News

Tesla drivers can now turn their cars into annoying megaphones

What’s the over/under that Tesla drivers use this feature with good intentions?

by
Kevin Raposo
December 24, 2021

Image: Ryan Shaw / Twitter

Need a reason to hate Tesla drivers more than you already do? A new Tesla update lets them turn their vehicles into giant megaphones.

The company pushed out a new holiday update that adds a slew of new features and improvements, one being this new megaphone functionality. Unfortunately, the update is only available in newer Tesla models from 2019 or later. So basically, any Tesla vehicle that has built-in external speakers.

Tesla added external speakers to these later models to comply with US regulations since EVs are generally quiet. And moving at slower speeds makes it harder for pedestrians to hear them or recognize their presence.

NEW Tesla Megaphone feature. This is crazy! These cars haha… pic.twitter.com/OB8oI3wwhH
— Ryan Shaw (@ryanshawtech) December 24, 2021

To get an idea of how this new feature works, Twitter user Ryan Shaw uploaded a video showing off how it works:

If you watched the video, you could hear some voice effects added. I’m not sure if this is intentional or if the speakers distort the audio in any way.

In any event, I feel like this is more of a novelty and can’t imagine a ton of Tesla drivers using this to alert pedestrians of their presence. If anything, they’ll find a way that annoys people. I own a Tesla, and I would definitely feel weird using this.

Tesla’s holiday update adds more features and improvements on top of this; you can find all of those here. But most notably, Tesla’s update kills off a feature that lets drivers play games on the center console while they’re driving.

Have any thoughts on this? Let us know down below in the comments or carry the discussion over to our Twitter or Facebook.