Tesla releases new software update with Autopilot, Spotify app improvements, and more

Tesla has started pushing a new software update to the fleet today with a new Autopilot feature, Spotify app improvements, and more.

Check out the release notes below.

While we are all focused on Tesla’s Full Self-Driving Beta release, Tesla is still working on improving the overall experience inside its vehicles for the broader fleet.

The automaker has started pushing a new software update (2020.44) to the fleet with a few improvements to existing apps and features.

For Autopilot, Tesla has introduced better ways to set the speed of Autopilot when activating it — something that was often requested by Tesla drivers.

Tesla wrote in the release notes:

You can now change the Autopilot set speed by adjusting Controls > Autopilot > Set Speed to one of the following options:

SPEED LIMIT will set the cruise speed to the speed limit of the road and will adjust either to the Set Speed Offset that is specified or to the current driving speed, which ever is greater. The Set Speed Offset can be configured to a FIXED speed for all roads or to a PERCENTAGE that will vary based on the speed limit of the road.

CURRENT SPEED will set the cruise speed to the current driving speed.

These settings will enable drivers to configure Autopilot in order to have a smoother experience when activating it and not be surprised by any kind of acceleration to a certain speed.

With 2020.44, Tesla is introducing several improvements to its media and Spotify app — the biggest of which is likely gapless playback.

The automaker wrote about Spotify improvements in the release notes:

Spotify has been updated to make it easier to find and play content from your library, which now also includes collaborative playlists and podcasts. With gapless playback, you can enjoy playlists without disruption in between tracks. A Spotify home tab has been added to help discover new content which is customized based on your listening preferences.

The updated Spotify app comes with an updated search user interface.

Here’s a picture (picture credit: Alex Gayer):

Tesla has also made some improvements to the overall media app inside its vehicles:

The media search results are now rearranged for easier viewing. Results now also display based on the media source you are actively using, highlighting and making it more convenient to find what you are looking for.

Search results when searching for specific items via voice has also been improved to show you more of what you are looking for.

With Tesla having so many media options now inside the car, it knows that most people are only using a few of them, and therefore, it now lets you hide those you don’t use:

You can now show or hide your preferred media sources in the Media Player. Go to the Audio Settings > Sources to hide the sources that you do not use. Media search results will also exclude all hidden media sources.

The software update 2020.44 also enables you to choose a language for the voice commands different from what you are using on the touchscreen.

I don’t know why you’d want to do that, but hey, now you can with Tesla’s 2020.44 software update.

Tesla is now starting to push the new software update to the fleet. Keep in mind that it may take from a few days to a few weeks for the update to fully propagate.