Get your EV tariff and charger in one place. Find out more Among the various other upgrades over the air, including the usual bug fixes, the Tesla app on my Apple Watch has also sprung into life. It means I can do many of the things I can with the phone app on my watch, including using it as a key. The Tesla key cards that I got with the car have stayed in our key cabinet since I’ve had my Model 3 – I’ve used my phone as the key. You only have to approach the car and it’ll unlock for you, locking it and playing a pre-set sound (which you can personalise) as you walk away. The car will operate just fine with the phone – or now my watch – in the car. open image in gallery Software updates have given me a Tesla Apple Watch app that means my watch is now my Tesla car key (Steve Fowler) The only oddity about this feature is that the key can either be on my phone or my watch, but not both at the same time. I have to pair (a moment’s job, to be fair) one if I’ve just used the other. However, using your phone as your car key is just so convenient, although just walking out of the house to go to the car has meant I’ve forgotten to take my house keys along... Oops. There’s plenty of other tech on board I haven’t yet used; the games or watching a movie for example. And, like most EV owners who have charging at home, I’ve not yet used the Tesla Supercharging network, although I’ve set up my account so I should be able to just charge and go. I’ll be testing that out in a couple of weeks. Every Tesla bought through the brand’s certified pre-owned scheme gets an upgrade to ‘enhanced autopilot’, whether it had it originally fitted or not. It’s a £3,400 option on a new Model 3 so a real benefit on a used car, and I’ve been giving it a go in the UK with, mostly, impressive results. Enhanced autopilot is Tesla’s name for its semi-autonomous technology that we can use in the UK. It’s an adaptive cruise control system that will drive the car for you, keeping the car in lane and keeping a set distance from the car in front (that you can adjust). You have to remain in control, but keeping your hands on the wheel, but it’s a feature I love that I find makes longer, more tedious journeys that bit more relaxing. open image in gallery Tesla’s enhanced autopilot takes the strain out of longer journeys, but you have to keep your hands on the wheel (Steve Fowler) Tesla’s system goes a little further than most by helping you change lanes – it will identify when it’s safe to do so when you’ve initiated a lane change, then with a little wiggle of the steering wheel to remind the system that you’re still there, the car safely changes lanes. It’s clever stuff. With the navigation set, enhanced autopilot will also advise you when to change lanes or when to take an exit on the motorway. And updates to come will give you ‘summon’ ability – the car will exit a parking space and come to you while you’re standing outside the car. It’s certainly one of the better systems I’ve used – and I’ve used them all – but like them all, you do have to remain in control. There are occasions where it gets a bit flummoxed by lane markings on the road, or gets a bit scared by other cars or motorbikes straying into your lane and slams the brakes on – you have to be quick on the throttle to avoid upsetting the car behind. open image in gallery Enhanced autopilot will keep a Tesla in lane and a set distance from the car in front (Steve Fowler) One minor frustration is that it needs constant reminding that you’re there and alert on straight roads. It needs regular steering inputs – which you’re unlikely to do on a straight road – otherwise you get visual and eventually audible alerts asking you to move the steering wheel. So you end up periodically wiggling the steering wheel when you don’t have to, just to remind the system that you’re awake. On longer motorway journeys it really does make life a little more relaxing, though, and I’ve experienced in both my Model 3 and a brand new Model Y seven-seater that I’ve had in on test. As a bit of a geek, I love knowing the tech is all working hard; the combinations of cameras, sensors and serious computing power. And, as my car has, the system gets better with software updates. The potential of full self-driving is still a little way off in the UK – even though you can equip your car with the kit to do it, when legislation allows. It’s all systems go in the US, though, as I experienced in my test drive in a Tesla Cybertruck. But on a recent trip to stay with my folks in Arizona, Ralph and Marsha Grimes, we took a much longer journey on full self-driving - and I mean full self-driving. Ralph is loving his new Tesla Model Y, even more so with the technology on board. And we used it to do a full 70-mile round trip with the car driving itself from the moment Ralph left his drive in Sun City West, following the navigation all the way to wonderful western town Wickenburg and back again. It even managed to negotiate the combination of barriers and gates at the entrance and exit to the development where Ralph and Marsha live. open image in gallery Tesla full self-driving is available in the US where Model Y owner Ralph Grimes used it for a full 70-mile round trip (Steve Fowler) Unlike enhanced autopilot, you don’t even have to keep your hands on the steering wheel with full self-driving – you can sit with your hands in your lap, but you do have to keep watching the road; cameras inside the car are keeping an eye on you making sure you’re not just watching Netflix. And I have to admit I was hugely impressed, sitting watching Ralph with his arms folded and the car navigating bends, traffic lights, lane changes, highway exits, crossing traffic and even spotting barriers. As for my car, I’ll continue to put enhanced autopilot to good use. You have to know how it works and where it might need you to take over, but for me the benefits outweigh the negatives. open image in gallery There are Teslas in the Fowler family on both sides of the Atlantic. Ralph Grimes loves his Model Y in Arizona (Steve Fowler)