Tesla owners are in for some cool and long-awaited upgrades to their vehicles' navigation systems, with the main attraction being Waze-like speed camera and red light cam awareness.
Currently being tested internally by Tesla employees, the update was discovered by Tesla hacker Green—aka @greentheonly on X—while searching through code in the new software update 2023.27.12.
According to Green (via Not A Tesla App), highlights include "speed cam awareness (both fixed and mobile) and red light cam and a combination (light+speed), via Teslamaps."
Obviously, the integration of speed camera and red light camera awareness is great news for Tesla owners as it brings added convenience and peace of mind for drivers when navigating both familiar and unfamiliar roads.
Besides providing real-time traffic updates, Waze has been offering speed trap alerts for many years now, and that has helped make it one of the most popular smartphone apps for drivers worldwide.
By bringing similar functionality to its cars, Tesla will enhance the navigation experience and will also help reduce driver anxiety, as warning drivers of incoming speed cameras and red light cameras not only contributes to a safer traffic environment but also prevents drivers from getting tickets.
According to Green, Tesla is also working on several additional navigation features, such as the "avoid construction on route" option, which does exactly what it says, namely it chooses a route that doesn't have road works to avoid delays. Another upgrade provides control over U-turns, which means drivers can enable or disable U-turn maneuvers when selecting a route.
In addition to speed and traffic light cam awareness, Tesla's update 2023.27.12 is also said to add a "driver liveliness" function to the cabin camera. This is designed not only to check if the driver stays focused on the road but also to ensure that they show signs of a human driver, in order to prevent owners from attempting to trick the system. Green suggests there were cases in which some drivers taped a static photo in front of the camera to override the system.
It is not known when Tesla is going to push these features to users, although Green said he expects some of them to be a part of Tesla's upcoming holiday update later this month. Mind you, the speed camera and red light camera awareness may not become available in all markets as this is not permitted by local laws in some countries.
