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IT Home reported on October 19 that text on Tesla vehicles’ touchscreens is set to get larger. After someone posted on X about an elderly driver who struggled to read the screen, Elon Musk replied directly: “We’ll add a large-font option to the user interface.”
IT Home noted that the original post was by Stephen Fleming, who was demonstrating FSD (Supervised) to an older neighbor. Fleming said the man lives alone and has stopped driving at night because of poor eyesight. He had been considering buying a Tesla, but the text on the vehicle’s screen was too small, “even with the display already set to large text.” Fleming suggested adding an accessibility option to the user interface and called for “at least a 48-point font.”
Tesla already offers a text enlargement feature. It added a large-text mode in 2023, and after the 2023.20 software update, the feature supported all compatible languages. To adjust the font size, go to Controls > Display > Text Size and switch between Standard and Large. The vehicle must restart after each change.
The current large-text mode has limitations, however. Some parts of the interface can barely accommodate the enlarged text, and, as Fleming said, the font size remains too small for some older drivers.
Older drivers are one of the key groups who could use FSD (Supervised) and Tesla’s future unsupervised FSD system. People who cannot drive, or who do not want to drive at night, could benefit most. Tesla is still working to solve the challenges of unsupervised nighttime driving for its robotaxi fleet. Musk recently said the main difficulty is detecting and avoiding pets in the dark.
If the size of the on-screen text puts off these potential customers, that is a problem for Tesla. Accessibility features also appear in other Tesla products: the Cybercab has seats at a height suited to wheelchair users and Braille markings on its cabin controls.
A genuinely accessible interface for drivers with low vision requires far more than larger fonts. It also needs larger touch targets and bold text in key areas.
Fitting larger text on the screen will likely require changes to the interface layout. Tesla may be developing a responsive interface that adjusts its layout dynamically according to the selected font size. It is not yet clear whether this would apply throughout the interface or only when such accessibility settings are enabled.
Musk did not say when the feature would launch. Tesla’s annual holiday update is due to roll out in a few months, however, and the new feature is very likely to be included in what is expected to be the year’s most significant software release.