Tesla introduced v11 last December to much fanfare. The software included many new features. It also included a redesign that changed some UI elements and relocated several key features.
As Tesla adds features over many years, a redesign can often help clean up the UI and bring a cohesive look to the software. However, some features were moved behind menus, making them more difficult to find and requiring multiple taps to turn them on.
Some features that were easily accessible before such as changing Driver Profiles, turning on seat heaters, and saving your dashcam became harder to access. Tesla has slowly been making minor adjustments to make these features more easily accessible.
Driver Profiles are now available at the top of the status bar again, although only while in Park. If you have the Dashcam icon in the launcher, you can now tap it while driving to save the last ten minutes of footage.
However, most of these changes have been relatively minor and many owners are still waiting for further improvements.
Additional Launcher Customization
2022.12 will include additional launcher options
TechAU.com.au
It looks like we may finally see some of those improvements in 2022.12.
We don't have any details yet, but it looks like one of the new features in the 2022.12 update will be additional launcher customizations.
In v11 Tesla introduced the ability to customize the bottom launcher. Unfortunately, many buttons that were previously available in the launcher were removed and could no longer be added in the new customizable version.
This included some critical vehicle functions such as wipers, seat heaters and window defrost.
With 2022.12, we're going to see some of these buttons re-introduced into the launcher. The launcher will remain customizable, so only those owners who need or want these buttons will have them show up in the launcher.
Front and rear window defrost and windshield wipers are almost certainly going to be included in this update, and it's likely that seat heaters will be added as well.
Before v11, the launcher contained icons for, Controls, Music, Apps, Driver seat heater, Climate, Passenger seat heater, front windshield defrost, rear windshield defrost, and volume.
The Tesla launcher before v11
With v11 the launcher changed to Controls, Driver climate, Customized apps, All apps, Recent apps, Passenger climate, and Volume.
On a Model 3 and Model Y, the UI lets you add up to four customized buttons. The number of recent apps will vary depending on how many apps you have customized, but you'll always have at least one.
The number of buttons in the launcher before and after v11 is almost the same. One reason why the v11 launcher appears to contain less is that Tesla split up their music app into separate apps. Instead of having a single Music app like before, we now have multiple icons for Bluetooth, FM radio, Spotify, etc.
While this makes it more convenient to jump directly to the source you want to listen to, it does require more room in the launcher, leaving less room for other buttons such as wipers and seat heaters.
Hopefully, Tesla allows for additional buttons in the launcher or finds ways to conserve space.
Some possibilities include combining some of the buttons, such as front and rear window defrosts, or only showing the passenger climate icon when there's a passenger in the seat. Tesla could also allow the removal of the volume control, move it to another location or also only display it when there is a passenger.
I wouldn't expect 2022.12 to include everything we're looking for in the launcher, as Tesla probably has further improvements they'd like to make.
However, I expect 2022.12 will include the return of many of the buttons that some of us have been missing for the last several months.
The feature is now possible thanks to what Wes Morrill, Cybertruck’s lead engineering, points out is a huge rewrite of Tesla’s Trip Planner, which not only makes it much more accurate but will now allow users to choose their arrival charge percentage.
More Accurate Trip Planner
When you navigate to a destination, your Tesla will automatically calculate when, where, and how much you need to charge. While the process seems straightforward, Tesla deserves a lot of credit for creating a simple user experience because a lot goes into accurately determining this information.
Tesla has to calculate many moving pieces in order to accurately predict when and where you should stop. First, it needs to consider your driving efficiency and wind direction, terrain elevation, traffic, vehicle speed, and ambient temperature. It also needs to predict the best Superchargers to stop at, taking into account congestion and charger speed.
Now, according to Wes’ post this morning, Tesla has made backend improvements to the Trip Planner, thanks to a rewrite by several engineers, that bring even more accurate predictions to Trip Planner.
It sounds like these changes are mostly server-side, so thanks to their OTA connection, more accurate predictions should be available to all vehicles—no vehicle update is required.
Arrival State of Charge
Along with Tesla’s improvements to Trip Planner, Wes also stated that these improvements allow for a popular feature request — the ability to select your desired charge level at arrival.
Up until now, Tesla’s Trip Planner tried to get you to your destination as quickly as possible, which usually meant arriving with a low state of charge.
While this was fine if you have a charger at your destination, it’s not great if you don’t, or it could be even worse if there are no chargers nearby.
Max de Zegher said on X that he has heard the requests for a selectable arrival state of charge. Wes later clarified this by saying that these improvements to Tesla’s Trip Planner now allow for additional features to be added, such as “desired arrival charge.”
Actually trip planner got a huge rewrite on the back end. I had a great conversation with one of the engineers working on this over a morning run a few weeks back, it's pretty neat. The rewrite also unlocks additional features, like desired arrival charge.
Given that Max de Zegher’s comments came last night and Wes Morrill commented this morning, this feature request likely won’t arrive with the upcoming Holiday Update. Tesla actually hinted at such a feature being added in their last app update, so it does seem like they’ve already planned for it.
Although ‘Arrival State of Charge’ was on our wishlist for the Holiday Update, it looks like it may arrive soon after the holidays.
As Tesla update 2024.44.3 continues to roll out, we’re seeing more features in this update. While the update doesn’t include many new feature, it either improves existing features or rolls out a feature to new regions. Actually Smart Summon is rolling out to Europe, although with more strict restrictions. AutoPark is also rolling out to the UK and several other countries for the first time, and we’re now seeing improvements to Autopark arriving in North America and Europe.
As Tesla’s 2024.44.3 update continues to roll out, more features in the update are being revealed. While this update doesn’t introduce many entirely new features, it does refine existing features or expand the reach of others.
Notably, Actually Smart Summon is now rolling out in Europe, albeit with stricter regulations. Vision-based AutoPark is debuting in the UK and several other countries, while North America and Europe are receiving updates that further improve Autopark’s functionality.
Improvements to Autopark
As part of the same update, Tesla is making a batch of improvements to Autopark in Europe and North America. In the release notes, Tesla states that Autopark is receiving performance and visualization improvements. Unfortunately, Tesla doesn’t go into more detail here, but it sounds like these improvements could be the faster and more accurate Autopark enhancements Ashok Elluswamy talked about earlier this year.
Those improvements are expected to make Autopark more reliable, let it pick spots faster, move faster into them, and also shift between forward and reverse faster. The improvements would also let the vehicle park in tighter spots than before, with more accurate vision.
We’ll have to wait and see how this improved Autopark compares to the current version.
Your vehicle's Autopark performance and visualizatons have been improved.
Autopark in the UK and Other Countries
Countries in Europe that previously didn’t have access to Vision-Based Autopark, including the UK, will now have access to the new Autopark for the first time with update 2024.44.3 and later. This includes countries such as the UK, Ireland and Malaysia.
While these countries are receiving Autopark, it’s not clear whether it includes the Autopark improvements that other regions are receiving. The release notes don’t include the Autopark Improvements section in these countries, but that could be due to Tesla simplifying the release notes for these countries that are receiving Autopark for the first time.
With Autopark finally introduced in these regions, it’ll be the first time vehicles without ultrasonic sensors are capable of Autopark. Vision-Based Autopark is far more reliable, faster, and easier to use in more situations than the older USS-based solution.
