Why, why no Wi-Fi?

[iwannam3]

Why is Wi_Fi not enabled along with the rear seat heating? If the hardware exists why is it taking months to enable? The S and X have Wi-Fi I assume they are porting existing software to the 3. The CPU & OS was decided long ago and the rest of the car wasn't required before they started work on the WI-Fi so the finished vehicle was not in the critical path. Like we would tell our programmers "It's just typing, how hard can that be?" The rear seat heater is there, the wires are there, the relays are there, how many lines of code is needed to make a button on a screen to activate the relay? Seems trivial to me. What am I missing?

 

[Az_Rael]

No one knows. Rumor has it that it was enabled initially for early cars, but then taken back offline via software update.

 

[PoitNarf]

Rear seat heaters were enabled in a recent update:

Tesla Model 3 Heated Rear Seats Now Activated Via OTA Update

 

[SSedan]

You understand the WiFi is mostly for Tesla's benefit rather than sending the data via cellular. Not like it is a hotspot so why stress over it? Maybe they don't want to route early updates thru personal WiFi networks for some reason.

 

[run-the-joules]

You understand the WiFi is mostly for Tesla's benefit rather than sending the data via cellular. Not like it is a hotspot so why stress over it? Maybe they don't want to route early updates thru personal WiFi networks for some reason.

The WiFi is also for the benefit of anyone wanting to remotely access their car with the app. It’s quite slow to respond over LTE, and much faster over WiFi.


Personally I have effectively zero LTE coverage in my garage so without WiFi I don’t get software updates unless it happens when I’m at work.

That said, I’d rather have Summon and camper mode and the ability to adjust autopilot from the right scroll wheel before WiFi.

 

[eSpiritIV]

I dont think any of the software from the model 3 is "ported" from the Model s, if anything the Model S and X will get a refresh and take the best of the Model 3 and improve on it.

Rear heated seats are starting to rollout to existing owners as the previous post said. Just be patient,

 

[iluvmacs]

Wi-Fi is the biggest security hole for the vehicle. I'm not surprised they are testing the hell out of it before enabling it. Obviously it works because it will connect at a service center. They are probably just making damn sure that nobody can hack into the car over a Wi-Fi network before enabling it for networks they don't control.

Now as for the rear heated seats, that one has had me baffled. So glad they're enabling it just as winter is over.