Firmware
Tesla Model S Firmware 5.0 Addresses “Vampire Load”
Tesla Model S Firmware 5.0 Update
v5.0 (1.35.96)
With this release, Model S owners will be able to use Wi-Fi for connected features and software updates and to choose either a “heading-up” or “north-up” orientation to view their map. There are also a variety of other map improvements that make it more versatile and easier to use. In addition, there are new features and performance enhancements to improve power management, driving experience, and car maintenance.
New Features
- Wi-Fi & Tethering
- Tow Mode
- Screen Cleaning Mode
- Radio Presets Access via Steering Wheel Controls
Enhancments
- Maps Improvements
- Improved Power Management When Not In Use
- Additions to Driver Profiles
- Improved Creep Performance
NEW FEATURES
Wi-Fi & Tethering
Wi-Fi is available as an alternative data connect on method with this release. You can take advantage of a Wi-Fi network at home or work (e.g., useful for enabling the Tesla mobile app or downloading software updates in low-connectivity areas). You can also use a mobile hotspot or your phone’s Internet connection via Wi-Fi tethering.
To connect to a Wi-Fi network, tap the 3G icon in the status bar. Model S will start scanning and display the networks in range. Select the Wi-Fi network you’d like to use and enter a password if necessary to connect.
You can also connect to a hidden network that isn’t shown on the list of scanned networks. Just tap on “Wi-Fi Settings” and enter the name of the network in the
resulting dialog.
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Once you’ve connected to a network, Model S will auto-connect to the network whenever it’s in range. If more than one previously connected network is in range,
Model S will connect to the last one used.
Note that we plan to prioritize roll-out of future software updates to customers using a home Wi-Fi network; they’ll be among the first to receive new updates.
Tow Mode
If your Model S needs to be towed, you can engage Tow Mode. Tow Mode will keep the parking brake disengaged and the car in Neutral. Note that the car must be in Park with
the brake pedal pressed before Tow Mode can be engaged. To engage Tow Mode, go to the Controls>E-Brake & Power Of. To exit Tow Mode, you can either press the Tow Mode button again or shift to Park.
Screen Cleaning Mode
To facilitate touchscreen cleaning, there is now a “Screen Cleaning Mode” which will block any touch interactions from inadvertently activating buttons and charging settings during cleaning and will darken the screen so it’s easier to see any dust or smudges on the screen. To use this go to Controls>Displays.
Radio Presets Access via Steering Wheel Controls
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You can now cycle through your AM/FM/XM radio presents via the left (prev/next) steering wheel buttons when there are two or more presets. If you have fewer than two presets, the steering wheel controls will seek the previous/next station instead.
ENHANCEMENTS
Maps Improvements
Maps Orientation
You now have the option to orient the map in the direction of travel. You can switch between the “heading-up” mode–where the map is oriented in the direction of travel–and the “north-up” mode by tapping the control in the center of the Maps control bar:
Heading-up tracking mode:
Map is oriented in the direction of travel. Note that the map labels will not adjust as the map rotates so they will be upside down when you are driving south.
North-up tracking mode:
Map is oriented north.
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Whenever you tap this control, the icon will turn blue, indicating that the map is tracking the car. If you pan or rotate the map with your finger(s) the icon will turn gray and the map will stop tracking the car. Tap it again to re-enable tracking.
Compass
A compass will appear in the lower left corner of the Maps app when the map is in heading-up orientation. You can tap the compass to switch to north-up tracking mode.
Other Improvements
- You can now also rotate the map manually with a two-finger rotation motion. Remeber that any manual interaction with the map will turn tracking off.
- Performance improvements have been made so the map should be faster and smoother, and any interaction with the map (e.g., rotatin, pinch & zoom, etc.) should be smoother and more responsive.
- Navigation route line and traffic display have been improved so the route line no longer fully blocks traffic.
- Satellite and traffic buttons now have icons instead of text labels.
- Satellite mode now turns off when the car switches to night mode. Tap the satellite button if you’d like to view satellite images at night. Note that the satellite mode settings is preserved for day mode.
- Search results for “chain” searches (e.g., Starbucks) have been improved. The nearest location should now always show up first.
Improved Power Management When Not In Use
Model S now consumes less power when not in use. The instrument cluster and numerous touchscreen systems (e.g., Bluetooth, 3G connectivity) may take a few seconds to fully power up when you return to your Model S. The mobile app may also take a while (~45 sec) for the secure connection to the car to be re-established when in this low-power mode.
Additions to Driver Profiles
- Front seat heaters’ settings are now included in Driver Profiles.
- Improved Creep Performance
- Creep performance has been tuned so that creep torque is smoother at low speed (< 5 MPH).
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
Tesla unlocks in-car web conferencing to extend Google Meet, Teams and beyond
Tesla Summer Update begins rolling out: a look at the new features
