Tesla's latest update increases vehicle power, introduces Automatic Navigation and "Scheduled Departure"

Few vehicles see any improvement once they roll off the sales lot, and even fewer can boast increased performance via official software updates.

Those cars are not Teslas, however, and thanks to Tesla discovering how to optimise motor control through software, its latest Over the Air software update enables users to get more power out of their vehicles, decrease pre-journey preparation time and even make your car comfortable to drive before you even get in.

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

In addition to this, the update will increase vehicle power, range and charging speed among others.

Automatic Navigation has also been introduced, so you don’t always have to enter your destination at the start of the journey.

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.

Now, users will also be able to schedule vehicle charging and preconditioning.  The release notes explain the “Scheduled Departure” feature as shown below:

It’s now easier to have your car comfortable and ready to drive with Scheduled Departure. For any location (e.g. Home), plug in your car and select a time for when you want your car to be ready to drive.  Once 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.

Tesla warns users that the features comes in place of Smart Preconditioning, and it will not precondition the vehicle if the battery pack is lower than 20% full.

The update will roll out to Tesla owners within the next few weeks, and its features slightly vary depending on the vehicle model.

Source: Electrek