Tesla has just released its newest software update, version 2024.26 to its employees. The update is now available for any employee that has access to “wave 1” releases.
We have our first look at the update and some of its most popular features. This is a large update that brings some of the most requested features to Tesla's OS, rivaling Tesla's recent Spring Update in terms of popularity.
YouTube Music and Amazon Music
In this update, Tesla has added two new music streaming services, including the popular YouTube Music and Amazon Music services. We first wrote about Tesla adding Amazon Music back in May, but it’s now official with update 2024.26.
Both of these music streaming services will require Tesla's $10 / month Premium Connectivity add-on or an active WiFi connection. You can also use your mobile phone's hotspot to get around the required Premium Connectivity, but this won't work for all premium features.
Tesla says that YouTube Music will let you access all of your liked and added songs, along with your playlists and artists and podcasts you've subscribed to. You'll need a subscription to YouTube Premium which costs $13.99 / month.
As for Amazon Music, any Amazon Prime members will be able to use Amazon Music in their Tesla without paying an additional subscription cost. Amazon also offers Amazon Music Unlimited, which will also be available but requires an Amazon subscription to use. Like YouTube Music, you'll need Tesla's Premium Connectivity feature or use a WiFi or hotspot connection to use Amazon Music.
Weather and Air Quality Index
In addition to the music services, Tesla has added two additional features if you subscribe to Premium Connectivity. Unfortunately, it looks like Tesla is paying a fee for this data, so it won't be available if you're on WiFi or a hotspot. You'll need to have a Premium Connectivity subscription to use these features.
Like Tesla has shown in China for a while, Tesla will now display the Air Quality Index in the vehicle's status bar. Unlike in China, this will only be displayed if the AQI is considered poor.
If the AQI is poor, then you'll see an AQI label at the top of the screen with the AQI reading.
You'll now also be able to tap the temperature reading in your vehicle and receive a weather report. When you tap the temperature, you'll see a popup that displays the day's high and low temperatures, as well as the chance of rain.
Lately, Tesla has really been pushing Premium Connectivity and it continues to add value to the service by adding additional features. Some of the features are available on WiFi, so you can try them out when connected at home or a nearby business, while others are only available when you subscribe to Premium Connectivity.
These updates in 2024.26 have been some of the most requested features, so it’s nice to see Tesla finally add them. A lot of users are still hoping Tesla will add SiriusXM music streaming, and with all the music services added lately, you gotta imagine that's coming soon. Especially when it means that Tesla could drop the required SiriusXM receiver in the Model S and Model X. Tesla is known for dropping hardware in favor of software solutions, so this seems like a candidate.
Release Date
Since this update has just gone out to wave 1 employees today, it could be a week or two before we see any customers receive this update in their vehicles. However, the amount of time varies from just a few days to several weeks, depending on the bugs found during employee testing. If you haven’t checked out all the features in Tesla update 2024.26, go on and take a look as there’s quite a bit more in there, including parental controls and a new climate screen.
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Tesla recently added ambient accent lighting to several of its vehicles, including the 2024 Model 3 Highland Refresh and the Cybertruck. Additionally, the Model Y in China also received ambient lighting, but this hasn’t come to other regions yet.
As part of update 2024.26.1, Tesla is adding on to the already great ambient lighting feature. In update 2024.14 Tesla added the ability for the ambient lights to turn red when you enter Service Mode, which is a nice touch.
Now, they’re taking it a step further with update 2024.26.1. You’ll now be able to control the brightness of the ambient lights in the Cybertruck and the 2024 Model 3. Previously, you could adjust the color to whatever you liked, but not how bright they were. The brightness of the lights was directly linked to the brightness of the vehicle display.
Tesla has also added a new “Night Only” option, which turns on the accent lights when conditions outside get dim. This is a nice addition, as while the strips are visible during daytime, in direct-light they’re not very noticeable. While LEDs do last for a considerable amount of time, this could help reduce the wear on the accent lights and let them last longer.
If you want to adjust the brightness or enable the new Night Only mode, you can navigate to Controls, and then look under Lights > Accent Lights. Since this is now uncoupled from the vehicle display brightness, you won’t have to worry about having your display too bright at night.
We’re not quite sure yet whether this applies to the Chinese Model Y with accent lighting, but it should.
We’re happy to see Tesla updating the accent light controls with the ability to adjust the brightness. Next up, we’re hoping to see Tesla change the color of the lights for certain features, such as when there’s a vehicle in your blind spot and perhaps even fun things such as syncing to the music being played.
Tesla added some long-awaited features in update 2024.26.1, which we’ve dubbed the Summer Update, due to the huge amount of new features that have been added.
The update has rolled out to just a small fraction of the fleet, but it’ll continue to roll out to more features in the coming weeks.
Two of the new features in this update have been hotly requested – a Weather Forecast and an Air Quality Index (AQI) indicator. So, let’s take a look at what’s been added.
Weather Forecast
Tesla has added a two-part weather UI to all vehicles in the 2024.26.1 update. The first portion is a forecast preview, located at the top of the screen, next to the current time and current outdoor temperature. There will be an icon that displays the current weather – overcast, cloudy, rainy, sunny, snowing – there should be plenty of preset weather types to see.
The second part is what happens when you tap on that icon or the current temperature. This will display a pop-out menu showing the forecast for the day, including current temperature and conditions, as well as a scrollable hour-by-hour forecast. It’ll also include the chance of rain, humidity, wind (and direction), UV Index, and Air Quality Index information.
The weather forecast and AQI in the status bar
Greggertruck/X
Air Quality Index
The Air Quality Index originally came to China a couple of years ago. In China, this information is displayed constantly on the vehicle UI. However, in North America and Europe, the AQI information in the UI is only shown if the AQI is considered “poor” or lower. If it’s below the threshold, it’ll be displayed next to the current temperature in the status bar.
If it’s not being shown, and you want to know what it is – the expanded weather prompt (by touching the weather forecast or temperature icons) – will show the current AQI at the bottom.
The Air Quality Index ranges from 0-500, with a lower number meaning cleaner air. We’re not quite sure how Tesla has categorized them, but the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), defines the AQIs as below:
AQI Value
EPA Condition
Tesla Condition
0 to 50
Good
Good
51 to 100
Moderate
Moderate
101 to 150
Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups
Poor
151 to 200
Unhealthy
Unhealthy
201 to 300
Very Unhealthy
300 to 500
Hazardous
We haven’t seen the Tesla names for ‘Very Unhealthy’ and ‘Hazardous’, but we’d expect them to be similar.
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