1 month of ownership of my first Tesla and I have these questions

[Spinball]

Love my MS 75D.
I have four questions.
Before I tweet @elonmusk, maybe you can help.

1. Why are there gaps in all TeslaCam recordings? They miss important evidence. My first dashcam, an £80 Mobius, manages to record continuously. Buffer and extend the recordings if it's an issue with USB write speed. Is it really that hard?
2. Why are there no alternative routes offered in navigation? Yesterday it wanted me to drive 10 miles further to save 3 minutes. Silly. Waze does the same, but at least you can choose from 2 alternative routes.
3. Why can't I see and play my playlists on my iPhone? I've spent significant time compiling my digital mix tapes. In this regard, Apple Carplay is significantly better.
4. Why is there no sound with TeslaCam? There's a mic in the cabin. Sound adds context to the incidents and can include number plates read out loud. All dashcams record sound. There's a reason for it.

Thanks in advance for any fixes to the above. Or do I have to get Elon involved?
(Addition of the car colorizer is nice for the <1% of people who wrap their cars with a different colour, but have the software developers got their priorities right?)

 

[Jeeves]

Your expectations exceed the car's actual functionality. Prepare for further disappointment.

 

[Ben_]

Can’t help with 1, I don’t use it much.
2 - no, it doesn’t offer those. Presumably just engineering choices; they just haven’t prioritised that feature.
Similar with 3 - they haven’t (won’t?) incorporate Car Play. Unless those are Spotify playlists then the best use of those that you’ll get is to stream to the car over Bluetooth. If they are Spotify, then sign into the car account with your creds and you should get the same.
4 - I don’t think they include sound; again just not a feature they’ve opted to build.

Enjoy the car. Unfortunately, just because a feature seems obvious or easy it doesn’t mean Tesla concurs.

 

[init6]

You'll find answers to most of your questions and some work arounds if you use the search function, but ultimately you get what Tesla gives you.
All cars are compromises. If you want better iPhone integration, then buy a car that has CarPlay. You will of course lose some of the benefits of the Tesla, but only you can decide what your priorities are.

 

[browellm]

Yesterday it wanted me to drive 10 miles further to save 3 minutes.

You can +/- the time saved (or disable) before rerouting occurs in settings. Doesn't offer alternative routes in the car though.

Or do I have to get Elon involved?

Aye, crack on.

 

[SpanishJ0n]

Love my MS 75D.
I have four questions.
Before I tweet @elonmusk, maybe you can help.

1. Why are there gaps in all TeslaCam recordings? They miss important evidence. My first dashcam, an £80 Mobius, manages to record continuously. Buffer and extend the recordings if it's an issue with USB write speed. Is it really that hard?
2. Why are there no alternative routes offered in navigation? Yesterday it wanted me to drive 10 miles further to save 3 minutes. Silly. Waze does the same, but at least you can choose from 2 alternative routes.
3. Why can't I see and play my playlists on my iPhone? I've spent significant time compiling my digital mix tapes. In this regard, Apple Carplay is significantly better.
4. Why is there no sound with TeslaCam? There's a mic in the cabin. Sound adds context to the incidents and can include number plates read out loud. All dashcams record sound. There's a reason for it.

1. Feel free to add a third party dashcam. It's an easy install
2. Use waze via the browser. It sounds like you have MCU2
3. Are you serious?
4. See 1)

 

[Adopado]

Regarding 1 and 4

Tesla cars don't have a dedicated dashcam functionality. Since the initial design, production and supply of the vehicles there have been "extras" added on by software updates. It was recognised that because the cars have cameras installed for other purposes that perhaps these could be activated to perform other services. Through new software updates these free extras have included things like dashcam, sentry mode, streaming camera view, blindspot indicator view. I suppose if you started off without any of these it would seem pretty cool to have them enabled without additional cost ... however, the downside is that these features don't fully match the features of single purpose dedicated "Dashcams" or indicator blindspot camera views for example.

 

[mtbwalt]

Sorry if this is obvious, but regarding playlists on your phone… just launch them from your phone once Bluetooth is active. Most playlists are long enough that they will last thru a driving session, unless you are going long distances. There’s not really that much difference using your phone’s touchscreen versus the car’s. And your car controls will still work for volume, advancing to next song, etc.

 

[MrMoonUK]

I just got an Argentinian tidal subscription for 79p a month and it works better than Apple Music and CarPlay I had on previous car

 

[Jeeves]

Why can't I see and play my playlists on my iPhone? I've spent significant time compiling my digital mix tapes. In this regard, Apple Carplay is significantly better.

'Hey Siri, play my <special playlist name> playlist'

 

[Mrklaw]

'Hey Siri, play my <special playlist name> playlist'

this - I've found it surprisingly responsive when sat on the charging pad.

 

[Durzel]

Unless you're tweeting some dank sycophantic memes at Musk you've got no chance of a response.

 

[Plagued]

point 2 is my biggest bugbear. It's taken over 5 years for Tesla to add waypoints, so I'm not hoping for a fix any time soon. My Leaf has 3 options, quickest, shortest and eco, which given the short range was pretty essential, but after a couple of years into the leaf I found that actually what it was offering me was much much more enjoyable drives. When I then got a Tesla that was hell bent on taking the longest, fastest and most boring route with no way of stopping it I really felt the navigation system was a step down (and that's saying something as the leaf one is TERRIBLE) Even google is now offering eco routes. I guess it's just a downside of an American car where they just want to get onto the biggest longest fastest road and stay there.

 

[Rooster6655]

Love my MS 75D.
I have four questions.
Before I tweet @elonmusk, maybe you can help.

1. Why are there gaps in all TeslaCam recordings? They miss important evidence. My first dashcam, an £80 Mobius, manages to record continuously. Buffer and extend the recordings if it's an issue with USB write speed. Is it really that hard?
2. Why are there no alternative routes offered in navigation? Yesterday it wanted me to drive 10 miles further to save 3 minutes. Silly. Waze does the same, but at least you can choose from 2 alternative routes.
3. Why can't I see and play my playlists on my iPhone? I've spent significant time compiling my digital mix tapes. In this regard, Apple Carplay is significantly better.
4. Why is there no sound with TeslaCam? There's a mic in the cabin. Sound adds context to the incidents and can include number plates read out loud. All dashcams record sound. There's a reason for it.

Thanks in advance for any fixes to the above. Or do I have to get Elon involved?
(Addition of the car colorizer is nice for the <1% of people who wrap their cars with a different colour, but have the software developers got their priorities right?)

1. The trick for TeslaCam is don't rely on it
2. Recently we had add stop to the navigation, all Tesla fans cheered when Elon announced this, its like Apple bringing out features that are common elsewhere
3. If you are referring to Spotify then you can login to your Spotify account
4. One year it probably will

PS. It is an illusion that anyone can get through to Elon, only if you have a huge twitter following and spend everyday praising Tesla

 

[Spinball]

Thanks for the replies and tips.

Your expectations exceed the car's actual functionality. Prepare for further disappointment.

Having watched Wham Bam TeslaCam and other Tesla related videos, I assumed that the TeslaCam was going to be better than the Thinkware F770 professionally installed in my outgoing Hyundai Ioniq electric. So yes, I'm disappointed that it's actually not as good and I'm balking at the prospect of spending £350 getting a decent front+back dashcam in there. I'll be looking for an installer in North Birmingham.

Regarding 1 and 4

Tesla cars don't have a dedicated dashcam functionality. Since the initial design, production and supply of the vehicles there have been "extras" added on by software updates. It was recognised that because the cars have cameras installed for other purposes that perhaps these could be activated to perform other services. Through new software updates these free extras have included things like dashcam, sentry mode, streaming camera view, blindspot indicator view. I suppose if you started off without any of these it would seem pretty cool to have them enabled without additional cost ... however, the downside is that these features don't fully match the features of single purpose dedicated "Dashcams" or indicator blindspot camera views for example.

I get that. It's just frustrating that the TeslaCam is so significantly flawed by having gaps in the recording when it's sold by Tesla salespeople (and everyone else on YouTube) as a feature.

There’s not really that much difference using your phone’s touchscreen versus the car’s.

The significant difference is that you can get 6 penalty points and a £200 fine if you hold and use a phone, sat nav, tablet, or any device that can send and receive data while driving or riding a motorcycle.
You’ll also lose your licence if you passed your driving test in the last 2 years.
You can get 3 penalty points if you do not have a full view of the road and traffic ahead or proper control of the vehicle.
You can also be taken to court where you can:

• be banned from driving or riding
• get a maximum fine of £1,000 (£2,500 if you’re driving a lorry or bus)

So quite a difference.
Maybe it's different if the phone is mounted using something like this which I had for years before Waze made it on to Carplay

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Suction-Universal-X-Grip-Holder-SmartPhone/dp/B00HR883RK/ref=sr_1_3

I find it a bit frustrating myself as an ex-software developer that Tesla would not put a rush on improving the satnav which, without alternate routes, is obviously lacking.

Don't get me wrong, this Model S is the loveliest car I've owned. If I were managing software development, I'd fix a few things.

Hey Elon...

 

[DJP31]

2. There's a tinkerer in the States (twitter handle is @greentheonly) who dives into the code, and I'm sure I read that he's seen additonal route planning is on the way. Soon...

 

[Spinball]

2. There's a tinkerer in the States (twitter handle is @greentheonly) who dives into the code, and I'm sure I read that he's seen additonal route planning is on the way. Soon...

Hope so. Thanks for sharing.

 

[redmunds]

1. Could be that your USB Drive doesn't write fast enough. Checkout the USB Flash Drive Requirements in the Owners Manual.

 

[SpareHeadOne]

If my memory serves me correctly the iPhone provides only hands free and audio streaming capabilities via Bluetooth, so you can use the car as if it is a telephone headset and/or a Bluetooth speaker, but you cannot browse any media on the device as it isn't supported.

That's a limitation of the iPhone, not the Tesla and you'll find it on any other car. Technically it's intended for security so that no-one can use one of those lovely hacks to get at data on your handset because Apple simply disabled that part of the stack.

Not many options other than getting a non-Apple device if it's too big of a pain and joining one of the threads where some say they would like CarPlay or Android Auto and others tell them that it isn't needed/they don't want it because the Tesla interface provides everything that they want.

After that you'll probably want to drink heavily for a bit.

 

[Spinball]

1. Could be that your USB Drive doesn't write fast enough. Checkout the USB Flash Drive Requirements in the Owners Manual.

I got the Samsung S7 as recommended in several places.
Do some peoples' Tesla Cams write without gaps?
I can always get something like

Amazon.co.uk