Lifestyle
Closer look at Tesla Model 3 Speed Limit Mode and Summon in mobile app
Tesla’s recent software update, v8.1(2018.24.1), introduced a number of new features for the Model 3, including Summon, cabin overheat protection, WiFi connectivity, and the ability to set speed limits on the vehicle.
Tesla enthusiast and Model 3 owner Ivan Karpenko recently shared a short walkthrough on how these features are accessed and adjusted through the Tesla mobile app. As could be seen in the video, setting the speed limits for the compact electric car on the mobile app is as simple as navigating to the Controls menu and scrolling down to Speed Limit Mode, which is located underneath Valet Mode. Speed Limit Mode is activated by tapping on a button and keying in a 4-digit PIN. Setting the maximum speed of the vehicle is just a matter of tapping or long-pressing the “+” and “-” symbols on the app.
Summon, on the other hand, is accessed by scrolling down the list of menus on the Tesla app and selecting the feature. In the mobile app’s current version, Summon is placed directly below Location. Tapping on Summon takes users into a menu displaying the Model 3, and if the feature had been activated in the vehicle, drivers would be able to command the car to move forward or in reverse.
Tesla’s new features for the Model 3 are focused on safety. Cabin overheat protection, which is enabled on Tesla’s electric cars by default, is a means to proactively prevent instances when children or animals get too hot when left inside the vehicle. Child fatalities resulting from in-car heat strokes is are severe problem in the United States. Last July 2017 alone, America saw 31 child fatalities — a record high at the time — resulting from heat strokes after children were left in a parked car.
Also notable in the Model 3’s recent updates is the Speed Limit Mode, which places limiters on the vehicles’ acceleration and maximum speed. Speed Limit Mode is described by Tesla as follows.
“Speed Limit Mode – This feature limits the acceleration of your vehicle and allows you to set a maximum speed limit between 50 mph and 90 mph. While your car is in Park, you can activate Speed Limit Mode by tapping Controls > Safety & Security on the touchscreen or by tapping CONTROLS on the mobile app. You must use the same 4-digit PIN to enable or disable Speed Limit Mode. A notification is sent to your mobile device is your vehicle approaches the set maximum speed. — In memory of Barrett Riley.”
Barrett Riley, 18, lost his life in a fiery accident after driving his Model S at speeds of 116 mph in a 30 mph zone, according to a Sun-Sentinel report. One of Barrett’s passengers, 18-year-old Edgar Monserratt Martinez, was also killed in the crash. In its investigation into the accident, the NTSB noted that the electric car was traveling at 116 mph three seconds before impact, slowing to 108 mph as the driver applied the brakes, and decreasing to 86 mph as it hit a wall.
After Barrett was cited for overspeeding last March, his father asked Tesla to adjust the vehicle’s speed through an over-the-air adjustment. Speed adjustments, after all, are already being implemented on loaner vehicles, which are limited to 85 mph. Based on the release notes of Tesla’s recent software update, it seems like Mr. Barrett’s requested feature can now help make Tesla’s fleet even safer.
Watch a brief walkthrough of the Model 3’s Speed Limit Mode and Summon in the Tesla mobile app below.
For a century, the car has asked the same thing of its owner, which is basically to pay attention. Even the best ride-hailing app like Uber or Lyft only moved the problem into someone else’s hands. You stopped driving, but you still sat in a stranger’s car, while half listening, and wondering whether to take a phone call in the car without being rude. The Cybercab has no wheel, no pedals and no driver. With Grok @bot now live inside it, it becomes something else entirely, and I think that matters more than the fleet count that everyone is tracking.
Grok @bot is an agent, not a voice assistant. A rider signs in once, and from then on can say what they need and watch it happen. Order dinner from a favorite restaurant. Fill the grocery cart. Move money, answer email, adjust a calendar, push a work project forward. Tesla engineer Yun-Ta Tsai confirmed it is enabled across every Cybercab and the rest of the Model Y fleet, and Tesla’s own pitch is that Full Self-Driving handles the commute while Grok handles the errands.
Think about what that does to a thirty minute ride. Uber sells you a trip, while Waymo sells you the same trip in a more private setting. Tesla is selling the thirty minutes themselves, returned to you with an assistant attached. Errands that used to eat a Saturday get done between pickup and drop off. The ride stops being dead time between two places and becomes a place of its own.
Tesla integrates Grok Bot into its vehicles for the ultimate personal assistant
Best of all, your Bots follow you into any Cybercab, and presumably your own Tesla, then logs you out automatically when you step out. Anyone can bolt a chatbot onto a screen, but much harder to own the vehicle, the autonomy stack and the assistant at once. It also quietly ties SpaceX’s Super Intelligence business to Tesla’s fleet, after Tesla converted its xAI stake into SpaceX equity. The relationship between those two companies is getting harder to describe as separate.
This is also where the hard questions start, because an agent that can spend your money in a vehicle other people also ride in needs some answers. How does it handle a voice it shouldn’t trust? What gets recorded, who can see it, and for how long? What happens when a rider leaves halfway through a task?
If Tesla gets those answers right, the scoreboard changes. We have been counting Cybercabs and wait times. The more telling number may be what riders accomplish per trip. That is data almost no one else will ever have, and it is the real reason to watch Grok @bot.
What do you think? Leave me a comment.
Lifestyle
Tesla’s mirrorless Cybercab will give riders a visibility upgrade
Tesla engineer confirms Cybercab update letting riders pull up rear and repeater cameras on demand.
Tesla is working on a Cybercab update that would let passengers pull up the vehicle’s rear and side cameras on demand, and the request came straight from a rider.
The exchange played out on X late Friday. Cybercab rider Dan Burkland shared photos of the two-seater’s cabin screen after an evening ride, praised the UI team’s work, and left one request: let riders open the rear and repeater cameras whenever they want, “especially for peace of mind.” Tesla UI software engineer Evan (@CarCoder) answered with two words: “In development.”
The Tesla UI team absolutely crushed it with the infotainment software. Nicely done @CarCoder!
One feature request: Allow folks to pull up the rear & repeater cameras on demand. This would be great especially for peace of mind. https://t.co/mNAOSLx6pE
— Dan Burkland (@DBurkland) October 10, 2026
The idea fits a pattern Teslarati has tracked since public rides began. Days after paid Cybercab service opened in Austin, Tesla sent riders a survey that asked them to rate the touchscreen, the app and the cabin, and to pick the features they wanted most. We reported on that survey in September, and a camera view is the kind of small software change Tesla can push quickly if riders keep asking.
It also speaks to something unique about the vehicle. With no steering wheel, no pedals and no driver, passengers have no mirror to check and no way to see behind them. The hardware is clearly built for camera awareness, from the repeater cameras to the rear camera. Letting a passenger look through those same cameras would give a nervous first time rider a way to confirm what is around the car.
The timing matters because the fleet is growing fast. Tesla’s Robotaxi account said on Saturday that more than 300 Cybercabs are now serving Austin, an eightfold increase in 30 days, and Tesla AI chief Ashok Elluswamy named Dallas as the next city. More cars and more cities mean more people riding in a driverless vehicle for the first time, which is exactly when small trust features carry weight.
For now, the feature is confirmed only as in development. If Tesla follows its usual pattern with Cybercab software, riders could see it appear in a point release without any announcement, and Teslarati will watch for it.
Elon Musk
Elon Musk’s surprise addition to the X Takeover lineup has fans talking
Elon Musk will join Saturday’s X Takeover at Giga Texas for a live virtual interview.
Elon Musk will join X Takeover at Giga Texas on Saturday for a live virtual interview, according to Sawyer Merritt, who shared the news late Thursday. Musk will not be on stage in Austin. The conversation is set to stream for free on the @teslaownersSV account on X.
Organizers had kept expectations in check. In a September update, Tesla Owners Silicon Valley said Musk had appeared at the event twice before but was not promising a third appearance, even as fans hoped he would walk the Giga Texas grounds in person. A virtual spot matches 2024, when Musk gave a surprise interview of about an hour to the crowd in San Luis Obispo, as Teslarati reported at the time.
Wasn’t expecting this 🫡
— Tesla Owners Silicon Valley (@teslaownersSV) October 9, 2026
This year’s edition is a first in several ways. It is the first X Takeover held outside California and the first at a Tesla facility, with tickets selling out in eight days. Tesla provides the venue, but the event is produced independently by Tesla Owners Silicon Valley. The main event runs from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. CT, followed by a drone and light show at 9 p.m. Maye Musk is the keynote speaker, Franz von Holzhausen is set for a virtual keynote, and Nicki Minaj is the special guest. Joe Tegtmeyer, whose drone footage Teslarati used to track the Optimus factory steel frame at Giga Texas, is also on the speaker list.
Musk’s interview topics have not been revealed, but the backdrop is busy. Tesla doubled its Cybercab fleet in Austin in late September, and last week Musk explained why Robotaxi hours only moved from 10 p.m. to 11 p.m.. Merritt also reported Thursday that Texas DMV records now show 319 registered Cybercabs, up from 169. NHTSA’s deadline for Tesla’s sworn answers on Cybercab certification is October 30, and Tesla reports third quarter earnings on October 21.
Fans who cannot make it to Austin can watch the livestream on X. Musk tends to say more in unscripted settings than he does in prepared remarks, which is the reason this one is worth having open on Saturday.
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