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Tesla Track Mode V2 Release Notes: Third-Party Charging, Bluetooth update included

Tesla Model 3 Track Mode V2 (Source: Tesla Raj | YouTube)

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Tesla has started rolling out software 2020.8.1 that includes Track Mode V2 for Model 3, third-party charging stations, improvements to Model S and Model X regenerative braking, and a host of other features.

YouTuber Tesla Raj explored the latest software update using the Model 3 Performance of Wade Anderson (@TeslaSocialC) to demonstrate features for Track Mode and discuss what’s new. The 2020.8.1 firmware includes improvements to Navigation, Driving Visualization, Bluetooth, regenerative braking, voice command reliability, third-party charging station options, plus minor updates on language support.

Track Mode V2 for Model 3

The latest version of the Track Mode for the Model 3 started rolling out as a free over-the-air (OTA) update earlier this week and coinciding with the launch of the Model 3 Track Package for racing enthusiasts.

Track Mode V2 gives Model 3 owners the option of customizing settings for Handling Balance, Stability Assist, Regenerative Braking, among others.

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“Track Mode has been improved to make it easier to monitor the status of your car, create custom track mode settings profiles and record your track day data,” the 2020.8.1 firmware release notes read.

Tesla Raj, upon getting the latest software update, tested the Track Mode V2 on the Model 3 and switched the car to rear-wheel drive with no stability assist.

“I have never… I don’t have much experience in a Performance Model 3 but I’ll tell you one thing. My heart, lungs, and liver, and all my body parts are all here in my chest,” said Tesla Raj.

Tesla Raj and Tesla Social also switched to full front-wheel drive and then to 50-50 to feel how the car would perform.

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Track Mode allows owners to create 20 profiles that perfectly suits their preferences and driving scenarios. Users can also customize the settings for a specific track.

Track Mode V2 also allows you to monitor the status of the car’s motors, brakes, and tires. The latest firmware also allows one to see a real-time accelerometer via the G-meter. Likewise, the map now includes a Lap Timer.

Model 3 owners can also save a video and other data of their driving sessions while on Track Mode. One has to assign a folder named “TeslaTrackMode” in the plugged USB flash drive where all the files would be saved. Track Mode will also store telemetry data, car status, speed, acceleration, and use of accelerator on the flash drive.

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Bluetooth, Driving Visualization, And More

Tesla also tweaked how Bluetooth audio transitions from one’s phone to the car with this latest update. Now, Bluetooth connects a paired phone only after sitting in the driver’s seat and once all of the vehicle’s doors are closed.

More users can now enjoy the improved driving visualizations showing stoplights, stop signs, and select road markings, which was only available before to Tesla owners in the United States.

According to the release notes, Tesla has also improved voice command reliability even in areas with poor connectivity.

Tesla owners in select sites in the San Francisco Bay Area can now find third-party charging stations via in-car navigation. Users in other locations in the US will also be able to enjoy this feature soon.

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Regenerative Braking Improvements and New Navigation for Model S and Model X

Firmware 2020.8.1 also gives Model S and Model X owners increased regenerative braking that improves the overall driving experience and increases the amount of energy actively returned to the vehicle’s battery when slowing down.

The latest update also introduces a new navigation system with improved routes, more accurate arrival times, and a more responsive instrument cluster.

The full release notes for Firmware 2020.8.1  can be found below:

Introducing new Navigation (Beta)

Only Model S and X

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Introducing a new navigation system for your vehicle that provides improved routes, more accurate arrival times, and a more responsive instrument cluster view to better display upcoming maneuvers.

For China: This release also includes new maps on the touchscreen. You can now view the maps in satellite view and see nearby points of interest.

Driving Visualization Improvements

This has been added for more regions, previously just the US.

The driving visualization can now display additional objects which include stop lights, stop signs and select road markings. The stop sign and stop light visualizations are not a substitute for an attentive driver and will not stop the car. To see these additional objects in your driving visualization, tap Controls > Autopilot > Self Driving Visualization Preview.

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Track Mode Improvements

Only Model 3 (Performance)

Track Mode has been improved to make it easier to monitor the status of your car, create custom track mode settings profiles and record your track day data.

Monitor the status of your car motors, battery, brakes and tires, allowing you to adjust your driving in real time. G-meter, a real-time accelerometer, can now be viewed in the Cards area of the touchscreen. The map now displays a Lap Timer. Follow the onscreen instructions to place a start/finish pin on the map. At the completion of each lap, the Lap Timer displays the duration of the lap. It also displays the times associated with the previous and best laps in the driving session.

Track Mode allows you to save up to 20 Track Mode profiles to suit your preferences or driving scenario, or customize for a specific track. A new settings profile can be created by tapping Track Mode Settings > Add New Settings, entering a name for the settings profile, then adjusting settings including Handling Balance, Stability Assist, Regenerative Braking, Post-Drive Cooling and Compressor Overclock. Refer to the Owner’s Manual for more information regarding each setting.

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You can now save a video and data of the Track Mode driving session to a plugged in USB flash drive which must contain a folder named “TeslaTrackMode” (without the quotation marks). When “Save Dashcam for Laps” is enabled, Track Mode stores a video of each lap in a driving session when using the Lap Timer. Track Mode also stores the car status and telemetry data including details about the vehicle’s position, speed, acceleration, and use of accelerator which is stored as a .CSV file on the USB flash drive.

Third-Party Charging Stations

Only vehicles in California.

Now you can find third-party charging options with your in-car navigation – select sites in the San Francisco Bay Area are available now with additional locations across the US coming soon. To access, press the lightning bolt icon on the bottom of your touchscreen, scroll down and select a Supercharger, Destination Charging or third-party charging location to navigate to.

Bluetooth Improvement

To improve the audio transition from phone-to-car when entering your vehicle, Bluetooth now connects to your paired phone only after you are sitting in the driver’s seat and all doors are closed. As a reminder, you can pair your phone to Bluetooth by touching the Bluetooth icon on the top of your touchscreen and then “Add New Device”.

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Regenerative Braking

Only Model S and X

Regenerative braking force has been increased to improve the driving experience and increase how much energy is actively returned to the battery when slowing down.

Improved Voice Command Reliability

We have improved voice command reliability, including in areas with poor connectivity. Note: to use voice commands, simply tap the right steering wheel button and speak your command after the beep – there is no need to press and hold the button.

Additional Language Support

Your touchscreen is now available in additional languages. To change the language, simply go to Controls > Display > Language. Please note that your vehicle must be in PARK to enable this selection.

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Additional Owner’s Manual Languages

The Owner’s Manual on your touchscreen is now available in Romanian, Hungarian, Slovenian, and Hebrew. As a reminder, you can change the language of the Owner’s Manual by tapping Controls > Service> Owner’s Manual and select your preferred language from the dropdown menu.

This release contains minor improvements and bug fixes.

 

 

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A curious soul who keeps wondering how Elon Musk, Tesla, electric cars, and clean energy technologies will shape the future, or do we really need to escape to Mars.

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SpaceXAI signs agreement with Anthropic for massive AI supercomputer access

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Credit: SpaceX

SpaceXAI announced today that it had signed an agreement with Anthropic to give the company access to its Colossus 1 data center in Memphis, Tennessee.

It is a monumental deal as Anthropic will gain access to all of the compute at the plant, delivering more than 300 megawatts of power and over 220,000 NVIDIA GPUs within the month.

Anthropic’s Claude AI account on X announced the partnership:

We’ve agreed to a partnership with SpaceX that will substantially increase our compute capacity. This, along with our other recent compute deals, means that we’ve been able to increase our usage limits for Claude Code and the Claude API.”

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The company is also:

  • Doubling Claude Code’s 5-hour rate limits for Pro, Max, and Team plans;
  • Removing the peak hours limit reduction on Claude Code for Pro and Max plans; and
  • Substantially raising its API rate limits for Opus models.

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SpaceX also published its own release on the new agreement, noting that it is “the only organization with the launch cadence, mass-to-orbit economics, and constellation operations experience to make orbital compute a near-term engineering program rather than a research concept.”

CEO Elon Musk also commented on the partnership and shed light on intense meetings he had with senior members of Anthropic last week, stating, “nobody set on my evil detector.”

This has turned the argument that SpaceX is as much an AI company as a space exploration company into a very valid argument:

SpaceX is following in Tesla’s footsteps in a way nobody expected

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Nevertheless, this is an incredibly valuable and important move in the grand scheme of things. AI scaling is fundamentally bottlenecked by compute, and demand for Claude has surged, bringing terrestrial power grids, land, and cooling operations hitting limits everywhere.

Anthropic has been aggressively signing multiple large-scale deals to be competitive in the space, including:

  • Up to 5GW with Amazon
  • 5GW with Google and Broadcom
  • Strategic $30b Azure deal with Microsoft/NVIDIA
  • $50b U.S. infrastructure investment with Fluidstack

Access to Colossus 1 gives Anthropic immediate relief on NVIDIA GPU capacity. For SpaceXAI, it turns its rapid buildout into revenue. It also showcases its ability to deliver at world-leading speed and scale.

Most importantly, it plants the seed that its much larger vision, orbital AI compute, is totally viable.

Starlink V3 satellites could enable SpaceX’s orbital computing plans: Musk

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Within the month, Anthropic will begin using 100 percent of Colossus 1’s compute, directly expanding capacity for Claude Pro and Max subscribers and the API. This means fewer limits, faster responses, and support for heavier workloads.

In the long term, meaning 2026 and beyond, there will be a continued rollout of other multi-GW deals Anthropic has signed, and an early exploration of orbital compute with SpaceXAI.

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Tesla unveils mysterious prototype at Giga Texas: Is the Model Y L coming to America?

The Model Y L has been available in China for some time, but Americans are wondering when it will potentially come to the United States, offering a larger version of the best-selling vehicle in the world, as the Model X is officially phased out.

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Credit: Joe Tegtmeyer | X

Tesla unveiled a mysterious prototype, covered up between a Model Y and a Cybertruck at Gigafactory Texas, perhaps giving yet another hint that the Model Y L is coming to America.

The Model Y L has been available in China for some time, but Americans are wondering when it will potentially come to the United States, offering a larger version of the best-selling vehicle in the world, as the Model X is officially phased out.

Giga Texas observer and drone operator Joe Tegtmeyer captured an image of the vehicle on May 6, showing a fully-covered prototype parked alongside a standard Model Y and a Cybertruck.

From top-down and angled views, the prototype appears nearly identical in scale to the Model Y but reveals noticeably distinct rear proportions—an elongated rear door that stretches farther over the wheel arch and rear glass that flows uninterrupted to the spoiler lip.

The side-by-side placement provides an immediate size reference. The mystery vehicle sits comfortably between the compact Model Y and the massive Cybertruck, suggesting it occupies a practical middle ground for families seeking more interior room without jumping to a full-size pickup.

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Enthusiasts quickly took to social media with guesses ranging from an extended-wheelbase Model Y to a potential station-wagon variant.

The sight of this prototype follows an earlier look at another shrouded body-in-white resting in a wooden shipping crate at the Giga Texas plant in late March.

That prototype appeared to display an elongated silhouette. Some analysis seems to show nearly exact dimensions as to what is reported for the Model Y L in the Chinese market, approximately 4.98 meters long with a 3.04-meter wheelbase, roughly seven inches longer overall than the U.S.-spec Model Y. The rear-door extension and glass-to-spoiler design were identical to the current sighting:

Tesla shows off mysterious vehicle at Giga Texas

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The Model Y L has already proven popular in China, where it launched in six- and seven-seat configurations and quickly ranked among the top-selling mid-to-large SUVs. Owners enjoy roughly 10 percent more cargo space and enhanced family versatility.

Tesla has remained silent on U.S. plans other than CEO Elon Musk saying it could come in late 2026, but localizing production at Giga Texas would make strategic sense.

With the Model X phase-out and steady Model Y output already humming along expanded lines, a longer-wheelbase variant could add tens of thousands of annual deliveries without major retooling.

The latest sighting arrives amid Tesla’s broader push to refresh its lineup. Whether this prototype represents the long-rumored Model Y L, a subtle Juniper-style update, or something entirely new remains unconfirmed.

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Yet the consistent visual cues—precise dimensional match, distinctive rear styling, and strategic placement at Giga Texas—point strongly toward an extended Model Y designed for American families who want extra space without sacrificing the Model Y’s efficiency and affordability.Tesla watchers will be monitoring future drone flights closely.

If the prototype is indeed the Model Y L, it could mark a significant expansion of the company’s best-selling vehicle and deliver the extra room many U.S. buyers have been requesting for years. For now, the blue tarp keeps its secrets—but the clues are getting harder to hide.

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Tesla Roadster gets an update, but not the one fans were looking for

Tesla has quietly filed a new trademark application for its next-generation Roadster, giving enthusiasts their first official glimpse of fresh branding for the long-teased electric supercar.

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Credit: Dan Burkland

Tesla has been slow to show its hand regarding the massive project that is the Roadster, but it is now coming forth with a new update.

However, it is probably not the one fans were looking for.

Tesla has quietly filed a new trademark application for its next-generation Roadster, giving enthusiasts their first official glimpse of fresh branding for the long-teased electric supercar.

The February 3 filing includes an inverted triangular badge with the word “ROADSTER” centered above four vertical lines that, according to the application, represent “speed, propulsion, heat, or wind.”

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A sleek, angular wordmark and a minimalist curved-line silhouette hinting at the car’s aerodynamic shape round out the trio of marks.

For a program that began with Elon Musk’s 2017 reveal, this is tangible forward motion. The original Roadster proved EVs could be thrilling; the next generation aims higher, with promises of sub-two-second 0-60 mph acceleration and, in its most extreme configuration, optional SpaceX cold-gas thrusters for rocket-like thrust.

The new trademarks suggest Tesla is now locking down the visual identity that will accompany those headline specs, as well as a small hint that maybe we’re finally getting close. However, the company has not revealed any progress on the vehicle itself or its specs to the public.

It continues to tease with developments like this one.

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That said, the update lands with a familiar bittersweet note. Fans have waited nearly a decade since the initial unveiling. Production was once eyed for 2020, then 2021, then later still. In the intervening years, Tesla has delivered the Model Y, Cybertruck, Semi, and major autonomy advances while scaling its energy business.

The Roadster has taken a back seat, and the delays have been genuinely disappointing. Many longtime supporters have grown frustrated watching renderings and hearsay while other marques roll out ever-faster electric sports cars.

Elon Musk talks Tesla Roadster’s future

Yet, the Roadster program itself still sparks genuine excitement. It represents the purest expression of Tesla’s “accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy” mission—pushing performance boundaries to prove EVs can outperform anything with an engine.

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The new branding, modest as it is, keeps that promise alive. It tells owners and prospective buyers that Tesla hasn’t forgotten the car that started it all.

No one would blame fans for wanting more than a logo right now. But in an industry where many concepts never leave the drawing board, the fact that Tesla continues to invest in and protect the Roadster’s identity is reason for measured optimism.

The wait has tested patience, but when the next-generation Roadster finally arrives, the new badge may well adorn one of the most exciting cars ever built. For those who have followed the journey this far, that payoff still feels worth it.

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