Enough with the Games, already.

[CMoZ]

A couple points here and why I think my opinion even matters

1. I'm a software engineer and have been working in the industry for almost 20 years at this point
2. The software engineers porting games are very likely not the same or even the same type of software engineers that are working on actual advanced features like FSD or improving range, battery charge optimizations etc for example. These are VERY different skillsets
3. I'd be willing to bet the games are probably part of Intern projects in a lot of cases
4. When you talk about taking those "coding teams" and adding their horsepower to "X" that's not how software engineering works, adding more people to a software development project will almost always slow it down not speed it up

Even in the initial list most of the things listed that OP would like the coders to spend time on aren't coding issues

1. Better wipers - not a software engineer more likely a traditional engineer or design engineer
2. CarPlay/Android Auto - My understanding is this is more of a licensing/design issue than a software issue. It's super easy to impliment but the spec defined by Apple to license and use CarPlay requires that CarPlay in particular take over the whole screen which it can't on a Model 3 for example
3. Text Message integration - Looks like that's coming in v10 so they were working on it
4. Mobile app - There is likely a mobile app team more versed in iOS/Android development responsible for this
5. Cross-Trafic alerts is likely a much bigger problem than someone who's just porting a game would be able to handle that's a really big design issue in figuring out how to do that within the current system's hardware
6. Sentry mode maybe could be done by the same engineers but I don't really know exactly what improvements you're talking about there so that's just a guess

In any event just wanted to educate a bit because people generally talk about "coders" or software developers like they're 1 group. In truth theres so many different areas and different specialties that it's important to understand they're not all interchangeable

 

[SMAlset]

I suppose if you had a kid who was in the car and antsy about waiting while mom or dad went into the store to pick up something but could be entertained by playing a game from the passenger seat, you'd appreciate them more. What kid wouldn't want to do that then play it on a tiny phone. I've enjoyed Beach Buggy Racing and my husband has played a few matches of chess. I like that they are there if I want to play them. I also love to turn on the Santa Sleigh easter egg in December, and have enjoyed some time in front of the fireplace on cold, rainy mornings while waiting at the train station. As an owner doesn't cost me anything to have them and they are something that helps sell the car to families. Whenever the cars are self-driving the games will be there and ready to enjoy during the drive. In the meantime a lot of kids and adults are smiling in their Teslas.

I also would vote for a poll option someone suggested about stop complaining about the games. So many whiners on this forum.

And yes the Tesla specifically hires people to work on games. I've seen the listings a few times. Definitely different skill set. The games create a buzz about Tesla and clearly something people are curious to see and play. I love that Elon and team want to make driving (and for the moment parking) fun. I've never had so much fun owning/driving a car before. Adds to the love.

 

[640k]

ITT: People that have no idea that a team adding in already emulated games isn't the same team who can work on sentry updates or other features.

ITT: people who don't understand that all of the easter eggs are basically "free advertising". if you have something to talk about, people will. at the end of the day it's just a car.

 

[cybrwzrd]

ITT: people who don't understand that all of the easter eggs are basically "free advertising". if you have something to talk about, people will. at the end of the day it's just a car.

I'd much rather them spend their advertising budget on adding quirky and fun features than superb owl ads any day.

 

[640k]

...

1. CarPlay/Android Auto - My understanding is this is more of a licensing/design issue than a software issue. It's super easy to impliment but the spec defined by Apple to license and use CarPlay requires that CarPlay in particular take over the whole screen which it can't on a Model 3 for example
2. Text Message integration - Looks like that's coming in v10 so they were working on it
3. Mobile app - There is likely a mobile app team more versed in iOS/Android development responsible for this

...

let's not forget there's already an app ecosystem developed for the fleet and the car runs on a proven OS with decades of support, knowledgebases, and community. this isn't something Tesla invented like a lot of other legacy OEMs have, it's a matter of operative vs. capital costs.

here's a good article.

Tesla has it's own problems to worry about before continuing down an alternate path.

 

[640k]

I'd much rather them spend their advertising budget on adding quirky and fun features than superb owl ads any day.

or really terrible YT videos about REAL PEOPLE looking at REAL CARS

spoiler: it's a piece of sh*t

 

[calidreamz808]

I'm only here for the comments LOL. *munches popcorn*

 

[Nocturnal]

The effort required to port these games is minimal in the scheme of things. Those resources can't just be moved over to working on FSD. People aren't widgets. I assume this small team will continue to add games over time and work on similar in-car entertainment. It's not like this is holding back other features.

 

[spindrome]

ITT: People that have no idea that a team adding in already emulated games isn't the same team who can work on sentry updates or other features.

People in this thread do realize that a SW engineer working on said sentry features and upgrades arent the same folks working on games that add no value to the driving experience. Games are cool, sure, if that floats your boat. I’d rather have Tesla prioritize other things like sentry mode upgrades. As an example, the whole process of sentry mode is broken where you cannot instantly view any videos on the screen after entering the car and seeing that you have 5 alerts. Clearly the screen is capable of displaying video. Why not just allow video to play with the car is in P, just like GAMES? The fact there are more recent SW enhancements with games than there are with sentry enhancements like the one that I and many have suggested is beyond me.

 

[raviman8]

i got a tesla for the driving experience and OTA updates specific for driving enhancements. not games.. i have a ps4 for that...... just sayin.

 

[mewantcookiez]

I can foresee a lot of smashed screens when Cuphead makes its way over.

 

[shplatt]

If you give a mouse a cookie...

 

[kavyboy]

I think I'd like the idea of games more if the long-requested and way overdue map waypoints had been added at some point.

I also get a feeling, just a hunch, that those games do pull time away from useful things. I'm well acquainted with the Mythical Man Month, but in the real world, having that "side project" means Developer One has to answer an email about where the source control branch is, then Ops has to grant repository permissions, then Developer 2 has the info about how to make it compile but isn't here today so we have to try a couple of things that we ask Developer 3 and Developer 4 about, then a commit leads to the wrong checksum somewhere which causes the deploy to fail, and then who has access to configure the continuous integration box?, and now some tests are failing with out-of-memory errors, and then QA asks why something looks different and demands a change request from the integration manager but they use the old forms, and on (legal) and on (language translation and documentation) and on (compliance and safety)...
Again, just a hunch.

PS: Had a CEO once who wanted an Easter egg where if you clicked on something three times, a monkey would pop up. "Guys like monkeys!" Apparently not so much in medical software. That CEO's tenure was short lived, and our software remains monkey-free.

 

[silentcorp]

The fact there are more recent SW enhancements with games than there are with sentry enhancements like the one that I and many have suggested is beyond me.

It's because the games are easy to implement, much moreso than sentry mode updates. Seems pretty clear and isn't beyond many here. It's not a one or the other proposition.

 

[Cyberax]

This has been said too many times. Whoever is doing the games is not detracting from AP work. People who think an experience AP programmer is working on games has no knowledge of modern programming or how modular programming works.

And yet this game developer could have worked on Android Auto or CarPlay integration. Both are straightforward development tasks, and not even that hard.

Tesla is missing A LOT of "regular" non-AI functionality.

 

[disapr]

A couple points here and why I think my opinion even matters

Even in the initial list most of the things listed that OP would like the coders to spend time on aren't coding issues

1. Better wipers - not a software engineer more likely a traditional engineer or design engineer

Do you know how the Model 3 wipers work? Or more specifically, how they detect rain?

 

[Runt8]

Well, that would be me.

While you are almost certainly right, that one could not say, "Bob, today you shall stop work on Asteroids and, instead, work on Enhanced Summon," I have to believe that the Asteroid budget could be reduced to zero and the Asteroid bucket of money could be transferred to the budget of the Summon team.

Has there been any indication that the summon team is resource constrained? Just throwing money at something won't necessarily get it done sooner or better.

Going to pay dividends in the future...

My little nephew is hard core into gaming, as well as a lot of other kids....they're going to grow up, think its the coolest thing in the world, and there ya go....sold

A real world example of this just happened to me last weekend: My kids both love fart mode and beach buggy racing. They showed one of the neighbors kids, who went home and told his parents about how cool his friends dads car was. A couple days later I went to a birthday party at the neighbors house, who didn't believe that I had a car that farted. Took him out to show him, and two test drives later both him and one of the other parents at the party are ordering their new Teslas.

When I drop off and pick up my kids at school, I frequently get asked questions about my car by other parents (most often at the impatient behest of their children), and questions about the various easter eggs are a close second to ones about what it's like to drive an electric car.

Even though I rarely use any of the easter eggs more than once when they're first released, I believe they're a brilliant marketing ploy and a way to get the younger generate to fall in love with Tesla even though they can't even drive. In my experience it's proven to be a very good (and presumably inexpensive) way to get a foot in the door...

 

[Knightshade]

And yet this game developer could have worked on Android Auto or CarPlay integration. Both are straightforward development tasks, and not even that hard.

Except tesla has no game developers.

All the games on Teslas were developed by companies that are not tesla

Apart from licensing they did nothing other than add already existing software developed by other people to the games menu.

Nobody at Tesla is "developing" anything games-wise.

 

[CMoZ]

Do you know how the Model 3 wipers work? Or more specifically, how they detect rain?

more or less. You have to take into account what kind of software problem it is. is it an embedded sytems problem, what languages or frameworks are the wiper subsystems in, It's likely not Unity or swift more likely ASM or C or something along those lines. As reliable sources indicated that rain sensing is done via the camera you also likely need developers familiar with image processing which also doesn't have much crossover with a developer who's porting games.

 

[focher]

More better games!

As for CarPlay / Android Auto - the cars don’t have it because Tesla doesn’t want them to have it. That has nothing to do with resources, and everything to do with the explicit decision from Tesla not to add it to the cars.