Firmware
Unseen Tidbits Behind Tesla Autopark
The one feature of the much-anticipated Autopilot update that perhaps gets the least attention is Autopark. If you live in NYC and are a parallel parking pro, maybe you aren’t impressed. But if you’re someone that does not regularly parallel park, this feature may be a savior. It is also quite efficient, so even the best parkers may prefer it on busy city streets when the impatient motorist waiting behind you inevitably causes so much pressure that you misalign yourself and have to start over.
Whatever your case, here are some unseen tidbits behind the Tesla Autopark feature.
What happens if the parking spot is too small?
Parallel parking requires us to leverage our own sense of depth perception which doesn’t always make for the best parking aid. Tesla Autopark on the other hand utilizes a combination of hardware and algorithms to expertly measure the size of a space, and calculate the most optimal angle of attack when parking. While this works great for parking spots adequate in size, what happens when engaging Tesla Autopark in a space that’s too small?
When a parking spot is not sufficient, the Autopark option will not appear. You may very well be able to park in a space smaller than what Autopark can handle, but you do so at your own risk by playing a little game of “bump to measure”.
Does Tesla Autopark work in Valet Mode?
Much to the confusion of my neighbor, I performed multiple attempts at parking, by driving past an open space over and over again (she assumed, by the way, that I couldn’t get my garage door to close.). With Valet Mode activated, I approached an open parking space while traveling below 15mph until the a gray “P” appeared on the instrument cluster.
I then put the Model S in reverse and saw Autopark Ready appear on the touchscreen, along with the option to START, in blue, or choose NOT THIS TIME, in gray.
I continued to engage Tesla Autopark, as I would normally do when not in Valet Mode, by pressing the START button and releasing my foot from the brake.
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The car oddly went into reverse and moved at 4-5 mph backwards. Only, it passed right by the parking space. Assuming it was a fluke, I tried again. Then again. On the fourth try, I let the car keep driving backwards. It went at least 5 car lengths down my street the wrong way before I hit the brake to stop it. I hadn’t the courage to let it continue for experimental purposes, because my block is narrow and curves.
In short, the answer appears to be no. Tesla Autopark does not work in Valet Mode.
Despite the screens showing all of the indicators, I could not get the car to parallel park itself in Valet Mode. The owner’s manual does not indicate that this feature is not available. (Note: the word Valet shows above the speed display.)
How long does it take to park?
The Tesla expertly maneuvers itself into parking spaces with a minimum number of back and forth turns. I found that the entire parking job took roughly 30 seconds.
Do the mirrors auto-tilt when Autopark is engaged?
Yes. While driving under my own profile, which has the mirror auto-tilt feature enabled, the mirrors automatically tilt when the vehicle is placed into Autopark mode. I caught all of this on video as seen below.
The introduction of Autosteer and traffic aware cruise control are great indications that Tesla will continue to augment its suite of Autopilot features through over-the-air software updates over time. Tesla is currently collecting driving data through its fleet learning technology which will surely lead to functionality improvements in both its driving and self parking capabilities. Hopefully some day in the not too distant future our cars will drop us off at the door. Stay tuned.
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More Autopilot News
- Watch Tesla Autopark react to 3 parking challenges
- How does Tesla Autopark work?
- Where to place your hands when Autopilot is engaged?
- Who’s responsible when there’s a traffic accident involving Autopilot?
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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