Tesla has finally decided to bring its trip planner to its mobile app – something that Tesla owners have been wanting for a long time.
I’ve always said that longer range is not the best solution to curb range anxiety; accurate range prediction and trip planning are the best solutions to remove range anxiety.
We reported over the last year that Tesla has made great improvements to the former to display an accurate range prediction to drivers.
As for trip planning, Tesla always had a good system, but it was only available inside its vehicles. It’s not that big of an issue, but it is sometimes useful to be able to plan a trip without needing to be inside your car.
Now Tesla is bringing the trip planner to its mobile app in a new update pushed earlier today.
In the release notes of the update, which is called 4.20.69 (I know), Tesla writes about two new features:
- Phone Key pairing no longer requires your Key Card to complete
- Schedule service for Tesla Insurance claims for US customers
However, the biggest new feature, the trip planner, is not mentioned in the release notes.
Now when you go to the location tab under your Tesla vehicle inside the app, you can enter an address, and it is going to plan the route for you – including charging stops – just like inside the car.
Here, I tested it with a trip from my place to the Empire State Building in New York:
As you can see at the bottom, you have the option to send the trip to your car. You can also edit stops, including charging stops.
That means that you can sit inside your home, plan a trip, and then send it to your vehicle to be ready for you whenever you decide to leave.
It’s a pretty neat new feature that makes you wonder why it wasn’t always there.