Does the Web Browser just not work??

[vandacca]

Elon said that the browser would be updated and have better performance once the kernel was updated. I think he said it would be ready end of December. I don't remember which year.

 

[HankLloydRight]

He also promised Chrome and an SDK in 2014.

Still waiting on those.

 

[teethdood]

What did Elon ever do to you? The man is hard at work trying to launch satellites so you all can have 8GLTE for your browser. Leave Elon alone *cries*

 

[verygreen]

He also promised Chrome and an SDK in 2014.

Still waiting on those.

If only they did not play stupid self-invented multitouch tricks with the software you could just use a stock browser from ubuntu/debian, but alas you'd need a mouse connected and they even disable the pointer in case you connect an external mouse so you need to guess where is it on the screen (also the 90 degrees location of the picture, but I guess should be possible to overcome).

Anyway, if you bring a separate screen for the web with you, then the CID screen is dedicated to nav and media info which is great too, right?

 

[Snowstorm]

The web browser sucks as a web browser, but it serves a very important purpose. It allow you to load specifically made website as apps that would add function to your main display window. Effectively giving you full custom dash.

For example there is an app called tesla winds that shows u how winds and elevation impact range as you drive. There is another that shows real time weather info, another for home automation etc...

The browser can get better and I hope it does, but it is useful even in its crippled state.

 

[TessieX]

I was told during my test drive that all video is disabled on it (for safety reasons)... so YouTube is nevah gonna work.

 

[focher]

For some reason CNN does not load at all so I don't have it bookmarked anymore.

Try this CNN site version: CNN - Breaking News, Latest News and Videos

 

[Struja]

It is lightning fast in Canada. It's no different than Chrome on my laptop.






















*Everything written above is a lie. I wrote it only to create anger and because I have the Canadian inferiority complex*

 

[DarkMatter]

I'm pretty sure if we got a better browser we'd also end up getting a lockout when moving, and lose access to the existing apps designed for it.

 

[brkaus]

It just does some basics, and those marginally well.

I just use my phone. It's a car, not a web browser, so I'm personally not really troubled by it.

 

[Krazaak]

The web browser sucks as a web browser, but it serves a very important purpose. It allow you to load specifically made website as apps that would add function to your main display window. Effectively giving you full custom dash.

For example there is an app called tesla winds that shows u how winds and elevation impact range as you drive. There is another that shows real time weather info, another for home automation etc...

The browser can get better and I hope it does, but it is useful even in its crippled state.

How well does it work for those custom apps? Is it acceptable performance? I haven't tried any of the pages designed to display inside the Tesla browser, but it's pretty horrible for browsing these forums or gmail.

My understanding is that NHTSA guidelines prohibit displaying videos in the driver's field of view, so the Tesla browser specifically blocks any video streams. I wonder if that content filtering has a significant performance impact on other browsing.

It really isn't a big deal for me in either case, but it seems like it could be implemented better. I can get smooth browser performance on a $35 Raspberry Pi. Is the performance any better while on WiFi? Given that we're not charged for the LTE access, I can understand limiting performance for non vehicle required transfers.

 

[HankLloydRight]

. I wonder if that content filtering has a significant performance impact on other browsing.

It's not content filtering at all... it's just that the browser lacks the proper plug-ins or extensions to actually play video.

Is the performance any better while on WiFi? Given that we're not charged for the LTE access, I can understand limiting performance for non vehicle required transfers.

No, it's not bandwidth related, it's just slow. The browser is not a native OS browser.. it's a Qt app (see: Supported Platforms | Qt 5.9) so it's more like an interpreted or abstracted app then a truly compiled one. The user agent on the browser is: QtCarBrowser, of which the only references on the net are the Tesla browser. So who knows where it came from originally, although there are some likely culprits.

When running straight HTML pages, it does a pretty decent job. The problem is when it gets to javascript apps (which it does run, just slowly and sometimes in weird ways). So javascript heavy sites (like this one or gmail, etc) just slow to a crawl or don't work at all.

Little anecdote -- I took some friends for their first ride in the Tesla, and they immediately asked about running videos on the main screen.. when I told them it can't run videos, they immediately started searching for "animated gif porn" and found plenty examples that, of course, worked. :/

The only way this problem will be fixed/solved is by switching to a real, natively compiled browser like Chrome/Chromium or Opera/Vivaldi. Like Elon promised us three years ago.

 

[verygreen]

No, it's not bandwidth related, it's just slow. The browser is not a native OS browser.. it's a Qt app (see: Supported Platforms | Qt 5.9) so it's more like an interpreted or abstracted app then a truly compiled one. The user agent on the browser is: QtCarBrowser, of which the only references on the net are the Tesla browser. So who knows where it came from originally, although there are some likely culprits.

I think there's some confusion here. QT is a C++ framework, it is compiled code. as such QtBrowser is also a natively compiled code, the only things interpreted there are html and javascript.
QtCarBrowser is just WebKit (really old one) with a bunch of stuff removed.

# ldd /usr/tesla/UI/bin/QtCarBrowser  | grep -i Kit
   libQtWebKit.so.4 => /usr/cid-lib/qt-4.7.2/lib/libQtWebKit.so.4 (0xb59fb000)

 

[Snowstorm]

How well does it work for those custom apps? Is it acceptable performance? I haven't tried any of the pages designed to display inside the Tesla browser, but it's pretty horrible for browsing these forums or gmail.

Those apps are build with the slow Tesla browser in mind so they work fine. They are not heavily animated or fancy, but are simple and match the car UI well so they look like they belong. Search this forum for Tesla web apps and you'll find a bunch. I wish Tesla would have a real App Store that can do cooler things.

Tesla winds, tesla weather radar are two that I use most often.

 

[HankLloydRight]

I think there's some confusion here. QT is a C++ framework, it is compiled code. as such QtBrowser is also a natively compiled code, the only things interpreted there are html and javascript.
QtCarBrowser is just WebKit (really old one) with a bunch of stuff removed.
]

True, but isn't there still at least one level of abstraction between the compiled QML files into C++ and the Qt libraries which adds overhead? (Compared to a real natively compiled app).

 

[verygreen]

True, but isn't there still at least one level of abstraction between the compiled QML files into C++ and the Qt libraries which adds overhead? (Compared to a real natively compiled app).

Keep in mind that QML is the UI language, so it should not play any role on web browser, why do you care how the UI elements are done (like the back button and the address line).
Also since it's compiled into C++, I suspect it's just a bit like a visual approach to programming GUIs too (you add a bunch of elements and then the IDE spit out code for them and then you add actual logic inside)? (I am not a GUI programmer other than a few basic android apps). This would add next to zero overhead.

All that said, I don't see any evidence of QML being used in the Tesla UI