Tesla releases update with more power, automatic navigation, and more

Tesla started pushing a new software update that enables more power out of its vehicles, a new Automatic Navigation feature, scheduled charging and more.

During a conference call with analysts after Tesla’s Q3 2019 earnings, Tesla’s management announced plans to release a new software update that would increase vehicle power, range, charging speed, and more.

CEO Elon Musk said that the update would gradually make it to owners over the next few weeks.

It is expected to affect different models and variants differently.

Now some owners are starting to report already getting the new software update with a “power increase”.

Tesla wrote in the release notes:

“Your car’s power has been increased by approximately 5%, improving acceleration and performance.”

That’s due to Tesla figuring out how to optimize motor control through software.

Along with the new motor control software resulting in a power increase, Tesla has released the highly-requested capability to schedule vehicle charging and preconditioning in the same update.

Tesla explains the new ‘Scheduled Departure’ feature in the release notes:

It’s now easier to have your car comfortable and ready to drive with Scheduled Departure. For any location (e.g. Home), pug in your car and select a time for when you want your car to be ready to drive. nce your specified time is set, the car will schedule charging to complete before peak electricity rates begin (6AM) to reduce energy costs and ensure consistent regenerative braking and performance. it also automatically starts climate control so the cabin is comfortable at the set departure time.

To enable Scheduled Departure for the current location, go to Charging > Schedule/ Then select DEPART AT and set the departure time, choose whether you’d like Scheduled Departure to apply ALL WEEK or only on WEEKDAYS. If ALL WEEK is selected, you have the option to “Precondition Cabin on Weekdays Only” by selecting the checkbox.

The automaker notes that this new feature replaces Smart Preconditioning and it will not precondition the car if the battery pack is at less than 20% state-of-charge.

Along with these new features, Tesla has also released a previously unannounced feature called “Automatic Navigation”:

Automatic Navigation starts a route to a likely destination when you get in your car. Automatic Navigation routes you to locations associated with upcoming calendar events, to Work when leaving Home in the morning (Monday through Friday) and Home when leaving Work in the afternoon or evening (Monday through Friday).

To adjust Automatic Navigation, tap Controls > Navigation > Automatic Navigation. To set your work and home addresses, tap Navigate ten tap Home or Work and enter the address as necessary, then tap Save.

Musk has been talking about introducing features that make your car increasingly know more about yourself and autonomously perform tasks that it can anticipate, like the fact that you are going to work or home.

He notes that it should be particularly useful once Tesla achieves full self-driving capability. The car will not only know you want to drive home, it will drive you there.