Tesla goodies

I took delivery of my Tesla Model 3 in August of 2018. Most cars just get older with wear, but Teslas improve in some ways with age. It comes with over-the-air firmware updates. This post details some of the improvements to my car since I got it.

• Around the time I got my car, Consumer Reports downrated the Model 3 for its long stopping distance. Tesla sent an update that improved it. CR stated that it was the first time that they had ever encountered a car improve track performance without anyone touching the car.
• Improved range
• Improved acceleration
• Dash cam
• Save Dash cam video on Honk
• New software-update controls
• Priority setting for Bluetooth devices
• Voice keyboard
• Stardew Valley video game
• Chess
• Backgammon
• Classic arcade games
• Cuphead game
• Support for 250 kW charging
• Activate side cameras
• Camp Mode (facilitates sleeping in the car)
• Dog Mode (keeps AC on for pet and displays message for passers by with inside temperature reading)
• Joe Mode (reduces volume of vehicle notices so as not wake kids)
• Romance Mode (displays fireplace and plays romantic music)
• Smart summon (car will pick you up in a parking lot with no driver)
• Navigate on Autopilot (automatically change lanes to pass slower traffic, follow the route, exit and merge)
• More voice commands
• Stop sign warnings
• Dash cam viewer in car
• Traffic light and stop sign control (automatically stops)
• Fallout Shelter Game
• Beach Buggy Racing 2 game
• Tesla Theater (Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, Disney+, Twitch)
• Slacker streaming service
• Cabin camera activation
• Object aware acceleration (reduces how hard the car hits your garage door if you try to plow into it)
• Battery preconditioning for faster charging when routing to a Supercharger
• Option to disable walk-away door locks at home
• Sentry mode
• Range display options
• App can send notices if doors/trunks/windows left open
• Open and close windows from the app (NHTSA said no to closing the windows, so the closing feature was removed)
• Green traffic light chime
• Can read speed limit signs (previously relied on maps)
• Glovebox PIN
• Cat Quest game
• Battle of Polytopia game
• Solitaire
• Voice text messaging
• Emergency Lane Departure Avoidance feature
• Animal visualizations
• Cold weather improvements including increased regenerative braking
• Carioke
• Updated and improved web browser
• Sky Force reloaded game
• Detection of emergency vehicles
• Car wash mode
• Mirror auto dim
• Immersive sound
• Request Full Self-Driving Beta
• Safety score
• Full Self-Driving Beta 10 (and several subsequent releases)
• Display blind spot camera on screen with activation of turn signal
• Sonic the Hedgehog, Sudoku
• Christmas light show (all models)
• Waypoints in navigation system
• Boom box megaphone (for cars equipped with external speaker)
• Live camera access from the app
• Automatic seat heaters
• Customize app launcher
• Hide map details
• TikTok
• Tidal audio streaming
• Full Self-Driving Beta 11 (and several subsequent releases)
• Open garage door with the app (requires HomeLink option)
• Supercharger occupancy and pricing data display on maps
• Apple Music
• Support Bluetooth game controllers
• Steam game engine (some models only)
• Car handles stop signs, 4-way stops, roundabouts, traffic lights, lane changes and turns on city streets.
• Blind spot camera
• Blind spot warning
• User accessible diagnostic mode, including camera views and battery health

This may not be a complete list, and I didn’t list all the many improvements to existing features, particularly driving visualizations and self-driving. Oh, and as I type this, a new update is installing.