Elon Musk has revealed that Tesla is actively pursuing the possibility of bringing a broad array of Steam games to its in-car infotainment system.
Though Tesla currently offers a handful of available games, the selection is small and the purpose of such functionality has remained questionable for moving vehicles. The firm recently disabled a Passenger Play feature that allowed games to be played while the car is in motion following an investigation by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
Not to be deterred, the latest tweets from Tesla’s eccentric CEO suggest that a much wider catalogue of titles could be coming soon.
We’re working through the general case of making Steam games work on a Tesla vs specific titles. Former is obviously where we should be long-term.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 22, 2022
The relevant tweet comes as part of a discussion surrounding Cyberpunk 2077, with IGN editor Ryan McCaffrey asking when the game would become available on Tesla’s Model S/X. In response, Musk states “we’re working through the general case of making Steam games work on a Tesla vs specific titles.”
Such an admission shouldn’t come as a surprise given the hardware behind Tesla’s infotainment system. Recent models are known to feature a quad-core AMD Ryzen APU with onboard RDNA 2 ‘Navi 23’ graphics. The GPU features 28 CUs (Compute Units) and 1,792 shaders, providing a level of performance akin to the desktop Radeon RX 6600.
Tesla’s decision to build its infotainment ecosystem around Linux makes Steam a natural match. Developer Valve is actively working to make a growing number of titles compatible with its own Linux-based Steam Deck handheld, and porting across to Tesla’s AMD APU shouldn’t require a great deal of effort.
Musk previously stated “entertainment will be critical when cars drive themselves,” yet even if you’re sat waiting for a vehicle to charge, there’s surely merit in being able to pick up gaming where you left off. Given Musk’s enthusiasm for cryptocurrency, one has to wonder what else may be in store for the AMD APU.
