Tesla Inc TSLA executive, Drew Baglino, on Thursday revealed that the company is working on releasing a software update to reduce power consumption in its sentinel mode.
What happened: Acknowledging that sentinel mode requires a lot of power, Baglino said, “Okay, the power consumption in sentinel mode needs to be improved…”
The Tesla team is working to fix the noticeable power consumption via a software update. The upgrade, aimed at reducing energy consumption by about 40%, will be rolled out in the second quarter, he said.
Baglino is Senior Vice President of Power and Energy Engineering at Tesla. He was responding to a question about the company’s initiative to fix vampire drain in sentinel mode. Vampire or ghost drain refers to battery drain when vehicles are left idle.
Because matter: Sentry Mode is a feature in Tesla cars where the vehicle’s cameras and sensors remain on and ready to record any “suspicious activity” around the vehicle when it is parked. When it detects any suspicious activity around the vehicle, it will turn on the headlights and sound the alarm to alert people outside. The driver of the vehicle will receive an alert on their Tesla app and the video footage recorded by the cameras will be saved to the USB drive installed in the car.
Sentry mode has faced privacy issues in the past. In February 2023, the Dutch Data Protection Authority, or DPA, has concluded its investigation into sentinel mode for a potential privacy violation. The DPA, however, concluded the investigation without any fines or other sanctions for the electric vehicle manufacturer.
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