Tesla update delivers long-awaited Apple Watch app – and all-important Cybertruck Santa Mode

• A new Tesla Holiday Update has delivered a raft of new features
• New Apple Watch app allows vehicles to be unlocked from the wrist
• Major updates to autonomous driving features have landed, too

Tesla is getting into the festive spirit early with an over-the-air update for its fleet of vehicles that will introduce a host of new software features.

Arguably the biggest news is the introduction of a bespoke app for Apple Watch owners, which will allow them to use the smartwatch as a key to remotely lock and unlock the vehicle, as well as view battery charge, switch on and adjust the climate controls, and remotely open the ‘frunk’.

There have also been a number of improvements to mapping, with the ability for drivers to set a desired energy level on arrival, which sees the route planner add or remove charging stops along the journey depending on the desired level set.

Estimated detour times have also been introduced for the first time, with the mapping system intelligently adding time onto the ETA should the user choose to stop for coffee or a quick charge. Plus, a precipitation overlay has been added to the maps, which takes live weather data and neatly visualizes this at the destination point in the form of a rain radar.

Just in time for the holiday season, Tesla has also thrown in a few festive treats, including the ability to transform the Cybertruck avatar into Santa's sleigh, with reindeers, elves and more. Sadly, this feature is solely for Cybertruck owners.

If Santa isn’t your thing, Tesla also now allows custom wraps for the Cybertruck avatar that is displayed on-screen, with the option to select from a number of preloaded designs or custom creations. A post on X states that details on template and instructions will be published via Github at a later date.

Not ones to exclude owners of Model 3, Model Y and Model X, Tesla also states that owners can now remotely schedule Light Shows from the Tesla app, including two new, presumably festive, Light Shows that come courtesy of the Holiday Update.

Similar to Rivian’s Halloween japes, this will allow owners and passers-by to 'enjoy' a themed flashing of the vehicle's front and rear lamps when the vehicle is parked.

Finally, Tesla’s fart noises have also been taken up notch with a new ‘bum detection’ Fart on Contact feature that essentially transforms any seat inside a Tesla into a virtual whoopee cushion.

It joins the Fart on Demand and Fart on Turn Signal features when the software update rolls out to owners in the coming weeks.

Full Self-Driving shifts into gear

Alongside the new features bundled into the upcoming 2024 Holiday Update, Tesla is also slowly releasing FSD V13.2 to a handful of its trusted early testers, with a view to rolling it out to the rest of the fleet before the new year.

Although we are still some way from Musk’s much-promised Unsupervised Full Self-Driving (FSD), the update adds a slew of serious features that will drastically reduce the number of interventions – or cases where the driver has to take over driving duties.

Following the OTA update, any vehicle – bar the Cybertruck – with Tesla Hardware 4 (dubbed A14 and introduced on 2023 models or later), will be able to run FSD from “parked to parked”.

This means users can set their destination while the vehicle is stationary, select FSD mode, and the vehicle will now autonomously shift out of park and into drive or reverse in order to get to its destination.

The update also means vehicles can essentially perform three-point turns and other tricky maneuvers without input from the driver, while being able to hunt down and position themselves into prime parking spots at a chosen destination without user intervention.

Tesla has long-hyped a fully autonomous future, with Musk suggesting that Unsupervised Full Self-Driving will arrive in the second quarter of 2025, but many believe these targets are still ambitious given the current patchy performance of the FSD software.

That said, the latest software update means that some owners will theoretically be able to travel from a parked position on a driveway or in a garage to a parking spot at a chosen destination without having to lift a finger – only being behind the wheel and paying attention to the road in case the system requires user intervention.

Yes, Tesla's system still requires eyes on the road for both safety and legal reasons, but the updates feel like big steps towards a fully autonomous future.

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