Firmware
Tesla Firmware 6.0 Updates Dashboard Display
I spent the morning hanging out at a body shop recently (ooo… yes… that IS a teaser, but you’ll have to wait to find out why). The guys there spend their days fiddling and finicking as they sort out cars that have been “modified” in accordance with the laws of physics. Their ultimate goal, of course, is to recreate a car so perfectly that even its owner can’t tell where it was previously damaged. Ah… but there’s a dark art to this far deeper than you might realize. The art of knowing when to stop trying to make something better– or, as one of fellows said (quoting someone else I wasn’t attentive enough to recall): “The enemy of good, is great.”
I think Tesla tried for great when they developed Version 6.0 firmware, but I’m reluctantly going to say that after all the build up and hype, so far, it is merely good. GASP!! What?? How dare I!! Let me show you what happens when the “the clock” popped up next to my “T”.
If you’re a fast scrolling type you’ll see that there are a lot of pictures here and even a video at the bottom (I was doing simultaneous Tesla and toilet upgrades — pretty sure that is a YouTube first). While I often seek to dazzle readers with extraneous photography, this time the pictures are here for coherent purposes in three sections. First we’ll look at the old graphics, then at the upgrade/installation process and then we’ll see what Tesla has wrought.
Stepping into the Tesla for the last 3 months has always yielded the beautiful view above. Rich and dark grey and black tones with Serena spotlit in the middle. I choose to think of it as a model on a catwalk but I suppose as the car ages and IF it ever gets glitchy, that will morph into the bright light of an interrogator’s lamp. “WHY WON’T YOU ____?!?”
The center display– shown here in night mode– sports the same general look it has had since the car was launched. I’d bet it would be difficult to distinguish between a car running 5.12 (like mine) and a car running whatever the first software version was cleverly named.
Looking at the top icons more closely, you can see the yellow alarm clock sitting beside the “T”. If you’re the first person in the car you’d actually see a notice for the upgrade. If, however, you have children… <sigh> they will close this notification and your only heads up will be that little clock. The webpage I have open in this picture is a handy one– even has a notepad function that appears to save your inputs from one day/user to the next. It could be a very handy message board.
Back to the dash display with the car in drive mode, you can see the speedo-kilo-regeno-meter has replaced our fashion model car picture. The background is a brushed black aluminum type surface and the main dial has a burnished quality to it. Looking more closely, you can see the suggestion of a glass bubble sort of back-lighting the main dial. A light source that appears to be your face (maybe I need some Biden-style spray tanner?) creates a nice reflection on center section of the dial. The faux swirl marks and highlights are most noticeable here.
If your children haven’t already negated your numerous excited trips to check for this window by secretly “x”ing it out, you’ll find it popping up when your firmware download has finished. There are lots of rumors, voodoo rituals,electrical sacrifices and networking exorcisms that can supposedly increase the availability and speed at which you receive your upgrade notice… but from what I’ve read, my conclusion is that it comes when it comes and it downloads when it downloads (and sleep mode doesn’t appear to have any affect on it).
Once you’ve clicked the install button, a two minute countdown timer appears and warns you to not anger or look disparagingly at Happy Fun Ball.
Omigosh… here it goes! What follows is a spooky sequence of creaks, groans, flashing headlights, louvers popping and loud clicks. This drama goes on for the duration of the installation and charging will stop for most of it. Your clue that all is back to normal will be when charging resumes and your UMC’s green light starts happily throbbing again.
A headline feature of this version 6.0 is that you can name your Tesla. Okay. Did that. Wow. Moving on…. I suppose this is amazeballs to those of you with smartphones and apps, but here in the land of leaky toilets and Tracfones… sigh. I’d be more impressed if Serena’s name appeared somewhere on the displays ALL the time and not just when summoned from the “T”.
Viewing the center display the only apparent change is the addition of the calendar app’s button. It does show the current date on the button (so you can see how much procrastination went into writing this post– DOH!) but otherwise all the backgrounds and textures are unchanged. Launching the calendar app is a good way to remind yourself that you ONLY HAVE A TRACFONE. Sigh.
Spinning the main dial around into drive mode reveals even bigger changes. The lighting effects are a lot less dramatic and the contrast overall is flatter.
The deep rims around the main dial and the inset center section are gone, replaced with simpler shapes. I believe the numbers are bolder too– but that’s hard, even with pictures, to verify. The three outer sections of the main dial are also more clearly sectioned off from each other. Most helpfully, we’ve gained a white line on the rated range bar– the single biggest improvement to my eyes. On the old bar graph the edge of the charged status could be hard to pick out as the bright green of a full battery turned into the sickly yellow of a nearly empty one.
Every change Tesla makes to the fleet results in a firestorm of debate and Monday morning quarterbacking. Just as I’ve laid out my case for why the original graphics looked better, my wife strolls past and tells me that I’m wrong. Granted, this is not an unusual occurrence, but in this case I was a bit surprised. My assumption was that women would be most disappointed to see some gilding removed from the lily– but as she put it: the primary job of the instrument display is to convey information and now it does it in a clearer manner than before. It’s just easier to read at a glance.
I will reluctantly concede the point.
But I still miss the old graphics– at least up until the moment I see the orange needle fly up!
Check out my video “tour” and discussion of the upgrading process and what it has to do with a leaky toilet– oh yes, there’s a toilet cameo!
Thanks for visiting us here!
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It appears that Tesla may be preparing to roll out some subscription-based services soon. Based on the observations of a Wales-based Model 3 owner who performed some reverse-engineering on the Tesla mobile app, it seems that the electric car maker has added a new “Subscribe” option beside the “Buy” option within the “Upgrades” tab, at least behind the scenes.
A screenshot of the new option was posted in the r/TeslaMotors subreddit, and while the Tesla owner in question, u/Callump01, admitted that the screenshot looks like something that could be easily fabricated, he did submit proof of his reverse-engineering to the community’s moderators. The moderators of the r/TeslaMotors subreddit confirmed the legitimacy of the Model 3 owner’s work, further suggesting that subscription options may indeed be coming to Tesla owners soon.
Did some reverse engineering on the app and Tesla looks to be preparing for subscriptions? from r/teslamotors
Tesla’s Full Self-Driving suite has been heavily speculated to be offered as a subscription option, similar to the company’s Premium Connectivity feature. And back in April, noted Tesla hacker @greentheonly stated that the company’s vehicles already had the source codes for a pay-as-you-go subscription model. The Tesla hacker suggested then that Tesla would likely release such a feature by the end of the year — something that Elon Musk also suggested in the first-quarter earnings call. “I think we will offer Full Self-Driving as a subscription service, but it will be probably towards the end of this year,” Musk stated.
While the signs for an upcoming FSD subscription option seem to be getting more and more prominent as the year approaches its final quarter, the details for such a feature are still quite slim. Pricing for FSD subscriptions, for example, have not been teased by Elon Musk yet, though he has stated on Twitter that purchasing the suite upfront would be more worth it in the long term. References to the feature in the vehicles’ source code, and now in the Tesla mobile app, also listed no references to pricing.
The idea of FSD subscriptions could prove quite popular among electric car owners, especially since it would allow budget-conscious customers to make the most out of the company’s driver-assist and self-driving systems without committing to the features’ full price. The current price of the Full Self-Driving suite is no joke, after all, being listed at $8,000 on top of a vehicle’s cost. By offering subscriptions to features like Navigate on Autopilot with automatic lane changes, owners could gain access to advanced functions only as they are needed.
Elon Musk, for his part, has explained that ultimately, he still believes that purchasing the Full Self-Driving suite outright provides the most value to customers, as it is an investment that would pay off in the future. “I should say, it will still make sense to buy FSD as an option as in our view, buying FSD is an investment in the future. And we are confident that it is an investment that will pay off to the consumer – to the benefit of the consumer.” Musk said.
Tesla has started rolling out update 2020.36 this weekend, introducing a couple of notable new features for its vehicles. While there are only a few handful of vehicles that have reportedly received the update so far, 2020.36 makes it evident that the electric car maker has made some strides in its efforts to refine its driver-assist systems for inner-city driving.
Tesla is currently hard at work developing key features for its Full Self-Driving suite, which should allow vehicles to navigate through inner-city streets without driver input. Tesla’s FSD suite is still a work in progress, though the company has released the initial iterations of key features such Traffic Light and Stop Sign Control, which was introduced last April. Similar to the first release of Navigate on Autopilot, however, the capabilities of Traffic Light and Stop Sign Control were pretty basic during their initial rollout.
2020.36 Showing Speed Limit Signs in Visualization from r/teslamotors
With the release of update 2020.36, Tesla has rolled out some improvements that should allow its vehicles to handle traffic lights better. What’s more, the update also includes a particularly useful feature that enables better recognition of speed limit signs, which should make Autopilot’s speed adjustments better during use. Following are the Release Notes for these two new features.
Green Traffic Light Chime
“A chime will play when the traffic light you are waiting for turns green. If you are waiting behind another car, the chime will play once the car advances unless Traffic-Aware Cruise Control or Autosteer is active. When Traffic Light and Stop Sign Control is activated, a chime will play when you can confirm to proceed through a green traffic light. To enable, tap Controls > Autopilot > Green Traffic Light Chime.
“Note: This chime is only designed as a notification. It is the driver’s responsibility to observe their environment and make decisions accordingly.”
Speed Assist Improvements
“Speed Assist now leverages your car’s cameras to detect speed limit signs to improve the accuracy of speed limit data on local roads. Detected speed limit signs will be displayed in the driving visualization and used to set the associated Speed Limit Warning.
“As usual, to adjust Speed Assist settings, tap Controls > Autopilot > Speed Limit.”
Footage of the new green light chime in action via @NASA8500 on Twitter ✈️ from r/teslamotors
Amidst the rollout of 2020.36’s new features, speculations were abounding among Tesla community members that this update may include the first pieces of the company’s highly-anticipated Autopilot rewrite. Inasmuch as the idea is exciting, however, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has stated that this was not the case. While responding to a Tesla owner who asked if the Autopilot rewrite is in “shadow mode” in 2020.36, Musk responded “Not yet.”
Tesla has rolled out a free three-month trial subscription to Sirius XM, in what appears to be the company’s latest push into making its vehicles’ entertainment systems more feature-rich. The new Sirius XM offer will likely be appreciated by owners of the company’s vehicles, especially considering that the service is among the most popular satellite radios in the country today.
Tesla announced its new offer in an email sent on Monday. An image that accompanied the communication also teased Tesla’s updated and optimized Sirius XM UI for its vehicles. Following is the email’s text.
“Beginning now, enjoy a free, All Access three-month trial subscription to Sirius XM, plus a completely new look and improved functionality. Our latest over-the-air software update includes significant improvements to overall Sirius XM navigation, organization, and search features, including access to more than 150 satellite channels.
“To access simply tap the Sirius XM app from the ‘Music’ section of your in-car center touchscreen—or enjoy your subscription online, on your phone, or at home on connected devices. If you can’t hear SiriusXM channels in your car, select the Sirius XM ‘Subscription’ tab for instruction on how to refresh your audio.”
Tesla has actually been working on Sirius XM improvements for some time now. Back in June, for example, Tesla rolled out its 2020.24.6.4 update, and it included some optimizations to its Model S and Model X’s Sirius XM interface. As noted by noted Tesla owner and hacker @greentheonly, the source code of this update revealed that the Sirius XM optimizations were also intended to be released to other areas such as Canada.
Interestingly enough, Sirius XM is a popular feature that has been exclusive to the Model S and X. Tesla’s most popular vehicle to date, the Model 3, is yet to receive the feature. One could only hope that Sirius XM integration to the Model 3 may eventually be included in the future. Such an update would most definitely be appreciated by the EV community, especially since some Model 3 owners have resorted to using their smartphones or third-party solutions to gain access to the satellite radio service.
The fact that Tesla seems to be pushing Sirius XM rather assertively to its customers seems to suggest that the company may be poised to roll out more entertainment-based apps in the coming months. Apps such as Sirius XM, Spotify, Netflix, and YouTube, may seem quite minor when compared to key functions like Autopilot, after all, but they do help round out the ownership experience of Tesla owners. In a way, Sirius XM does make sense for Tesla’s next-generation of vehicles, especially the Cybertruck and the Semi, both of which would likely be driven in areas that lack LTE connectivity.
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