Tesla owner manages to make Netflix run on Model 3’s big screen

Tesla has been blocking video playback on the giant screens in its vehicles for obvious safety reasons, but now a Tesla owner managed to stream videos with Netflix on his Model 3’s touchscreen.

While the Model S and Model X are equipped with a 17-inch screen and the Model 3 has a 15-inch display, the video playback capacity is locked to only work for the rear camera feed and cannot play any other video content.

That remains true whether the vehicle is being driven or even if it is parked.

We reported on some hackers managing to get over the security measures. For example, a hacker managed to play Terminator on her Model S, but it required a fairly complex hack as she rooted her vehicle.

Now that Tesla updated its in-car internet browser with Google’s Chromium, Model 3 owner Rob Davis found a way to actually run Netflix, along with a few other applications, directly on the Tesla screen by setting up remote computer access.

It’s not exactly easy though and it does come with some caveats, like for example, it doesn’t play audio, which means that you either need to watch with subtitles or sync the audio to Netflix on your phone through Bluetooth.

Nonetheless, it’s the first time that we are seeing Netflix play on a Tesla screen:

Of course, Tesla drivers should never use anything like this when driving whether they are on Autopilot or not, but it could be useful when parked and charging for example.

The ability to stream video while the vehicle is parked has been a long-time requested feature by Tesla owners.

CEO Elon Musk recently said that Tesla is planning to add a video streaming feature to the center screen in ‘version 10’ update, but it’s not clear when that update is coming.

Musk also said that it would need to be paired with Wifi access in order not to use the bandwidth of the in-car cellular connection.

He said that Tesla plans to deploy free Wifi at its Supercharger stations.