Tesletter - Issue 154 - Download Beta

View this email in your browser

If you are just now finding out about Tesletter, you can subscribe here!

If you already know Tesletter and want to support us, check out our Patreon page

If you have 30 seconds to spare, please answer this short survey about your Tesla and favorite accessories

Issue 154 - Download Beta

FSD
Alphabet's Waymo and Tesla's Autopilot FSD make a trip to the store 📹
Both cars make it to the store with zero disengagements. Tesla's FSD Beta makes the exact same trip in almost 3 minutes less. It would be great to see the same drive during the daytime with some traffic.

FSB Beta is getting more exposure and soon it'll be possible to download the Beta from your car
This past week Elon Musk tweeted that Tesla's FSD Beta is maturing and thus it's going to get to more and more cars. Some clubs have been collecting requests for owners to get access to it, and demand has been so high that Tesla has decided to add a 'Download Beta' button in the Service section of the car display by the end of next week. On tapping the button, the user would have to agree with some legal stuff, but after that, the car will download the latest FSD Beta as soon as it connects to WiFi. Woot?!

FSD subscription will require HW3 📹
Up until now, you could purchase FSD and the price would include the hardware upgrade. However, it looks like the subscription won't behave the same way and it will require HW3. We've also seen folks getting the HW3 upgrade 'for free' when purchasing the MCU 2 retrofit so... who knows? We can only wait and see.

New Models (Plaid, Cybertruck, Y 2020)

Model S Plaid production ramping up
More Model S Plaid have been spotted near the Fremont Factory in California. Some have the Yoke steering wheel and others don't. In any case, it's looking like vehicles are getting ready to be hauled to their owners and deliveries could start soon (they were initially supposed to start in February). Keeping our fingers crossed for those of you who are waiting.

An update on Cybertruck deliveries coming in Q2
Probably. Said Elon Musk on Twitter. The focus right now is on making progress with the actual Giga Texas, which is where the awaited Cybertruck will be built.

2021 vs 2020 Model Y road and wind noise 📹
Is the double-paned window Model Y quieter than the 2020 model? I probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference but here's a great comparison by our friends at EveryAmp and their conclusion is there is actually some noticeable difference. Judge by yourself. In our case, we don't feel our Y noisier than our previous Model S.

Community

A 2020 recap from Tesla 📹
Tesla has managed to hit a bunch of milestones in 2020 despite of the challenges presented. Well done, and of course, we also thank the Tesla team.

Some feature requests to improve winter ownership
Here is a cool list of improvements for Teslas in cold weather, would you like to see other stuff in there?

The largest American Supercharger location with solar, battery storage, lounge, and restrooms

Tesla is planning a 62 stall V3 urban location in Santa Monica. This will be the largest American Supercharger location with solar, battery storage, lounge, and restrooms. Hope this becomes a reality soon!

What the acronym

As a Tesla fan, I find myself sometimes having to remember what are all those acronyms, here is a list of the ones you can find in this issue.

FSD - Full Self-Driving
HW3 - Autopilot Hardware version 3
MCU 2 - Media Control Unit 2. Has a more powerful Intel x86_64 processor. All Model 3 have this version as well as the Model S and Model X built after the end of March 2018.

Tesletter Supporters & Sponsors

Supporters