Firmware
Tesla activates Model 3 heated rear seats in latest OTA update
Tesla Model 3 owners who received the latest v8.1 (2018.10.1 5e8433d) over-the-air software update are reporting that their electric car now has heated rear seats. The recent update also included improvements for the Model 3’s Automatic Emergency Braking and phone unlock system, as well as a new arrangement for the icons in the vehicle’s 15-inch center touchscreen.
Reports of the new features began emerging in online forums such as Reddit and the Model 3 Owners Club late Wednesday. It did not take long before Raghuram Kamath, a member of the private Model 3 Owners group on Facebook, shared a series of screenshots featuring Tesla’s description of the improvements in update 2018.10.1 5e8433d. Here is a breakdown of the notable changes featured in the latest update, as shared by the Model 3 owner.
Keep passengers warm with heated back seats
When the weather is cold, treat your backseat passengers to the luxury of warm seats. Tap the fan icon to access climate controls, then tap the Seats tab. Then, choose the seat you want heated and adjust the heat to your passenger’s liking.
Unlocking with a phone key
For added security, we’ve updated how your Model 3 unlocks doors and trunk. Now, when you’re next to the vehicle with a connected phone key, the doors unlock when you pull the handles, and the trunk unlocks when you push the trunk switch.
Automatic Emergency Braking speed increase
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The maximum speed at which Automatic Emergency Braking is available has increased from 50 mph to 90 mph. Automatic Emergency Braking is enabled by default. You can temporarily disable it by tapping the Controls icon on the bottom left corner of the touchscreen, and then tap Autopilot > Settings > Automatic Emergency Braking > OFF setting. The feature is re-enabled on your next drive.
Rearranged touchscreen controls
Thanks to customer feedback, we’ve rearranged the touchscreen icons that what you use most often is even easier to reach. The Media Player and Phone icons are now located on the left of the touchscreen.
Apart from Tesla’s announced improvements to the Model 3, Kamath also noted that there were some changes to the electric car’s backup camera. A screenshot of the backup sensor after the recent OTA update is found in the gallery below. Credits to Raghuram Kamath and u/helicopterrun on Reddit.
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- A screenshot of the Model 3’s backup camera after receiving OTA update 2018.10.1. [Credit: Raghuram Kamath via helicopterrun/Reddit]
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- A screenshot of Tesla’s notes for the Model 3’s 2018.10.1 OTA update. [Credit: Raghuram Kamath via helicopterrun/Reddit]
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- A screenshot of Tesla’s notes for the Model 3’s 2018.10.1 OTA update. [Credit: Raghuram Kamath via helicopterrun/Reddit]
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- A screenshot of Tesla’s notes for the Model 3’s 2018.10.1 OTA update. [Credit: Raghuram Kamath via helicopterrun/Reddit]
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- A screenshot of Tesla’s notes for the Model 3’s 2018.10.1 OTA update. [Credit: Raghuram Kamath via helicopterrun/Reddit]
The majority of the improvements introduced in OTA update 2018.10.1 actually came from the suggestions new owners of the Model 3. The new phone unlocking system, for example, seems to have been rolled out after several owners commented that their cars were unlocking automatically even if they do not intend to enter the vehicle, such as when they walk close to the electric car when it’s parked in the garage. The ability to customize the icons on the 15-inch center touchscreen is also something that has been requested by Model 3 owners before.
The headliner for OTA update v8.1 (2018.10.1 5e8433d), however, is the introduction of heated rear seats. Long rumored but never confirmed till now, the feature has been the subject of debate in the Tesla community for a long time. As it turns out, however, the Model 3 has the function all along. Based on the images in the update (see screenshot gallery above), it seems like the temperature of the Model 3’s three rear seats can be controlled exclusively from each other.
As we mentioned in a previous report, Tesla has been continually improving the capabilities and features of the Model 3 through the use of over-the-air updates. Just last month, Tesla introduced new security features for the electric car, enabling users to manage which smartphone keys and RFID cards are authorized to access the vehicle. Prior to that, the Elon Musk-led electric car and energy firm also rolled out a patch for the Model 3’s backup camera, improving the image sensor’s color saturation, exposure and balance.
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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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