Firmware
Tesla’s V9 Atari games are but the start of Elon Musk’s gamification plans
When Elon Musk was featured in the Joe Rogan Experience podcast last month, he candidly noted that he believes a Tesla is one of the most fun things that consumers could possibly buy. Describing the company’s electric cars, Musk stated that at their core, Teslas are a “thing to maximize enjoyment.” Considering that Tesla’s vehicles are known for providing instant torque and insane acceleration, Musk’s statement definitely rings true.
As the Software Version 9 update would later prove, these moments of enjoyment can happen even when the car is not in motion. This is because amidst the features and improvements that were featured in the V9 update, Tesla also released its newest Easter Egg — TeslAtari, an emulator of classic 1979 games that are controlled either through the steering wheel or through the vehicles’ center touchscreens.
TeslAtari currently has four titles in its lineup – Missile Command, Asteroids, Lunar Lander, and Centipede. That said, Elon Musk’s initial announcement of the Easter Egg just hours before the Q2 2018 earnings call teased the inclusion of iconic games like Tempest and Pole Position as well. Musk even noted that Pole Position, which is arguably one of the most memorable racing games released to date, would be controlled through the electric cars’ steering wheel. Pole Position did not make it to the initial V9 release, though the rollout of the title is all but imminent.
Apart from being a visionary and a noted risk-taker, Elon Musk is also an avid gamer. At age nine, he got his hands on his first computer, the Commodore VIC-20, which came with 5 KB of memory and an extensive programming guide that was designed for users to complete in six months. Nine-year-old Elon Musk completed the programming guide in three days. At 12, Musk created his own video game, Blastar, which he later sold to a computer magazine in 1983 for $500. In a later conversation with writer Tim Urban, Musk candidly stated that Blastar was “a trivial game…but better than Flappy Bird.” Tweets over the years would also show that Musk still plays games on a PC, playing games like Overwatch and BioShock, among others.
Considering Elon Musk’s passion for gaming, it is no surprise that his electric cars, which are pretty much the equivalent of a computer on wheels, are getting gaming capabilities as well. Musk recently responded positively to the idea of having other Teslas appear on vehicles’ displays when in Autopilot, stating that such a system could be “part of a (safe) car version of (a) Pokémon Go style game.” Musk also started asking his followers for suggestions about which titles they would like to see on their cars.
What are some of the most fun games we could have on a Tesla? Classic Atari is just the start.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 15, 2018
With the rollout of TeslAtari, the further gamification of the Tesla experience seems to be all but inevitable. Tesla, after all, is consistently in the process of improving its hardware, as shown in the upgrades to the Model S and Model X’s MCUs that were rolled out earlier this year. TeslaTap, an unofficial resource listing Tesla’s hardware for its vehicles, notes that even older MCUs are equipped with 2 GB DDR3 SDRAM and 8 GB eMMC NAND Flash, which are paired with an Nvidia Tegra 3 quad-core processor. Later versions of the Model S and X’s MCU, as well as the Model 3’s center display, are reportedly fitted with an Intel Gordon Peak Board using the Atom E3800 series CPU and Intel Apollo Lake system-on-chip, which are even more capable.
The gaming industry is quite remarkable in the way that it has evolved incredibly fast over the past two decades. The legendary Sony PlayStation 1 console, for example, which was host to titles like Gran Turismo 2 and Final Fantasy VII, was powered by a 33.9MHz CPU and 2MB of RAM. While emulators do tend to eat up a lot of processing power, it is not difficult to imagine Tesla’s later hardware (or even its current-generation hardware) supporting emulated games from more advanced consoles. Perhaps a release of beloved SNES titles are in the pipeline? One can definitely dream.
Ultimately, it seems safe to assume that with TeslAtari, the electric car maker has opened a huge box filled with a lot of fun possibilities.
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.
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
It appears that Tesla may be preparing to roll out some subscription-based services soon. Based on the observations of a Wales-based Model 3 owner who performed some reverse-engineering on the Tesla mobile app, it seems that the electric car maker has added a new “Subscribe” option beside the “Buy” option within the “Upgrades” tab, at least behind the scenes.
A screenshot of the new option was posted in the r/TeslaMotors subreddit, and while the Tesla owner in question, u/Callump01, admitted that the screenshot looks like something that could be easily fabricated, he did submit proof of his reverse-engineering to the community’s moderators. The moderators of the r/TeslaMotors subreddit confirmed the legitimacy of the Model 3 owner’s work, further suggesting that subscription options may indeed be coming to Tesla owners soon.
Did some reverse engineering on the app and Tesla looks to be preparing for subscriptions? from r/teslamotors
Tesla’s Full Self-Driving suite has been heavily speculated to be offered as a subscription option, similar to the company’s Premium Connectivity feature. And back in April, noted Tesla hacker @greentheonly stated that the company’s vehicles already had the source codes for a pay-as-you-go subscription model. The Tesla hacker suggested then that Tesla would likely release such a feature by the end of the year — something that Elon Musk also suggested in the first-quarter earnings call. “I think we will offer Full Self-Driving as a subscription service, but it will be probably towards the end of this year,” Musk stated.
While the signs for an upcoming FSD subscription option seem to be getting more and more prominent as the year approaches its final quarter, the details for such a feature are still quite slim. Pricing for FSD subscriptions, for example, have not been teased by Elon Musk yet, though he has stated on Twitter that purchasing the suite upfront would be more worth it in the long term. References to the feature in the vehicles’ source code, and now in the Tesla mobile app, also listed no references to pricing.
The idea of FSD subscriptions could prove quite popular among electric car owners, especially since it would allow budget-conscious customers to make the most out of the company’s driver-assist and self-driving systems without committing to the features’ full price. The current price of the Full Self-Driving suite is no joke, after all, being listed at $8,000 on top of a vehicle’s cost. By offering subscriptions to features like Navigate on Autopilot with automatic lane changes, owners could gain access to advanced functions only as they are needed.
Elon Musk, for his part, has explained that ultimately, he still believes that purchasing the Full Self-Driving suite outright provides the most value to customers, as it is an investment that would pay off in the future. “I should say, it will still make sense to buy FSD as an option as in our view, buying FSD is an investment in the future. And we are confident that it is an investment that will pay off to the consumer – to the benefit of the consumer.” Musk said.
Tesla has started rolling out update 2020.36 this weekend, introducing a couple of notable new features for its vehicles. While there are only a few handful of vehicles that have reportedly received the update so far, 2020.36 makes it evident that the electric car maker has made some strides in its efforts to refine its driver-assist systems for inner-city driving.
Tesla is currently hard at work developing key features for its Full Self-Driving suite, which should allow vehicles to navigate through inner-city streets without driver input. Tesla’s FSD suite is still a work in progress, though the company has released the initial iterations of key features such Traffic Light and Stop Sign Control, which was introduced last April. Similar to the first release of Navigate on Autopilot, however, the capabilities of Traffic Light and Stop Sign Control were pretty basic during their initial rollout.
2020.36 Showing Speed Limit Signs in Visualization from r/teslamotors
With the release of update 2020.36, Tesla has rolled out some improvements that should allow its vehicles to handle traffic lights better. What’s more, the update also includes a particularly useful feature that enables better recognition of speed limit signs, which should make Autopilot’s speed adjustments better during use. Following are the Release Notes for these two new features.
Green Traffic Light Chime
“A chime will play when the traffic light you are waiting for turns green. If you are waiting behind another car, the chime will play once the car advances unless Traffic-Aware Cruise Control or Autosteer is active. When Traffic Light and Stop Sign Control is activated, a chime will play when you can confirm to proceed through a green traffic light. To enable, tap Controls > Autopilot > Green Traffic Light Chime.
“Note: This chime is only designed as a notification. It is the driver’s responsibility to observe their environment and make decisions accordingly.”
Speed Assist Improvements
“Speed Assist now leverages your car’s cameras to detect speed limit signs to improve the accuracy of speed limit data on local roads. Detected speed limit signs will be displayed in the driving visualization and used to set the associated Speed Limit Warning.
“As usual, to adjust Speed Assist settings, tap Controls > Autopilot > Speed Limit.”
Footage of the new green light chime in action via @NASA8500 on Twitter ✈️ from r/teslamotors
Amidst the rollout of 2020.36’s new features, speculations were abounding among Tesla community members that this update may include the first pieces of the company’s highly-anticipated Autopilot rewrite. Inasmuch as the idea is exciting, however, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has stated that this was not the case. While responding to a Tesla owner who asked if the Autopilot rewrite is in “shadow mode” in 2020.36, Musk responded “Not yet.”
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