Elon Musk announced the Tesla holiday software update on Dec 24 evening.
Tesla holiday software update goes to wide release today!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 24, 2021
And now, Tesla has published a rare new blog post, something that hasn’t happened in a long time since the company’s PR staff was disbanded. Tesla provides more information about its v11 Christmas software update in the post, including something for non-Tesla owners.
Electrek noted earlier this week that Tesla had begun to release its new “Christmas update,” which is a larger-than-usual software upgrade that normally includes a slew of improvements that are more fun than useful. However, when the update is sent out to the fleet, people are still discovering more details about it.
For example, this morning we learnt of a new “megaphone” capability. Tesla has now published a blog post describing the software update, which is also known as Tesla’s v11 software.
V11 was previously only available as the user interface for the new Model S and Model X vehicles, but it is now also available for the Model 3 and Model Y.
Tesla has published an updated list of which models will receive which features:
All vehicles will be able to see the Light Show.
However, because Tesla released the open-source software called xLights that it used to build the feature, it is also available to non-Tesla vehicle owners.
Anyone can use the functionality to make a light show and then download it to their vehicle.
It is possible to project graphics on a Tesla vehicle with matrix headlights:
The blog also reveals some additional improvements not previously mentioned in the release notes, such as an improved audio experience:
For an even better audio experience, there are now five levels of Immersive Audio, including an Auto setting that adapts to the content you’re playing, and you can adjust subwoofer output independently to get just the right amount of punch from the bass.
The whole blog article can be seen here.