Tesla adds ability to unlatch car door from the app [video]

Tesla has updated its app for iOS to version 4.14, and with it come two new features.

The first is iOS lock screen widgets. There are two widgets to pick from, both of which display the vehicle’s battery level. There’s a small circular widget that fills in based on the vehicle’s state of charge, and there’s a larger widget that includes the vehicle’s name and a numerical view of the vehicle’s battery level, either in percent or miles/km, depending on what your app set to.

The second feature is the ability to unlatch the driver’s side door from the app.

The door handles on the Model 3 and Model Y aren’t powered and with the right mix of water and cold weather, the door handle can sometimes freeze to the door frame.

The ability to unlatch the door from the app means that the door handle isn’t used at all and the door is electronically unlatched, causing it to open just enough for you to grab the side of the door to fully open it.

Unlatch Door in Action

The ability to unlatch the door is only available on the Model 3 and Model Y and it requires your vehicle to be on update 2022.36 or later, which is currently about 35{ca2182fc8fed51dc37b95061ee48b5056cde1176732b225548c54a0c0156d303} of the Tesla fleet.

To unlatch the door you’ll need to add the new “Unlatch Door” icon to the Quick Actions section of the Tesla app that appears under the vehicle visualization.

Last updated: Nov 27, 1:50 am

Unfortunately, Tesla hasn’t added the ability to unlatch the door in any other areas of the app, such as the Climate or Controls section, but hopefully, that’s coming in a future update.

Currently, version 4.14 of the app is only available for iOS but we expect it to be available in the Google Play store soon.

You can also view the release notes for Tesla app 4.14.

Tesla now has 40,000 Supercharger stations worldwide, and more are in the works, including a massive 88-stall facility in a small town in Arizona. @MarcoRPTesla, who has a knack for finding Supercharger plans, tweeted the detailed construction project. The drawings show 20 prefabricated Supercharger units, two trailer-friendly stalls, and four solar canopies.

Quartzsite, Arizona, with a population of 2,413, is the location of the huge Supercharging station. Incredibly, it is being built right across the road from a 36-stall Supercharger. So why is there now one Supercharger for every 20 people in Quartzsite? Interstate 10 runs through the small town, which is at the intersection of U.S. Route 95 and Arizona State Route 95 with I-10.

This location is approximately three and a half hours away from Las Vegas, Nevada, San Diego, California, and Los Angeles, California. It is also two hours from Phoenix, Arizona. Tourism is the main economic driver of the small town.

Tesla recently asked followers of its @TeslaCharging Twitter account to submit locations where Superchargers are needed. This location makes sense with the amount of traffic going through the area. It also has very little precipitation, which means those solar canopies will be powered up by the sun. That is another long-term vision of the company, to have solar and battery packs at Supercharging locations.

Also, the company plans to allow non-Teslas at its Supercharger locations. That alone will increase the demand at hubs like Quartzsite.

It’s hard to believe the Supercharger network was launched in 2012. A decade later, they are turning into a more common sight around the world. According to the company: Superchargers can add up to 200 miles (322 kilometres) of range in just 15 minutes.

In September, 420 Tesla projects were announced, including a 164-stall Supercharger hub on the I-5 corridor located in Coalinga, California. That will be the world’s largest Tesla Supercharger location. But that is nothing compared to reports of the largest EV charging location in the world, located in China’s hi-tech city of Shenzhen. There is an electric taxi charging station with a total of 637 fast chargers.

The moment many Tesla owners have waited for has arrived: Full Self-Driving Beta is now available to anyone in North America who has requested it, according to Tesla CEO Elon Musk.

Musk took to his newly acquired social media platform Twitter to announce the news.

“Tesla Full Self-Driving Beta is now available to anyone in North America who requests it from the car screen, assuming you have bought this option,” writes Musk. “Congrats to [the] Tesla Autopilot/AI team on achieving a major milestone!”

This historic moment comes just days after Tesla began rolling out its latest version of FSD Beta, version 10.69.3.1, which is version 2022.36.20. It includes feature updates like a revamped Energy App, alternate routes, blind spot camera location, and more.

Now, this version is going wide to “anyone in North America who requests it.”

To receive FSD Beta you’ll just need to request it in your vehicle under Controls > Autopilot. There is no longer a minimum safety score to achieve and everyone should receive the beta shortly after requesting it, as long as you’ve bought or subscribed to FSD Beta in the U.S. or Canada.

There are a few requirements for you to receive Tesla’s FSD Beta. Your vehicle will need to have Tesla’s FSD computer, known as hardware 3.0 or above. It also currently requires your vehicle to be on a 2022.36 update or below.

If your vehicle is on one of the 2022.40 updates, then you’ll need to wait until the next beta update since the current beta (v10.69.3.1) is based on 2022.36 and Tesla doesn’t normally allow vehicles to roll back to a previous version.

Some Model S and Model X vehicles may require a camera upgrade before being eligible for FSD Beta.

Tesla’s next FSD Beta, v11, which is still being tested internally may also be released to some external testers starting today. A few days ago Musk confirmed on Twitter that version 11 would be widened “before Thanksgiving.” FSD Beta v11 includes a unified tech stack for city and highway Autopilot use and is expected to go to a wide release sometime next month.

When it comes to FSD Beta updates, Tesla starts distributing to employees first for testing and going wider as they collect data and fix bugs. Then, based on a number of factors, Tesla broadens up distribution to more owners. However, this may soon change when FSD Beta gets incorporated into all Tesla software builds. This may happen with FSD Beta v11.

For owners new to FSD Beta, it’s surely a day a lot of us have been waiting for and a monumental moment for Tesla. However, it doesn’t stop there, it looks like we’ll soon all have access to the next big update, FSD Beta v11.