Elon Musk says drivers can play video games while in Tesla’s self-driving mode within 3-6 months

Elon Musk is once again promising a new perk for Tesla owners — the ability to play video games while their car handles the driving.

Rollout hinges on local approval

Musk told one user the timeline depends entirely on city and state regulators.

“Probably 3 to 6 months, depending on regulatory approval in your city and state,” he wrote.

If it works as described, drivers and passengers could pass the time with games during long stretches on the road or while parked, folding leisure into travel in a way few automakers have attempted.

Tesla’s self-driving track record is complicated

While the gaming feature sounds futuristic, Tesla’s autonomous driving history has been anything but smooth. Musk has been saying for years that Tesla would be capable of full self-driving, but that reality hasn’t arrived.

Unlike companies such as Waymo — whose self-driving taxis are already operating in several cities — Tesla relies on camera-only systems instead of combining them with radar or lidar sensors.

Experts argue that the decision, made largely for design reasons, leaves Tesla’s tech a step behind competitors.

The company’s robotaxi pilot in Austin, Texas, is a recent example. It’s still just a prototype, yet users have reported the cars making wrong turns, breaking traffic rules, and causing confusion among other drivers.

Tesla has also recently faced serious legal fallout. In Florida, a jury recently found the automaker partly responsible for a 2019 crash in which a Model S on self-driving software struck and killed a pedestrian while injuring another. The verdict included $243 million in punitive and compensatory damages.

In a Reddit thread about Musk’s announcement, skepticism was the main theme.

“The video game is called Surprise,” one user joked. “The goal is to press the emergency stop button before the car crashes.”

Others were more direct. “Are there still people who believe what he says?” one person wrote, while another quipped, “Good thing the SEC is on the lookout for fraud and would never let a CEO of a company lie repeatedly to pump their stock.”