Tesla software updates: how the rollout works.

Why your car has not got it yet, what you can actually influence, and how the shipped release compares to what was promised.

How a release reaches your car

  1. Wave rollout. Tesla ships to a small group first and widens as telemetry comes back clean. Early waves skew toward newer hardware and specific regions.
  2. Wi-Fi matters. Cars that rarely see Wi-Fi fall behind, because large downloads wait for it.
  3. Hardware gates content. Some features never reach older compute hardware regardless of version number, which is why release notes differ between cars on the same release.
  4. Advanced preference. Setting update preference to Advanced opts into earlier waves. It does not jump the queue outright.

Promised versus shipped

Software release timing is where the gap between announcement and delivery shows up most clearly. This site has tracked every dated Tesla software claim since 2013 — what was promised, when, and what actually arrived. The average gap across all delivered predictions we track is well over a year.

See the Tesla prediction record

Questions

How do Tesla software updates arrive?
Over the air, over Wi-Fi. The car downloads in the background and then asks you to schedule the install, which takes roughly 20–45 minutes during which the car cannot be driven.
Why has my car not received an update?
Tesla rolls releases out in waves rather than to everyone at once, and the wave depends on model, hardware, region and fleet feedback. Staying connected to Wi-Fi is the single most useful thing you can do; beyond that it is a queue, not a setting.
Can I force an update?
No, and services claiming to are best avoided. You can make sure the car is on Wi-Fi and set the update preference to Advanced, which opts you into earlier waves.
Do updates affect battery health or range?
Occasionally a release changes charging behaviour or displayed range estimation, which owners sometimes read as sudden degradation. If your rated range shifts after an update, measure actual capacity rather than trusting the dash figure alone.
What did Elon promise would ship in this update?
That is the other half of this site. We track every dated claim about FSD, features and release timing against what actually shipped — see the Tesla prediction record and the missed deadlines.
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Independent fan project. Not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to Tesla, Inc. Figures are estimates for planning only, not a quote or a substitute for a service diagnosis.

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