Car Colorizer Allows You to Customize The Looks of Your Tesla

@Tesla has just released the Car Colorizer to the newest software update, 2022.4.5.3, finally allowing you to customize your car’s color on-screen.

As seen below in the video, the custom color also translates to the Tesla app!

https://twitter.com/x/status/1494396497433141255

 

[Jclboston]

This is a such a much better usage of software developer and interface engineer resources than addressing widely known UI complaints.

 

[skipugh]

This is a such a much better usage of software developer and interface engineer resources than addressing widely known UI complaints.

It’s fun

 

[RonB]

I strongly agree with Jclboston. Something no one really needs.

 

[SomeJoe7777]

It’s fun

You know some other things that might be fun? Hmmm ... how about:

• Auto wipers that actually work and that I can switch on without diving into 3 layers of menus.
• A climate control system that doesn't require filter changes and evaporator cleaning every 6 months to prevent the car from smelling like a trash dump.
• Auto high beams that actually function.
• Waypoints on the navigation that won't leave you stranded. (Seriously, try it. Put in a long trip that would require 2 supercharger stops, then add a waypoint that's in between the chargers. The car's new calculated scheduled charging stops are completely inaccurate and would leave you stranded if you tried to follow them.)
• Navigation that has correct street names, correct highway names, and correct exit numbers. (I find multiple errors in the map on every trip).
• Staying out of the recall headlines for more than say, a week or two? Rear-end collisions with emergency vehicles, video game access while driving, pedestrian warning speaker sound override that disables the warning, rolling through stop signs, phantom braking. All of those are current, active, NHTSA recalls and investigations.
• The ability to deliver a new vehicle in a timely fashion. (I am now on the 15th month of waiting on a Model X. Ordered 1/28/2021. Estimated delivery date has been pushed back 6 separate times.)
• Customer service where I can talk with a human instead of being forced into an app that doesn't function. (Try to schedule service where the service address has a suite number -- you can't do it. If the suite is the location of the vehicle, mobile service will never find you).
• Tell the truth about Full Self Driving. i.e. that it doesn't actually work, and will NEVER work with the current hardware. No current model of Tesla out in the field right now will EVER be able to avoid debris on a highway. EAP would have happily run over a large piece of tire debris on a trip I took last week and it would have destroyed the underside of the car if I hadn't manually maneuvered around it. And that's just ONE item that disqualifies the system from anything above Level 2. There's dozens more.

The above posters are spot-on when they say that this kind of useless, frivolous software addition while ignoring the glaring errors and problems is symptomatic of a rudderless, disorganized, and unrealistic company who is operating in a fantasy land with their head in the clouds.

 

[CoastieM3]

What’s the point of this? Is Tesla going to paint my car green if I change it to green on the screen?

 

[RedWhite19]

 

[stopcrazypp]

What’s the point of this? Is Tesla going to paint my car green if I change it to green on the screen?

This launched first in China, where it makes complete sense given Tesla offered a wrapping service at their service centers:
Tesla's Own Car Wrap Service Debuts In Chinese Service Centers

In the US, Tesla doesn't offer this, but plenty of people do wrap their own cars (although usually more in gloss or matte finish, without a color change).

I know plenty of people here don't really like it, but this is just another example of a feature that was ported over after it was successfully launched in China.

 

[techzelle]

Was this developed by the same person who created "Rainbow Road" - the one that can easily be accidentally triggered with 4 stalk presses?
Because 2 presses launches autopilot which sometimes does not register, requiring another 2 presses...

The one that plays a minute of a horrible song that cannot be muted and cannot be aborted.
Yes, 4 stalk presses again will turn off the rainbow road visualization on the screen. That was easy enough to just to look away from, but why does that annoying music keep playing??!

TESLA: Please disconnect the 4 stalk press trigger for rainbow road.

This is the type of person who develops a color customizer with 16384 colors for the 1 out of 10000 driver who has changed the color of their car of which an even smaller percentage of these people were wanting this ultra-low priority enhancement. So like 1 of 20000 people might have a purpose for using this feature... ONCE. A horrific waste of resources. And please do not work on version 2 which lets you paint each body piece a different color.

 

[etigro]

I would also have preferred a correct visualisation of the car as is, without the customisation. Like matching the interior color instead of having it only black in app or in car. White seats are part of the config known to Tesla. That should be an easy fix.

 

[RedWhite19]

It would only make sense if Tesla had something like this.

Get on with it, Elon.

 

[E-curb]

This is a such a much better usage of software developer and interface engineer resources than addressing widely known UI complaints.

I suspect they have more than one developer . . .

 

[CaptainC]

 

[epictetusguy]

As a former software engineer and current pointy haired software executive I can tell you that these kind of playful applications are not complex and have zero regulatory or compliance implications. In all likelihood it was created by a junior engineer or co-op and released into production. For those of you saying it's a "waste of time" I would counter that engineering morale and playfulness is important. More to the point, it has zero impact on the delivery of critical software updates.

Don't be a Karen.

 

[CaptainC]

As a former software engineer and current pointy haired software executive I can tell you that these kind of playful applications are not complex and have zero regulatory or compliance implications. In all likelihood it was created by a junior engineer or co-op and released into production. For those of you saying it's a "waste of time" I would counter that engineering morale and playfulness is important. More to the point, it has zero impact on the delivery of critical software updates.

Don't be a Karen.

<tongue-in-cheek>I thought all the junior devs were busy working on FSD</tongue-in-cheek>

 

[SomeJoe7777]

As a former software engineer and current pointy haired software executive I can tell you that these kind of playful applications are not complex and have zero regulatory or compliance implications. In all likelihood it was created by a junior engineer or co-op and released into production. For those of you saying it's a "waste of time" I would counter that engineering morale and playfulness is important. More to the point, it has zero impact on the delivery of critical software updates.

Don't be a Karen.

You're absolutely correct. But it doesn't change the fact that serious bugs and problems exist that are not being addressed and have huge impact on the company's future as well as safety. The issue illustrates the failure of management to prioritize and delegate, and calls into question the ability of the company to manage itself.

 

[epictetusguy]

You're absolutely correct. But it doesn't change the fact that serious bugs and problems exist that are not being addressed and have huge impact on the company's future as well as safety. The issue illustrates the failure of management to prioritize and delegate, and calls into question the ability of the company to manage itself.

I don't think it is a prioritization issue. They aren't putting FSD engineering specialists on creating a paint program. They also can't second a junior engineer to those activities and get any additional velocity.

 

[SomeJoe7777]

I don't think it is a prioritization issue. They aren't putting FSD engineering specialists on creating a paint program. They also can't second a junior engineer to those activities and get any additional velocity.

If you have money to pay an engineer a salary, then you have the ability to decide what that engineer will work on, and what qualifications he should have upon hiring him. If you know your auto wipers need additional work, why have you hired an engineer to develop a color picker? The only reason you do that is because you believe the color picker is a higher priority than fixing the auto wipers.

It absolutely is a prioritization issue. And this is why I specifically chose the word "rudderless". Where is the management and direction coming from? Where is the focus on these goals? Who is driving the overall development? The answer to all of those things is: nobody and nowhere. If there were competent people directing this, then you would have many of these things fixed already.

 

[thesmokingman]

I strongly agree with Jclboston. Something no one really needs.

I bet the owners with colored films would disagree. But c'mon this is tiny stuff here, not like they are throwing big man hours at it.

 

[epictetusguy]

If you have money to pay an engineer a salary, then you have the ability to decide what that engineer will work on, and what qualifications he should have upon hiring him. If you know your auto wipers need additional work, why have you hired an engineer to develop a color picker? The only reason you do that is because you believe the color picker is a higher priority than fixing the auto wipers.

It absolutely is a prioritization issue. And this is why I specifically chose the word "rudderless". Where is the management and direction coming from? Where is the focus on these goals? Who is driving the overall development? The answer to all of those things is: nobody and nowhere. If there were competent people directing this, then you would have many of these things fixed already.

Hey Joe. I don't think you understand how engineering teams work. Engineers are assigned to product teams with a specific focus and tract. Moreover, engineers have specialties and experience that go along with that. They are not interchangeable manufacturing parts -- e.g. you're thinking of software as a factory that can shift priorities and all engineers are effectively the same. This is not the case at all.

The team and the engineers focused on the in-car display applications have zero relation to the team that focuses on FSD, Auto Pilot, Embedded engineering, etc.

In all likelihood they are organized like:

FSD Team --> Hardware Engineers, Embedded Engineers, Data Engineers and a Product Manager
Apps Team --> Front End Engineer, Backend Engineer, and a Product Manger

You cannot pivot the front end engineer to the FSD team and accomplish anything. Nor the backend engineer.

Lastly, Tesla doesn't really have a "budget" to worry about and they likely capitalize every single engineer which means it is below EBITDA. So their financial results look good anyway. They are probably trying to hire any one and everyone they can at the tune of probably 150% of the capacity they actually need to deal with turnover given the current demand for engineers.

It is not to say they are perfectly organized, no. But it is likely a simple problem of "priorities".