Tesla vehicles have proven themselves to be some of the safest on our roads. Tesla models also have in-cabin safety features for occupants when the vehicle is parked.Ā
Now, Tesla may also be upgrading the inner cabin safety features according to a recent interaction between a Tesla owner and Elon Musk on Twitter.
TeslaDiva99 on Twitter shared a recent event that had occurred while she left her teenager and a little one in the car, thinking the car would stay on, while she went to the store.Ā
According to the user, the carās infotainment screen had turned off which the teenager touched to re-activate it.Ā
She then posed the question to Elon Musk around leaving the cabin HVAC (heating ventilation and air conditioning) system if the car can detect passengers left in the vehicle.
Hey @elonmusk I left my teenager and little in the car to go into the store. The car instantly shut off and my oldest had to touch the screen to turn it back on. If an infant was left, the car would shut down. Can yāall do something to detect people in the car and keep temp on?
— š¦Tesla Divaš¦ (@TeslaDiva99) March 29, 2023
To this Teslaās CEO replied, clarifying that the carās cabin temperature is maintained within a safe range even when the infotainment system appears to be off.Ā
Thatās to protect infants, pets and other occupants that may remain in the cabin while the car is parked.
Tesla car temp is automatically kept within a safe range, even when the car appears āoffā, in order to protect infants & pets.
That said, it would be more convenient to keep the car āonā for entertainment & comfort if the camera detects occupants. We will make that change.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 29, 2023
He also noted that this was an area of improvement and given that most Tesla models delivered in recent years have in-car cabin cameras, they could be used to detect occupants and leave the car in infotainment screen on.
This level of product feedback and development is unheard of in the automotive industry. Itās also not the first time Elon Musk and the Tesla team take ownersā feedback to further improve what already is a benchmark in the EV when it comes to technology.
A feature improvement to detect infants, pets and other cabin passengers in parked mode would further improve safety in Teslaās vehicles over most cars on our roads today.
Tesla already offers dog mode and camp mode in its vehicles for the comfort and safety of the vehicleās occupants.Ā
Having the cabin camera allows Tesla to roll out features that will further improve on the existing features.Ā
From Elon Muskās response, it should be able to be rolled out to a large proportion of the Tesla current fleet via an OTA (over-the-air) update when itās ready. We look forward to seeing this rolled out in Australia in the near future too.
RizĀ is the founder of carloop based in Melbourne, specialising in Australian EV data, insight reports and trends. He is a mechanical engineer who spent the first 7 years of his career building transport infrastructure before starting carloop. He has a passion for cars, particularly EVs and wants to help reduce transport emissions in Australia. He currently drives a red Tesla Model 3.