Tesla Adds New Option That Lets You Disable Remote Commands From Tesla

November 3, 2023

By Kevin Armstrong

A new option lets you prevent Tesla from sending certain commands to your vehicle

@_bennettm_

In a move that resonates with the evolving landscape of customer privacy, Tesla has introduced a new feature allowing owners to toggle the ability for the company to send remote commands to their vehicles.

The Discovery of Increased Control

Bennett, a Tesla owner with the handle @bennettm on X, brought attention to the newly discovered toggle within his vehicle's service settings. Running software version 2023.27.7, Bennett found he could now control Tesla's remote access to his car. This functionality was not previously available, and it seems to have been activated remotely, as not all vehicles on the same software iteration exhibit this option.

The Implications of Remote Commands

Tesla presumably had carte blanche to send commands to any car. This shift suggests a more nuanced approach to vehicle command protocols, possibly in response to broader discussions around data security and user consent.

Interestingly, the change comes just days after Elon Musk appeared on the Joe Rogan Experience. Rogan has talked about his concerns about the ability of companies to be able to shut down technologically advanced vehicles remotely. Although that didn't come up during their latest conversations on air, there is no telling what the two talked about away from the microphone.

Tesla's vehicles are renowned for their advanced technology, including the ability to receive over-the-air updates and commands. The ability to send remote commands could encompass a range of actions, from unlocking doors to starting the vehicle or possibly even resetting systems in emergency scenarios.

The Impact on User Experience and Security

Turning remote commands on or off is a significant nod towards user privacy, allowing owners to assert their preferences for connectivity and intervention. For Tesla, it's a delicate balance between ensuring customer trust and maintaining the necessary access to provide the exceptional and cutting-edge experience the brand is known for.

While the details of the implementation are still emerging, this move could have numerous benefits:

Enhanced Privacy: Owners who are cautious about data security may find comfort in the ability to restrict remote access.

Personalized Control: Users can opt-in or opt-out depending on their trust level, usage pattern, or specific situations.

Security: It adds a layer of security, ensuring that only the owner can enable remote commands if they choose to.

As the automotive industry ventures further into the realm of connected cars, managing the intersection of technology and user control becomes increasingly important. Tesla's latest feature exemplifies the company's agile approach to software development, customer feedback, and industry trends. The potential for what remote commands can entail will undoubtedly evolve. Still, for now, Tesla owners can take solace in having a more significant say in how their vehicles are accessed and controlled remotely.

Tesla Smoking While Supercharging? A Look at What's Actually Happening

February 12, 2025

By Karan Singh

Hot_Engineering3140 on Reddit

Winter is here, and temperatures are dropping, so one of the most common Tesla questions is about to resurface.

If you’ve landed here after frantically searching about “smoke” coming from your Tesla while Supercharging, take a deep breath—it’s completely normal.

Tesla Smoking While Charging

If you’re Supercharging in freezing weather—even with preconditioning—you might notice steam rising from your Tesla. But rest assured, your car isn’t smoking.

Your Tesla’s heat pump is hard at work warming both the cabin and battery to keep you comfortable and ensure optimal charging temperatures. Over time, condensation and ice build-up in the heat exchanger coils.

Why Does It Happen?

When you reach a Supercharger with your vehicle, the heat pump is still running hot, but without the cold air from driving to keep the heat exchanger coils cool, the ice and condensation quickly start to evaporate—creating what looks like smoke.

Since this typically happens near the front of the vehicle, where a car would traditionally have an engine, new vehicle owners can be startled by the discovery. However, rest assured that it’s just water vapor and it’s completely normal in cold weather.

In fact, this behavior can be experienced in any EV with a heat pump in cold climates. So, if you saw steam coming out of your vehicle and panicked, don’t worry—you’re not alone.

Now that you know what’s happening, go ahead and Supercharge with confidence.

Tesla Improves YouTube App With Smoother Playback

February 12, 2025

By Karan Singh

Not a Tesla App

Tesla made a lot of improvements in the 2024 Holiday Update, including more than 15 undocumented improvements that were included in the release. One of these was a stealthy performance improvement to the YouTube app.

Several people have mentioned they’ve seen improved performance on YouTube since this year’s Holiday Update - and there’s an interesting reason why.

YouTube Improvements

The improved YouTube performance in Tesla vehicles comes from an unexpected source—Tesla actually rolled back support for YouTube’s newer AV1 video encoding. Instead, vehicles now default to the older VP9 encoding standard.

While AV1 is highly efficient in terms of bandwidth, it requires considerably more processing power to decode and display videos. VP9, on the other hand, is less computationally demanding but uses more bandwidth to achieve the same video quality. This trade-off means smoother playback and better overall performance, even if it comes at the cost of slightly higher data usage.

Intel Inside

The VP9 video codec that the YouTube app is now using is much easier to decode, making it less taxing on the vehicle’s processor. This change is particularly beneficial for Tesla vehicles with Intel processors, which previously struggled to stream video at just 720p. When using AV1, these vehicles often experienced stuttering, sometimes forcing the YouTube app to automatically downgrade playback to 480p.

With this update, Intel-based Teslas should now be able to stream at 1080p smoothly. Streaming at 1440p is also possible, although occasional stutters still occur as the system keeps up with the decoding process.

Intel-based vehicles are the big winners with this change, but this appears to affect AMD Ryzen-based infotainment units as well, providing even smoother playback.

Chromium Web App

Tesla’s Theater apps aren’t native applications; instead, they run as chromeless web apps, leveraging the open-source browser built into Teslas known as Chromium (the open-source version of Chrome). Although this works quite well, there is a severe limitation - Chromium hardware acceleration isn’t supported on Linux, the operating system Tesla uses for their OS.

As a result, Tesla vehicles rely on software decoding instead of hardware decoding, which would otherwise handle video playback far more efficiently. A potential solution could be for Tesla to transition away from Chromium-based web apps in favor of a Mozilla Firefox-based browser, as Firefox does support hardware acceleration on Linux. This switch could also open the door to better streaming performance and the possibility of expanding Tesla’s in-car entertainment options.

However, Tesla’s choice of Chromium likely stems from Digital Rights Management (DRM) requirements for streaming services like Disney+ and Netflix, which rely on DRM-enabled playback. Firefox on Linux has had inconsistent support for DRM due to codec availability and variations in operating system versions.

We’re hopeful that Tesla will either adopt Firefox or develop a fully native application to improve video streaming, rather than continuing with the current web-based Tesla Theater. This shift could also pave the way for additional in-car applications built on Tesla’s native Linux environment—perhaps even reviving the long-rumored Tesla App Store.

Regardless, this update is a welcome improvement, particularly for YouTube, which remains one of the most widely used Theater Mode apps due to its accessibility, free content, and mix of short and long-form videos. It remains to be seen whether similar improvements are made for Netflix, Disney+, or other streaming platforms.

If you’ve noticed improved performance in Theater Mode, now you know why.