Imagine it’s super hot outside and you’ve left your dog in the car with the windows rolled up because you’ve left the air conditioning on. Passersby might worry about your pup’s welfare not knowing that the AC is on. So instead of having to risk a broken window, just enable the Dog mode if you own a Tesla. The company has rolled out two new modes today for its vehicles, Dog and Sentry.
The Dog mode can be used to set the ideal temperature inside the car for your pup while you run your errands. It also displays a message on the super-large center display which informs passersby that the dog’s owner will be back soon and that the AC or heater is on.
The other new mode is called Sentry and we already knew that it was coming. It effectively enables the Tesla vehicle to look after itself by using its external cameras to keep an eye on movement nearby and identify any possible threats.
So when someone leans on your Tesla, it will be registered as a minimal threat and the car will show a notification on the dash display that a video is being recorded of what’s happening. If a window is smashed, for example, the car goes into full alarm mode and the speakers blast music at full volume. Users have to enable Sentry mode every time they want the car to watch out for itself.
Tesla is rolling out these modes to Model 3 vehicles in the United States today and will eventually release them for Model S and Model X vehicles manufactured after August 2017.