Tesla Holiday Update coming soon. Here's what may be included

December 6, 2021

By Nuno Cristovao

Tesla has historically had a major release almost every year. Some years they release a holiday update that contains exciting new features. Previous holiday updates have included a new user interface, new games, Boombox, Tesla theater and more.

Tesla to deliver 2021 Holiday Update

It's an exciting time of the holiday for most people and Tesla is giving us a little extra to look forward to.

Last year Tesla had a holiday update, but ran into several issues and ended up splitting the holiday update into two parts. The first part was version 2020.48.25 and it was released on December 24th.

Coming soon. Lot of cool stuff.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 6, 2021

The holiday update included new games such as Cat Quest, The Battle of Polytopia and Solitaire. Tesla also refreshed the UI, made car visualizations larger and moved the wipers and rear camera buttons to the main navigation bar.

Although some owners weren't a fan of the larger visualization area because it reduced the width available for other apps like music and the web browser, it did give Tesla room to display more visualizations. The visualizations in FSD play an important role in helping the driver understand what the car can see and react to.

On Christmas day Tesla continued the holiday update and released another update, 2020.48.26, which included the Boombox feature.

Unfortunately, part two of the holiday update never officially came. Speculation is that Tesla became swamped with the new Model S software and ran out of time to develop part two of the holiday update.

It's likely that some of the updates that were slated for part two of the holiday update were released separately throughout the year.

Features such as Waypoints, which was recently released in 2021.40.5 could likely have been part of the holiday update. The TIDAL streaming service, Disney+, Car Wash Mode, the ability to disable mirror auto dimming and hotspot support all sound very much like they could have been part of the holiday update.

Unfortunately, Tesla never announced whether these features were originally part of the holiday update or why they weren't released in December of 2020.

Holiday Update 2021

Elon has now said on Twitter that Tesla is planning another holiday update this year, but doesn't give any details on what's in it. Sure, lots of us may be bitter because part two of the last holiday update never officially happened, but it's good to know Tesla is planning for new features this month.

Elon tweeted that the next holiday update is "Coming soon. Lot of cool stuff." Although this message leaves a lot to the imagination, it's fun to speculate what could be included in this update.

We took a look through our Upcoming Features section, which lists every feature that Elon has commented on and we put together a list of possible features that could be included in this year's holiday update.

Share Car through Tesla App

The share your car feature was recently discovered in the new Tesla app's source code. The feature will allow you to share access to your car with someone else for a specified time. Think of it as sharing virtual car keys, complete with an expiration date. Find out how sharing car access will work.

Vehicle Sync

Vehicle Sync will allow you to share your Tesla settings with other Teslas you own or rent. Vehicle Sync will automatically set your preferences such as stopping mode, auto high beams, temperature units and more automatically when you get into a new Tesla. Read more about how Vehicle Sync will work.

Improved Parking Chimes

This feature was recommended to Elon on Twitter and Elon responded and seemed quite fond of the idea. The feature would greatly improve the usefulness of Tesla's parking chime alerts. Instead of the parking sensors generating a generic beeping sound, the volume and direction of the sound would be based on the proximity and location of the object to the parking sensors. So if you were backing up in your Tesla and approaching an object such as a parking lot light pole, you'd hear the parking chime coming from the rear speakers. The closer you would get to the object, the louder the alert would be. Find out more details on the improved parking chimes idea.

Auto Shift

The new Model S and Model X support Auto Shift, which lets your car automatically shift into forward or reverse when coming out of park. Elon has said previously that Auto Shift will not be limited to the new Model S and X, but will also be come to the Model 3 and Model Y. Find out more about Auto Shift coming to other models.

Passenger Seat Presets

Similar to how there are driver profiles that save a driver's preferences, passenger presets would save a passenger's preferences such as seat position and possibly merge the driver's favorite music stations with the passenger's favorites. Read more about passenger seat presets.

Face Recognition

Tesla filed a patent that would use face recognition to set driver profiles. Instead of setting your driver or passenger profile based on which phone was closest to the car, or having to manually select your profile, Tesla could offer simple face recognition that would automatically set your profile for you. This will make a lot more sense when Tesla introduces passenger profiles, as Tesla would likely want to avoid cluttering up the UI with driver and passenger profile buttons. Find out more about face recognition in Teslas.

Apple Music

After Waypoints, this is the most asked for feature in a Tesla. Tesla recently released TIDAL and in the past Tesla has had source code that hinted at additional music services, such as Apple Music. The truth about music services is that the trend will continue and if Tesla adds Apple Music today, then users will ask for Panda, Amazon Music or SiriusXM streaming capabilities. Tesla is full of talented engineers. They're hopefully working on a solution that will generalize music streaming in a Tesla and make it easier to add additional music services. Adding Apple Music capability to Teslas could be 'The Gift' many are hoping for this holiday season. Find out more about Tesla adding additional music services such as Apple Music.

Render Teslas on Display

The ability to identify and display other Teslas on the screen could be just the kind of feature Tesla would incorporate into a holiday update. With the advancements Tesla has made in object recognition, Tesla can pull this off if they choose to. Read more about displaying Teslas on the screen.

Some of these features may show up in this year's holiday update, but like Santa, Tesla always has some surprises up their sleeve as well.

Last year Tesla released the holiday update close to Christmas and since Tesla does staggered roll outs, some owners did not receive the update until after the holidays.

Who knows exatly what's in store for us this year, but we're getting close and it's possible we may see the first sign of this year's holiday update soon. Check out our Upcoming Features section to read about all the features that Tesla may be looking into developing.

Update: We now have more information on the upcoming Holiday Update that may arrive as soon as Tuesday and possibly feature a 'Dancing Mode' for the Model 3 and Model Y.

Update 2: It's confirmed that a Light Show feature is coming to not only the Model 3 and Model Y, but also the Model S. You can view all the known Holiday Update features here.

Update 3: Tesla released many new features in the 2021 Holiday Update. The holiday update was released with version 2021.44.25.

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New 'Wile E. Coyote' Wall Video Puts Tesla's FSD V13 to the Test

March 21, 2025

By Not a Tesla App Staff

Not a Tesla App

Last week, Mark Ruber, an engineering YouTuber best known for his glitter bombs, released a video where he tested Tesla's Autopilot against various conditions - including the iconic ACME painted wall.

During this test, many people noted that Mark was using Autopilot rather than FSD, even though his video was titled “Can you Fool a Self-Driving Car?”. The Tesla on Autopilot went up against a vehicle equipped with Luminar’s LIDAR rig, running some sort of basic autonomy or safety software.

New Video Tests FSD

Many people were disappointed with Mark’s video and his testing methods, so several creators got to work to actually test out Tesla’s FSD.

Creator Kyle Paul over on X made a much better follow-up video, using both a HW3 Model Y as well as an AI4 Cybertruck. In a relatively unsurprising turn of events, the Cybertruck was successfully able to detect the wall, slowed down, and came to a stop. The Cybertruck was running FSD 13.2.8.

Kyle’s team did a fantastic job building the wall and testing this in a private area using FSD rather than Autopilot. On top of that - they re-tested the results several times and recorded the entire thing in and out. While Mark’s video was more for entertainment, Kyle really set out to prove what would really happen in this unlikely scenario.

Sadly, the HW3 Model Y was unable to detect the wall, and manual intervention was required in each test. While the Model Y was running FSD 12.5.4.2 rather than an FSD V12.6 build, we don’t expect this to have had a significant impact on the test - this is more of an issue with how computer vision analyzes the environment.

There are several major differences between HW3 and HW4. The first is obviously that the version that runs on AI4 is more advanced, as the hardware is capable of processing a lot more data. However, AI4 also features much higher-resolution cameras than HW3, and Tesla recently added the ability for the video feeds to be processed at full resolution on FSD V13. This could have made the difference, although it’s not entirely clear. Perhaps if HW3 gets a version of FSD V13 in the future, HW3 can be retested to see if it passes the “ACME wall” test.

Watch

Kyle’s entire video is below. It’s only 10 minutes long, so definitely give it a watch. Props to Kyle on the quick and thorough execution.

What Does This Mean for FSD?

We broke down Mark’s test - and examined all the little issues that we discovered after doing some in-depth research - you can read our analysis here.

Putting aside the issues with Mark’s testing and instead using the new results - it seems that if you were to have to fight against Wile-E-Coyote and his ACME tools with your Tesla, cartoon logic may win if you’re on an HW3 vehicle. If you’re on an AI4 vehicle, you’ll likely come to a safe stop.

Vehicle depth perception is definitely something that Tesla has been hard at work to improve - and some fairly drastic improvements came with FSD V13 that haven’t been entirely translated to FSD V12 just yet. Future versions of HW3 FSD may be able to determine that the wall is there successfully. So Kyle - if you’re reading this - don’t get rid of that wall. We’d love to see more testing in the future.

However, this entire test scenario is so out of left field… there is a good likelihood this same test would fool some human drivers as well. The most important part is that the future of autonomy will not fall for these tricks, so it's very unlikely for someone to weaponize this idea as it’d only possibly work on a small segment of vehicles.

If Wile-E-Coyote is after you, someone else may drive into the wall before your Tesla does.

Not a Tesla App

We’re not kidding, this really happened already. This isn’t a realistic scenario outside of someone trying to play an insane prank - but it’s good to know that FSD V13 is capable of dodging this.

Tesla Hosts Public All-Hands Meeting for Q1 2025 - Recap & Replay

March 21, 2025

By Not a Tesla App Staff

Not a Tesla App

Tesla regularly holds quarterly all-hands meetings for employees, but last night marks the first time Tesla has live-streamed the event for the public.

The meeting primarily focused on Tesla’s employees, recent achievements, and the future of Tesla. While it didn’t reveal much new information, it was interesting to see Elon Musk candidly engaging with his teams, who seem to genuinely enjoy working with him. Still, there were a few noteworthy takeaways.

As with Tesla’s Earnings Calls and other live events, we’ve put together a concise, easy-to-digest recap of everything discussed.

General Points

Work-related Injuries declined over time
Planning to expand to new markets
Cell Manufacturing
- Continuing to invest in battery supply
- Cheapest, lowest cost per kWh cell
The supercharger network continues to grow
- Vehicle range and charging speed should match the needs of humans and their required time for breaks
- V4 Cabinets, 500 kW for Cybertruck, 1.2MW for Semi
Tesla is building sustainable abundance
- Autonomy is key for this to happen
- Optimus and AI compute
- This appears to be part of Elon’s new mission for Tesla, but it isn’t in the company’s updated mission statement just yet.
Service and Collision Expansion will continue, with a big focus on Service
- Service is what will sell future vehicles
Interesting opportunity to make an electric, supersonic jet
- Elon is stretched too thin but believes Tesla has all the tech in-house to do it
Tesla is in Master Plan Phase III - making all energy on Earth sustainable / abundance for all

Tesla’s Achievements

Sold 7 million vehicles globally
- From just 20 in their first year of production
- 10 million by next year
- 3 million vehicles a year
Giga Berlin has produced 660,000 drive units
Giga Shanghai has built 3m cars
Giga New York has produced 160,000 NACS adapters
GIga Nevada has built 11,000 battery packs in a year
Semi Factory on track for completion
- Over a million, millions possibly
- Will be autonomous in the future
Stationary Battery Storage is a gigantic plus
- Shanghai Megafactory is up and running
- More Megapacks and Powerwalls are being produced than ever
Switchover to New Model Y in a short period was an amazing feat of supply chain engineering

Optimus

Optimus Production Line in Fremont is up and running
- The first Optimus came off the production line this year
- Pilot production this year
- 22 DoF hand and forearm are now in production
Real brain behind Optimus, not on the cloud and not pre-programmed
What’s learned from cars (batteries, electronics, design, manufacturing, FSD) transferred to Optimus
Biggest product of all time
- 5,000 units by the end of the year, 10,000 at max
- 50,000 next year
- Middle of next year for outside of controlled environments
- Will be available late 2026 for employees - who will get first dibs on access to Optimus
Tesla will expand Optimus production to Giga Texas as well

Cybercab and FSD

The Cybercab line will be fully autonomous
- The aim is 5 seconds between producing cars
- 50,000-ton gigacasting machine - make five castings at a time
  - Currently 9,000-ton machines
  - Seems to be an interesting engineering challenge
Progress towards FSD (Unsupervised)
- Cars doing useful work with no one in them (end-of-line to outbound lot)
- Just started at Giga Texas
- FSD will be 10x safer than humans
Autopilot Hardware 4 / AI 4
- Nothing better on the market than AI4 right now
- No point in waiting for AI5 or AI6 as Tesla will continue producing new versions. There will be an AI 7, 8, etc.
Autonomous Teslas will be everywhere
- In 5 years, regulatory approval globally
- Even without Cybercab, there is a gigantic fleet that can be autonomous

Cortex and Dojo

Cortex - AI Training
- One of the most powerful
- 50,000 active GPUs
- 100,000 GPUs coming soon
Dojo now active in Giga New York and Palo Alto
- Now actively working, doing about 5%-10% of the training load