Tesla Features in Development: Karaoke 'Recording Studio,' New Trip Planner and Trailer Estimate Improvements (2024)

As Tesla rolls out update 2024.20 with adaptive headlight support in the U.S. and Canada, as well as improvements to adaptive headlights in Europe, it’s also testing out some things under the hood.

Every release includes other smaller changes that go unlisted. In addition, there are sometimes other code additions or features that aren’t active yet or development is still ongoing.

Shadow Mode

Sometimes Tesla runs changes in shadow mode, meaning that the change is in the software, but it’s running in the background. This is often useful if you have a working version of a feature, but are planning to replace it with an updated or improved version.

A good example is when Tesla started rolling out Park Assist for vehicles without ultrasonic sensors. For months, Tesla was running the updated Tesla Vision system in shadow mode and comparing its output to the values provided by ultrasonic sensors. By using the ultrasonic sensors as the “truth,” Tesla was able to constantly improve its vision-based replacement before finally rolling it out to users.

In update 2024.20, Tesla has several changes happening under the hood. Some of them are likely gathering data and others running may be running in shadow mode.

New “Voyage” Trip Planner

Tesla’s trip planner received a big update in December of 2022 and has been exceptionally performant. It provides accurate trip data, calculating in Supercharger stops – including wait times and station closures, and factors in elevation, user driving style, and traffic all into one package.

However, it has been a while since Tesla has made updates to the trip planner. Tesla hacker Greentheonly dug deep into 2024.20.1 and found a new trip planner called “Voyage” hidden in the update. It seems to be a full rewrite of the trip planner functionality.

At this point, no further details are available, but it could be integrated with 8/8’s Robotaxi announcement. It may be running in shadow mode now, letting Tesla gather data and compare it to the current implementation.

Updates to Maps & Towing

It looks like Tesla is also making some updates to maps, according to Green. He noticed that Tesla is using a new Google Places API that is used for points of interest.

There are also towing changes in this update, but don’t appear to be activated yet. They could provide more accurate range estimates. Previously, users would have to take into account the impact on range from trailer towing on their own. In the future, Tesla may be taking your trailer load into account when determining your range.

Caraoke to Gain Recording Mode

Caraoke, Tesla’s version of Karaoke, is also expected to gain a new recording mode according to Green. He spotted references to a new “Recording Studio”, enabling you to record your karaoke session. It would also give you the ability to add special effects to the recording. When Tesla adds this functionality, we could see it come with an export option that would let you save it onto a USB drive, letting you share it with friends on social media.

It’d be fun if Tesla also incorporated the cabin camera so that the recording featured everyone singing as well, but we may just have to wait and see how Tesla plans to incorporate changes to its Caraoke service.

Tesla recently started rolling out update 2024.20.1. While the update isn’t as massive as the 2024.14 ‘Spring Update,’ which included an updated media player and a UI refresh, it does add features that owners have been looking forward to. These features include headlights that adapt to curves in the road, illuminate further down the road, an updated Autopilot suspension system and even activates the self-presenting front doors in newer Model X vehicles.

However, another change went unmentioned in the release notes, and that’s the removal of Tesla Atari games for some vehicles. The change was spotted by Tesla hacker, Greentheonly, and was later confirmed by several owners.

Atari Games

Tesla Atari games, which are powered by a MAME arcade emulator and are a part of Tesla Arcade, have been removed from vehicles with the AMD Ryzen processor. Interestingly, Intel-based infotainment units still have access to the Atari games, but with them being removed from AMD vehicles, it may only be a matter of time before these games are removed from other MCU 2 cars as well.

This includes games such as Gravitar, Tempest, Millipede, Missile Command, Lunar Lander, Super Breakout, and Asteroids.

Tesla Atari games were the first games Tesla introduced with Tesla Arcade, which was initially called TeslAtari.

While some of these games can still be fun to play today, they likely didn't get much use given Tesla's more modern games such as Cuphead and Sky Force Reloaded.

Tesla recently removed Steam support from the new Model S and Model X in what could be related to supply or cost-cutting reasons.

On a positive note, Teslas now have access to more than 75 games thanks to YouTube Playables. Playables allows you to play classic mobile games such as Cut the Rope directly in your Tesla browser.

Since you can use the YouTube app or leverage the new full-screen button in the browser, these games are playable full-screen just like the rest of the games in Tesla Arcade.

At one point, it looked like Steam was the future of gaming in Teslas. Steam allowed users to play hundreds of different games without Tesla having to port each individual title. However, now with the removal of Steam and Tesla Atari, it seems like YouTube is picking up the slack. Tesla may be perfectly content with YouTube and others developing games that are playable in your Tesla. While Tesla may miss out on a competitive advantage, it will help free up some resources to focus on other Tesla initiatives.

Today on X, Elon Musk has confirmed that there will not be a Model Y refresh coming in 2024, to match the recent Model 3 refresh.

This news isn’t exactly surprising given the fact that nobody has seen any covered-up test vehicles in either China or the US, but still a disappointment for eager fans and potential buyers waiting to buy the updated vehicle.

Continuous Improvement

Elon did mention in his post that Tesla continuously iterates on its vehicles, even without a full-blown refresh. He noted that even a vehicle that is 6 months newer will be a little bit better.

There has been some continuous improvement seen in China – the updated Model Y in China comes with a new dash, including ambient lighting for the dash area, updated trim from wood to black and grey cloth, and the new black Gemini wheel covers (which recently did come to North America).

There are also some under-the-hood changes, including an update for the Model Y Standard Range’s 0-100 km/h (0-60mph) from 6.9 seconds to 5.9 seconds. The Long Range and Performance variants also received slightly better ranges, with improvements in the battery technology.

Sadly, none of these updates have filtered into North America – not even through Canada, as all Canadian Model Y’s are currently manufactured in Giga Shanghai, right next to Chinese vehicles.

Juniper When?

The Refresh Y, codenamed Juniper – will eventually arrive when Tesla deems the time is right. However, the 3’s Highland refresh and ramp-up is probably Tesla’s main focus at the moment, and with the current version of the Model Y still being one of the world’s best-selling vehicle, there is no rush to bring Project Juniper to customers just yet.

We may see test vehicles sometime later this year in China or the United States. However, China may receive the Juniper update before North America and Europe. China unveiled the new Model 3 in September 2023, with Highland coming globally in 2024.

We also previously reported that China has begun to slow down its Model Y production, which could indicate the preparation for retooling, but it is too early to tell whether this is related to Project Juniper yet.