In February, Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced that the automaker is working on powering its vehicles with Steam. Well, the day has come as Tesla launches Steam for the holiday update. The Steam Beta model update is available for Model S and Model X cars, which have rolled off the assembly line in the last two years.
The holiday update also included an announcement about a new gaming computer from Tesla. “Up to 10 teraflops of processing power enables in-car gaming on-par with today’s newest consoles via Tesla Arcade. Wireless controller compatibility allows gaming from any seat.”
Tesla Launches Steam in Models S and X
In November, Tesla Models S and X were recalled due to a power steering problem. As of November 2022, Tesla’s recall notices stood at 19.
Integration of Steam into Tesla cars will result in more players taking to exploring Steam’s gigantic library of games. The most popular game on Steam is Counter-Strike: Global Offensive with over 445,674,686 hours played in the last 30 days.
Popular chip leaker, Patrick Schur, posted a diagram of Tesla’s new gaming computer powered by the AMD Navi 23 GPU. The system is integrated and connects directly to two touchscreens inside the Tesla Model S and Model X to play games, watch entertainment, and perform other functions.
Musk also revealed that the new computer has more storage space to be able to handle more games on the platform at the same time, which is going to be useful to handle your Steam library.
The company’s promotional video as Tesla launches Steam leans heavily towards Cyberpunk 2077 stills.
The holiday update comes with some other features as well. An upgraded light show mode will let you schedule a show for multiple vehicles, which can then be watched at the same time.
Tesla car owners can also make Zoom calls from the cabin camera. Furthermore, when the car is in Dog Mode or Sentry Mode, you can keep an eye on the inside of the Tesla car through the app.
The automaker believes that as driver-assist technologies and self-driving techniques become more popular, entertainment will be a big factor that influences people’s purchase decisions.
Tesla Games and the NHTSA
In the past, Tesla has had run-ins with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) for allowing drivers to play games in its cars.
Earlier, in Tesla cars, drivers could play video games while in motion, leading to an investigation by the NHTSA. Tesla Models 3, S, X, and Y were part of the lineup and the feature was available since December 2020 in “Passenger Play” equipped vehicles.
The NHTSA notes that “Distracted driving is dangerous, claiming 3,142 lives in 2020.”
By December 2021, Tesla confirmed that it will disable the “Passenger Play” feature of the Tesla Arcade on-board gaming hub. The new software update made the “Passenger Play” feature unusable whenever the vehicle was in motion.
This meant that passengers could only play video games in Teslas when it was stationary.
On the other hand, Tesla’s investors have been worried since Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter. They are of the opinion that the Chief Twit is unable to devote the required time to the automaker as he attempts to build Twitter 2.0.
Tesla’s shares have borne the brunt of this pessimism, with share prices falling nearly 28% since Musk’s Twitter takeover.
To add to Wall Street’s concerns, other auto companies like Ford, GM, and Volkswagen have seen their share prices rise slightly since October.
Worried Tesla investors are now mulling over a share buyback plan.
