Photo: @ArcticSolace via @Teslascope on X
Tesla Holiday Update brought many exciting features to Tesla vehicles, but it also introduced a couple of unwanted bugs. Tesla decided it was wiser to pull the update, so those who didn't install it are now left waiting. Rest assured, though, version 2023.44.30.5.1 is already rolling out to Tesla employees and will go wide once it's deemed production-ready.
After laughing at Rivian for botching a couple of software updates, Tesla is now seeing that bugs are unavoidable, especially when dealing with complex software. The 2023 Holiday Update is probably Tesla's biggest blunder in this area, which is surprising considering how mature its software has gotten over the years. The feature-packed update is already in its fifth iteration, and the Tesla software team is still unsure if it caught all the bugs.
Tesla's 2023 Holiday Update was on to a rough start when it was still known as the 2023.44.25 software update. Back then, the leaked release notes revealed an underwhelming update with few features worth phoning home about. Even Elon Musk admitted that Tesla needs to "step up its game," and soon Tesla came back with a more comprehensive update. This included the High Fidelity Park Assist feature, which is now considered better than having ultrasonic sensors.
As Tesla was testing this build on employees' vehicles, it also agreed to the Autosteer recall, with an OTA software update required to fix it. That's when the Holiday Update was bumped to the 2023.44.30 software version. I don't know whether this complicated things further for the software development team, but it was clear that things weren't going that well. Tesla issued a flurry of minor updates in short succession, from 2023.44.30.1 to 2023.44.30.4. Only 2023.44.30.2 and 2023.44.30.4 made it to customers' vehicles, though.
That was by design, as Tesla consistently deploys new software versions in waves. This way, if the first wave of customers encounters a bug, the rest of the vehicles in the fleet are still shielded. So far, the 2023 Holiday update has known four waves, with about 60% of Tesla owners having it installed if we consider software trackers like Teslascope and Not A Tesla App as being representative.
Now, Tesla pulled both software versions from its servers, as discovered by Teslascope. This means that vehicles that have not installed the Holiday Update yet had their pending update disappear or not showing at all. However, the Tesla team is working around the clock to fix the problems, with the next iteration (2023.44.30.5.1) already tested on employee vehicles. If everything seems right, it should start deploying in waves to customers by the end of the year.
If you're wondering about what bugs Tesla discovered in the updates it withdrew from the servers, owners reported at least two. One of them was with the FSD Beta disappearing from the vehicle after the Holiday Update install. In some cases, a vehicle reset solves the issues, but not all Tesla owners were lucky with this solution.
Another bug affects the Autowipers, which now can be turned off even when using Autopilot or FSD Beta. However, some owners reported that turning them off doesn't change anything, with wipers still wiping a dry windshield on a sunny day.
Tesla's 2023 Holiday Update was on to a rough start when it was still known as the 2023.44.25 software update. Back then, the leaked release notes revealed an underwhelming update with few features worth phoning home about. Even Elon Musk admitted that Tesla needs to "step up its game," and soon Tesla came back with a more comprehensive update. This included the High Fidelity Park Assist feature, which is now considered better than having ultrasonic sensors.
As Tesla was testing this build on employees' vehicles, it also agreed to the Autosteer recall, with an OTA software update required to fix it. That's when the Holiday Update was bumped to the 2023.44.30 software version. I don't know whether this complicated things further for the software development team, but it was clear that things weren't going that well. Tesla issued a flurry of minor updates in short succession, from 2023.44.30.1 to 2023.44.30.4. Only 2023.44.30.2 and 2023.44.30.4 made it to customers' vehicles, though.
That was by design, as Tesla consistently deploys new software versions in waves. This way, if the first wave of customers encounters a bug, the rest of the vehicles in the fleet are still shielded. So far, the 2023 Holiday update has known four waves, with about 60% of Tesla owners having it installed if we consider software trackers like Teslascope and Not A Tesla App as being representative.
Now, Tesla pulled both software versions from its servers, as discovered by Teslascope. This means that vehicles that have not installed the Holiday Update yet had their pending update disappear or not showing at all. However, the Tesla team is working around the clock to fix the problems, with the next iteration (2023.44.30.5.1) already tested on employee vehicles. If everything seems right, it should start deploying in waves to customers by the end of the year.
If you're wondering about what bugs Tesla discovered in the updates it withdrew from the servers, owners reported at least two. One of them was with the FSD Beta disappearing from the vehicle after the Holiday Update install. In some cases, a vehicle reset solves the issues, but not all Tesla owners were lucky with this solution.
Another bug affects the Autowipers, which now can be turned off even when using Autopilot or FSD Beta. However, some owners reported that turning them off doesn't change anything, with wipers still wiping a dry windshield on a sunny day.
PSA: We have confirmed that Tesla pulled all iterations of the holiday update including 2023.44.30.1 through 2023.44.30.4.
— Teslascope (@teslascope) December 22, 2023
Vehicles that have received these updates will receive a new update within the next week and includes many bug fixes for issues reported by vehicle owners.
This update is still only available to employees and is expected to go out to customers within the next 72 hours or less.
— Teslascope (@teslascope) December 22, 2023
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