No, you can’t watch Netflix while driving your Tesla

While an upcoming update means you’ll be able to stream Netflix and YouTube on Tesla’s massive touchscreen dashboard display, there will be a safety feature to ensure the company isn’t courting disaster.

Forget any notions of flying along the freeway while Black Mirror plays, because you won’t be able to watch streaming services while the car is moving. You’ll only be able to watch while parked. 

Tesla CEO Elon Musk casually explained how the feature will work on Twitter, saying the streaming will, for now, only work “when car is stopped.” 

As with Tesla’s growing collection of video games, these are games intended for down time in the car. Think waiting for your spouse to come out from the dentist’s office or while at a charging station. 

When I tested out Tesla’s newest game, Beach Buggy Racing 2, in a Tesla Model 3 last month, the car was parked. All the games that could be distracting won’t let you turn them on while the car is in drive. 

This all comes with one big caveat from Musk, though: in a subsequent tweet, he claimed that streaming while moving will become possible once “full self-driving is approved by regulators.”

Before that happens, you’ll have to settle for watching films while your Tesla charges for 45 minutes. Just enough time to squeeze in an episode of the final season of Orange is the New Black.