How Tesla Model S keeps evolving after you drive it home Model S keeps evolving after buyers take it home - wireless updates have even raised its ground clearance

Tesla Motors' Model S Tesla Motors' Model S Photo: Tesla Motors Photo: Tesla Motors Image 1 of / 5 Caption Close How Tesla Model S keeps evolving after you drive it home 1 / 5 Back to Gallery

Tesla Motors hasn't changed the look of its Model S sedan since the sumptuous electric car first hit the market in 2012.

Unlike most automakers, Tesla doesn't do model years. There's no attempt to tweak the car's design from one year to the next or roll out new features every fall.

But the Model S doesn't stay the same. It constantly evolves - even after the buyer takes it home.

Frequent wireless software upgrades, delivered while the car sits parked in the garage, alter its systems, capabilities and performance bit by bit. Occasional changes to the hardware are introduced when ready, often as retrofit options for older cars.

The software upgrades do more than spruce up the dashboard display. When two Model S sedans caught fire last year after striking roadway debris, the company sent out a wireless update that raised the car's ground clearance at freeway speed. An update this spring keeps the Model S from rolling backward at stop signs on steep hills.

"To me, that's pretty powerful," said Ben Kallo, a senior analyst with the Robert W. Baird & Co. private-equity firm. "Normally, you drive off a lot, and your car is what it is. With Tesla, you get continual improvements."

Other automakers have taken steps in the same direction, just not as many. Most offer cars that access the Internet for navigation, information and music apps. Both Apple and Google have introduced operating systems designed specifically for cars. Analysts envision a future of "connected cars," in which the auto becomes yet another device dependent on the online world.

For Tesla, the idea of an updatable car is a logical extension of the company's Silicon Valley roots, not to mention its image. Based in Palo Alto, Tesla prides itself on being a technology company, not a traditional automaker. Its cars are aimed squarely at early adopters obsessed with the latest smartphone or tablet.

'Very familiar'

"The product acts more like a mobile device than a conventional car," said Simon Sproule, Tesla's vice president of communications and marketing. "Consumers now have gotten very used to the fact that the devices they own keep improving and keep evolving. So if you own a Tesla, it feels very comfortable and very familiar to anyone who owns a mobile device."

Since Model S deliveries began in June 2012, Tesla has made a few physical changes to the car, which has a base price ranging from $71,070 to $94,570 depending on the size of the battery pack.

The same highly publicized vehicle fires that prompted a software update last year also led Tesla to add a titanium plate protecting the battery pack. (The car already had an aluminum shield for the battery. Now it has both.) Other tweaks have included power folding side mirrors and a power sunshade for the rear window.

Software upgrades have been far more common. They don't follow any set schedule. Tesla rolls them out once they've been tested, both in the lab and on the road.

Many represent incremental improvements to the car's systems, including the programs that run on its 17-inch touch-screen display. But some are more substantive.

One early update gave the car a sleep mode, which powers down the display and most electronics whenever the driver steps out of the vehicle. That saves electricity and ekes a few more miles out of the battery pack. Another causes the car to creep forward whenever the transmission is placed in drive, even if the driver hasn't touched the accelerator. There's no real need for creep, but cars with automatic transmissions do it, and drivers had come to expect it.

Sproule said many of the upgrade ideas come from Tesla owners, while others start with the company's own product development team.

"They're constantly coming up with ideas of what they'd like to do, what they'd like to add or improve, and it all goes into the hopper," he said.

Voice command

An update this spring allowed drivers to store home and work addresses and then simply give a verbal command to the car, telling it "navigate home" or "navigate to work," to get directions from wherever they might be. The same update added "hill start assist," a feature seemingly tailor-made for San Francisco driving. When the Model S is stopped on a hill and the driver releases the brake, the car will hold itself in place for one second, giving the driver time to press the accelerator.

Even if the Model S is constantly updating itself, most analysts expect Tesla to change the car's design at some point. For now, the introduction of Tesla's next vehicle - the Model X crossover, due next year - is a far higher priority. So is development of the $35,000 Gen 3, Tesla's first car designed for the middle class.

But eventually, the company will need to give the Model S a new look - not just new software - to keep consumers interested, said Alec Gutierrez, senior analyst at the Kelley Blue Book auto information service.

"I think they've still got a few years to live off that design," he said. "But when you get to year four or year five, they'll need to go back to the drawing board."