It was all the way back in March that Tesla chief Elon Musk hinted that an Apple Watch integration for Tesla’s electric cars was plausible. A few quarters past Musk’s social media comment, code sleuths spotted a watch reference within the Tesla app.
Today, Tesla confirmed that an official Apple Watch is coming soon. As part of the 2024 Tesla Holiday Update, the carmaker will officially release a watchOS version of the Tesla app. It will start arriving as part of an OTA (over-the-air) update that starts rolling out next week.
The app will let users see the current battery charge level, open their car’s frunk, and remotely enable the climate control system. The most notable capability, however, will be using it as a phone key.
A phone key, which lives on smartphones via an application, allows users to lock, unlock, and start the vehicle. In Tesla’s car, the phone key communicates via Bluetooth signals and unlocks the doors as soon as a person pulls the door handle.
Likewise, when users way carrying the paired smartphone, the Walk-Away Door Lock system automatically locks the doors. Users have to go through authentication, and once a device is registered as a trusted phone key, they won’t even require internet connectivity to access all the features.
The number of authenticated phone keys allowed by a Tesla car is limited, presumably for safety reasons. Take, for example, the entry-level Tesla Model 3, which only allows up to three phone keys simultaneously.
Tesla cars also support NFC-based car unlocking, similar to the key card the brand offers. Tesla’s blog post doesn’t specify whether the watchOS app will rely on Bluetooth, NFC, or both.
Notably, the Wallet app for Apple Watch already allows users to store digital keys that can be used to access “home, hotel room, car, and scooter” over the use of near-field communication (NFC) channels. In addition to luxury brands such as BMW and Mercedes-Benz, the likes of Kia have also embraced the tech.
In addition to releasing an Apple Watch app, the Holiday update will also let users watch and locally save clips recorded by their car’s cameras in Dashcam & Sentry Mode. Users will also be able to specify battery charging levels when they reach their destination and check the precipitation situation on the Map.
“When in Reverse, your vehicle will alert you if it detects a pedestrian or vehicle crossing behind you,” says the update note shared on X. In case a cross-traffic object is seen, the car will also issue an audible alert.
On the more playful side of things, there’s a new Emissions feature that will automatically play a fart sound as soon as contact is detected on the seat. Users can take the manual route for this prank and activate it by pressing the left scroll wheel.