Tesla to Introduce New Automations App, Letting Users Create Custom Automations

Tesla is preparing to release an update, version 2025.45.32.1, in China for the Lunar New Year on February 17th. This release is the equivalent of the Holiday Update provided to other regions.

Although the build is targeted at the needs of Chinese owners, many of its additions are applicable outside China and often appear in later updates for other markets.

The update brings China-specific items such as Kugou Music, QQ Music Karaoke Mode, and WeChat Integration. Included as part of this build is a feature Tesla calls the “Automations” app, which enables owners to configure the vehicle to perform specific actions when predefined triggers occur.

The system follows a model similar to “If This Then That” (IFTTT): for example, if the driver door is opened (condition) and there’s a phone on the wireless charger (condition), the vehicle can speak “Please don’t forget your phone” (action).

Release Notes

These are the translated release notes of the new Automation App.

Use the new “Automations” app to create a personalized vehicle experience. You can build custom automation routines for different daily scenarios.

By creating your own exclusive automations, when the vehicle detects that a certain event has occurred and specific conditions are met, it will automatically perform predefined actions.

For example, you can set an automation so that when the driver’s door opens (event), if someone is detected in the driver’s seat (condition), the system will play a voice reminder saying “Please don’t forget to take your personal belongings” (automated action).

How It Works

Based on leaked images and the translated notes, the Automations app appears to act as a simplified scripting engine inside the car, using a three-step logic flow similar to iOS Shortcuts or Tasker on Android.

The release notes include an explicit example: when the driver’s door opens, if someone is detected in the driver’s seat, the system will play a voice reminder saying, “Please don’t forget to take your personal belongings.”

An automation is structured roughly as follows:

1. Event: Something happens (e.g., Driver’s Door Opens).

2. Condition: A specific state must be met (e.g., Driver is Seated).

3. Action: The car performs a task (e.g., Play Voice Message).

The capability comes from combining any of the system’s available conditions and actions, chaining them to produce tailored behaviors.

Tesla has implemented comparable behaviors previously—such as automatically turning on dome lights when doors open or playing a fart sound when someone sits down—and this app gives owners tools to create their own micro-features.

Conditions & Actions Available

The update is currently in testing with Tesla employees, so available details are limited to the release notes and the example provided by Tesla.

Because Tesla’s example mentions events like a door opening or someone sitting in the driver’s seat and actions like the vehicle speaking specific words, it suggests a range of options will be available.

Other possible events include selecting a driver profile, opening a window, shifting into Park, using the turn signals, or enabling FSD. Potential actions might include turning on the headlights and dome lights, changing ambient lighting color, playing a sound, activating seat heaters, launching a specific app, and more.

Final confirmation of which events and actions are included will wait until the update reaches the public.

Vehicle Automation

Until now, owners have relied on third-party API apps, complex API workarounds, or OBD-port access to automate vehicle behavior. This Automations app would provide some of that control natively through the infotainment system.

The release notes do not mention integration with the Tesla mobile app, so for the moment the controls are expected to be available only inside a new Automations app on the vehicle’s screen.

That approach allows owners to implement feature requests unique to their needs themselves, rather than waiting for official additions.

China First, Global Later?

The feature is currently tied to firmware 2025.45.32.1, a China-specific build that has been distributed to select employees.

Given the broad appeal of programmable automations, it is likely this capability will be delivered to North American and European fleets in a 2026 software update, as has happened with other features that launched first in China.