By Dana Wollman From engadget

If you look at the changelog for Tesla’s Model S, you’ll see most of the updates have been minor bug fixes; it’s fairly rare that the luxury electric vehicle gets upgraded with new features. Every once in a while, though, Elon Musk and co. unleash a meaty update and as it happens, today is one of those days. The company just released the (previously leaked) version 6.0 of its software, which adds a built-in calendar that syncs with your smartphone, along with a remote-start feature and traffic-based navigation to help you avoid the busiest roadways.

Starting with the calendar, you can see a daily view of your appointments on the in-car display. If you’ve already added a location, you can tap it to immediately bring up driving directions. Meanwhile, the traffic-based navigation basically sounds like what Google Maps does to warn you of clogged roads. In this case, the Model S monitor real-time traffic conditions based on data collected from other Tesla drivers, and it also gives you a pop-up notification if it thinks you should take a faster route. Rounding out the list, Tesla now lets you start the Model S using your phone — a handy feature if you forgot your key fob.

That’s it for major features, though the update includes a few smaller tweaks as well. A location-based air-suspension feature knows where you previously chose high ride heights and then remembers to adjust the air suspension should you ever return. Finally, you can give your car a nickname in the app, while a new power management setting allows you to automatically put the Model S into energy saving mode at night. The update is available now — just make sure first that you’re using the latest version of the Android/iOS app.

VIA: The Verge

SOURCE: Tesla

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