Since 2016, Tesla has had a feature called Cabin Overheat Protection that allowed its Model S cars to automatically regulate inside temperatures, keeping the cabin to a maximum of 40°C (104°F). That feature came to the Model 3 this year, the mass-market offering on which Tesla’s hopes and dreams rest.
Tesla has noted that the feature is good for child and pet safety. In a recent exchange on Twitter with a dog lover, Tesla founder Elon Musk suggested that its cars will get even more dog-friendly.
The idea would allow the car to not only regulate cabin temperatures but use the dashboard to signal to passersby that the dog inside is safe. It’s not just enough to do a kind of “Cabin Overheat Protection Max,” though. While the current system already keeps the car below the safe upper temperature for kids, some tweaks will have to be had depending on dog breeds; for example, 40°C is still too hot for French bulldogs, which suffer from heatstroke very quickly in high temperatures.
Musk loves to take feature requests from Tesla owners on Twitter. (He also loves to announce takeovers and taunt short-sellers on the platform.) There is no sense of when what Eletrek fondly calls “dog mode” will come to drivers but the latest version of Tesla’s operating software is rolling out now.