Tesla is handing control of the auto wipers back to the drivers – at least partially. The company’s latest OTA includes the ability to temporarily boost the sensitivity of those sometimes balky auto-sensing wipers with a tap of the wiper stalk.
It’s a small but potentially handy tweak for Tesla owners fed up with the quirks of the automaker’s camera-based rain-sensing wipers. We’ve all been there – the wipers remain stubbornly parked despite drizzle streaking across the windshield, or they madly thrash away at bone-dry glass.
By allowing a quick manual wiper input to increase the vision system’s wet weather detection for a spell, Tesla is leveraging driver feedback to improve its AI models governing the feature. If you tell it to wipe, the car will (temporarily) listen.
The update’s release notes put it simply: “Pressing the wiper button while the wipers are set to Auto temporarily increases the sensitivity of the wipers.”
It’s an intriguing way for Tesla to crowdsource real-world data to refine this finicky functionality over time. After all, if humans consistently override the autowipers in certain conditions, Tesla can train its neural nets to better pattern-match those scenarios.
But the 2024.14 software upgrade isn’t just about wipers. Tesla also expanded the parameters for its vision-based Autopark system to allow tighter parallel parking scenarios.
Whereas before Autopark required an absolutely massive 7.2-foot parking space to activate, the new update allows it to detect and maneuver into any spot at least as wide as the car itself, for slimmer models like the Model 3, that could let owners squeeze into spaces just 6 feet across.
The big enhancement? No more passing up those coveted parallel spots that are juuust a bit too narrow. Let Autopark handle it from here.
Taken together, these quality-of-life tweaks show Tesla is serious about using its software mastery and constant update cadence to iron out lingering bugs and shortcomings through real-world driving data.
Based on Elon teaser X post reply, even bigger changes are on the horizon. The Tesla chief promised a “massive” update to the company’s FSD 12.4.1 is already being tested internally, with rollouts to more owners potentially coming within days, “two other versions are in earlier stages of testing: 12.5 and 12.6, which could be called v14 and v15. We are starting to get to the point where, once known bugs are fixed, it will take over a year of driving to get even one intervention.” When it comes to EVs, staying updated has never been more critical.