Tesla's Holiday Update has made the most wonderful time of year the happiest season of all for Tesla owners. Adding parties for hosting, marshmallows for toasting, and caroling out in the snow have been significant improvements to the user interface, the apps, and the farts. So, in the spirit of reflection, let's look back at the last few years of holiday updates courtesy of Santa Musk and the Tesla Elves.
2018 Holiday Update
The 2018 update was significant because it was the first to go to the Model 3. Yes, it's hard to believe the Model 3 was celebrating its first back then. This update brought a handful of features to the Model 3, including the browser, calendar, and energy app, plus others that were added to the entire lineup.
Navigate on Autopilot made its first appearance in Beta. It suggests lane changes and monitors surrounding traffic to help you avoid getting stuck behind slower traffic. Autosteer and Auto Lane Change were also combined in a beta feature. If you were around when these features were first introduced, you know exactly how far they've come, as lane changes were anything but smooth back then.
Tesla also included other classics such as Keep Climate On, Emissions Testing Mode, and Romance Mode.
Take a look at all the features launched in the 2018 Holiday Update.
2019 Holiday Update
There was more fun in 2019, with the addition of the Tesla Theater, a new arcade game (Cuphead) and more media options. But, first, carrying over from 2018, yet another piece in the Autopilot collection was unveiled with Smart Summon, allowing users to have their Tesla come to them.
The Theater brought Netflix into Tesla, so those waiting for their spouse to finish Christmas shopping could sit back and binge-watch their favorite shows. Nothing to watch? Tesla has you covered with Caraoke. This road trip favorite was also launched in 2019 alongside the inclusion of Spotify in the US market.
Tesla’s 2019 Holiday Updates and all its features.
2020 Holiday Update
In 2020, Tesla stuffed three new games down the chimney and into cars worldwide. The games were Cat Quest, the Battle of Polytopia, and Solitaire.
While the entertainment addition wasn't at the same level as the previous year, Tesla made several UI improvements, including improved visualizations, scheduled departure upgrades, Boombox, and improvements to Emissions Testing Mode and Text messaging.
2021 Holiday Update
2021 was a magical year, allowing users access to the side camera to act as a blind spot camera. This welcome improvement caught Tesla up to the legacy automakers in that regard.
This year, Tesla launched Tesla OS V11 with a brand new interface. Tesla introduced a customizable dock and simplified controls, though some UI changes needed to be gradually rolled back or reworked.
Three more video games were added: Sonic the Hedgehog (RIP), The Battle for Polytopia (Multiplayer), and Sudoku.
Since the update came out in December, it's fitting that Tesla introduced the ability for seat heaters to be automated based on the desired cabin temperature. The Car Wash Mode was added, and perhaps one of the most used features, Sentry Mode Live Camera Access.
2022 Holiday Update
That brings us to 2022. The year Steam was introduced in the newer Model S and Model X cars, giving users access to more than 50,000 high-end, high-resolution games. While Steam was a nice addition, it was short-lived. It often suffered from slow load times, and it’s no longer included in new Teslas.
However, there were other major additions in 2022, including Apple Music support and auto-canceling turn signals and Bluetooth controller support. MyQ garage door opener, and Zoom were also wrapped up and put under the tree that year.
2023 Holiday Update
Tesla’s 2023 holiday update rolled out mid-December and introduced some of today’s most popular features.
Alternate routes introduced the option to choose from multiple routes when navigating to a destination. At any point, a driver can also tap the next direction module and view alternate routes from that point, which is especially useful for detours or traffic.
The 2023 update also brought us custom lock sounds, which let you download any sound and set it as your vehicle’s lock sound. We have an extensive collection of some of the most iconic sounds from video games and cartoons, as well as others you can set as your own lock sound.
That wasn’t it for the big features in this update, it also brought us High-Fidelity Park Assist, which renders real-world objects on the screen instead of using pre-defined 3D models.
This update also focused on the rear screen, which would eventually be added to all Tesla vehicles. It added additional games such as Castle Doombad and even let you play them on the rear screen for the first time. In addition, it added Bluetooth headphone support for the rear display, allowing passengers in the back to listen to a movie while those in the front can continue listening to music in the vehicle.
The other standout features in this release were alerts for the blind spot camera, which added the red shading when a vehicle is in your blind spot, and speed camera icons to navigation maps. Check out all the features in the 2023 holiday update.
2024 Holiday Update
In 2024’s holiday update, we received Apple Watch support and the ability to view Dashcam and Sentry Mode videos in the Tesla app via Dashcam Viewer. It also included the long-rumored SiriusXM support for the Model 3, Model Y, and Cybertruck.
While there were a lot of other minor features in this update, other popular ones included Weather at Destination and the radar map, added for AMD and Intel vehicles.
Tesla also built on the blind-spot camera alert feature and added rear cross-traffic alerts, which many other vehicles use specialized sensors for, but Tesla achieved with only cameras.
The last big addition in this update was Tesla Theater improvements, which added the ability to control the rear screen from the main display and added the ability to play and pause the content from the main media controls.
You can view all 2024 holiday update features.
2025 Holiday Update
Tesla’s next holiday update is just around the corner, with it expected in the next two to four weeks. There are rumors of CarPlay being added, as well as long-awaited features like custom wrap and license plate visualizations.
Like every other year, this is expected to be Tesla’s biggest update of the year, which is sure to bring a lot of new features and excitement to Tesla owners worldwide.
