Feature idea: weather radar map overlay for maps

[SucreTease]

One really cool feature popped into my head this week as I was wondering whether the dark sky towards my destination and sudden increase in wind meant that I would run into a heavy downpour, prompting me to pull out my phone to check.

I think it would be awesome if Tesla added an overlay for the maps that showed precipitation radar data like most weather apps now provide. Even better if one could animate the past few hours of data, too.

Thoughts?

 

[aesculus]

There are three aspects that can hurt your range wrt weather:

1. Winds
2. Precip
3. Road slush

The weather radar might help you with #2 if it hit the ground. Keep in mind that most of these radar reports are usually 5 to 15 minutes out of date.

Winds are tricky because the winds on the ground are not necessarily what is being reported even just a few hundred feet up. So it's hard to correlate movement of radar images with ground wind effects. This is why they have other means of detecting surface winds. And local conditions (buildings, trees, canyons) all can play a huge impact on what the car really sees, even changing surface wind directions from what is being reported at a nearby weather station.

And lastly you need to then determine what the actual head/tailwind component is for the situation. If you are driving in a straight track with no obstructions then this is not too hard and there are apps for that. Otherwise you could probably stop the car, hop out and hold your hand up and get a pretty good idea of the effect. Then compare what your hand feels with the difference in your normal consumption with no wind.

Road slush you just have to experience. You'll know quickly if that is causing you issues. Just a few inches or so can make a pretty good impact on range.

 

[Snowstorm]

Look for Tesla winds web site and load that on your browser

 

[SucreTease]

You guys have taken this in a completely different direction that I intended. The feature I am described is solely a precipitation radar layer. That is a very important factor for those of us who live in parts of the country with regular severe thunderstorms. Driving into a downpour that greatly reduces your range of visibility and/or exceeds the water-carrying capacity of wipers is a high stress experience. One will often see people who pulled off the roadway under an overpass to escape it.

 

[Snowstorm]

Tesla waze website has this feature, but sadly the site maybe shutdown next month as google is going to charge them money for using the maps.

 

[Bfree]

Have you tried Tesla Weather Radar with the in-car browser? Works pretty good!