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Tesla Model 3 with heated steering wheel begins US deliveries

(Credit: ABK Tesla/Instagram)

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Tesla Model 3 customers who are taking delivery of the newest builds of the all-electric sedan are reporting that their vehicle has a heated steering wheel, a feature Tesla included in some of the “refreshed” versions of its mass-market cars.

It has long been speculated whether the Model 3 would be receiving a heated steering wheel. In early December 2020, Tesla hacker green discovered some upcoming features that would be included with the refreshed Model 3, including the powered liftgate, new USB-C ports, and a heated steering wheel. In fact, some owners of newer Model 3 production models felt that their steering wheel had become noticeably thicker compared to previous iterations, setting off speculation within the community that Tesla would be adding the feature within its vehicles. Additionally, owners in other countries, like Switzerland, stated that their cars had been given heated steering wheels.

On New Years Day, Tesla launched a refresh to the Model Y crossover, including some new door panel designs and also adding the heated steering wheel. Speculation regarding U.S. Model 3s also grew when Tesla added the feature to sedans built in China at the company’s Giga Shanghai production facility.

Now, owners taking delivery of new Model 3 builds are showing their vehicles do include the heated steering wheel, a desirable feature for cold weather climates.

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Tesla Motors Club member 808BOB took delivery of their Model 3 on Thursday, noticing that his new car did include the heated steering wheel feature. The car was built in February 2021, the original posting says. According to photographs uploaded by the user, the button to activate the heated steering wheel feature is within the “Seat Heaters” menu and can be turned on by pressing the button with a picture of a steering wheel.

Tesla Motors Club | 808BOB

808BOB said in their posting:

“Hi all, just had my M3 delivered on Thursday… Love the car!
BUT, just wanted to confirm that my M3 HAS a heated steering wheel. I’ve been wondering if/when the car would get it…
I was surprised to “find” this option (still finding stuff). Located in the butt warmer section.
RED means it is turned on (it gets pretty warm in the 3/9 locations… you cannot adjust the heat). It was about 67F today, so I didn’t have it on for more than a minute.
Hope this puts an END to all of the speculation? :)
Oh, VIN 902xxx
Delivered in the Bay Area.”

The difference between the heated steering wheel and the heated seats is that the steering wheel only has one temperature option, while the seats have three settings. 808BOB stated in their posting that some parts of the steering wheel, especially the 3 o’clock and 9 o’clock locations, seem to be warmer than others.

Some users in the forum stated that new software updates could allow for variable temperatures like the seats. Currently, the vehicle is operating with Software v10.2 (2020.47.101.1).

808BOB stated that they had their car delivered in the Bay Area, so this is likely one of the first Model 3s outfitted with a heated steering wheel. Owners who live nearest to Tesla’s Fremont factory will usually be the first to experience new features because they live so close to the production facility. It is likely that owners outside of the area will soon begin taking delivery of Model 3 units with the heated steering wheel feature included.

Joey has been a journalist covering electric mobility at TESLARATI since August 2019. In his spare time, Joey is playing golf, watching MMA, or cheering on any of his favorite sports teams, including the Baltimore Ravens and Orioles, Miami Heat, Washington Capitals, and Penn State Nittany Lions. You can get in touch with joey at joey@teslarati.com. He is also on X @KlenderJoey. If you're looking for great Tesla accessories, check out shop.teslarati.com

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Starlink launches Communities Program for passive income through internet sharing

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(Credit: Starlink | X)

Starlink is launching a new beta path for ordinary property owners and local operators to turn a single Starlink kit into a small shared-access business for passive income.

Under the Starlink for Communities program, a host installs one dish and router setup in a location with nearby demand: an apartment complex, campground, rural crossroads, or event site. Neighbors or local users can buy short-term passes rather than full individual subscriptions, giving the Starlink provider a potential path to passive income.

Hour, day, and week passes cover one device. A month pass covers up to four. Starlink handles account creation, payments, access controls, and the satellite link itself. The host’s role is mainly placement, power, and basic upkeep, with earnings tied to each paid connection.

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The model echoes the passive-income vision long attached to Tesla’s Robotaxi plans, and it seems like it’s something Musk has hinted toward in the past as he believes AI will make the need to work relatively optional. In both cases, the platform owns the hard parts of matching, billing, and network management, while an individual supplies a physical asset that sits idle much of the time.

A Starlink host’s dish can serve multiple nearby users without each household buying and installing its own terminal. A Tesla owner, under the stated Robotaxi concept, would leave a vehicle enrolled in the fleet during unused hours so the car generates rides while the owner is at work or asleep.

Both arrangements convert under-utilized hardware into a revenue stream. They also let the company scale coverage or capacity without owning every endpoint.

Differences are practical. A Starlink kit is a fixed, relatively low-cost terminal whose main constraint is local congestion and line-of-sight. A Tesla Robotaxi is a mobile, high-value vehicle whose earnings depend on demand density, utilization rates, insurance, cleaning, and charging.

Starlink’s program is already accepting host applications in multiple countries and describes the revenue split as ongoing. Tesla’s owner-network version remains more aspirational.

The company currently operates a limited company-controlled robotaxi service in select areas and has solicited interest from fleet buyers for Cybercab vehicles, while private Full Self-Driving owners have not yet been able to dispatch their own cars for paid rides at scale.

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Tesla primes Cybercabs for 4K streaming and high bandwidth gaming with Starlink integration

Starlink is a satellite broadband service operated by SpaceX that uses a constellation of low-Earth-orbit satellites to deliver internet to locations where terrestrial broadband is slow, expensive, or absent. It has grown to millions of subscribers worldwide by selling direct residential, mobile, and enterprise terminals, and have become widely available at a wide array at retail locations like Target and Best Buy.

The Communities program extends that reach by letting hosts resell short bursts of capacity to people nearby, while also providing high-speed internet access to those who are simply around a Starlink user.

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Tesla just made its headlights even better through a software update

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Credit: @jojje167 on X

Tesla just upgraded its headlights through a software update, making them even better without any physical or hardware upgrade.

Tesla’s latest software update is quietly improving nighttime driving for a small number of owners. Version 2026.38 includes a new capability called Dynamic Headlight Leveling.

The feature automatically adjusts the aim of the low beams in response to driving conditions and nearby traffic, with the goal of giving the driver more usable light on the road while reducing glare for oncoming vehicles and traffic ahead.

Unlike Tesla’s matrix high-beam system, which selectively dims individual LED segments to create shadows around other cars, Dynamic Headlight Leveling physically tilts the low-beam projectors. Internal motors respond to changes in vehicle pitch.

When the car accelerates hard, climbs a steep grade, or carries extra weight in the rear, the headlights can otherwise point higher than intended. The software counters that movement in real time so the beam stays aimed at the road surface rather than into the eyes of other drivers.

Early indications reveal the update is reaching a limited set of vehicles, including certain Model 3 and Cybertruck examples in the United States and the United Arab Emirates. The rollout does not appear tied to a single hardware revision, and Tesla has not published a broader schedule. It is simply a common waiting game until your car receives it.

The change arrives against a backdrop of wider complaints about headlight glare. Some earlier Model 3 and Model Y vehicles were the subject of an NHTSA recall related to excessive low-beam glare; the software adjustment offers a potential mitigation for cars equipped with the necessary leveling hardware. It does not replace adaptive high beams where those are already available, nor does it alter the basic low-beam pattern itself.

Instead, it keeps an existing beam pointed where it is most useful.

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For drivers who have received the update, the system requires no new settings or user input. The headlights simply respond as road conditions and traffic change. As the feature reaches more vehicles, it adds another example of Tesla using over-the-air software to refine existing hardware rather than waiting for a new model year. Nighttime visibility and reduced glare for others are the practical results owners are expected to notice first.

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Tesla teases “Halloween Mode” update with Optimus rising from a graveyard

Tesla’s Halloween teaser hides a covered vehicle and an Optimus hand rising from the ground.

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Tesla has started teasing a Halloween software update for its vehicles, with  a short clip on X that reads, “Halloween is coming.” The clip opens on a glowing pumpkin before pulling back to the car’s center touchscreen, where the usual parked visualization has been replaced by a graveyard scene, and the vehicle draped with a white sheet so it reads as a cartoon ghost.

The second detail is a robotic hand clawing its way out of the dirt like a zombie, which looks to be the hand of Tesla’s latest Optimus V3 humanoid robot. While Tesla still has not formally shown Optimus Gen 3 walking around in service, renders pulled from Tesla’s Android app last month gave the clearest look yet, including far more refined hands that Tesla has said carry 22 degrees of freedom. The hand has been the hardest part of the program. Musk has called it the majority of the robot’s engineering difficulty, and Tesla’s patents describe a design driven by tendons with the actuators moved into the forearm.

Tesla Optimus V3 hand and arm details revealed in new patents

Optimus also has a Halloween track record. Last October the robot handed out candy in Times Square, and a costumed “zombie” Optimus shuffled around the Tesla Diner in Los Angeles on Halloween night.

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On the software side, Tesla’s 2025 Holiday Update expanded Santa Mode with a Santa sleigh, snowmen, snow effects, and a festive lock chime, so it wouldn’t be too far fetched if we saw something similar but themed for a  Halloween Mode.

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