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Tesla Didn't Heed the "Winter Is Coming" Warning in Time

The winter is all but done. We've only got a few more weeks to bear, and then we're officially out of the cold season for the better part of 2018 - well, at least based on the calendar because you never know what the weather will throw at you.
Tesla App screenshots 1 photo
Photo: Tesla Inc.
Tesla, however, thinks it's the perfect time to release a new update for its mobile app that provides a series of cold weather convenience features. These are bound to make life easier for anyone still struggling with snow and temperatures below freezing, even though they might not get to enjoy them for so long this winter.

It's not that winter took Tesla engineers by surprise, it's just that they have a lot on their heads these days with the Model 3 situation still not entirely clarified despite leaving the worst behind. But even so, these updates are nothing more than a few lines of code (well, maybe not "a few") since they don't involve any hardware modifications.

Just to make clear what we're talking about, Tesla is now allowing its clients to precondition their car's battery remotely to make sure it's in an optimal state when they need to drive their EV. In addition, other cold weather features such as the heated steering wheel, heated seats and wiper blades can also be activated.

While these things are surely going to make quite a few people happy, the thing is Tesla is abusing its over-the-air updates system a bit by releasing features a few years after the car was launched that should have really been there in the first place.

The owners are ecstatic over this system, but there are two sides to it. On the one hand, it allows the company to keep its vehicles up to date, ensuring they're only obsolete when the hardware can't cope with the new software demands, and that's great.

On the other hand, it allows the company to sell half-baked products that it can then mature gradually. Nobody's complaining since it's done for free and there's no doubt that this is the issue, it's just that Tesla might be abusing it a little at times. Still, as a pioneer in the business, it probably can afford to.
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About the author: Vlad Mitrache
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"Boy meets car, boy loves car, boy gets journalism degree and starts job writing and editing at a car magazine" - 5/5. (Vlad Mitrache if he was a movie)
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