Tesla->ke1842 has never been shy about taking some amusing liberties with its products. These often range from the inane to the hilarious, as was the case when it somehow found a way to include the iconic Lotus submarine from the James Bond classic “The Spy Who Loved Me” in one of the software updates for the Model S->ke3329 back in 2015. This new Easter egg, as some have referred to, isn’t as cool as the Lotus submarine or as mentally stimulating as the so-called “answer to the meaning of life.” But it is interesting, especially if you’re the type who happens to love anything that involves an explosion of color.

This Easter egg is called the “psychedelic cowbell road,” aptly named by no less than Tesla CEO Elon Musk. It can be accessed when drivers engage the autopilot system on their Tesla models, but actually enabling it can be a little tricky, especially if you miss out on the instructions. In a nutshell, the Tesla driver must engage the autopilot system by pulling the cruise control stalk towards them.

Once that’s done and the autopilot system is activated, a blue icon will appear at which point, the driver needs to pull back on the same stalk four times in quick succession. If the attempt is successful, the typically mundane road representation on the dashboard immediately turns into a colorful cowbell road that looks similar to the rainbow bridge over at Asgard.

I’m not sure what it does to improve the autopilot system, but it is a neat little trick that adds some literal color to the automaker’s autopilot driving system. At the very least, it shows that whatever you may think of Elon Musk, you can’t deny the fact that the man knows how to have some fun, even if it sometimes comes at the expense of tweaking our sense and sensibilities.

Continue after the jump to read the full story.

Why it matters

In the grand scheme of things, something like this doesn't really matter. It's an easter egg, which, a phrase that was arguably popularized by those Marvel movies for their incessant need to include "secret messages" in all of their movies. It's a fun way to get the audience's attention, and Tesla, to its credit, has found a way to integrate the same kind of entertainment into its software updates.

Here's the thing though. Unlike those Marvel easter eggs that are literally served on a platter for its attentive and discerning fans, Tesla's versions are incredibly hard to find. It took some time before the Lotus submarine easter egg was discovered. Same thing with the "42 / meaning of life" easter egg.

This one was actually revealed by Musk himself so it begs the question that if he didn't disclose the information in one of this tweets, how long would it have been until somebody else discovered it. I'm just glad that it's already out for the whole world to see. Just goes to show you that Tesla is still in touch with its humorous side.

2017 Tesla Model S

Read our full review on the 2017 Tesla Model S here.