Tesla is releasing software update with new convenience features, enabling ‘real camper mode’

With the new ‘Autopilot 2.5’ software update that we reported on yesterday, Tesla is also releasing an update with new convenience features unrelated to Autopilot.

Electrek has learned that Tesla’s latest update adds the two following features:

• the ability to manually adjust the distance at which Homelink automatically opens a door/gate.
• the ability to keep Climate Controls running for an extended period of time while the vehicle is parked.

These two new convenience features should become available in all Tesla vehicles. As usual, the update is pushed to the fleet gradually and it can take a while for all cars to have access to it.

The new features add to the 80+ features that Tesla added to its fleet through its over-the-air software updates over the last 5 years. Here’s a more extensive list.

Electrek’s Take

It’s not the much-awaited features like new music services or the long-awaited internet browser update, but it’s another example of Tesla still releasing improvements on older cars.

The ability to keep climate controls running for an extended period of time while the vehicle is parked will virtually create a ‘real camper mode’. Some Tesla owners who have been occasionally sleeping in their cars either by fitting a small mattress in the trunk or with a tent extending out of the trunk have been using a makeshift ‘camper mode’ to enable continued climate control while the car is parked.

Now it looks like they could just use the new feature to keep running climate controls for an extended period of time.

Personally, the Homelink update could also prove useful because while I have linked my garage door with my Model S’ Homelink, I currently don’t take advantage of the automatic opening system because I can’t see the door when it starts opening. Living in the woods, it is preferable to make sure that no rodent or any animal is around or just for safety before opening it.

Instead, I use the touchscreen input to open it when I’m within view. But now if I can set the distance to automatically open when I’m closer and already within view, I could use the automatic feature and save myself the very cumbersome task of pressing on the center touchscreen.

What use do you think you can have from those new features? Let us know in the comment section below.