Long time lurker, first time posting here! I've had a Model 3 since May '18, and I've been a professional Designer (sometimes called UI/UX Designer and Product Designer) for several years now. I didn't expect Tesla to take so many basic steps back in driver usability, nor did I expect that as we approach April, Tesla hasn't reverted more changes.
From the POV of design, looking at usability, interaction, and accessible design, I wrote a case study detailing why V11 is a step back for basic usability in a Tesla.
(Btw, the prose and context there is for a very general audience and the design community vs terminology and context all of us here are highly familiar with)
TL;DR There’s three primary issues with V11’s design:
- Burying numerous, previously glanceable and reachable items into menus such as “Quick” Controls requiring extra taps, and removing heated seats and defrost controls from the bottom bar
- Ergonomics, or lack thereof, for the new alerts and gestures that are blocked by the steering wheel
- Homogenized UI from previously distinguished buttons/actions, making for a greater cognitive load from the driver when needing to distinguish between a grid of buttons
Personally, the heated seat and media scrubbing are my two daily annoyances.
Semi-TL;DR:
I have a Twitter thread with visual examples of the more prominent V11 design issues.Here's to hoping Tesla hears us, and improves the design - and hopefully maturing their approach to digital design! It doesn't mean they still can't shake up in-car digital experiences as they have for 10 years. But to move forward now with more thoughtfulness on usability for a much, much larger and diverse ownership base.