Sunday, July 28, 2019

TESLA Promises: Today, Arcade GAMES; Tomorrow, YOUTUBE and NETFLIX Streaming



By now, Tesla seems to have reached some optimum on getting their electric vehicles manufactured at a pace to meet customer demand. At the same time they have begun to expand the capabilities of their cars to do, interestingly, far more than get their drivers from Point A to Point B. There has been quite the news buzz on the new stuff Tesla is adding to their dashboard display panels on their Model-3s, new Model-Y’s and others, like turning it into “Tesla Arcade” with a growing selection of playable videogames. What might be next? How about adding online media streaming?

The Verge has it that the time is coming when the tablet-like in-car dashboard displays in Tesla vehicles will potentially become the ultimate vehicular entertainment system. Company CEO Elon Musk notes that while the slowly bourgeoning Tesla Arcade gaming system has made the display more than just a big-screen status indicator for their e-cars, he believes that is merely the beginning of a new development. To that end, Musk has promised that online upgrades to the displays will soon include apps with which to view YouTube videos and stream Netflix content. He believes that the experience can be heightened by the comfortable seats, and surround-sound audio used for music playing.
Playing of video media inside vehicles has long been enjoyed by large public transportation as well as drivers of minivans and RVs. The logical next step would be to be able to draw content from online rather than stored media or on-air broadcast. The Tesla dash displays, while potentially able to do so, could not at first due to not supporting HTML5 format, an upgrade that Musk has announced will be coming soon, after promising in-vehicle YouTube during E3 2019.

There is one caveat to accessing this mother lode of streaming media. Tesla wants its vehicles, drivers and passengers to be safe; so like with the already-functioning Tesla Arcade system, the e-car in question must be parked. This is necessary as some Tesla Arcade games actually use the steering wheel as a controller. Regarding YouTube and Netflix, being enabled only when at rest makes sense when the driver needs to focus on the road. Elon Musk however has envisioned that, once Tesla self-driving capability has been perfected, they can allow media streaming while the electric vehicles are in motion. Naturally, such a concept still has a very long way to go, seeing as self-driving Tesla test cars still need to have drivers behind the wheel.

In the meantime, the Tesla Arcade system is slowing being filled by game titles, either directly developed or ported from other gaming platforms. Notable videogames include Bethesda’s “Fallout Shelter,” StudioMDHR’s “Cuphead,” classic titles from Atari, and even a chess app.

Image courtesy of Teslarati

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