Tesla has quietly made some updates to its mobile app, updating the user interface (UI) to make it easier to navigate through the app, and also introducing a new virtual chat assistant.
UI Changes
The first noticeable change is an update to how you access the various menus in the app. Gone is the Loot Box icon and your account avatar, with now just the messages inbox icon and a new hamburger icon (slide drawer navigation) living in the top right corner of the main page of the app.
Tapping on the hamburger icon opens up the newly designed menu, where you can now access your account information, charging information, and your various products that have been added to the app.
The new ‘My Products’ menu is where you can add or remove additional drivers to your vehicle, and also rename your vehicle if inspiration strikes you while not in the car.
Also new for the home screen is a drop down menu to access your different products. For most people this won’t be helpful, but if you own more than one car or have additional products like your Wall Connector, or Solar or Powerwall, you can now select them from this menu, in addition to swiping left or right.
Tesla Assist Chat Bot
The other big change is a new virtual assistant. Called “Tesla Assist,” the tool is just a generic chat bot that you often find on shopping websites. Like those chat bots, Tesla Assist is accessed by tapping on a chat button available on the Support page of the app, which is now found by tapping on the ‘?’ in the top right corner of the menu page.
From there you can ask basic questions, like how often your Model 3 should be serviced, and it can provide generic responses. As we mentioned, this tool isn’t AI-based like ChatGPT or Grok, but is instead just a basic chat bot trained on common questions and programmed to give generic responses based on the data set it was trained on, so it may give the incorrect response to a question.
All of these changes were made quietly behind the scenes yesterday, without the need to update your app on the iOS App Store or Google Play Store, so they should be visible to you when you open your app.
