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Tesla’s route mapping is based on Open StreetMaps. As I understand it, this allows the public to update mapping information via crowdsourcing. My brother frequently submits map updates for Google. He proposed a lot of updates to the Google map around my neighborhood (such as POIs like names of...

I've got a "Legacy" Model S (2014 P85) with AP1 hardware but I've upgraded to MCU2. Over the last year or so, support for my 1 TB USB drive which I've been using to play FLACs for the last 7 years has eroded to the point where now, with V11, the USB drive won't even get recognized anymore. The...

Sorry for the geektastic question but I googled this for a few minutes and didn’t find the answer so thought I’d ask the SpaceX geeks here. I’m a mechanical engineer with a decent physics background so I speak the jive, but I had a few questions: SpaceX webcasts always show the speed and...

My navigation history (list of past nav destinations) has become pretty long so wanted to clear it out. This appears to have been made even more difficult in recent software versions. To delete a nav history item, you have to press and hold it for about a second, then tap the X that appears...

There is a lot of speculation that Autopilot 2.0 is imminent--perhaps coming within a quarter or two. There's also a lot of speculation that Autopilot 2.0 will be capable of level 4 autonomy. I'm going to put myself out there and say: Not a chance. I should "color" this opinion, as the...

To keep things fair--journalists, begin your attack on Volvo now.

One problem with trying to express the safety benefits of Autopilot is that you usually only hear about the bad news--accidents and crashes blamed on Autopilot. You generally don't hear about the "saves" because--well--no accident, so nobody's interested. Because of the Tesla's connectivity, a...

So you're driving down the highway at 70mph on autopilot and you blow a tire. What happens? My guess is that when autopilot is engaged it always has a positional target for the car, and if a tire blows it will apply steering to attempt to maintain position in the lane (just like when...

Friday, I recorded my entire commute using autopilot--from my home garage to my office parking lot. Along the way, I offered my thoughts on using autopilot, where it tends to work well, and where it tends to get confused (what else are you going to do for 40+ minutes?) I also kept timers for...

Last night, for the first time since I started driving the S in December 2012, my car did not charge overnight during its scheduled time. Not to say that it didn't try: So, I confirmed I had scheduled charging on, starting at 2:30, at 40 amps, charge limit at 90%. Clearly the car tried to...

When lane markings are not present, you can almost never get the gray steering wheel on the dash in order to activate autopilot. However, I discovered today that if it's already active, in v7.1's autopilot it tries really hard to keep steering, even when lane markings disappear. In fact...

For years, there has been speculation about when battery balancing occurs. Some speculated it occurred at 90% or higher. Others speculated that it only occurs with the battery fully charged. I had my seatbelt inspection today, and while there the service tech was checking a few things in my...

In the 7.1 release notes, Tesla indicates that the car doesn't bias to the side of the lane as much when adjacent to curbs/barriers. After hundreds of miles on 7.1 autopilot, not only do I find that there isn't an improvement, but it's even worse than 7.0. Part of my commute involves crossing...

The metal charging snake prototype that Tesla recently demoed had me thinking some. While the snake is really cool, it looks mechanically complex and not at all inexpensive. So this had me thinking about some ways that future Tesla vehicles could support automatic charging. First, before...

Most of us have seen a lot of drag/performance videos with a single driver against other performance cars with a single driver. It got me thinking: How would a Model S with 5 occupants fare against other performance cars with 5 occupants? How would the difference in 0-60, 1/8, and quarter mile...

With the weather getting nicer and my windows and/or pano roof open most of the time when I'm driving, I'm finding that every time I come to a stoplight I turn my music down (so my music's not obnoxiously loud). Then as I speed up, I have to increase the volume to overcome the wind noise. On the...

I've been having persistent problems with my car properly categorizing music on my external drive. It keeps listing the same song multiple times--and playing it multiple times--even though it only appears on the hard drive once. Interestingly, this doesn't happen for all albums--only some of...

When sorting by album in typical digital music players, an album with several guest artists or a compilation is treated as separate albums unless they have a common "Album Artist" in the metadata, which will tie them together, and treat the album as one. Even though the songs on my external...

When does TACC switch to HOLD After 5 Seconds vs 30 seconds? All, Does anyone know the criteria for when TACC uses a 5 second hold vs. a 30 second hold? Sometimes my car uses 30s, sometimes 5s--I'm not sure what the criteria is. The 30 second hold is much nicer, and I wish it were used all...

So, sometimes it's fun to floor it when you're at a light and it turns green. But not at the expense of the finish of the car behind me. This thought has crossed my mind a few times but I'm only now remembering to ask it. When I floor it at a light, do I kick up grit and pebbles and spit it at...

The last week or so I've driven several times through a tunnel near where I live (about 1-2 miles long, descending about 80 ft below the surface of the Chesapeake Bay). Anyway, like clockwork, TACC always disables within about 30 seconds of entering the tunnel. I get a "Cruise not available"...

I received my first Model S (an S85) on December 31, 2012 and put 33,000 miles on it. I now have 4,000 miles on my second Model S (a 2014 P85) and thought I'd share how I see the car having evolved in almost 2 years and almost 54,000 VINs. VIN 1653 ----------- My first car, being fairly...

P85D owners are now starting to get their cars, and there are likely buyers who have not experienced the instant torque and acceleration of the Model S, much less that it is produced almost silently. I thought I'd start a post on some driving safety tips, because the S (and the P85D) present...

So I tried out the bug report capability of voice recognition today, for the first time. My nav route was not correctly rendering, although the Navigon map was drawing correctly. First, I should preface this by saying that voice control works for me about 95% of the time. It's been very...

With cars now coming off the line with an ACC sensor at the bottom of the lower air intake, those looking to avoid a license plate on the nose cone will need new placement options. Let's discuss them here. First thought: can the plate be mounted in the area directly above this sensor?

I plan on taking delivery in Raleigh (3 hrs from home) and having my OEM 19" wheels swapped out with aftermarkets right there in town, so I can swing back by the service center to have my new TPMSs reprogrammed. I'd then like to take my 4 19" OEM wheels/tires home in the car so I can sell them...

I have a black P85 (red brake calipers) coming soon and I'm exploring aftermarket wheel options. While black on black is an aggressive option, I'm exploring a little bit of color and wanted your opinion. What do you think about TSW Nurburgring Bronze 20"ers on a black S?

My car will be delivered in October (black P85). I will likely be putting on aftermarket wheels (perhaps the TSportline turbines), and I plan on selling my OEM 19s (non-Cyclone). To me it makes sense to essentially swap out the wheels right when I get the car, so I can sell the OEM wheels as...

TSportline has nice 19" turbines in various colors. Some, such as myself, want 20s as I find the sidewall profile on the 21s impractically thin and would prefer a sidewall a bit smaller than 19s offer. Would you buy 20" turbines (9" width) if TSportline offered them? (This poll is to...

Hi All, I posted this in the mid-Atlantic section but it applies for those in the Southeast as well (especially North Carolina): My S will be delivered in October (I am located in Smithfield, VA). I am looking at having Reus Audio Systems install their audio system upgrade in my car toward...

Hi All, My S will be delivered in October (I am located in Smithfield, VA). I am looking at having Reus Audio Systems install their audio system upgrade in my car toward the end of the year, in the November/December timeframe. Reus offers a custom Tesla-designed system that integrates...

I have a P85 coming in October. This time around, I decided to get coils instead of the air suspension. Couldn't justify the air this time around. I want to get a real good feel for how high the coil car sits, so: If you have some, please post pics of your coil suspension car (if the...

In RIP VIN P01653 we all learned that my Model S is going to salvage heaven :(. I found out today that the 2 years remaining on my prepaid service plan are non-refundable, and cannot be transferred to a new car. That sucks. Basically, if you get a prepaid service plan and lose your car for some...

Hi All, OK, this will be somewhat like group therapy for me. Like many of the folks who have been around this site for awhile, I waited 3 long years from my deposit to delivery of VIN 1653, a beautiful dolphin gray S85 with almost all of the options which arrived Dec. 31, 2012. Unfortunately...

Around the time I had my 25,000 mile checkup, I had posted a question on TMC about gear slop in the drivetrain. It wasn't significantly bothering me, just wanted to make sure it was normal. My service center contacted me about it, checked it out, and as a precaution had replaced the drivetrain...

Yesterday evening was not ideal: A guy's car died in the middle of a busy intersection a few cars ahead of me. Others were honking and driving around him, and I figured I'd hate to be in that situation. So I pulled over onto a grass driveway and got out to push his car to another driveway...

Hi, This is a bit of a long shot but I wanted to explore the possibility: I have a fairly heavily-optioned S85 and want to get a P85...(should have gone with the P initially!). I've considered selling the standard and buying a P, but think that might be a bit tricky or unwise. Is there...

Hi all, I'm taking my S up to the Aberdeen Proving Ground area in Maryland a week from Monday for work and I was curious if anyone here knows of an EV-friendly hotel with a plug in the area? Yes, I know the Newark supercharger is 40 miles away, and I know of the level 2 charging listed on...

Here's an interesting efficiency thought experiment for you. Those without an engineering/geeky mind may wish to move on :). When driving at high speeds, drag consumes the most amount of energy. When driving at low speeds, other effects consume the most amount of energy. Imagine I'm going 75...

First, a disclaimer. I recognize some of you Model S drivers are older...I mean..more mature (I respect my elders!) No Model S driver is a fuddy duddy, so have no fear--you're safe. But I had an experience after work the other day--another bright sign for Tesla in the future. I often find that...

Hi All, Just wanted to check and see if you all see the same thing to make sure my car is "normal". Pretty much since I got my car 22,000 miles ago (that I can remember), whenever I transition from very slight regen to very slight "consumption"...like in the +/- 10 kW range...I can feel a bit...

So we know a few facts: 1. Batteries have internal resistance, and both the battery and the motor generate heat while driving. 2. Model S has an active pack heater that consumes a large amount of energy to heat the pack while driving in colder weather. So i've often wondered why there isn't a...

I was thinking that the software update cycle might actually speed up quite a bit once all this sleep mode functionality is fleshed out. Sleep mode was probably a major undertaking for the developers, and extreme care needed to be taken to avoid causing hardware issues and stranding people...

Owners only: Knowing what you know about the fires, if you had to do it over again would you buy the Model S again?

Here's some feedback from my road trip from Smithfield, VA to Charlottesville, VA for the weekend. Drive there: I had about 15,500 mi on the odometer before I left (car delivered Dec. 31, 2012). My max range charge (my first full max range charge--never have Supercharged before either) showed...

Pilots have a saying, part of which goes like this: "There is nothing more useless than the runway behind you"... On the NAV display, there's nothing more useless than the road I just drove on. Although the NAV display is large and great--the triangle signifying the car's position should not be...

So, today was my first road trip with my car (after over 10,000 miles of local driving!). It should have been really easy. My plan was good. But it's not going very well so far in this charging desert (eastern North Carolina has an extremely weak public charging infrastructure--you Californians...

For those interested, I believe I've discovered the cause of the early Model S windshield cracks, and the design change that was implemented to fix it. Early Model S windshields had a taper/chamfer on the edges. Instead of being squared off, the glass thinned out at the edges. I presume this...

I wanted to get an idea from other techies (tech pkg people) about your auto-present behavior when your fob is in your pocket. I find that when approaching the car from the front (along the side of the hood), the handles start presenting about 7 feet away. The timing is right. If, however, I...