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Tesla is updating its in-car internet browser with Google’s Chromium, says Elon Musk

Tesla’s in-car internet browser has been one of the most neglected features inside Tesla vehicles, but CEO Elon Musk has been promising to improve it recently and now he says that they are upgrading the internet browser with Google’s Chromium.

Last year, Tesla upgraded its onboard media computer in new Model S and Model X vehicles and now owners have been experiencing a significantly more responsive center display.

Tesla has been using the more powerful hardware to make some improvements to its in-car software, but CEO Elon Musk said that the automaker still planned an update to improve the experience of owners with older vehicles, especially the internet browser.

The browser was extremely slow and would often not render websites properly. It was so bad that less than 30% of Tesla drivers reportedly use their in-car internet browser.

Tesla was first planning an update for December 2016, but it has been pushed back on several occasions as the company focused on Autopilot 2.0 and Model 3 software.

About a year ago, the company released its first browser update in a long time and it brought slightly better performance, but it still only made it barely usable.

Now, Musk says that Tesla is going to soon upgrade the browser using Google’s Chromium:

Chromium is Google’s open-source web browser project, which supplies the vast majority of the code for the Google Chrome browser.

It’s starting to make its way into other browsers. For example, Microsoft confirmed that they are rewriting Edge based on Chromium for ‘improved compatibility’.

Tesla didn’t offer a clear timeline for the new browser update, but Musk said that it’s about to happen.

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Avatar for Fred Lambert Fred Lambert

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