Nervous Parents Now Have Another Reason To Buy Teens A Tesla

Earlier this month, reports suggested big changes were coming to Tesla cars via an over-the-air update. Now, the automaker has confirmed this, with update 2024.26 coming with an array of convenience and safety features. The most important changes (for parents, at least) are the improved parental controls.

Parents can now apply a maximum speed limit, force active safety features to stay on, and even enable notifications if the car is driven past a curfew. Importantly, the rapid acceleration Tesla is known for can be set to ‘chill,’ which means teen drivers can’t put themselves in dangerous situations. All these settings are locked via a PIN, which means other drivers can’t fiddle with the preconfigured settings.

Easier To Find Tricky Destinations

Navigating to destinations has also been made much easier. For example, if you’re headed to the airport, you can now set sub-destinations (like a specific terminal) reducing the chance of getting lost. This is particularly handy for ride-share drivers or if you’re picking up/dropping off someone in a crowded area (sporting arena, train station, etc).

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Elsewhere, the weather forecast has been improved with more details. Occupants must simply tap on the ‘temperature’ display, where they’ll find additional information about the weather. Tesla also says there’s an indicator for poor air quality in the status bar, giving you an idea of how much toxicity you’re inhaling from cars around you.

What Else Can Tesla Owners Expect?

Moving on to entertainment, both Amazon Music and YouTube Music are now available as native apps, providing drivers with more choices when listening to their favorite tunes. Rivian has made a similar change in recent months, by adding YouTube and Google Cast to the R1S and R1T. On the gaming front, Castle Doombad Classic now includes the complete original game and supports touch, says Tesla. Updates have also been made to Polytopia Elyrion and Vampire Survivors.

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These aren’t the only changes Tesla has made. There’s now a scheduled preconditioning and charging option. This means owners can adjust their charging schedule daily and set a charge end time. Other convenience features include the ability to adjust the ambient lighting brightness, automatic fan speed reduction during phone calls, TeslaMic support in the United States, and updates to the Zoom conference call feature. When the car is in park, the screen reverts to full screen. FSD Supervised is also available for MCU1 vehicles, while the Model 3 and Model Y gain less complicated climate controls. All these features are welcomed and will make owning a Tesla an even more enjoyable experience. Next month, customers can expect improvements to be made to FSD with an Actually Smart Summon feature, and more.