How to Set up Your Tesla: Customizing Your Settings for the Best Experience

Tesla vehicles are home to some of the most forward-thinking and unique technological features available in modern vehicles. Utilized properly, these features can make a world of a difference in not only your daily commute, but your long road trips as well.

However, the best experience comes from ensuring each feature is tailored to your driving style. This article will walk you through customizing your Driver Profile, Navigation, Charging, and Autopilot settings so that you can enjoy every moment of your Tesla ownership.

Driver Profile

The Driver’s Profile in a Tesla is the hub that stores all your most important settings, including seat position, side mirror position, and steering wheel position.

To set up a Driver Profile, touch the “Driver Profile” icon at the top of your screen. Then, select “Add New Driver.” From there, you can enter your name and click “Create Profile.”

Next, adjust the steering wheel and mirrors to suit your preference. To adjust the steering wheel, click the steering wheel icon on the driver profile menu. Then, use the left Scroll Wheel on the steering wheel to move the steering wheel. Roll the ball to the left or right to move the steering wheel either closer to you or further away. Roll the ball up and down to move the steering wheel higher or lower as needed.

Once complete, select the mirror setting. Depending on the Tesla you own, you’ll either use the mirror controls on the driver door, or the scroll ball, to adjust the mirrors.

To use the scroll ball, roll the ball left or right to rotate the mirror to the left or right. Roll the ball up and down to adjust the mirror up or down. Press the scroll wheel directly in to switch between the driver and passenger side mirrors.

Now that your steering wheel and mirror settings are finished, you can select whether or not to enable the “Easy Entry” feature. This feature, when enabled, automatically adjusts the steering wheel and driver's seat position when the vehicle is parked, making it easier to enter and exit. Once you press the brake pedal, the settings revert to the saved driver profile.

Your driver profile is now complete. Any adjustments you make in the future to your mirror, steering wheel, or other settings will automatically save to your profile, as long as you have it selected. You can also add more profiles if there will be multiple people driving the vehicle.

Your navigation, Autopilot, temperature, and light settings will also save to your profile. Continue reading to learn how to set up each feature.

Navigation Settings

Your Tesla comes equipped with its own Autopilot-integrated navigation system. To make the most of your GPS, select the settings that best fit your trips. To choose settings, open the “Navigation” menu via “Controls.” Once in this menu, select whether or not you would like directions read aloud to you by enabling or disabling the “Voice” option.

You can then choose to enable “Automatic Navigation.” This setting allows your vehicle to automatically start a GPS route when you enter your vehicle. Routes are predicted based on locations you normally visit, time of day, and calendar events.

You can also enable the “Trip Planner” function, which allows it to automatically add Supercharging stops as needed based on its estimation of range consumption during your trip.

The “Online Routing” feature, when turned on, allows your GPS to automatically account for traffic and get real-time traffic updates as you travel.

Lastly, you can choose whether you’d like your vehicle to avoid tolls, HOV Lanes, and/or ferries when your vehicle is planning routes.

Once you’ve selected your navigation preferences, return to your main home screen. Touch the navigation bar at the middle-top of the screen to enter an address. Here, you can also add your home and work addresses, as well as any favorite destinations you frequently visit.

Charging Settings

Charging settings are one of the most important aspects of customizing your Tesla experience.

To access the charging settings, select “Controls”>”Charging.” Here, you can set a charging limit. Locate the charging limit slider at the top of the screen and click and drag the slider accordingly.

In most Tesla vehicles, it is recommended to set a charging limit of 80% or 90% to maintain the highest battery health.

Once completed, you can adjust the charging current at your present charging location. By default, the vehicle is set to automatically select the highest current available at a location. However, if you need to adjust the current up or down, you can do so by pressing the “plus” and “minus” signs under the charge current settings.

Next, access the schedule settings. This will allow you to set up automatic preconditioning and/or schedule charging. In some states, where electricity costs more during peak hours, it may benefit you to schedule charging for off-peak hours.

Lastly, if you have solar power at your home or workplace, you can set the vehicle to charge on solar at that location by checking the “Charge on Solar at this location” setting.

Autopilot

As one of the most unique Tesla features, Autopilot can offer both a fun and helpful way to experience driving.

To customize your Autopilot settings, navigate to “Controls”>”Autopilot.” Begin by enabling Autosteer and Traffic Aware Cruise Control (TACC). These two features are the core functionality of both Autopilot and Full Self Driving.

You will also be able to enable the Full Self-Driving Visualization Preview, which provides you a detailed on-screen simulation of the road you are driving on, including other vehicles, obstacles, pedestrians, and traffic lights.

Please note, if your vehicle has Full Self Driving, you will also have the option to enable Auto Lane Change, which allows the vehicle to perform lane changes automatically when the turn signal is activated.

Once complete, you can choose a set speed. The “Set Speed” setting dictates whether your vehicle enters Autopilot at the detected speed limit in your current location, or at the current speed you are driving.

If you select that the vehicle enters Autopilot at the detected speed limit, you will then see an option called “Offset.” This setting allows you to choose how your cruising speed adjusts as you drive. You can choose either “Fixed” - a specific amount by which the Autopilot can adjust - or “Percentage” - a percentage of a road’s speed limit.

Next, choose how you want to activate your Autopilot. You can select either “Single Click” or “Double Click.” With “Single Click,” pressing either the right scroll ball or right drive stalk (depending on model) down once will activate both Autosteer and TACC. With “Double Click,” you will need to press the ball/stalk down twice to activate both Autosteer and TACC. Clicking down once will only activate the cruise control.

Lastly, you can select whether you’d like the “Green Traffic Light Chime” enabled. When enabled, this feature will chime when you are at a red light and it turns green, whether you are in Autopilot or not.

Once completed, you are ready to utilize Autopilot on the open road.

Conclusion

Owning a Tesla provides the opportunity for you to experience some of the best and most cutting-edge technology vehicles have to offer. But this experience can be made substantially better by making sure your vehicle settings are customized to fit you and your driving style.

These settings will also save to your Driver Profile, so you never have to worry about redoing them unless you want to.

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