2021 has been an interested year for updates indeed. I now have had 78 firmware updates to my 3-year-old Model 3LR RWD FSD car. The big difference from previous years is the number and frequency of same-numbered-week updates. For example:
2021.4.x.x - From Feb 11 through Aug 11 I had 13 of these week-4 updates.
2021.12.25.7 - For the 5 days between Aug 11 - 16 I flirted with this single week-12 update.
2021.24.x - I’ve been on the week-24 updates since Aug 16, less than a month, and have experienced the following:
Aug 16 - 24.3, lasted 14 days
Aug 30 - 24.4, lasted 2 days, didn’t even drive the car with this update
Sep 1 - 24.5, lasted 3 days, one short drive to move the car out of the garage and back
Sep 4 - 24.10, lasted 9 days
Sep 13 - 24.11, current version in my car, updated very early this morning
Not sure this means anything, just appears that when we get a week number that Tesla really likes, Tesla sticks with it. Maybe “4” and “24” are lucky numbers in South Africa where Elon is from?
The good news: I haven’t found anything newly broken in 24.11…yet.
The bad news: AutoPark still doesn’t, Dumb Summon still doesn’t, phantom braking still does based on a quick early-morning test drive. Later today I’ll test the Smart Summon, and exit lane slowdowns and merges though I’m tempering expectations there as well.
The really good news (for me): I’m loving me some Car Wash Mode, available for the last several updates. Works well with our two local conveyor-driven brush washes, requiring just a bit of explaining to the car wash staff each time. They’re used to Teslas but handle them by having the site manager with a keycard sit in the vehicle through the wash. No longer needed. And yes, I use conveyor-driven brush washes, let the flaming begin. No swirls, no scratches, paint hasn’t washed off, bugs are removed, car is clean. I still do a manual ONR wash and wax about every 4 months, but now only to see and evaluate damage from rocks and heavy bugs.