Tesla owners have a unique experience – they regularly wake up to find their cars have gained new features while they were sleeping. The electric automaker isn’t the only car builder to push out over-the-air software updates to its cars. But it does it far more often than others and offers more variety in the tweaks it sends.
The last round of updates, for instance, adds the Disney+ streaming service to the car’s central touchscreen (don’t worry – it only works when parked). The streaming video mode, called Tesla Theater, also includes YouTube, Netflix, Hulu, and Twitch.
The updates began downloading automatically to Model S, Y, X, and 3 vehicles late last week.
The update also allows drivers to keep the in-car Wi-Fi even while the car is driving. Prior updates allowed Wi-Fi only when the vehicle was parked. Allowing it while driving lets owners set up their car as a hotspot so that passengers can enjoy full connectivity.
Among other tweaks, the update adds a car wash mode. Tesla says the new feature “closes all windows, locks the charge port, and disables windshield wipers, sentry mode, walk-away door locks, and parking sensor chimes.” The mode makes sending the car through an automatic car wash easier.
Also, the vehicles’ built-in dash cams will now record video after any accident. The touchscreen will prompt drivers to opt-in to the dash cam setting, which stores the videos locally and does not send them to Tesla.
