Elon Musk Asks Tesla Customers For Feedback, Promises New Features In Updates

Tesla CEO Elon Musk took to Twitter on Tuesday to thank customers of the electric car manufacturer (it makes semi-trucks too, but those don’t have any customers so far, only orders from Walmart and UPS), and while doing so, he also asked them for suggestions to further improve the company’s cars. As could be expected, there was a deluge of responses.

At the time of writing this, the tweet had just under 10,000 replies. Of course, not all of them were actual suggestions. Musk chose to reply to a few of them, though, in the course of doing which he also promised Tesla would build a pickup truck after it produces the Model Y.

A series of other replies by him provided some insight into what sort of features Tesla customers could expect as part of future updates. Some of those, like the Autopilot 2 — the updated version of Tesla’s self-driving system which is capable of being entirely autonomous — were somewhat predictable, and Musk apologized for the delay in rolling it out, but still didn’t disclose exactly when it could be rolled out.

There were also a lot of people complaining about the slow internet browser in Tesla vehicles, going so far as to call it “unusable.” Musk conceded the point and said major upgrades to the browser would be coming to all cars “in a few months.”

The next update will make it possible for Tesla drivers to turn on heated windows, as well as seat and steering wheel heating, remotely using the app. Another feature Musk said was “coming very soon” is the ability for the windshield wipers to automatically adjust their speed, based on how hard it is raining. Future software updates would also bring the option to not have your car and phone connect automatically via Bluetooth.

Another interesting feature that Musk said would show up in a future update was security-related. Tesla cars would switch on their cameras to record in case one or more windows are smashed and the vehicle was broken into.

A recurring request seemed to be for improvements to the map and navigation systems, and related alerts.

Among the responses to Musk’s original request for suggestions, there were also some lists. And he responded to one of them, agreeing to pretty much all the items in the list while calling the last one “good, cheesy fun.”

Of course, it remains to be seen how much of what Musk promised or agreed to today will actually show up in software updates. But the man usually has a good track record of delivering what he promises, so what is actually worth keeping an eye on is how long these features eventually take to roll out, especially the Autopilot 2.

Shares of Tesla closed Tuesday trade lower by 2.43 percent, ending the day at $317.29 per share on Nasdaq. After-hours trade and pre-market trade Wednesday saw a mild uptick, with the price rising by 0.22 percent.