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Tesla audio partner DSP Concepts discusses noise cancellation tech & the future of sound in autonomous cars
Sound might play a bigger role in the auto industry with the advent of the electric cars and the age of autonomous vehicles dawning. Tesla’s audio partner DSP Concepts (DSPC) knows a lot about sound and how big of a role it plays in everyday life. Teslarati spoke with part of the DSP Concepts team, who revealed the significance of sound in vehicles, especially as the electric car revolution starts to hit its stride.
“It turns out a car is your most complicated audio product,” said Chin Beckmann, the co-founder and CEO of DSP Concepts. Beckmann described all the ways audio and sound play a part in how people interact with their vehicles, like phone calls, voice commands, or simple in-car communication from driver to passenger and vice versa.
Engine noise cancellation is a feature that interests traditional cars owners as well. Inversely, for electric car owners, engine noise enhancements or noisemakers have become a sought after feature, particularly in the United States where it is mandatory for EVs.
Tesla probably contributed to the popularity of noisemakers in vehicles with its recently-released Boombox feature, which allows drivers to play sounds through an external speaker. Funnily enough, EV owners seeking to increase the noise coming out of their vehicles, may also be looking for ways to decrease the sounds coming into their cars.
“There’s a lot of interest in road noise cancellation from EVs,” said Dr. Paul Beckmann, founder and CTO of DSP Concepts.
Last month, DSP Concepts announced that Audio Weaver would port Bose’s QuietComfort Road Noise Control (RNC) technology into its platform. The collaboration meant that car companies using the Audio Weaver platform, like Tesla, Porsche, or BMW, could offer Bose’s QuietComfort RNC to their vehicles.
Dr. Beckmann clarified, however, that some hardware needs to be integrated into the vehicle for the Bose QuietComfort RNC to work.
“The way the RNC works is it uses microphones inside the car to listen. It’s kind of like those active noise cancelling headphones. The headphones have microphones close by your ears. So [for] the retrofit, you’d have to put microphones, maybe, by the headrest or somewhere close to your ears,” he shared with Teslarati.
Dru Wynings, Sr. Director of Marketing at DSP Concepts, added that some sensors would probably be needed in the car’s chassis as well. He also talked about the complexities of bringing Bose’s QuietComfort RNC to vehicles.
“There’s a huge hardware component to it in terms of how much computation is needed, in terms of what their audio sound system is…all of that could take a toll. So, [automakers are] planning on what could actually fit on this specific chip to run this software,” said Wynings.
DSP Concepts did not reveal any details about Bose RNC coming to Tesla vehicles. There’s really no telling what features Tesla will roll out to its vehicles at the end of the day.
However, the possibility is very high. It isn’t too far-fetched to think that Tesla might have already equipped its vehicles with the necessary hardware for features like Bose’s QuietComfort RNC, especially considering the upcoming release of the much-anticipated Model S and Model X refresh. The company already did something similar with its in-cabin camera. The hardware for the camera feature was equipped well before it was enabled via an OTA software update.
Road noise cancellation seems like a premium feature that could be available for Tesla’s top-tier vehicles, like the Model S and Model X. Or Tesla may roll out the Bose RNC feature to its entire fleet in a later update. After all, the Model 3 just had a refresh as well.
Sound in Autonomous Vehicles
Aside from Tesla, DSP Concepts works with an array of automakers in the industry, both old and new companies. The company’s main goal is to bring audio engineering into the 21st century with the help of Audio Weaver.
When it comes to the auto industry, DSPC seems very aware of how audio in cars will evolve as autonomy enters the industry. It has become evident that car companies, both legacy and startups, have started producing more tech-savvy vehicles.
Tesla vehicles might be the most tech-savvy cars on the market. The EV manufacturer’s cars incorporate technology that people might look for in their vehicles now, like Netflix, Spotify, or even Caraoke. Yes, these features might not be necessary, but the same argument could be made for phones, laptops, or other devices.
People can do much more than call others with their phones now. They can watch their favorite shows, listen to music, search the internet and much, much more. People seem to want their tech to be well-rounded, so why not their vehicles?
Other car makers seem to be following Tesla’s footsteps. In addition to making more tech-oriented vehicles, more auto companies are also exploring autonomous cars.
With autonomy in the picture, features like Tesla Theater or Tesla Arcade will be more utilized and with that comes the significance of sound. DSP Concepts understands that people might start looking for better sound quality in their autonomous vehicles as more entertainment options are offered by car companies.
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Tesla Full Self-Driving v14.3.3 driver monitoring was reportedly scaled back in recent releases, but a new version that was released in the early hours of June 3 aimed to do a better job of keeping those in control of their cars honest, according to release notes.
The release notes for FSD v14.3.3, via Software Version 2026.14.6.7 added:
“Improved driver monitoring system sensitivity with better eye gaze tracking, eye wear handling, and higher accuracy in variable lighting conditions.”
However, Tesla said this was already enabled in the first rollout of FSD v14.3.3 in late May. We tested it anyway, especially as the Standard Speed Profile seemed less-than-worried about what you were doing during operation.
I decided to try out the Hurry and Mad Max Speed Profiles for this test, and it gave me results that I would have expected. Tesla has evidently ramped up driver monitoring based on the Speed Profile you are using to travel.
The more aggressive the Speed Profile, the more on the hook you will be for taking your attention away from the road. Our testing showed that Mad Max was less likely to allow you to do normal things like change music or adjust navigation without getting an on-screen warning or nag from the driver monitoring system.
Hurry Mode Results
On Hurry, the driver monitoring system on FSD v14.3.3, via Software Version 2026.14.6.7, was more restrictive than Standard but less restrictive than Mad Max. I found that I could scroll through music options for a considerable amount of time, more than 30 seconds:
Roughly :31 between first touching the center screen and getting the first nag
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) June 3, 2026
Standard gave me about 80 seconds of phone scrolling with absolutely no nags or warnings in a previous test. It is worth noting that this was a previous branch of v14.3.3, but Standard is such a goodie-two-shoes on the road that it is my impression it would not change much.
Here’s an 80-second phone nag test on Tesla FSD v14.3.3.
No alerts, no nagging, no annoyance. https://t.co/1dxvTOw5Cn pic.twitter.com/vYViFpjfoK— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) May 29, 2026
Mad Max Results
I spent the majority of the drive on Mad Max to see how it truly reacted to the driver having their attention elsewhere. While I did do a short phone test, I am aiming to steer away from those and use the center screen. I think it is a valid criticism that the phone test is dangerous and, not to mention, illegal in Pennsylvania. Changing the navigation and music is a more reasonable, more responsible, and safer test.
With Mad Max being the fastest and most aggressive Speed Profile, I anticipated this being the quickest mode to give me an alert that I needed to look at the road. That was the case with music:
🎥 Testing Tesla FSD v14.3.3 (via 2026.14.6.7) nags on Mad Max https://t.co/qZALU2OujY pic.twitter.com/XddOJ0D47x
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) June 3, 2026
As well as adjusting Navigation, when I received two nags:
🎥 Testing Tesla FSD v14.3.3 (via 2026.14.6.7) nag while adjusting navigation
Two nags here https://t.co/qZALU2OujY pic.twitter.com/xa3dtaDG1L— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) June 3, 2026
These nags were more than reasonable, and I think it’s probably good that Tesla is ramping up the driver monitoring. I do believe that it should be relatively strict across all of the Speed Profiles, especially with phone use. When using the center screen, the nag intervals should be based on the speed profile you are utilizing at the time.
These driver monitoring adjustments are a great thing to have while FSD is still under its “Supervised” moniker, but I expect Tesla to continue pushing the limits on what it will allow, especially considering CEO Elon Musk has hinted that phone use is capable with the more recent versions.
You can watch the full drive on YouTube below:
Tesla has responded to the skeptics of its Robotaxi program by launching a massive expansion of the unsupervised program in its initial rollout city of Austin.
The company’s geofence, the enabled area of operation for rides, now covers the entire Austin Metropolitan area, an incredible move just days after media headlines attempted to discredit the ride-hailing service.
Those who have access to the Tesla Robotaxi app on their smartphones can now request a ride in any portion of the Austin Metro area. The company confirmed this on the social media platform X:
Unsupervised Robotaxi now in the entire Austin Metro area https://t.co/eXNBdarvVS
— Tesla Robotaxi (@robotaxi) June 3, 2026
This is Tesla’s fifth expansion of the geofence, with the others occurring in July, early August, late August, and late October 2025. It has remained at that size since October 26, but Tesla has now more than doubled that size.
It is now covering the entire area, including suburbs like Pflugerville and Manor, as well as I-35 highways, Gigafactory Texas, and the Austin-Bergstrom Airport.
The move comes just days after various media outlets highlighted the small fleet size of Tesla’s Robotaxi fleet in Austin, something that is a reasonable criticism but an understandable move on the company’s part to prioritize safety.
Tesla has expanded its Robotaxi geofence many times, but its fleet has remained at a relatively conservative size as the company continues to push safety as its most crucial metric.
The latest expansion is a key indicator of Tesla’s comfort level to expand the ride-hailing service. The move shows Tesla is scaling unsupervised autonomy, as it demonstrates that the company’s Full Self-Driving system has reached sufficient reliability for a broader real-world deployment, which is something the company has worked on extensively.
It also shows Tesla is game for a competition with its rivals in the autonomous ride-hailing sector. Tesla has often matched or exceeded competitors like Waymo in coverage area, despite its smaller fleet. This step highlights Tesla’s iterative, data-driven progress toward a high-margin, app-based Robotaxi network.
It’s not the absolute largest area expansion ever, but achieving full unsupervised operations across a major metro is a key moment in the Robotaxi story. It shifts the program from limited pilot/testing toward a more mature commercial service, while gathering the miles needed for faster growth.
Tesla has improved Dashcam playback with an awesome new addition, as the company has launched a web-based version that is potentially easier to navigate and operate.
The tool is available at dashcam.tesla.com and will be enabled as your vehicle receives the 2026.20 Software Version. Clips that are captured by your Tesla will be available on the Online Dashcam Clip Viewer once the files on your car’s storage drive are encrypted.
Not a Tesla App first noticed the new feature, and states that once your Tesla updates to 2026.20, the car will automatically protect the clips with an encryption key that is uniquely tied to your owner account.
Tesla Launches New Web-Based Dashcam Viewer https://t.co/AlJKXYxujJ pic.twitter.com/4igicYpvkX
— Not a Tesla App (@NotATeslaApp) June 2, 2026
The web-based viewer should be easier to operate for most. All you will do is head over to dashcam.tesla.com and log in using your account credentials.
Ensure your vehicle is updated to 2026.20 in order for the web-based viewer tool to fetch your vehicle’s saved dashcam clips.
Currently, only a small percentage of owners are updated to this, so it may be a couple of weeks until a majority of owners in the fleet are able to access this feature.
Watching Dashcam clips on the Tesla smartphone app is quick and convenient, as they can also be easily downloaded and stored right on your smartphone.
However, the clips are sometimes tougher to navigate, and in order to get details like self-driving activation, speed, and turn signals, owners have to screen record the Tesla app and crop out the rest of the screen.
It could also be a massive storage saver as you’ll be able to download the Dashcam clips from the online viewer and save them to your laptop, desktop, a flash drive, or even an external hard drive. This will keep all your clips in one place.
Tesla Full Self-Driving v14.3.3 driver monitoring: We tested it
Tesla responds to Robotaxi skeptics with a massive move in Austin
