Recently, Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted that Tesla has made progress in integrating the Steam gaming platform, with a demo presentation possibly scheduled for next month.
△ Image from Twitter
Musk has always believed that entertainment will be crucial when cars are self-driving. To enhance the entertainment attributes of the vehicle’s system, Musk has long had the idea of porting games to Tesla’s in-car system.
The Model S Plaid, released last June, can play Cyberpunk 2077 using the new in-car infotainment system. By this year, Tesla has ported games like The Witcher 3, Super Mario series, and Stardew Valley. As long as the vehicle’s system performance is sufficient, owners can play games inside the car. Tesla even plans to launch custom controllers for in-car gaming, and Musk has expressed a desire to create Tesla’s own gaming platform.
△ The in-car gaming system of Model S Plaid (Image from Tesla)
However, with so many games available on the market, porting each one to Tesla’s system is time-consuming and labor-intensive. To build a mainstream gaming platform, Tesla will inevitably face a shortage of game resources initially. Therefore, the most straightforward solution is to bring the gaming platform into Tesla, and Steam, with nearly 50,000 games and a large user base, is the best choice for Tesla.
In February of this year, Musk stated that Tesla is working hard to bring the Steam gaming platform to Tesla vehicles. Tesla’s goal is for a large number of Steam games to run directly on the vehicles without needing to be ported or modified, rather than just porting individual games to the car’s system. In the future, owners will be able to play Steam games in their cars, turning Tesla’s cabin into a dedicated gaming space for users, which aligns with the long-term interests of both Tesla and its owners.
From a hardware and software perspective, Tesla uses a customized Linux operating system, and Steam can also run in a Linux environment. Models produced since 2022 are equipped with the next-generation entertainment system processor, the AMD Ryzen, which has a floating-point computing capability of 100 trillion operations per second, capable of running AAA games, comparable to Sony’s latest gaming console, the PS5. There should be no obstacles to running Steam platform games. As long as the hardware and system debugging are in place, Steam games can run directly on Tesla without special porting or modification.
△ The in-car gaming system of Model S Plaid is equipped with a processor capable of 100 trillion floating-point operations per second, comparable to the latest gaming consoles on the market; it is compatible with wireless controllers, allowing for gaming enjoyment from any seat position (Image from Tesla)
According to foreign media reports, Tesla has a major team in Seattle dedicated to in-car video games, and has recently established another related team in Austin. Tesla has integrated a gaming platform called Tesla Arcade into its in-car tablet and is currently collaborating with some game studios to port games to this platform. If Tesla can indeed integrate the Steam platform, it will elevate the in-car gaming scene to a new level. Experts speculate that Tesla has bigger plans for in-car gaming. As more games are released, Tesla is also planning to offer different paid packages for video games, and in the future, gaming may evolve into a dedicated industry under its umbrella.
With the advancement of technology, cars are no longer just a means of transportation; they are evolving into multifunctional living spaces on the move. Consumers have increasingly high demands for the in-car system, requiring it to be user-friendly, with intelligent AI assistants and excellent entertainment attributes. When performance is comparable, a good entertainment experience will become an important metric for users when choosing a car.
Currently, automotive companies are placing great importance on entertainment. Some directly port gaming platforms, while others install multiple displays in the car and open interfaces for Switch gaming consoles, providing more expandability. For example, in addition to gaming, Tesla also offers more built-in entertainment features, including in-car karaoke, built-in music software, and video software, among others.
The recently launched AITO Wenjie M7 also aims to provide users with “pleasant enjoyment,” with Huawei Music, Huawei Video, and third-party apps from the Huawei App Market collectively creating an excellent smart cabin audio-visual entertainment experience.
△ AITO Wenjie M7,supports linkage of cabin devices such as speakers, ambient lights, and steering wheels, easily creating an immersive gaming experience. It supports game controller control and includes multiple games such as Ace Racing, Spirit Knight, and Battle Soul (Image from AITO)
Huawei Music brings users high-quality music recommendations through HIMIX, allowing them to listen to HQ and SQ quality audio sources anytime in the car. In terms of video, collaborations with video platforms like Mango TV provide users with a super audio-visual experience area enhanced with HDR Vivid and 5.1 surround sound. The combination of high-quality video resources with the 15.6-inch high-definition screen and HUAWEI SOUND audio system can provide users with a mobile cinema experience with surround sound. On the AITO Wenjie M7, the Huawei App Market has also launched a variety of third-party in-car applications, including Bilibili, Ximalaya, BabyBus children’s songs, Leishi KTV, and Ace Racing games, allowing users to enjoy watching videos, listening to audio, in-car karaoke, and convenient gaming services through touch screens and controllers, combined with the excellent hardware of the Wenjie M7 cabin, providing a comprehensive immersive cabin entertainment experience.
Through the synergy of hardware and software capabilities, as well as outstanding advantages in cross-platform communication between mobile phones, cars, and other devices, the AITO Wenjie M7 offers a more relaxed and intelligent audio-visual entertainment experience, making the car no longer just a means of transportation, but a “mobile home” for users.
△ AITO Wenjie M7, original karaoke MV with low latency of 48 ms, professional DSP chip dynamically optimizes vocals, effectively preventing feedback, and supports singing scores (Image from AITO)
Currently, the development of smart connectivity is making the communication and collaboration between cars and industries such as IT and artificial intelligence increasingly close, making the in-car space an important leisure scene. Users need smarter, more convenient, and more entertaining interactions to make travel time less tedious, which is the starting point for the in-car system to continuously integrate more games and entertainment applications. When autonomous driving technology is perfected, cars with excellent entertainment experiences will have a significant advantage.
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