A few interface suggestions

[TMS doc]

A few thoughts on improving the user interface.

Have more than six radio station presets. There could be another or several other sets of six available with a swipe across the current bank.

Also, the radio presets should be linked to the driver profile so my daughter can have her own stations when she drives.

An indicator showing the brake light status on the dash would be nice. I want to know when my brake lights are lit to cars behind me without going into the model of the car on the touchscreen. A small red dot below the speedometer indicating that the brake lights are on would be nice. It could be a feature that could be turned off and on like creep to make it optional.

 

[jerry33]

What I would like to see (feel actually) are detents around the bezel of the 17" screen. This would allow you to feel the position so you could control many items without looking. Three over from the left on the bottom would adjust the temperature. Detents on the side would allow you to answer the phone, cancel navigation, etc. without looking (assuming they moved the buttons on the screen a bit or made supplementary hot spots).

Voice control might also work but I've never been able to use it.

 

[scaesare]

Agreed on the radio suggestions... both good ones.

 

[Vger]

What I would like to see (feel actually) are detents around the bezel of the 17" screen. This would allow you to feel the position so you could control many items without looking. Three over from the left on the bottom would adjust the temperature. Detents on the side would allow you to answer the phone, cancel navigation, etc. without looking (assuming they moved the buttons on the screen a bit or made supplementary hot spots).

Cool idea! I already heavily rely on the corner positions for that reason.

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Here is another one for the touch screen-- a cleaning mode! We should have a button that would disable the touch sensitivity for, say, 30 seconds, so you can clean the screen thoroughly without risking triggering all kinds on unwanted actions. The display could dim and have a count-down timer to let you know how much time you have.

For safety, it could be available only when the car was in Park.

 

[FredTMC]

Cool idea! I already heavily rely on the corner positions for that reason.

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Here is another one for the touch screen-- a cleaning mode! We should have a button that would disable the touch sensitivity for, say, 30 seconds, so you can clean the screen thoroughly without risking triggering all kinds on unwanted actions. The display could dim and have a count-down timer to let you know how much time you have.

For safety, it could be available only when the car was in Park.

yeah! Only option I've found is to reboot.

 

[kendallpb]

Have more than six radio station presets. There could be another or several other sets of six available with a swipe across the current bank.

Also, the radio presets should be linked to the driver profile so my daughter can have her own stations when she drives.

Agreed, and they could fit more on screen than 6. Your presets-linked-to-driver-profile is a great idea; IMHO they'd all show up in favorites, but as you say, each driver could have his/her own. In my old car, with the A-B presets, I took the 6 under A and my spouse took the ones under B. With the Model S, driver profiles makes sense!

An indicator showing the brake light status on the dash would be nice. I want to know when my brake lights are lit to cars behind me without going into the model of the car on the touchscreen. A small red dot below the speedometer indicating that the brake lights are on would be nice. It could be a feature that could be turned off and on like creep to make it optional.

An optional indicator would be quite nice. I find it tough to tell when they're on in the car model in the about box (too subtle; they should make it more obvious).

 

[NotMandatory]

An indicator showing the brake light status on the dash would be nice. I want to know when my brake lights are lit to cars behind me without going into the model of the car on the touchscreen. A small red dot below the speedometer indicating that the brake lights are on would be nice. It could be a feature that could be turned off and on like creep to make it optional.

An optional indicator would be quite nice. I find it tough to tell when they're on in the car model in the about box (too subtle; they should make it more obvious).

Agreed...+1 for a small, unobtrusive on-dash brake light indicator option.

Although if it's nighttime, the easiest way to tell when your brake lights come on is to have the rear camera on. Doesn't help during the day, though, obviously...

 

[elreydetodo]

I completely agree on the break light indicator. Since the breaks are activated by deceleration, it's hard to know for sure when they activate. It's problematic on the interstate, where break lights can disrupt traffic for *miles* behind you.

I'd really like to just get an acceleration gauge on the instrument cluster somewhere. I really don't need the analog speedometer dial, I propose replacing that. They can flag the point where deceleration triggers break lights like how they indicate regen limits on the power consumption gauge. If they want symmetry, they could mark a threshold on the positive side as "warp 9" ;-)

 

[lloyds]

Cool idea! I already heavily rely on the corner positions for that reason.

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Here is another one for the touch screen-- a cleaning mode! We should have a button that would disable the touch sensitivity for, say, 30 seconds, so you can clean the screen thoroughly without risking triggering all kinds on unwanted actions. The display could dim and have a count-down timer to let you know how much time you have.

For safety, it could be available only when the car was in Park.

YES!!!! It's so irritating I can't clean my screen without it turning on even with the key far from my car.

 

[irishstoutaz]

I found a simple solution to just hold a fingertip at the halfway point on the left or right side and wipe away. The fingertip prevents anything else from occurring while you are wiping.

Here is another one for the touch screen-- a cleaning mode! We should have a button that would disable the touch sensitivity for, say, 30 seconds, so you can clean the screen thoroughly without risking triggering all kinds on unwanted actions. The display could dim and have a count-down timer to let you know how much time you have.

For safety, it could be available only when the car was in Park.

 

[shady]

Agreed...+1 for a small, unobtrusive on-dash brake light indicator option.

Careful with the small and unobtrusive statement! This feature already exists today, although it's so small and so very unobtrusive, it's unusable