Photo: Rice_Fry
The quadrupeddie animal animation buried in Tesla’s code was unearthed by a hacker earlier this year, though a new contender for the silliest thing seen in a Tesla just entered the ring from a mod made by a software engineer.
Seattle-based software engineer Tristan Rice modded the Tesla car animation, replacing the would-be Model 3 with none other than Thomas the Tank Engine.
Reportedly inspired by the Skyrim mod featuring Thomas the Tank Engine as the dragon, Rice posted pictures and video of a fully-functional Thomas the Tank Engine animation while driving.
So I uh, modded my car… I'm sure this is the *exact* vision the designers at Tesla had in mind #TeslaModel3 #ThomasTheTankEngine pic.twitter.com/6jJU8kIfpI
— Tristan (@rice_fry) May 27, 2021
In the post, Rice includes screenshots of the tank engine as it drives within the Tesla animation, as well as videos showing the vehicle go into park and drive. Rice called the animation “janky,” and it even sports a funny little Tesla car door that pops out when the tank engine parks to back up the claim.
Earlier this year, Rice also broke down how Tesla plans to replace radar with pure vision cameras in impressive detail, and not long after, Tesla has begun rolling out the pure vision Autopilot system.
Tesla also alluded to a “Plaid Mode” animation for launch mode in the Model S Plaid, the company’s best-performing electric sedan, scheduled for a delivery event June 3.
