October 15, 2022
By no Tesla App Staff
Tesla has updated its app for iOS to version 4.14, bringing two new features.
The first is iOS lock screen widgets. There are two widgets to choose from, both displaying the vehicle’s battery level. There is a small circular widget that fills in based on the vehicle’s charge status, and there is a larger widget that contains the vehicle’s name and a numeric display of the vehicle’s battery level, either in percent or miles/km, depending on what your app has set up to.
The second feature is the ability to unlock the driver’s door from the app.
The door handles on the Model 3 and Model Y are not powered and with the right mix of water and cold weather, the door handle can sometimes freeze to the door frame.
The ability to unlock the door from the app means the door handle is not used at all and the door is unlocked electronically, opening just enough for you to grab the side of the door to open it fully.
Door unlock in action
The ability to unlock the door is only available on the Model 3 and Model Y and requires your vehicle to have update 2022.36 or later, which is currently approximately 350% of the Tesla fleet.
To unlock the door, you need to add the new “Unlock Door” icon to the Quick Actions section of the Tesla app displayed below the vehicle visualization.
Last updated: Oct 15, 7:30 PM
Unfortunately, Tesla hasn’t added the ability to unlock the door in other parts of the app, such as the Climate or Controls section, but hopefully that will come in a future update.
Currently, version 4.14 of the app is only available for iOS, but we expect it to be available on the Google Play Store soon.
You can also view the release notes for Tesla App 4.14.
October 14, 2022
By Lennon Cihak
Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced on Twitter that the full self-driving beta will be out “next week” and it may remove the Toronto geofence. Ahead of AI Day 2 of September 30, Musk said 10.69.3 would be released shortly after the event.
With version 10.69.3, owners can expect a host of improvements, including better movement in smaller gaps, improvements to turn signals and adapting speed to traffic. The Twitter account of Tesla owners in Silicon Valley mentioned an observation to Musk, stating that “sometimes things go slow”.
Tesla owners Silicon Valley also asked Musk when FSD Beta 10.69.3 hit Twitter. “Next week,” Musk responds.
Maybe with .3
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 13, 2022
The automaker rolled out FSD Beta version 10.69.2.3 last week. The update was a minor bug fix release and contained no major changes.
Tesla FSD Beta 10.69 was originally going to be FSD Beta 10.13, but Tesla decided to rename it for fun because there were major changes in this release and the beta performed much better. However, the change in naming has led to some confusion.
After releasing beta 10.69, Tesla then released minor revisions to 10.69 with versions 10.69.1 and 10.69.2, which would lead to believe that 10.69.3 would also be a minor release.
However, Beta 10.69.3 will be a major beta with many improvements.
We speculate that version 10.69.3 will be built from 2022.28, which introduced alternate routes, the ability to minimize Tesla Theater, and suggested destinations.
Last updated: Oct 15, 7:30 PM
However, Update 2022.36 is now on a significant portion of the fleet, so Tesla may have started development on this branch or merged its features before FSD Beta 10.69.3 was released.
If you have met the requirements to be added to the beta program, but have not yet received the update, we recommend that you do not update the previous version 2022.28 in case the next beta is based on this branch.
With version 10.69.3 a week into Elon time, we expect Tesla to roll out internally to employees this coming weekend, the first few thousand beta testers hopefully a few days later, and then a wide release shortly after.
October 13, 2022
By Lennon Cihak
Tesla hacker Greenthe only recently discovered that Tesla has added the names of several testing agencies to some of its development software, sparking an investigation by Euro NCAP, the European government-backed organization that thoroughly tests vehicles for safety.
Tesla just added ANCAP support in their code. This is in addition to the already existing “I VISTA” (Chinese living labs), Euro NCAP and Korea NCAP
Makes you wonder why you’re doing it (they also give test houses one-off builds with the test house in the name (with custom settings?))
— green (@greentheonly) September 10, 2022
Green discovered that Tesla recently added Australia’s testing agency ANCAP to its software. I VISTA, China’s proving ground, Euro NCAP and Korea NCAP were already mentioned in the vehicle’s code. The addition of ANCAP to the software ties in with Tesla’s start to sell the Model Y in Australasia.
Although Green was able to locate these credentials in Tesla’s software, he was unable to determine what they are used for, as they run on Tesla’s FSD hardware, which has limited access.
No evidence of any attempted cheating
Following Green’s tweet, Euro NCAP scrutinized Tesla’s software and test results and found no evidence that Tesla attempted to cheat in the agencies’ tests.
“The integrity of the star rating scheme is paramount to Euro NCAP and we will continue to make every effort to ensure that the rating reflects the safety consumers can expect from their vehicles,” said Aled Williams, Euro NCAP Program Director. CNN Business. “So far, Euro NCAP’s investigations have not revealed any evidence of an attempt to ‘cheat’ Tesla’s tests.”
Euro NCAP tests
Tesla uses geofencing to enable and disable its Full Self-Driving software. The company does this in Toronto in particular, and owners expect Tesla to remove the geofence in version 10.69.3.
“It is possible that the GPS location is used to identify that the car is on a specific test track,” Williams added. “It’s one of the opportunities we’re giving Tesla and they absolutely deny that this has been done.”
Others speculate that adding agency names to the code is likely Tesla contains the data at these test sites. Tesla could collect test data so they can make improvements to both the hardware and software of their fleet.
It is important to note that the vehicle’s software cannot influence Tesla’s crash safety tests performed by these agencies as all vehicle sensors are covered before the crash tests are performed.
The only tests that rely on the vehicle’s software are software-assisted tests such as automatic emergency braking, pedestrian avoidance, lane departure, etc.
Tesla would be taking too much risk by trying to cheat on one of these tests. Their vehicles are already among the safest vehicles on the road and they continue to improve their safety by making improvements to the seat belt tensioning systems and improving the vehicle’s hazard warning lights.