Lifestyle
Why your Tesla can become the ultimate ‘Connected Car’
Techies have dreamed of the day when their cars would be as advanced as their personal computing and smartphone devices. Daily use of technology has shifted beyond being the norm to being a necessity. It’s evolved into a digital lifestyle that has extended into vehicular use.
With the launch of the Model S in 2012, Tesla set the benchmark for what the connected car could be. Besides being an amazing, all-electric vehicle with outstanding performance, utility, and good looks, it also incorporates internet technology into the vehicle, cabin and driving experience like never before. A Tesla Model S or Model X provides drivers with the ‘potential’ to carry their digital lifestyle into the vehicle.
Follow along in our upcoming series that will explore the evolving connected car industry and its future possibilities. We’ll cover topics such as how these next generation vehicles might incorporate our digital lifestyles, what the cyber security implications are, how our city’s infrastructure may evolve in response, and how autonomous vehicles will change our society.
So what is a Connected Car?
Because this is an evolving industry, there really isn’t a clear, universal definition for the “connected car.” Technological innovation is happening so quickly, there seems to be no limit on what it could be. Some automotive manufacturers are selling ‘connected cars’ that are simply connected to the internet on their own cellular connection. But internet enabled features are limited. While this may be technically accurate, a connected car needs to be more than just a WiFi hotspot.
At its most basic level, a connected car should have the following attributes:
- It must be connected to the internet at all times
- It must be able to function as a participant in our digital lifestyle similar to an internet of things (IoT) or smart home device
- It must allow the user to interact with their digital lifestyle in a functional and usable way
How automakers are trying to build the Connected Car
Connected car technology is currently being implemented using one of two emerging approaches. The first is simply to project smartphone apps onto a screen in the dashboard. This solution works by running the app on your smartphone but displaying the interface on your vehicle dashboard. The app cannot function without the smartphone and typically has limited or no access to vehicle information. While projected apps can work for things like text messaging and streaming audio apps, they don’t work without the presence of the smartphone and therefore limit the vehicle’s ability to be a full participant in the Internet of Things. Additionally, these apps are generally not designed well for use in a vehicle.
The second is to have embedded apps, or apps that run in the vehicle itself. This solution works by having apps installed or running in the vehicle, similar to tablet or smartphone apps. The advantage is that the apps run independently of a smartphone, can securely access vehicle data, and in special cases can even perform vehicle functions remotely such as closing the sunroof. These advantages mean that the vehicle has the potential to be a full participant in the Internet of Things. Additionally, these apps are designed specifically for in-vehicle use, with display and user interfaces (ie. buttons, colours, text size, etc.) optimized for in-car use.
A third approach worth considering is a hybrid of these two, where the in-vehicle experience can function independently from a smartphone, but can also incorporate data from and interact with a smartphone. This would allow functionality such as text messaging and email to work off the smartphone, while embedded apps could perform more advanced, vehicle specific and independent functionality. Another advantage of a hybrid solution is that it could maintain a unified interface experience that is appropriate to in-vehicle use and look like it was designed for the specific vehicle — as opposed to an iPad stapled to the dashboard.
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“we think a Tesla is the coolest mobile device, ever! (almost)”
This leads us to why we think a Tesla is the coolest mobile device, ever! (almost)
My Tesla has the potential to do so much more
Because of its independent internet connectivity, the Tesla Model S and X offer opportunities to control the vehicle from other internet connected devices. Tesla offers a smartphone app that allows you to control some of the vehicle functions such as charging, air conditioning, and now even parking and summon (on vehicles with Autopilot). And Tesla vehicles receive regular software updates over the air, adding and improving functionality over time. In-vehicle software includes Internet radio, Google Maps (with navigation), and limited integration with your personal calendar that will display your next couple of appointments.
Still, there is much more that can be done with the technology. At least that’s how I felt when I took delivery of my Model S in 2012. At that time there was a lot of talk about in-vehicle apps becoming available, and there was even an app icon in the centre console interface. Unfortunately we are still waiting for Tesla to release an SDK. That being said, Tesla is pretty busy with their Gigafactory, Model 3, Autopilot, and generally steering the whole automotive industry toward electrification.
Although Tesla hasn’t released an SDK or third party app development, and new Tesla-developed apps have been limited, Tesla did include a Web browser as a key feature to their large centre console dash. And that web browser has opened up a host of possibilities for connected car features and interface development. It was the inspiration for my team at Evolved Vehicle Environments to create EVE for Tesla, a growing connected car platform that already incorporates many of the features you might expect in a connected car.
EVE for Tesla for the Model S, Model X
Finally, you can have access to your calendar, email, social media, news, and more in your car – provided that car is a Tesla! And with EVEConnect, a feature available to paid members, your Tesla has officially become a full participant in the Internet of Things. It can receive messages, trigger events, and even talk to your home. And with the recently released EVE for Tesla IFTTT channel, you can now connect your Tesla to over 300 products and services.
In our next post, we will explore the development of the Internet of Things, the connected home market, and connected car/connected home integration. If you have any questions you’d like us to address, please drop us a comment below.
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-Jason Taylor
Elon Musk escalated his monthslong feud with Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey this week, pledging that his own AI video tool will produce a competing version before the year is out. Responding to a fan-made, AI-generated clip of the ancient epic, Musk wrote on X, “Before this year ends, Grok Imagine will make a full-length movie of The Odyssey that is historically accurate and true to the art of Homer.”
In June, Musk quoted an xAI-shared trailer built entirely with Grok Imagine Video 1.5, a two-minute-plus reimagining of The Odyssey styled after a 1970s classical Hollywood epic, and predicted “full movies by the end of the year,” as Teslarati reported at the time. That trailer, built from 36 consistent shots by a single creator, was Musk’s proof of concept. This week’s pledge turns that prediction into a specific commitment, tied directly to Homer’s text rather than a generic demo.
Before this year ends, Grok Imagine will make a full-length movie of The Odyssey that is historically accurate and true to the art of Homer https://t.co/bVHzUmY9WN
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 22, 2026
When a fan separately proposed that Musk fund a live-action alternative, to “give Mel Gibson $100 million to film an Odyssey adaptation with painstakingly historically accurate ships, armour, weapons, and casting, with all dialogue taken straight from the original poem and delivered in Homeric Greek,” Musk replied with two words: “I’m down.”
The Grok Imagine pledge lands as the tool’s underlying infrastructure has changed hands. Grok is no longer a standalone product, it folded into SpaceXAI after SpaceX’s acquisition of xAI closed in February, meaning the compute behind any Odyssey production traces back to the same Colossus supercomputers now bundled into SpaceX’s pitch to investors. Musk has separately said SpaceX’s own engineering data is being fed into the next major Grok training run, a two trillion parameter model he’s called the “2T run.”
Whether Grok Imagine can sustain a feature length narrative, rather than a series of impressive individual shots, remains the open question.
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Cybertruck
Tesla Mobile App gets a new feature that wrap fans are going to love
Tesla’s Summer Update removes the USB drive step from customizing your car’s digital wrap design.
Tesla’s latest 2026 Summer Update quietly closes out one of the more tedious steps in personalizing a Tesla’s digital appearance. Uploading a custom wrap design used to require a USB drive. Now it doesn’t.
The feature is listed in Tesla’s release notes as “Send Custom Wraps from Mobile App.” The company described it plainly: “Skip the USB drive and upload a custom wrap of your car from the mobile app. Instructions for creating a custom wrap here: github.com/teslamotors/custom-wraps.”
The digital wrap tool has been around since Tesla’s 2024 Holiday Update, when it launched for Cybertruck owners first, as Teslarati reported at the time. Getting a design onto the car meant formatting a USB drive, creating a folder named exactly “Wraps,” dropping in PNG files sized between 512×512 and 1024×1024 pixels and under 1 MB each, then plugging the drive in and applying the wrap through Toybox. Tesla expanded the tool to other models and renamed it from “Colorizer” to “Paint Shop” with the 2025 Holiday Update, while also adding license plate and window tint customization alongside the wraps.
Custom wraps via mobile app https://t.co/5OydZ26g9p pic.twitter.com/uexU0ZePxu
— Tesla (@Tesla) July 22, 2026
The latest Summer Update removes the USB step from that process. Owners will be able to pull a design from wherever they saved it, whether that’s a download from social media or something built from Tesla’s own GitHub templates, and push it to the car directly through the app.
Tesla reveals 2026 Summer Update with crazy fixes to Nav and more
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It’s a small fix relative to the rest of this latest release, which also included expanded Grok voice commands, automatic navigation that learns regular routes, and self-driving stats inside the mobile app, all detailed in our rundown of the full Summer Update. The USB requirement was one of the more common complaints about Paint Shop since it launched. Tesla did not say when the wrap upload change would reach individual vehicles, only that the broader update is rolling out now in waves.
Elon Musk
Tesla Diner is throwing a birthday party with a Franz-signed special treat
Tesla Diner turns one on July 21 with Optimus, roller skates, and a Franz-signed hat.
Tesla is throwing its Hollywood Diner a first birthday party on July 21 and the celebration comes with a guest list of unique items, including a limited run of Tesla Diner birthday hats personally signed by Tesla Chief Designer Franz von Holzhausen for the first 50 customers who place an in-car order at midnight.
One year after lines wrapped around the block on Santa Monica Boulevard for a diner that most of the restaurant industry did not take seriously, Tesla is making the case that the concept was worth the years it took to build. The concept had been in Musk’s head since at least 2018, when he floated the idea of “an old school drive-in, roller skates and rock restaurant” on X, describing it years later as “‘Grease’ meets ‘The Jetsons’ with Supercharging.”
Tesla Optimus Gen 3 is coming to the Tesla Diner with new ambitions
What made the diner genuinely different from any restaurant that came before it was not the menu or the nostalgia. It was the ordering model. Tesla owners could place food orders directly from their vehicle’s touchscreen before arriving, a small feature that hints at something much larger on the horizon. As the Cybercab and unsupervised FSD expand across major cities, the diner model becomes a template for an entirely new kind of commerce. A robotaxi pulling in to charge does not need a human to walk up to a counter. The vehicle places the order, the food is ready on arrival, and the passenger never interrupts the experience of being driven somewhere else. It is the first glimpse of what drive-through commerce looks like when the car is doing the driving.
As Teslarati has reported, Musk signaled immediately after opening that the Hollywood location was only the beginning, posting that Tesla would expand the concept to major cities worldwide and along Supercharger corridors on long-distance routes if the first location proved successful. One year in, the birthday celebration on July 21 makes a strong case that it has. Tesla announced a full day of events including a Cybercab on display, a birthday menu, Optimus in attendance, face painting, a photo booth, roller skating servers, a light show, a Skypad DJ, and complimentary collectibles.
If Musk’s ambition holds, the Hollywood diner is year one of something much bigger. The birthday party is the proof of concept. The robotaxi fleet is the business model waiting behind it.
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Tesla Diner is turning 1 on July 21st, so we’re throwing a party
Come swing by for a day full of fun:
– Cybercab on display
– Birthday menu
– @Tesla_Optimus
– Face painting for kids & adults
– Photo booth
– Servers on roller skates delivering your order
– Light show
– Skypad DJ… pic.twitter.com/TD8pOjihYs— Tesla North America (@tesla_na) July 18, 2026
Tesla briefly offered this Robotaxi part for your personal car
Tesla Robotaxi gets sweeping but polarizing change
