Recently it was discovered Tesla plans to debut Apple Music in its vehicles and now we’re hearing Dolby Atmos support might be coming as well.
According to an unnamed source speaking to BGR, the publication says “Tesla has been working with major record labels for months to bring Dolby Atmos to Tesla cars.”
Dolby Atmos essentially is 3D surround sound with height channels and is currently supported for tracks within Apple Music and is widely becoming a standard for home theatre and more.
“Dolby Atmos has reinvented how entertainment is created and experienced, allowing creatives everywhere to place each sound exactly where they want it to go, for a more realistic and immersive audio experience,” says Dolby explaining the feature.
“Whether you’re gaming, watching your favorite movie or show, or listening to that new track on repeat, Dolby Atmos transports you into a spatial sound experience that draws you in deeper, so you hear more and feel more,” says Dolby.
If Tesla was to support Dolby Atmos, it would roll out through a software update for its existing vehicles and new cars.00
Other luxury automakers such as Mercedes-Benz and Volvo will support Dolby Atmos. Back in October, Apple Music and Mercedes-Benz announced Spatial Audio and Dolby Atmos support for the MBUX infotainment system found in Mercedes-Maybach models, the EQS and EQS SUV, as well as the EQE and the S-Class.
Apple announced support for Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos and lossless audio tracks in May 2021.
Electric automaker Lucid Motors said last year its Lucid Air would be the first car in the world to support Dolby Atmos. Chinese EV maker NIO said its ET7 would support Dolby Atmos as well.
Given the excellent sound system in Tesla vehicles, supporting Dolby Atmos is a natural next step to make cars even better. Dolby Atmos support rolling out through an existing software update would definitely be a welcome feature, and hopefully, it would come through a holiday software update.
If it’s software-update only Atmos, it’ll be kinda janky won’t it? My understanding was that Atmos requires some speakers be physically tilted up to get the right effect. Don’t know that any of the existing Tesla models have any up-firing speakers?
Dolby added “atmos enabled” speakers that are up firing so that the sound would reflect off the ceiling, mimicking the effect of ceiling mounted down firing speakers (floor standing, up firing is easier to install than down firing, hanging ceiling speakers). Given that Tesla cars have speakers at the top of the A-pilar, they should produce ok atmos effects. Also, it free!
some speakers are above head, some below head. that should be enough for height effects
back-front is more important anyway