the process is a bit more complex and expensive. Due to the different shape of the pre-refresh bumper, the entire front fascia assembly must be replaced to accommodate the camera. This makes the project far more expensive and laborious.

DIY or Official Retrofit?

The official front bumper camera on the Model X

Not a Tesla App

Right now, this is only a DIY retrofit. Tesla hasn’t indicated that they intend to offer this as an official retrofit for older vehicles at this time, but given the fact that it isn’t too complex, we expect that there is a possibility that they may do so in the near future.

All in all, this is about 3-5 hours of labor for the Model X, and approximately 5-7 hours of labor for the Model S, based on the official Tesla Service Manuals, using the front fascia reinstall process as a guide.

That means if Tesla does offer this as a retrofit service, it will likely cost between $800 and $1,200 USD when factoring in Tesla’s labor rates, but the total cost will vary regionally.

For those who own an AI4 Model S or Model X, it could be possible to request service for this installation, but as far as we’re aware, there is no official service notice for this retrofit at this time.

What About the Model 3?

For owners of the refreshed Highland Model 3, the only vehicle now left without a front bumper camera, the possibility of a retrofit is still uncertain. It has been noted by Green that some, but not all Model 3s built in late 2024 have an empty camera port on the FSD computer. This inconsistency means that while a retrofit may be possible for a subset of Model 3s, it isn’t a guaranteed upgrade path like it is for the Model S or Model X.

Overall, it's a fantastic opportunity for owners of older Model S and Model X vehicles to get a slight hardware refresh, which can get them one of the best new features from the 2026 refresh.

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