Tesla to Add Waze-like Reporting, Supercharger Congestion Fees, Better Alternate Routes, Autodial 911

Tesla to enhance it's alternate routes feature in an upcoming update

@TeslaRedThunder

When @greentheonly "peeks" into Tesla firmware, we pay attention. The well-known Tesla hacker has alerted us to changes for years. While sometimes he provides deep analysis of what he finds, other times it can be as simple as a few words that cause the Tesla community to go down the rabbit hole. The latest revelations found in the 2023.38 software update, reveal some enticing upcoming enhancements.

Supercharger Congestion Fees

Tesla cleverly addresses Supercharger availability concerns by bringing congestion fees for those charging beyond 80% at busy stations. This is a way to optimize station usage and a countermeasure against users extending their charge to dodge idle fees. With this change, Tesla promotes efficient Supercharger use, ensuring more users can access them when needed.

Object-on-Road Detection & Communication

Tesla's vision system is set to redefine real-time road awareness. Taking a leaf out of Waze's playbook but enhancing it significantly, Tesla will employ its cars as the sensors to feed the rest of the fleet in the area. When a Tesla detects an obstacle or hazard, other Teslas will promptly display the hazard on the map. This leap in connectivity leapfrogs apps like Waze which requires users to input road construction or hazards manually through the app.

Such a feature synergizes with the recent Emergency Safety Solutions, Inc. partnership. This company developed the recently enhanced hazard light pattern system on Tesla models. But it also has the Hazard Enhanced Location Protocol (HELP) software. It is primed to send digital signals to pre-warn drivers of looming hazards.

Every seven minutes, a disabled vehicle is involved in a crash on American roads. An alarming 15,000 injuries or fatalities annually. Given the startling statistics around crashes involving stationary vehicles, Tesla's adoption of HELP is a monumental stride towards safer roads.

Dynamic Alternate Route Suggestions

An upcoming software update will dynamically offer alternate route suggestions. Building on last year's introduction of an alternate route feature, Tesla drivers will be kept consistently informed about potential route changes, reminiscent of the dynamic route updates offered by Google Maps.

Autodial Emergency Services

Safety remains paramount for Tesla. According to Green's findings, Tesla is also looking to introduce an option to autodial 911 if an airbag deploys. In places where e-call isn't mandated, the system can tap into a connected phone via Bluetooth, ensuring that help is always a button away, irrespective of the region.

Release Date

While these features were found in decompiled code in the 2023.38 update, they are still a work in progress and need further development before they're made available. While it's possible that Tesla is already testing some of the features internally, it's also possible that they'll scrap one or more of these features.

Thanks to Green's casual peek behind the curtain, many of us will be anxiously awaiting Tesla's next update and upcoming holiday release.

Tesla’s Referral Program Launches in Europe

Not a Tesla App

Following its recent launch in the United States and Canada, Tesla has launched their referral program in several European countries as well.

The program is available in Germany, Norway, France, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and possibly others. The program is almost the same as the one available today in North America, with rewards for each referral and a discount for those referred. The cap in Europe is also ten per year.

This program comes right on the heels of a 0% financing offer for the Model Y in Sweden and France. While referrals aren't currently available in Sweden, the 0% financing still is.

European Referrals

The European Referral program accounts for country and local currency, where applicable.

The referral reward program is comparable to the one available in North America. After exchange rates, there is only an approximately 10% difference between the available rewards in the US and EU.

Other Countries

We expect this program to start rolling out to other European countries over the next few days or weeks, as Tesla continues to expand its referral program.

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Tesla's Android App Lags Behind Apple's: The Missing Features

Maxim

Tesla has confirmed that they submit app updates for Android and iOS apps at the same time, but we often see the iOS app updates released first possibly due to a quicker app review process at Apple.

However, we often see features implemented on the Apple version weeks or months before they’re implemented on Android. Today, the Android app is missing several key features, and the gap is starting to become a bit glaring.

Delayed App Updates

The Android app just received update 4.36.6 last night, while the Apple update was available as of September 1st.

That might not seem like a big deal, but in order to use the updated Actually Smart Summon, you’ll need app version 4.36.6, so any Andriod users that received update 2024.27.20 with the new Summon, couldn’t use it until yesterday.

We’re sure Tesla is on it, but it’s disappointing to see that key feature updates take days or a week longer to receive on Android. Apple and Google both offer the ability to set a release date for an app update, so Tesla could coordinate releasing the apps at the same time.

Ultra Wideband Support

Unfortunately, there’s no Ultra Wide Band (UWB) support on Android yet, which is an interesting omission since it’s such a great feature. Most Android phones, flagships, and cheaper phones alike, all support UWB.

Without UWB support Android phones can’t use Tesla’s newest phone key, which is only available for devices that support UWB. The new phone key improves reliability for unlocking the vehicle and setting the correct Tesla driver profile. To support the new phone key, you need a compatible phone (iPhone 11 or newer) and a newer vehicle that supports ultra wideband.

Hands-Free Trunk

Tesla’s new hands-free trunk feature, which allows you to automatically open your trunk by simply standing behind it for a couple of seconds, also isn’t available on Android devices. Tesla’s Hands-Free Trunk requires UWB support too, and Tesla originally mentioned it was coming to Android in May 2024.

For now, those are the features we know of that don’t work on Android today, and we’re hoping that Tesla brings both UWB support, as well as simultaneous app updates to the Google Play and Apple App Store by leveraging each store’s publish date feature.

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