What is Tesla Premium Connectivity and What's included

Tesla vehicles receive constant updates to improve functionality, add features, improve reliability and even add games. Teslas will also send you notifications on your phone when your car alarm goes off, if you left your car unlocked, or if the charge level is critically low.

What is Premium Connectivity?

All Teslas come standard with WiFi and cellular modems. When connecting to WiFi either through your home's network or through a hotspot, most features in your Tesla are free to use. However when utilizing your car's cellular connection some features are limited to Tesla's premium connectivity package.

Cost of Premium Connectivity?

Tesla's Premium Connectivity package currently costs $10/month per car in the US. Cars sold before June 30, 2018 include free premium connectivity.

As of February 2022, Tesla has also added a yearly plan for Premium Connectivity in the US. The price of the annual plan is $99/year. You can subscribe to the monthly or the yearly plan by using the Tesla app. In the Tesla app go to the Upgrades section and then tap Manage. If you currently subscribe to the monthly plan, you can also switch to yearly in this same section.

What is included for free, without Premium Connectivity?

The most important data features are included for free in your Tesla, such as phone notifications, software updates, updated navigation maps and even optimal navigation routing that takes live traffic into account.

What does Premium Connectivity include?

The features that require premium connectivity have mostly to do with entertainment while parked or driving. Keep in mind that all entertainment features are available to you if you're connected to WiFi or a hotspot.

Entertainment features that require premium connectivity include music streaming, such as Slacker and Spotify. It also includes video streaming services while parked such as Netflix, Disney+, YouTube and a few others. Keep in mind that some of those services still require a subscription. For example, YouTube is available for free, but Netflix requires a paid subscription. Tesla's premium connectivity simply lets you use the car's data connection to stream those services.

Additional services included in Premium Connectivity are:

• Internet browser - Browse the web to look up restaurants, destinations or other information. It can be used by the passenger while driving.
• Caraoke - Tesla's version of Karaoke which features hundreds of songs and displays the lyrics on the screen.
• Satellite view maps - This displays satellite imagery in your navigation instead of just the terrain view with streets.
• Live traffic visualizations - Traffic visualizations will show you which roads are congested and where traffic jams are located by coloring in the roads in various colors. The traffic view can be turned on or off by tapping the Live Traffic icon on the right side of the maps.
• Traffic Along Route - With Premium Connectivity, your route will be colored in various colors to highlight the areas with traffic.
• Traffic Lights and Speed Camera Icons - Traffic lights, stop signs, speed camera locations and other icons are displayed on the map.
• Traffic in Trip Progress Bar - The vehicle's trip progress bar will show you an overview of the traffic along your entire trip.
• Sentry Mode Videos in the App - If your video has Sentry Mode armed and there is an event, the Tesla app will notify you with a notification of the event and a one-minute video clip. The video clips can also be viewed in the app.
• Sentry Mode Live Access - You can view the live feed of most cameras on the vehicle within the app. Simply make sure Sentry Mode is activated and go to Security and tap on live view.
• Average Speed Zones - If your region uses average speed zones, your Tesla will now display when the speed zone started, how much longer until it ends and your average speed.
• Zoom - You can connect to meetings with the Zoom app (AMD Ryzen processor vehiciles only)
• Steam - You can download and play some Steam games on Model S and Model X vehicles that have access to Steam.

*These features are only available in some vehicles. Steam requires a 2021+ Model S or Model X with 16GB of ram or more, but it's not available on every model. Zoom is only available on vehicles with the AMD Ryzen processor.

Can I share my phone's data (hotspot) with my Tesla?

Yes, with software update 2021.24 and later, you can now choose to share your phone's data connection with your Tesla. It'll get you access to most of the features included with premium connectivity such as music streaming, internet browsing and you'll be able to use all of them while driving.

However there are two features that aren't available without Tesla's premium connectivity, even if you're using your phone as a hotspot. They include the live traffic visualization and the satellite imagery in maps.

Those two features aren't included when on WiFi or using a hotspot because they cost Tesla more than just the data to get them to you. Google provides Tesla both of those features for a fee. Tesla is simply including those fees they pay Google in their premium connectivity package price. So Tesla decides to not provide these features unless you're paying for the premium package.

Find out more about the remain connected to WiFi while in drive.

Follow

Follow

Follow

Tesla’s More Affordable Vehicle Update: Q1 2025

@DominicBRNKMN/X

Alongside the many things we learned about Unsupervised FSD and the Robotaxi program, we also got to find out a little more about Tesla’s more affordable vehicle in the Q1 2025 Earnings Call.

There has been extensive reporting on what the long-anticipated affordable EV option would become, and we’ve seen numerous news stories mentioning that it was delayed or even arriving on time. The executive team revealed the near-term and long-term plans for Tesla’s upcoming vehicles, and there’s definitely good news to share here.

Updated Timeline

The most important piece of news is that despite all the talk of delays from supposed inside sources, Tesla has confirmed that the plan for its more affordable model remains on schedule for production to begin in the first half of 2025. Tesla’s executive team narrowed that timeline down further - and said that they expect production to kick off as soon as June and that the new model will be in the market shortly thereafter.

While the production timeline itself is on track, Tesla did note that the subsequent ramping process will likely be slower than initially hoped, citing global tariff and financial impacts as challenges to overcome to prepare its production lines.

Hybrid Production Approach

Tesla has once again confirmed that this will not be their next-generation vehicle, built using new production methods. Instead, they outlined a relatively more pragmatic approach for this new model.

Tesla will utilize aspects of both the next-generation platform as well as some parts of its current platforms (namely the Model 3 and Model Y). This means that Tesla will produce this new vehicle on the same manufacturing lines as the Model 3 and Model Y.

This strategy allows Tesla to bring the vehicle to the market more quickly, while also managing capital expenditures more efficiently by using existing infrastructure. However, Tesla’s executive team also noted that this approach, while faster, will result in fewer cost reductions than what might have been achieved with an entirely new platform and dedicated manufacturing process.

Vehicle Design

Using these existing production lines means that Tesla’s new vehicle will likely share some considerable similarities with either the existing Model 3 or Model Y. Rather than being a radically different and smaller vehicle, this new model will resemble the overall form factor and shape of Tesla’s current core offerings, while being optimized for a lower cost.

This doesn’t mean that Tesla is forgetting the overall goal here. Their ultimate goal is to reduce the initial cost of ownership and lower monthly payments for customers while maintaining a standard of excellence and safety.

Not Unboxed

Both at this Earnings Call and previous ones, Tesla has indicated that this new vehicle will not be using the innovative unboxed assembly method, at least for the time being. That relatively unique method will be developed and implemented specifically for the purpose-built Cybercab and for future vehicles on the next-generation platform.

We’re just a few days away from May, so it won’t be long before we see more about this upcoming vehicle. Stay tuned.

Follow

Follow

Follow

U.S. Announces New Autonomous Vehicle Framework and What It Means for Tesla

Not a Tesla App

In a follow-up move to the current US administration’s goals to introduce a federal framework for autonomous vehicles, the US Department of Transportation (USDOT) is loosening autonomy restrictions following an announcement from Secretary Sean Duffy on X. This new initiative helps streamline complex regulatory processes and foster home-grown innovation.

From the Wright Brothers to the first astronauts on the moon, our nation has always been at the forefront of transportation technology.

That’s why today we're unveiling a new Automated Vehicle Framework from @USDOT’s Innovation Agenda ⬇️ ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/W3kbMUwQSn

— Secretary Sean Duffy (@SecDuffy) April 24, 2025

Automated Vehicle Framework

As part of the broader upcoming USDOT Innovation Agenda, the newly unveiled AV Framework is designed to promote American innovation and strengthen domestic engineering while maintaining existing safety standards. The framework centers around three key principles:

• Prioritize Safety

• Unleash Innovation

• Enable Commercial Deployment

To kickstart this AV framework, USDOT announced two initial steps focused on streamlining processes and expanding opportunities.

Crash Reporting Requirements

Under the first principle to Prioritize Safety, the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration (NHTSA) will maintain its Standing General Order requiring crash reporting on Advanced and Automated Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS and ADS). 

However, the reporting process will be streamlined following feedback from AV innovators, likely including Tesla. The goal here is to focus on collecting critical safety information while removing unnecessary or duplicative items from the reporting process, thereby reducing the burden without compromising safety.

Cutting Red Tape

Directly tied to the second principle of Unleash Innovation, the framework also seeks to slash red tape. The first step here is the expansion of the Automated Vehicle Exemption Program, or AVEP. This program allows manufacturers to petition for temporary exemptions from certain federal motor vehicle safety standards (FMVSS) for testing or deployment purposes.

Previously, the standard excluded domestically produced vehicles. Now, domestically produced AVs will not need to meet FMVSS, which will broaden the scope for manufacturers to test more innovative and unique designs and technologies.

Single National Standard for AVs

Finally, tied to the third principle of Enable Commerical Development, USDOT intends to move the United States closer to a single national standard for autonomous vehicles. This aims to prevent a confusing and inefficient patchwork of state-level or city-level laws and regulations, which can create hurdles for companies attempting to innovate, deploy, and scale their technology.

A unified standard across the United States also means that Canada and Mexico will likely be able to follow, as they share homologization standards across North America, including for vehicle crash safety and some autonomy regulations.

What This Means for Tesla

These framework changes will likely have a substantial impact on Tesla. The move towards a national standard is potentially the most impactful change, as Tesla identified regulatory hurdles as one of the most significant challenges it will face with the deployment of both Unsupervised FSD and its Robotaxi network.

The reduction of FMVSS requirements and streamlined reporting will likely play a role in the future as well. The FMVSS requirements are probably already being worked on, if not already met, by the Cybercab and other vehicles in Tesla’s lineup.

Meanwhile, the streamlined reporting will be helpful once Tesla officially launches its Robotaxi network in June.

You can read the official press release on the announcement here.

Follow

Follow

Follow