You’re not making the right choice when Tesla indicates via the app or in the electric car that a software update is available: Although a download and install request can always be denied when in doubt, the company warns that no warranty covers damage caused by a missing update. Thanks to an improvement in the Tesla app, you can now roughly see what changes the new car software should bring. At the same time, there are more options for setting up guard or guard mode, which is difficult in Germany.
Tesla app with program notes up front
Until now, you always had to install new Tesla software first in order to be able to view the release notes on the car’s screen. Since you have to update anyway sooner or later, and many websites post hints as soon as new ones come out, this isn’t a big deal. However, the new feature in the app makes the experience more transparent — at least to a limited extent, because Tesla doesn’t always list all changes in the software’s notes.
The prerequisite for the preview via the app is that Tesla’s own software runs from version 2022.40, distributed from the beginning of November – to satisfy customers, and finally with improvements in automatic beams and windshield wipers. The Tesla app, in turn, must be at least version 4.15.0. As of that, part of this includes the “View Vehicle Software Release Notes” feature, according to their release notes on the App Store.
Instead of installing it first and then seeing what Tesla sent you, you can now do the opposite. You can try it with versions from 2022.44. Vehicle software that began to be distributed this week. According to hints now in the app (even after the update), it basically has two new sandbox features, with which you can keep a parked Tesla in a camera view of the area around you.
Sentinel mode now compatible with privacy?
In Germany, the vigil feature has been used many times by the police in investigations, but data protection advocates consider it forbidden in public places because it records without a compelling reason and for a long time. Now both can be changed: according to the instructions, the Tesla Guardian can be set so that it no longer reacts to approaches recorded by cameras, but only to vibrations or opening doors.
Thus, the monitoring mode is optionally less sensitive, reducing the number of sometimes loud false alarms on busy roads. At the same time, German privacy advocates must like it: A spokeswoman for the responsible authority in Berlin told teslamag.de last spring that if Tesla’s cameras only activated if there was a vibration, there would likely be no objection. In addition, the recording time after a sentinel has been triggered can now be reduced to less than the previous 10 minutes.
