Tesla has begun releasing a new software update for its fleet of customer vehicles with two new features: Auto Steering Wheel Heat and Sentry Mode Lighting.
In the release notes of the new 2023.2.0.5 software update, the carmaker wrote about the new Auto Steering Wheel Heat feature:
Set the temperature of the steering wheel heater to automatically adjust based on the climate set temperature. To access the steering wheel heater controls, tap the temperature setting to display the climate control panel.
Obviously, this only applies to Tesla cars with heated steering wheels.
With the new software update, Tesla is also making significant additions to Sentry Mode.
Tesla’s Sentry Mode is Tesla’s in-vehicle integrated surveillance system that uses Autopilot cameras around the vehicle.
It is built on TeslaCam, an integrated dash cam system.
On several occasions, Sentry Mode videos have gone viral and trolls have surrendered under pressure online. In other cases, police provided video evidence to help identify and locate vandalism.
But it also captures footage of bizarre happenings around Tesla cars and memorable moments that showcase Tesla’s performance. Years ago, I made a list of some of those moments.
Tesla has also been building features to release new features. Most recently is the new live camera view feature.
In addition to filming what’s happening around your car, Sentry Mode can also detect potential “threats” and trigger an alarm to deter those potential threats.
With the new 2023.2.0.5 software update, Tesla adds headlight pulsing to the system.
When a threat is detected, Sentry Mode will silently flash your headlights to indicate your vehicle is recording video. The pulse will stop after 60 seconds or when the vehicle is unlocked.
The new software update is now beginning to roll out to Tesla’s customer fleet, but it can take days or even weeks to apply to the entire fleet.
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