Firmware
Tesla extends ‘bug bounty’ to energy products, increases payout by 50%
In its continued pursuit of making the most secure internet-connected vehicles on the road, Tesla is upping the ante of its “bug bounty” program, which encourages security researchers to actively locate and report vulnerabilities on the company’s hardware and online services. As part of the program’s most recent update, Tesla has raised the maximum payout to $15,000 for vehicle or product-related vulnerabilities, while actively extending the initiative to the company’s energy products.
Just like the previous iteration of its “bug bounty” program, whose maximum payout was listed at $10,000, Tesla assured hackers that vehicles used for security research would not have their warranties voided, provided that the hacking is conducted within parameters allowed by the company. Tesla further noted that if vehicles used by participants in their good-faith security research end up being compromised, the company will take steps to update or “reflash” the hacked electric cars.
“If, through your good-faith security research, you (a pre-approved, good-faith security researcher) cause a software issue that requires your research-registered vehicle to be updated or “reflashed,” as an act of goodwill, Tesla shall make reasonable efforts to update or “reflash” Tesla software on the research-registered vehicle by over-the-air update, offering assistance at a service center to restore the vehicle’s software using our standard service tools, or other actions we deem appropriate,” Tesla noted.
Tesla’s bug bounty program started back in 2015, though the company initially invited hackers to find vulnerabilities on its website only. During that time, no vehicles were open for hacking, and the rewards offered for security researchers were far more modest at $25 to $1,000. Tesla eventually increased the scope of its bug bounty program to its vehicles, where it was eventually followed by other carmakers. Chrysler, for one, invited security researchers to hack into its Uconnect infotainment system apps and Eco-Drive driving efficiency apps in 2016.
As long as your work complies with our bug bounty policy, Tesla will not void your warranty if you hack our software https://t.co/HhibE1UpRC https://t.co/NIISSrrViD
— Tesla (@Tesla) September 5, 2018
Tesla raised the bar of its bug bounty program last September, allowing owners to actively hack into their own cars without the danger of voiding their vehicles’ warranties. The electric car maker further noted then that it would not be bringing copyright infringement claims to those working within its initiative’s rules. Bugcrowd CTO Casey Ellis, who works for the company that administers Tesla’s bounties, tweeted in support of Tesla’s initiative, stating that the move “rings a very loud bell for the legitimacy of good-faith security research.”
In a way, Tesla’s strategy towards its bug bounty program reflects the company’s Silicon Valley roots, considering that other tech giants such as Google also have active programs rewarding security researchers for finding vulnerabilities in their products. Amidst an internet landscape that is getting more and more concerned about internet security, Tesla’s security initiatives all but ensure that the company’s vehicles, while being consistently connected to the web, are as secure as possible.
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Tesla’s mastery of hardware and software is among the reasons why the company is proving to be a real disruptor in the auto market. Just like Apple, Tesla adopts an in-house approach to both its software and hardware, creating a unified experience that is quite unlike anything in the market today. With the upcoming release of the first features of its Full Self-Driving suite, the rollout of Hardware 3, and the deployment of larger neural networks, Tesla’s vehicles are bound to get even more connected than before.
The electric car maker does not really announce the bugs that are being reported to the company, though several new features of Tesla’s electric cars are borne from the efforts of security researchers, including the “PIN to Drive” feature.
Newly discovered vulnerabilities must be reported within 168 hours and zero minutes, or 7 days from when the vulnerability was first discovered, to qualify for a reward. More details about Tesla’s updated bug bounty program can be accessed here.
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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