Tesla shared a new video on Thursday, titled “ S3XY Winter Testing in New Zealand.” This is where Tesla tests its vehicles in winter conditions in the southern hemisphere.
The automaker shares more behind-the-scenes testing of the new Model Y track mode for the latter’s Performance version, available now in the latest 2022 holiday software update.
“When it’s summer in the northern hemisphere, Tesla engineers follow the snow to Wanaka, New Zealand to continue their vehicle development year-round,” explains the company.
Besides the Model Y seen drifting in the snow, we also see the Model S, Model 3 and Model X. Tesla engineers are able to push the company’s vehicles to the limits in winter conditions, while also share feedback with the teams back in California—to then receive changes via software updates from the latter, offering an incredible feedback loop.
Teams work 12-hour days and even start working as early as 5 am local time. We see employees have fun and call themselves a family in the video.
“We’re almost always on a proving ground testing new software and we run this thousands of times per software release,” says one Tesla engineer.
Check out the video below:
