At one time, the Tesla Model S became the first really cool mass-produced electric car, but now it is no longer unique in this role – both traditional manufacturers and many startups have pulled up with their models. But despite the fact that the electric car industry is growing rapidly, Tesla manages to maintain the status of the most surprising and innovative manufacturer – engineers from Elon Musk’s company invent more and more new features that distinguish Tesla cars from any other. Here are some of the most striking examples.
1 New features via firmware updates . Tesla owners can make their car faster or smarter just by downloading a new version of the official software – no need to do chip tuning, insert electronic components from older modifications or wait for restyling. So, for example, in the spring of this year, owners of the Model 3 received an update that, among other things, makes the car faster and also allows you to independently perform lane changes in autopilot mode. And if you stinted on the autopilot option when buying and regretted it, then you don’t need to change the car – just buy a software update and the autopilot will be unlocked.
2 Dog mode . To comfortably leave your pet in the car, you just need to activate the special Dog Mode. It has air conditioning in a locked cabin, and a large text is displayed on the central screen: “My master will return soon. The air conditioner is on.” Indeed, in the United States, it is not uncommon for police to open a car in which pets were left in the heat, following a complaint from passers-by. And if the battery of the electric car runs out and there is a threat of the impossibility of continuing the operation of the dog mode, then the owner’s phone will receive a corresponding notification.
3 Interior overheating protection . By the way, Tesla also took care of people by providing a special mode of protection against overheating of the passenger space. When a certain temperature in the cabin is reached while in the parking lot, Tesla automatically turns on the air conditioning cooling – this function takes about 1 km of power reserve per hour of operation. By the way, air control in the Tesla Model 3 is also not easy: the direction is set by the intersection of two perpendicular flows blowing from static hidden deflectors across the entire width of the front panel. And you can set the exact vector and flexibly configure the “wind” with intuitive swipes on the cabin diagram in the multimedia system.
4 Guard mode! This is an improved version of the alarm. In standby mode, the security system on duty records everything that happens around the car in memory, so that in the event of an incident, save the entire series of events in a special memory area – DVRs work similarly. If there is a slight undesirable effect on the body (for example, someone leaned on or sat down), then the machine warns of the fact that what is happening is being recorded with a bright inscription on the display. And in the event of a more severe attack (for example, a broken window), music starts playing as a siren at the maximum volume of the audio system, and the owner receives a notification and a video recording of the incident on the smartphone.
5 Entertainment and Easter eggs. The famous Tesla multimedia has an infinite number of optional, and even useless for a car, but cute and fun things. For example, an application for drawing, acquiring more and more serious functionality of a graphic editor. There are a lot of built-in arcade games (both modern and retro), and in some of them (“racing” Beach Buggy Racing 2) you can even control the car using the standard steering wheel. Add-ons for navigation appear regularly, which imitate either the movement on Mars (an old dream of Elon Musk), or the sleigh of Santa Claus with the appropriate voice acting. And in 2016, an update was released for the Model X, which activated the holiday mode – the crossover showed a light and music show and danced with its unique wing doors.
By the way, it was necessary to activate that mode in a tricky way, in the best traditions of the so-called “Easter eggs” from computer games: press here and hold for 5 seconds, enter the code word, get out of the car and close the door – you would never guess, if not know. Do you think this is the most useless feature? Then how do you like the playful “bunch mode”, which allows you to make characteristic sounds at any of the four points in the cabin according to the number of passenger seats? After that, the “romantic mode” with an animated fireplace in the entire central display no longer seems like something wild.
6 Protection against terrorist attacks. Of course, Tesla cars are not able to withstand explosions and shots, but they can save you from poisoned air. This is a high-performance air filter, through which outside air is passed at the touch of a button. This feature gives Tesla Model X passengers a little extra confidence that they will survive in the event of a bioweapon. It is unlikely that this feature has practical value, but from the point of view of the image, it is cool.
7 Smartphone instead of a key. Now we are accustomed to unlocking car doors with a smartphone – carsharing has taught us miracles. But in the personal vehicle industry, it’s still customary to carry a key fob with you. Therefore, it is unusual that Tesla decided to eradicate this habit – to access the Model 3 salon, a smartphone is enough, which is recognized by the car via Bluetooth. The backup option is a special credit card-thin key card that needs to be attached to the B-pillar to unlock the doors.
PS not unique but cool features
Tesla is trying to invent its own approach even to those things that have long been invented and debugged. Here, for example, are the modes of movement. The electric propulsion system of Tesla sedans and crossovers makes it possible to shoot very sharply from the start, ahead of even some supercars in this discipline, not to mention ordinary sports cars. And to describe the emotions of passengers, the banal word sport, of course, is not enough. Therefore, Tesla officially uses the term Ludicrous Mode. The word ludicrous is taken from the 1987 parody film Spaceballs, where the speed of light seemed insufficient to the crew of the starship, and they prepared to chase at “delusional” (“absurd”, “curious”) speed. Approximately the same sensations that the heroes of the film have are experienced by passengers of Tesla electric cars catapulting to 100 km / h in 3 seconds.
Yes, and the usual comfortable-economical mode at Tesla is called not shabby Eco, but promising Chill Mode. It seems that everything is the same – but I want to use more. It’s much more pleasant to think that you are just “chilling” and not corny throwing up in eco mode. Finally, for the Tesla Model 3, a mode with the provocative name Track Mode is available – it is optimized for all sorts of frills on a powerful electric sedan, including drifting! At the same time, Elon Musk’s company does not flirt with “Easter eggs” and “jokes” – these cars are still one of the most competitive and advanced “electric trains” with an advanced autopilot, a good power reserve and “features” like remote parking, which are not shunned and giants like BMW .