Firmware
Tesla improves Model X falcon wing doors with better obstacle detection
Tesla began pushing out a new over-the-air software update giving the vehicle’s falcon wing doors and rear liftgate better obstacle detection. The update v7.1 (2.24.78) represents the second major update the company has released that’s intended to improve the operation of the complex and sensor-laden Model X falcon wing doors.
During last month’s Tesla shareholder meeting, CEO Elon Musk announced two upcoming over the air software updates intended to solve remaining issues with the falcon wing doors. “The software that controls the Model X and the operation of the doors has been incredibly difficult to refine,” Musk admitted at the time. “I think we’re almost there in making the doors useful.”
“Digging ourselves out of the hole has been quite, quite hard,” he admitted. “I think with the software release that’s going out shortly and then the other one that’s going out in a month or so, I think finally we’ll be at a point where the doors will be better than normal doors as opposed to worse.”
That first update made controlling the falcon wing doors from the touchscreen more intuitive. What used to take several steps to close now takes only a single press of a key fob. With the latest v7.1 (2.24.78) update, Model X will limit how high the doors and rear liftgate will open when it detects low overhead clearance. Building on previous features that allows the vehicle to save ride height settings by location, the new software update will allow Model X to save door height settings by location.
Among other improvements bundled within the v7.1 update is the ability to open the driver’s front door through the key fob. Currently, the unique self-presenting front doors can be closed either by proximity detection to the key fob (when walking away) and via a press of a button (see video). However opening the doors requires either a manual press of a recessed door button or being within a finite distance of the vehicle.
Musk has always said that the Tesla Model X falcon wing doors was motivated by the problems he faced on his Audi Q7. Musk found getting into and out of the Audi’s third row seats to be almost impossible. “The Audi Q7 is particularly horrendous,” he told Forbes during an interview in 2012. “Even in the best case scenario, you need to be a dwarf mountain climber to get into the back seat.” He told his designers he wanted doors on the Model X that would allow people unrestricted access to the third row seats.
Ludicrous Tesla Model X at the San Simeon, CA coast
On one hand, the falcon wing doors are a stunning innovation. Not only do they accomplish the goal Musk set, they have come to define the Model X. People are mesmerized by how they articulate in several ways at once. They have come to symbolize the whole Tesla experience — a bold step into the future that recognizes no boundaries.
On the other hand, those doors have caused Tesla enormous headaches. The complex engineering task delayed the debut of the Model X long past its original due date. Since production began, customers have complained about doors that don’t open or close properly. On occasion, the sensors built into the doors have failed to detect objects overhead, leading to damage from encounters with roof beams and other obstacles.
TMC member FoxXxy posted this photo on April 15 and said, “Guess the honeymoon on my Model X is over!”
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Is this the final step in falcon wing door development? Probably not. Tesla is always considering feedback from owners and working to improve the performance of its vehicles. It is still the only company that uses over the air software updates on a regular basis — something other manufacturers are just starting to consider.
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Firmware
Tesla unlocks in-car web conferencing to extend Google Meet, Teams and beyond
Tesla’s Summer Update lets owners join Google Meet, Teams, and Discord calls via cabin camera.
Tesla’s 2026 Summer Update, which just began rolling out to customer vehicles, now links the built-in web browser with the in-cabin camera feed and microphone input, thereby letting owners join video calls on nearly any browser-based service instead of just Zoom.
The change appears in Tesla’s own release notes for software version 2026.26 under “Web Browser,” which states that the vehicle can now use its interior camera and cabin microphone when a website requests access, with permission granted the same way a desktop browser handles it. As NotATeslaApp notes, this feature opens the door to Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Discord, and other webcam-enabled sites to activate the in-car cabin-facing camera. The feed automatically crops and zooms to center the driver in frame.
Tesla has offered in-car video calling before, but only through a dedicated Zoom app that launched at the end of 2022, a stripped-down browser preloaded with Zoom’s own web client and gated behind Premium Connectivity. Opening the full browser to any camera-requesting site removes that walled garden. Elon Musk first called video conferencing “definitely a future feature” back in 2020, when the pandemic pushed remote meetings into daily life, so this update effectively finishes something Tesla has been promising for six years.
Tesla Summer Update begins rolling out: a look at the new features
The feature keeps the same restrictions that applied to Zoom on Tesla vehicles. It only works while the car is parked; shifting into Drive disables the camera feed, according to the release notes. It is also limited to vehicles running Tesla’s AMD Ryzen infotainment hardware, meaning older Intel-based Model S and Model X units, along with early Model 3 and Model Y builds, don’t get it.
Turning the browser into a general entry point for the in-cabin camera, rather than routing everything through one local app, widens the number of third-party sites that can ask for access, even though Tesla’s permission prompt.
With the Summer update only days into its rollout, be sure to stay with us on TikTok and X to see the latest video demonstrations.
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Elon Musk
Tesla confirmed HW3 can’t do Unsupervised FSD but there’s more to the story
Tesla confirmed HW3 vehicles cannot run unsupervised FSD, replacing its free upgrade promise with a discounted trade-in.
Tesla has officially confirmed that early vehicles with its Autopilot Hardware 3 (HW3) will not be capable of unsupervised Full Self-Driving, while extending a path forward for legacy owners through a discounted trade-in program. The announcement came by way of Elon Musk in today’s Tesla Q1 2026 earnings call.
🚨 Our LIVE updates on the Tesla Earnings Call will take place here in a thread 🧵
Follow along below: pic.twitter.com/hzJeBitzJU
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) April 22, 2026
The history here matters. HW3 launched in April 2019, and Tesla sold Full Self-Driving packages to owners on the understanding that the hardware was sufficient for full autonomy. Some owners paid between $8,000 and $15,000 for FSD during that period. For years, as FSD’s AI models grew more demanding, HW3 vehicles fell progressively further behind, eventually landing on FSD v12.6 in January 2025 while AI4 vehicles moved to v13 and then v14. When Musk acknowledged in January 2025 that HW3 simply could not reach unsupervised operation, and alluded to a difficult hardware retrofit.
The near-term offering is more concrete. Tesla’s head of Autopilot Ashok Elluswamy confirmed on today’s call that a V14-lite will be coming to HW3 vehicles in late June, bringing all the V14 features currently running on AI4 hardware. That is a meaningful software update for owners who have been frozen at v12.6 for over a year, and it represents genuine effort to keep older hardware relevant. Unsupervised FSD for vehicles is now targeted for Q4 2026 at the earliest, with Musk describing it as a gradual, geography-limited rollout.
For HW3 owners, the over-the-air V14-lite update is welcomed, and the discounted trade-in path at least acknowledges an old obligation. What happens next with the trade-in pricing will define how this chapter ultimately gets written. If Tesla prices the hardware path fairly, acknowledges what early adopters are owed, and delivers V14-lite on the June timeline it committed to today, it has a real opportunity to convert one of the longest-running sore subjects among early adopters into a loyalty story.
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Tesla announced its Spring 2026 software update, and it’s the most feature-dense seasonal release the company has put out. The update covers twelve named changes spanning FSD, voice AI, safety lighting, dashcam storage, and pet display customization, among other things.
The centerpiece for owners with AI4 hardware is a redesigned Self-Driving app. The new interface lets owners subscribe to Full Self-Driving with a single tap and view ongoing FSD usage stats directly in the vehicle.
Grok gets its biggest in-car upgrade yet. The update adds a “Hey Grok” hands-free wake word along with location-based reminders, so a driver can now say “remind me to pick up groceries when I get home” without touching the screen. Grok first arrived in vehicles in July 2025, but each update has pushed it closer to genuine daily utility. Musk framed the broader vision clearly at Davos in January, saying Tesla is “really moving into a future that is based on autonomy.”
On safety, the update introduces enhanced blind spot warning lights that integrate directly with the cabin’s ambient lighting, building on the blind spot door warning that arrived in update 2026.8.
Dog Mode has been renamed Pet Mode and now lets owners choose a dog, cat, or hedgehog icon and add their pet’s name to the display.
Dashcam retention now extends up to 24 hours, up from the previous one-hour rolling loop, with a permanent save option for any clip. Weather maps now show rain and snow with better color differentiation and include the past hour of precipitation data along the route.
Tesla has now established a clear rhythm of two major OTA pushes per year. As with last year’s Spring update, that cycle started taking shape in 2025 with adaptive headlights and trunk customization. The 2025 Holiday Update then added Grok to the vehicle for the first time. This Spring follows that structure: the Holiday update introduces new architecture, and the Spring update broadens it across the fleet.
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Two notable features still did not make it. IFTTT automations, which launched in China earlier this year, were held back from this North American release for unknown reasons, and Apple CarPlay remains absent, reportedly still delayed by iOS 26 and Apple Maps compatibility issues.
Below is the full list of feature updates released by Tesla.
— Tesla (@Tesla) April 13, 2026
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