I chatted with Phil today about USB album art via
Customer and Product Support . His news was not good. I have included the full transcript below.
Basically he said that this is not considered a bug, he called it "expected behavior". He even said that it is a possibility that Tesla may even stop supporting USB music "since vehicles now come with USB-C ports only."
He did tell me about another way to report bugs: "You can submit bug reports using the voice command button on your steering wheel. Press on it and say "bug report" followed with a brief description of the issue."
Full Transcript:
Phil
02:43 PM
Thank you William. How may I be of assistance today?
William
02:43 PM
Ever since version 2020.44 came out in November 2020, USB album art stopped displaying. All we get is a musical note where album art used to be. It had always displayed USB album art ever since I bought my Tesla Model S in early 2018.
Will Tesla be fixing this soon? It is sorely missed by everyone who plays music from USB. Which is also the only way to play CD quality music or higher in a Tesla.
Phil
02:44 PM
Please note that this is expected behavior from the car. I cannot say if it is expected to be brought back, but I will make sure to forward your comments to our engineers regarding this.
William
02:45 PM
Version 2020.44 also broke the ability to do voice searches on USB music, and Recents/Favorites list no longer includes USB music
William
02:46 PM
What do you mean by "expected behavior from the car"?
Phil
02:47 PM
It is normal that this feature was removed after the 2020.44 update.
Phil
02:47 PM
That is what I meant.
William
02:47 PM
WHY??
William
02:48 PM
How is this normal?
Phil
02:50 PM
What I meant by normal is that the feature was removed after this update. We have not received a specific reason why it was removed, but by submitting this kind of feedback is the best way to pressure our engineers to bring it back.
William
02:54 PM
It sounds more like a bug. Why remove a feature like that? How is that an upgrade? How is that an improvement? It worked before, why break it?
Phil
02:54 PM
We never said it was an upgrade or an improvement.
Phil
02:54 PM
Again, it is not a bug and it is expected behavior. If you feel like this might be a bug, you can schedule a service appointment.
Phil
02:55 PM
They will be able to confirm this with yoy.
Phil
02:55 PM
you*
William
02:56 PM
Does this indicate that Tesla will no longer be supporting USB music in future updates?
Phil
02:57 PM
It is a possibility, since vehicles now come with USB-C ports only.
William
02:58 PM
USB drives are not dependent on USB-A ports
Phil
02:58 PM
I know that. However, most people only use USB-A drives.
Phil
02:58 PM
Again, as I said, it is a possibility.
William
03:00 PM
Can you confirm any of this? With the engineers? How can we contact them directly?
Phil
03:01 PM
That is not something that can be confirmed and this would be confidential information. It is not possible to contact the engineers directly.
Phil
03:01 PM
I will go ahead and forward your feedback to them. Is there anything else I may assist you with today?
William
03:03 PM
It this the only way to give feedback or to report bugs to Tesla? Is there an email we can send this info to?
Phil
03:03 PM
You can submit bug reports using the voice command button on your steering wheel. Press on it and say "bug report" followed with a brief description of the issue.
William
03:04 PM
Interesting. I didn't know about that. Where does that info go?
Phil
03:04 PM
It is sent directly to the engineers for review
William
03:05 PM
Excellent. Thank you.
Phil
03:06 PM
No problem, William!
William
03:06 PM
Any email address for the engineering team to give more details?
Phil
03:07 PM
They do not have a direct email address. Bug reports and feedback through our customer support team is the only way to submit feedback as of now.
William
03:09 PM
I hope they make it easier in the future for Tesla owners to report bugs and suggest features.
Phil
03:09 PM
I understand where you're coming from and will make sure to include this in the feedback provided.
Phil
03:10 PM
Is there anything else I may assist you with?
William
03:10 PM
Yes, Thank you for passing all this on to the engineers.
William
03:12 PM
That is all for now. Thank you for your time Phil.
Phil
03:12 PM
My pleasure. Have a good rest of your day and do not hesitate to reach out if you have other questions.