Firmware 6.0 (beta version discussion)

[galangg]

They put your key fob on the windshield wiper?? lol that's a pretty dumb place for it. They should have rolled the window down and put it on the seat or cupholder.

Yeah, I wouldn't have been happy with that placement.

 

[hockeythug]

Engadget picked this thread up.

http://www.engadget.com/2014/08/21/tesla-model-s-os-leak/

 

[Arnold Panz]

I haven't been on these boards in a few months. Life got busy, and haven't felt the burning need for new information like I used to in the old days, and when there were scant few of us with a Model S.

This is a bit meta, but I didn't realize how much reading these boards was bringing me down! When my friend first told me about this leaked information about 6.0, I was ecstatic! I've been hoping for real time nav since the beginning, and the other stuff is great, too. Then, I read 100+ posts here, and I'm immediately depressed/annoyed that they still haven't given us a valet mode, which is constant source of annoyance for me (I reserve my Web page for one of the homemade pages someone created for valets to read).

The lesson? For me, I've got to stay off these boards! I love the information, but the expectations here are off the charts, and in the case of software updates (among other things), ignorance appears to be bliss.

 

[FredTMC]

Where's the "Trip Planner"?! If 6.0 is released and doesn't include the Trip Planner, I'll be really disappointed. It will provide an accurate estimate of the "Rated Range" to get to your destination. Zzzzzz

Trip Planner "rated range" estimation would factor-in the following variables for a given selected route:

Weather (temp and wind and precipitation)
Elevation changes
Traffic conditions
Your desired speed preference (e.g. Predict Rated Range based on traveling at 5 mph over the posted speed-limit, or at the speed limit, or 10 mph under, etc)

I thought the Trip Planner was a dead-ringer for the 6.0 release based on prior Elon comments.
Fingers crossed...

 

[DaveT]

Where's the "Trip Planner"?! If 6.0 is released and doesn't include the Trip Planner, I'll be really disappointed. It will provide an accurate estimate of the "Rated Range" to get to your destination. Zzzzzz

Trip Planner "rated range" estimation would factor-in the following variables for a given selected route:

Weather (temp and wind and precipitation)
Elevation changes
Traffic conditions
Your desired speed preference (e.g. Predict Rated Range based on traveling at 5 mph over the posted speed-limit, or at the speed limit, or 10 mph under, etc)

I thought the Trip Planner was a dead-ringer for the 6.0 release based on prior Elon comments.
Fingers crossed...

+1. I like the other features of 6.0, but a Trip Planner is an essential that should have been there from the beginning.

 

[NigelM]

Where's the "Trip Planner"?! If 6.0 is released and doesn't include the Trip Planner, I'll be really disappointed.

I'm immediately depressed/annoyed that they still haven't given us a valet mode...

I find it somewhat disappointing. ...I would have also liked to have seen Spotify or Rdio baked in in the US also.

I won't know until I see it, but for now it doesn't seem as if the calendar has enough features...

Definitely would be great to have WAZE integrated into the center console.

I'd like to see the firmware made hackable.

I had hoped for better media control through BT,...

I like the features but I really hoped to see the open api in this release.

... instead of having the phone start the car, you could just use the phone to open the doors, then have a LONG LONG access code that would need to be typed into center console to start the car (say 20+ characters with Capital Letters and numbers required). I would like that better.

Name my car? hmmm I'd like to be able to name the radio stations.

The reason behind the disappointment would be the time taken for the release.

...I can't see how Tesla could ever begin to meet all those different requests. Although I'm pretty sure "Shuffle" can't be all that hard. :biggrin:

The reason is because I find the release to be such a letdown. I don't want this to be all there is to 6.0.

Eh. A little disappointing....It was promised in the winter originally, so I thought they would be adding even more features....

...this is underwhelming for those of us without the tech package - for whom the navigation upgrades aren't available.

Energy improvements good, however I would like to see more energy info on the energy screen, like HVAC usage, battery temps/voltages etc.

I personally think the calendar feature looks unnecessarily complicated. Just give us integration with something like Google Calendar...

...only other thing I really wanted and don't see is valet mode and nav aware of weather and speed to calculate required rated miles to next charger.

I find this thread unsatisfying. The most important feature for 6.0 for me remains "unclog the update pipeline" by releasing it (when the quality is ready).

I was assuming that valet mode and music app enhancements were certainly going to be included. Especially the music enhancements which are almost completely independent of the rest of the car, and can be developed and tested completely independently. Moreover, I do not even see a lot of effort required to add several basic features to the music app.

People should have access from the center screen to know exactly how many rated miles are required between superchargers in various conditions without having to go to a website like evtripplanner.com

No security pin for remote access?

No music/playlist/Bluetooth enhancements? Bummer.

The ability to turn off mobile access (or turn it on) needs to be password protected.. That's the real issue

No comment....

 

[mibaro2]

Dependencies and testing. It's why most major software projects do not have a rapid release cycle. Major changes hit lots of code and then you end up choosing between increased testing load or bundling changes.

Exactly. Whenever you make big changes in code, you need to do regression testing to verify that everything works together. Two pieces of code might work perfectly individually, but will crash if they are both present/implemented. I much prefer that the engineers at Tesla work out the bugs and verify that their changes work together as a complete release.

- - - Updated - - -

I wonder if Tesla can rope in Techie owners - many of whom are already contributing to open source projects and such beyond their day jobs - at some point in some sort of a closed source development effort to turn things around faster for less risky, UI-centric firmware enhancements. Things like media player, navigation, trip planning and so on.

This is not quite opening up the SDK to the entire world (which will hopefully happen in 2-3 years) but, more on the lines of a tightly-controlled developer program with very strict NDAs in place

Tesla engineers can still be the gatekeepers for what makes it into the car's firmware updates eventually but, they can crowdsource much of the mundane, sometimes-grunt-work this way.

I know they are probably extremely busy with developing features specifically for the X as well - the "Unfold Falcon Wings" button?! - and I also think there are too few of these engineers to scale these releases up better.

I'd gladly do it for free to improve things in my Model S at a higher cadence than 7-8 months

+1
Sounds like the beginning of a new section on TMC..something titled App Developer Forum.

 

[TexasEV]

+1. I like the other features of 6.0, but a Trip Planner is an essential that should have been there from the beginning.

Essential? Does that mean you haven't been able to take trips in your Model S?

 

[AlMc]

No comment....

My only comment: Whomever leaked the 6.0 before general release should be off the beta group...yesterday

 

[FredTMC]

Essential? Does that mean you haven't been able to take trips in your Model S?

I've travelled all over Cali and I always need to keep a wide margin on how much charge to get to a destination.
I've had a few close calls... Due to wind, cold, elevation surprises etc.

Currently, I use the EVPlanner website. It's essential for me. I'd rather have this functionality built-in to the car

I guess if you've never had range anxiety then then trip planner isn't essential. I firmly believe the majority of EV owners have range anxiety on some occasions.

 

[matbl]

My only comment: Whomever leaked the 6.0 before general release should be off the beta group...yesterday

Why?
i would actually like them to take the opposite route.
Tesla sometimes claim they want to be a game changer. Then why not be that completely? Publicize the sw plans. Target dates, target features etc. Then as the plans change, communicate the changes.
this can be extended to even more things. Publicly communicate production figures in real time, model x and 3 dev progress, etc, etc. THAT would make them a real game changer...

 

[bonnie]

No comment....

... laughing.

 

[AlMc]

Why?
i would actually like them to take the opposite route.
Tesla sometimes claim they want to be a game changer. Then why not be that completely? Publicize the sw plans. Target dates, target features etc. Then as the plans change, communicate the changes.
this can be extended to even more things. Publicly communicate production figures in real time, model x and 3 dev progress, etc, etc. THAT would make them a real game changer...

While I agree with the premise that TM should be better about communicating things in general, this premature release has me concerned for two reasons. First, look at all the speculation this has caused and we do not know if this is the whole 6.0 or just some early beta. Second, the beta people sign a NDA just like for factory tours. I suspect that the beta tester either released this under a pseudonym or let the 'friend' take a couple screen shots knowing that they may be disseminated. General reveal to the TMC forum certainly violates the NDA. I doubt TM would not care if you tell your spouse or a family friend but general dissemination is not acceptable.

 

[Kondo]

If Tesla would be so upset at this reveal, why didn't they delete this post when it was discovered?

BTW, I'll take any version of software they have as to get a car soon

 

[DaveT]

I've travelled all over Cali and I always need to keep a wide margin on how much charge to get to a destination.
I've had a few close calls... Due to wind, cold, elevation surprises etc.

Currently, I use the EVPlanner website. It's essential for me. I'd rather have this functionality built-in to the car

I guess if you've never had range anxiety then then trip planner isn't essential. I firmly believe the majority of EV owners have range anxiety on some occasions.

+100.

I took a trip from SF to San Diego without evtripplanner (didn't know about it at the time) and it was very stressful (mostly due to how elevation changes affected rated miles). A lot of this anxiety could be mitigated by a fully integrated system that accounts for elevation, speed, weather, etc so that I can know exactly how much I need to charge at a supercharger to get to the next supercharger without guessing.

There's also been a few journalists who've written stories about how they ran out of juice on the freeway and had a miserable time getting a flatbed tow truck (leading to negative publicity). Some people might say those journalists should have did their homework first, but the reality is it's Tesla job to make the car as dummy-proof as possible.

 

[bonnie]

If Tesla would be so upset at this reveal, why didn't they delete this post when it was discovered?

BTW, I'll take any version of software they have as to get a car soon

This forum isn't run by Tesla.

By the time we (moderators) realized these posts were from a beta release and that 6.0 had not actually been released, the cat was so far out of the bag, it was having kittens (meaning other media had picked up the pictures). It was too late to do anything.

 

[Kondo]

Thanks Bonnie

 

[artsci]

My only comment: Whomever leaked the 6.0 before general release should be off the beta group...yesterday

Couldn't agree more. It's a violation of confidentiality and worse yet a violation of trust.

 

[Kraken]

I know a bunch of you are disappointed ... but honestly, you all worked yourself up as to what to expect with wish lists .

Not totally true. A lot of expectations were based around the navigation enhancements making the car more in tune with things that are energy drags like hills and wind. This was pretty much brought up by Elon Musk as one of the highlights of 6.0. It wasn't what I was really excited for, but a lot of people were. Now it appears to be missing. This was furthered by the fact that he made it seem like it would come out 6 months ago. This only added fuel to the fire as time went by. Otherwise, I agree with your point(s).

Very unlikely that this was a controlled leak. They historically have not done things that way.

True... sort of. They have a history of Elon leaking things in a moment of uncontrollable excitement...

The only big thing I was hoping for is that the navigator would come close to what has been around for the better part of a decade. They seem to have started to introduce traffic into the calculation which is awesome, but I'm unsure I'm happy about the way they are implementing it (according to the notes of one persons beta at some point over the last 6 months).

The ability to choose from multiple routes based on traffic is huge. The car doing it on it's own is on par with the car trying to think for you and be ready for you (which it usually does a marvelous job), but this is one time it probably shouldn't make be the one making the decision.

What if I want to go my normal route because I make a quick stop at a business that's on that route, but I want to see how long it will take to get to my final destination? The car choosing the route for me will take me a different route to my final destination just to avoid bad traffic. I'd like to see 3 options and pick myself.

Hopefully, after getting 6.0 I will become a believer.

I was excited to read the notes, but I'm disappointed in the Leaker. Hopefully this wasn't anything that will change the way Tesla does things in he future. Hopefully, it was a coordinated release by Tesla who was hoping to build hype, show progress to the masses, or gauge a response.

Also, how do we know he's actually from HI? Anyone actually search the IP that posted? Are we just assuming that? Further, what if I guy brought his car in for a service (Car Wash, tires change, etc.) and an employee snapped them? Maybe he did for his own sake and a friend told him about the forum? Maybe the driver is completely innocent.

Lastly, it says something about starting the car, but it says nothing about driving it!

 

[Haggy]

There's no place for that kind of attitude on the Internet.

If I didn't already understand that everything I read on the Internet is true, I never would have believed that.