Tesla Introduces Emergency Vehicle Alert Feature

Tesla has been working diligently to enhance its Full Self-Driving (FSD) capabilities by incorporating a new “sense” – hearing. Recent updates in late 2024 have enabled Tesla to gather audio input to assist FSD in identifying and responding to emergency vehicle sirens. The Vice President of AI at Tesla, Ashok Elluswamy, has confirmed that improved handling of emergency vehicles will be included in an upcoming FSD update.

Excitingly, Tesla is now rolling out a feature that will alert drivers when the vehicle detects an emergency vehicle nearby. This discovery was made by @greentheonly in the production version of the 2025.8 update, hinting at its imminent availability to all Tesla owners.

Enhanced Emergency Siren Detection

In an upcoming update, Tesla will equip vehicles with the capability to notify drivers when an emergency vehicle is detected, either audibly or visually. This functionality will require the owner’s permission to utilize the internal microphone. While newer models like the Model Y boast multiple internal microphones for superior noise isolation, most Tesla vehicles are equipped with a single internal microphone primarily used for voice commands and Bluetooth communication.

Given the vehicle’s ability to perceive its surroundings comprehensively and its attentive nature, it is likely to detect an approaching emergency vehicle before the driver, making this feature essential beyond just FSD.

According to Green’s findings, Tesla has included text in the software describing the new emergency vehicle detection as:

“Automatically detects and alerts the driver to nearby sirens, helping you or Autopilot recognize and yield to approaching emergency vehicles. When a siren is detected, the media volume lowers, and an alert appears on the display. Sound detection data stays within the car and is not saved or transmitted unless data sharing is enabled.”

Whether on FSD or not, the in-vehicle microphone will assist in detecting and facilitating the vehicle’s yielding to emergency vehicles. Additionally, the media volume will be reduced, and an alert will be displayed on the vehicle’s screen.

While the exact appearance of this alert remains uncertain, it may resemble the current “Keep your eyes on the road” alert, which overlays the center of the display with a distinctive blue hue to capture the driver’s attention.

This attention-grabbing alert, coupled with the lowered media volume, aims to alert drivers in a non-intrusive yet effective manner.

We applaud Tesla for these updates that not only enhance FSD capabilities but also prioritize safety even when Autopilot is not engaged.

Although this feature has yet to be activated, its presence in the 2025.8 update suggests an imminent rollout, possibly through a server-side configuration or the upcoming 2025 Spring Update from Tesla.