Firmware
Putting Tesla’s Supercharger idle fee to the test: firmware 8.0 review for non-Autopilot cars
Tesla Enhanced Autopilot continues to roll out on Model S and Model X vehicles equipped with Autopilot 2.o hardware, but let’s not forget the rest of us that pre-date Autopilot entirely. We received some updates as well in the latest version of Firmware 8.0.
While many companies wait for major or minor releases to introduce new features, Tesla has a history of adding features in patch releases too. Patch release 8.0 (2.52.22) introduced 3 new features for my “Classic” Model S without Autopilot.
Supercharger Fees
I was surprised to see the “$0.40/min idle fee” notice on the Supercharger map pin. A short while ago, Tesla announced that they would begin charging people for “idling” while plugged into a Supercharger. There were a number of issues with the original plan for Supercharger fees outlined by Tesla, but they later refined how the plan would work.
I’m definitely in favor of the new Supercharger plan. Here on the East Coast, I rarely see other Teslas when I’m charging, but I understand it is a real problem out West. Based on the recent announcement that Tesla will begin charging a fee for Supercharger use that varies by region, one can assume that the idle fee will also vary by location – one day. It’s something that should be reflected on the onboard Nav. should they, one day, adopt that policy.
Time will tell how this story will play out, but for the heck of it I decided to venture out and put Tesla’s Supercharger idle fee to the test. I drove out to the Tesla Supercharger in Auburn, Massachusetts to begin my test. Luckily no one was there except me making my test even more viable. I plugged in, charged, and sat in the car for 20 minutes even after it had completed charging to my set limit.
In theory that should have cost me $8.00, if the site was busy, but I was the only there. We’ll see if Tesla tries to charge me for that event the next time I visit my Service Center. At least for a few months, I’d recommend keeping photo records of how busy the charging sites, especially if there’s risk of leaving your car plugged in after the car has completed charging.
Supercharger Amenities
Also released in the new firmware updates is Supercharger Amenities. Straight and to the point, this feature is essentially worthless. Tesla introduced icons that hint at the types of amenities at each Supercharger, but with no details.
Sure, the brief list of icons is nice to see, but what would have been better is if they could have made them “clickable”. It seems more natural to be able to tap on the icon set and see a summary of the Supercharger details listed on their maps page.
Overall, this feature is not very useful in my opinion, but has legs.
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- EVTripping.com route planner highlights Supercharger details
Automatic Driver Profiles
With this feature, Tesla finally implemented something my old 2007 Acura MDX has. You can now link your driver profile to one of the two key fobs that came with your Tesla. The fobs are not numbered or labeled by Tesla, so determining FOB 1 from FOB 2 is something you’ll have to figure out and mark for yourself, but otherwise the feature works exactly as you’d expect.
If you have more than 2 profiles in the car, you can only set one profile per FOB, the others will need to manually select their profiles from the menu.
Also note that the profile doesn’t “activate” until you open the driver’s door. If you unlock the car and get in the passenger seat the profile does not trigger.
Equalizer Settings
In the past, the equalizer only had 3 different levels you could control, now there are 5 individual controls for better-tuned sound.
The settings worked as you’d expect and it’s nice to have a bit more control over the sound settings.
Summary
While most of the updates taking place on firmware releases have been focused on Autopilot, it’s great to see that Tesla has not alienated the early adopters. We continue to receive new features and experience new initiatives by the company, regardless of the age of our vehicle. Buy a Tesla one time and you’re grandfathered in. For life.
The driver profile linking to the FOBs are by far the best addition in this update. The Supercharger amenities are disappointing and the idle fees are useful, but will need to better reflect changes made to its Supercharger policy.
This patch release of 8.0 was great and I can’t help but wonder what goodies 8.1 will have in store for us. Any guesses?
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.
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 confirmed HW3 can’t do Unsupervised FSD but there’s more to the story
Tesla isn’t joking about building Optimus at an industrial scale: Here we go
