Bethesda shows off Tesla touchscreen dev kit

Published , by TJ Denzer

It’s been a while since Tesla added the ability to play video games in its vehicles. Titles like Missile Command, Cuphead, and Fallout Shelter have been available to play in Teslas for a while. That said, Bethesda recently shared a small glimpse of what the dev kit for porting a game over to the Tesla looks like, including an apparent simulation of the driving and at rest periods for the would-be vehicle.

Bethesda shared this cheeky look inside development of games for the Tesla from the Bethesda Game Studios Twitter on July 28, 2020. Reportedly the dev kit used as Bethesda was developing the popular building and resource management game Fallout Shelter for play in Tesla vehicles, the kit included what appears to be a suite created to simulate operation of Tesla vehicles in tandem to the game design. The Tesla has integrated safeguards in place to ensure users aren’t trying to play games while driving, so it would appear that the actual navigation system for the Tesla is also simulated for the game development to work around as a boundary.

Fallout Shelter was one of the more interesting titles to be announced for play in Tesla’s video game-capable services in 2019, coming in alongside Cuphead to be playable on the Tesla Model S, X, and 3 touchscreens. That said, this may be one of our first looks at what it’s like to work on game design with the cutting-edge vehicle. It does make sense, as one would want to consider all of the distractions, precautions, and other factors that come with operating a game in a car. The car can’t factor in everything, such as drivers trying to play games on their own devices as it drives in Autopilot Mode. That said, the dev kit appears to compensate for everything within direct control of the Tesla itself.

Having launched in a May 20 software update for Telsa vehicle touchscreens, Fallout Shelter is currently available to play in the company’s various vehicles now.