Tesla reveals free 2024 vacation replace to get drivers within the temper for Christmas – is it price downloading?

Tesla has announced a host of over-the-air software updates to inject a bit of festive fun into the run up to Christmas.

And Tesla says it wants to ‘spread extra joy to Tesla owners this holiday season’.

The 2024 Holiday Update brings new features and enhancements to the Tesla fleet from next week – from Apple Watch additions to improved battery and navigation setting to make driving home for Christmas easier.

As always the update is free of charge – there’s no extra cost for Tesla owners – so Tesla drivers can count it as a bit of an early Christmas present.

The big news is that Apple Watch update: You can finally get a Tesla App on your Apple Watch – a massive connectivity step towards lifestyle syncing.

But that’s just one of many holiday treats Tesla’s unveiled – so what else is in store? 

Tesla Apple Watch app introduction 

For a lot of people the most exciting update by far is the new bespoke Tesla App for Apple Watch owners. 

Using your Apple Watch as your phone key you can remotely lock and unlock the car, and adjust the climate controls, view battery charge and open the ‘frunk’.

Tesla updates bound to bring merriment to the holidays 

For our American friends with Cybertrucks there are many Christmas updates – like ‘Santa Mode’ which changes the Cybertruck avatar into Santa’s sleigh with reindeers and elves – but these aren’t available in the UK: Cybertrucks aren’t allowed in Europe because they don’t meet safety regulations. 

But Christmas isn’t forgotten for UK Tesla owners because there are silly additions such as a fart on contact button, a new Boomerang Fu party game and new light show settings with remote scheduling.

Tesla map and navigation updates

There are a handful of more useful updates, including a new navigation feature that enables drivers to set a desired battery energy level on arrival. 

The Tesla route planner will then add or remove charging stops as necessarily along the way to make sure you arrive at your destination with the desired battery level. 

And also new to mapping is an update to search results, which can now be filtered to show options along route and estimated detour times. 

If the driver wants to stop for a coffee or a charge then the mapping function will add on time that reflects real world timings. 

You can check the weather at your destination thanks to a new precipitation overlay function added to maps – which tracks live weather data and projects it on your map in the form of a weather radar – and also check for nearby parking spaces too. 

Tesla safety and security updates

There are very useful some safety and security updates too.

Security-wise Dashcam and Sentry Mode clips can be watched directly from the Tesla app and saved on your phone to edit or share (these clips can make for some amusing watching as we’ve found in the past). 

Your Tesla will trigger an alert if a pedestrian or vehicle crosses behind your car while you’re reversing, and an audible warning will also play if a cross-traffic object is detected now. 

Part of Tesla’s move to fully-autonomous driving – in the form of the new Cybercab that is currently on display at Tesla Westfield – the Autoshift on the new stalkless Model 3 can now automatically shift between Drive and Reverse to handle parking lot manoeuvres and multi-point turns all by itself.