Tesla cars can now run Steam
PC gaming has made its way to the car
➡️ The Shortcut Skinny: Telsa, meet Steam
💻 The latest Tesla cars are now capable of running Steam
🚘 Model S and Model X cars from the last year can access the PC storefront
😮 Their powerful hardware means they can play the biggest triple-A games
😄 But not while the cars are in motion
The car has driven its way into the world of PC gaming, as Tesla rolls out Steam integration for its on-board entertainment systems.
As part of Tesla’s recent holiday update, the car manufacturer’s latest Model S and Model X vehicles are now capable of running Steam on their dashboard TVs, supporting games like Cyberpunk 2077 and Elden Ring.
According to the update’s release notes, Steam integration is still in beta and only available on 2022 Model S and Model X cars with 16GB RAM. Those cars pack the same AMD RDNA GPUs and Ryzen CPU chipsets used in the PS5, so are powerful enough to play some of the best PS5 games and the best Xbox Series X games.
In fact, given the platform exclusivity of Microsoft’s first-party games, it’s now possible to play the likes of Halo Infinite, Gears 5 and Forza Horizon 5 in a car but not on a PlayStation console. Handy if you happen to own a Tesla but haven’t, for whatever reason, secured a PS5 restock.
Tesla cars already supported a bunch of games before the update, including Cuphead, Stardew Valley and PUBG Mobile, but Steam integration vastly expands the cars’ gaming library. Any game that’s been verified on Steam Deck can be played in the cars, synchronizing save files through the cloud. CEO Elon Musk says you can play using a wireless controller or even by connecting up a keyboard and mouse.
Following an investigation from the US National Highways and Traffic Safety Administration last year, Tesla agreed to modify its dashboard entertainment system to prevent drivers and passengers from playing games while the vehicle is in motion.
On top of Steam, Tesla cars also now support Apple Music, which is doubly handy if you subscribe to Xbox Game Pass because members of Microsoft’s subscription service can nab three months of Apple Music and Apple TV+ at no cost right now.
The holiday update also introduces the ability to view the inside of the car using the Tesla app while the vehicle’s in Dog or Sentry Mode, as well as the function to schedule light shows across multiple cars at once. That last one looks pretty wild, albeit pretty useless.
Elon Musk has been in the news recently following his takeover of Twitter. The multi-billionaire recently relaunched the social media platform’s premium Twitter Blue subscription service (for a second time) with three verification check marks in an attempt to curb trolls, after firing half the company’s workforce and warning of bankruptcy.