Tesla releases new software update to improve Sentry Mode

Tesla has started to push a new software update to its fleet in order to improve Sentry Mode, a surveillance system built into its vehicles.

Tesla’s Sentry Mode is an integrated surveillance system inside Tesla’s vehicles using the Autopilot cameras around the car and it has been changing the game when it comes to vandalizing parked cars.

It builds on ‘TeslaCam’, an integrated dashcam system.

On several occasions, Sentry Mode videos went viral and the vandals turned themselves in after the online pressure.

In other cases, it helped police with video evidence to help them identify and find the vandals.

But it has also been capturing footage of strange events around Tesla vehicles and impressive moments showcasing the performance of Tesla’s vehicles. We built a list of some of those moments a few years ago.

Tesla has also been building on the feature to release new ones – most recently a new live camera view feature.

Now Tesla is bringing more customization and new features to Sentry Mode through a new software update (2022.44.2) now being pushed to the fleet.

The automaker wrote in the release notes (via NotATeslaApp):

Sentry Mode now allows for even greater customization, including:

– Camera-Based Detection, which allows users to disable use of cameras to detect threats.

– Sentry Mode Clip Length, which allows users to specify the length of the clip when a potential threat is detected.

To adjust these Sentry Mode settings, tap Controls > Safety > Sentry Mode.

The next feature is actually something that I thought Sentry Mode was already doing, but apparently, it wasn’t.

Tesla writes in the notes:

When Camera-Based Detection is enabled, Sentry Mode will use the vehicle’s external cameras in addition to vehicle sensors to detect a security event while parked. If disabled, the vehicle will only save clips to the USB drive if a physical threat is detected. To adjust, tap Controls > Safety > Sentry Mode > Camera-Based Detection.

It might have to do with Tesla basically getting rid of all sensors other than its cameras recently.

The update also brings improvements to its automatic seat belt tightening based on Tesla Vision and the new energy app to more cars.

It also adds Thai to the language supported by the user interface as Tesla is about to launch in the country.