Tesla provides a robust set of fleet-manager and user-level APIs for its vehicles, each with distinctly useful features. If you’ve ever wondered what other unique things your Tesla is capable of, here is some additional insight.
One of the coolest things we’ve seen are some updated APIs that expose additional data that could provide hints for Tesla’s 8/8 Robotaxi announcement. Read on to find out!
Vehicle Data
Tesla recently added a new property in the API that leverages the cabin camera to find out if there’s anyone inside the car. It doesn’t identify who or where they’re seated or give Tesla access to the camera, but it does let you know whether there’s anyone inside the camera.
The data in the API is usually to be leveraged by the Tesla app, but the detection Tesla is doing here could be used for things like automatically enabling cabin overheat protection if someone was left inside the car.
"is_user_present": true,
Guest Mode
Tesla has outlined a new Guest Mode in their API, potentially pointing to a Robotaxi tie-in. According to Tesla’s API documentation, Guest Mode restricts user functionality in the vehicle. Similar to Tesla’s Valet Mode, Guest Mode requires PIN to Drive or to open the Glovebox. It also limits the vehicle’s speed, prevents the addition or removal of keys and more. This is quite similar to the functionality that’s used by Hertz for its fleet-level management, but there have been some additional updates to this entire API. This Guest Mode endpoint is only accessible on vehicles on update 2024.14 – The Spring Update.
Rider Quality Score
Whole Mars Catalog recently shared a screenshot of a new API property called “Rider Quality Score” on X. The property appears to give the user a score, presumably from 0 to 5 (or 10) based on some characteristics, although Tesla may be simply testing the feature and the values don’t provide any real guidance yet.
“rider_quality_score”: 5
A quality score could be assigned to riders for ride-hailing and could be a part of Tesla’s upcoming August 8th Robotaxi announcement. This one was buried under the User API, which also provides a user’s name, email, and profile photo. You may be able to configure your future Robotaxi or current Tesla to only accept riders with a certain quality level – thereby enabling you to keep your car clean and fit for duty and reducing risks.
