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Firmware 7.0 Beta Discussion
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The Danish guy who lives in San Francisco is the only person I've found reporting he has a car with both autopilot and 7.0 and he needed help to determine if he actually had autopilot or not. He confirmed that he gets the following distance prompt and said he hasn't been on a long drive so he hasn't actually ever used it. I'm not sure if he is going to be helpful or not. He did describe the grey/yellow/red car shadows and doesn't really seem capable of spoofing this stuff, but I guess you never know.
Aesthetics are one thing. Some people prefer the flat look; I prefer a tad of skeumorphism. But that's not really my issue. My issue is that they appear to have removed a bunch of information in pursuit of a simpler look. Look, e.g., at the energy graph in post 73; it gives you an average and a graph but the scale on the graph is gone and the graph itself appears more compressed.
Time, date, and temp are key pieces of info I use all the time. No reason to have those only available on the main screen, especially if there's a vast empty slab of black on the screen in front of the driver.
I also can't emphasize enough how dumb the toy car display is. Even on AP vehicles, WTF is the point? You shouldn't be watching the display, even while on AP; you should be watching the road. If the point is that you should be comparing the vehicles shown on the display to the ones shown on the road to make sure the AP is seeing everything it should...well, that's just dumb. That increases driver workload, rather than decreasing it.
It's possible that I am getting old and yelling at clouds. I dunno. AP seems silly to me, as a general concept, but at least I could save my money and not order it. This UI, though...blech.
Well, I need to keep my eye out. If one person in San Fran has the update and it has autopilot, then chances are some others have it as well. If I get some confirmations that more than just a select few have 7.0 + working lane keeping then I have to call a winner for my contest. If it's just a couple of random people not even posters of the forum, then it's not really going to count.
In any case, my cars are Energy Saving Off and always connected On for now.
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haha. I thought of your contest right away. This guy says he got it 8/19, but I'm not sure what your criteria are. It certainly isn't in wide release yet.
a new trend says who? flat design is AWFUL. it just sucks. also one of the reasons why Windows 8 sucks too.
Why flat design sucks. - Ars Technica OpenForum
Flat Design Is Going Too Far - Usabilla Blog
When Flat Design Falls Flat
whoever came up with this flat design should be tossed out the door and thrown over to Apple.
Cyclone
Cyclonic Member ((.oO))
But we have no clue (yet) whether this includes AutoPilot or even TACC w/ Lane Assist. It could be just the UI overhaul in 2.6.182. Remember when 6.2 (or was it 6.1) first came out, cars with TACC cruise stalks still only had regular cruise control. A subsequent update provided TACC.
Well, I mentioned that it would have to be a real release, not just a select few. I noted that I would use a thread such as this, and multiple TMC members reporting receiving and update with lane keeping, as a good criteria.
Lex
Member
They'll say it will add too much weight :biggrin: I too like options but forks add complexity, which does carry "weight" over time. Earlier this week I'd say not a good way to spend money but now we're rich ! Let's get some user options. I'd also like to see the ability to change the settings of the scroll wheels, like a good mouse / trackball settings app, and further tweaks / options. Just have a setting to make them hidden from the "average" car consumer if you have to.
tinm
2020 Model S LR+ Owner
Ugh, not a fan of this purported 7.0. I fear it is not fake and is in fact real.
I agree with previous comments about the stupid car picture dead center. I am not playing a frickin' first-person shooter game here, Tesla. I'm driving. Also, my 2013-vintage car lacks autopilot and parking sensors so I REALLY don't care since none of those whistles and bells pertain.
I want current speed right up front and center, in a big number. I want energy use right up front and center. I want odometer ALWAYS THERE somewhere.
Less is not always more, Tesla. Less is sometimes less.
And nowhere do I see any actual improvements. Used to be that major software upgrades incremented the digit to the left of the decimal. I see nothing here but a flat facelift.
Where's some decent multimedia interface? Where's the integration with song/artist/genre/track/playlist on your iPod, iPhone, Android, etc? Like every other car on the road has had for YEARS?
Stop goofing around with look and feel, Tesla design team (I'm looking at you Mr. Boblett). Give us functionality, or go back to Apple where you belong.
I agree with previous comments about the stupid car picture dead center. I am not playing a frickin' first-person shooter game here, Tesla. I'm driving. Also, my 2013-vintage car lacks autopilot and parking sensors so I REALLY don't care since none of those whistles and bells pertain.
I want current speed right up front and center, in a big number. I want energy use right up front and center. I want odometer ALWAYS THERE somewhere.
Less is not always more, Tesla. Less is sometimes less.
And nowhere do I see any actual improvements. Used to be that major software upgrades incremented the digit to the left of the decimal. I see nothing here but a flat facelift.
Where's some decent multimedia interface? Where's the integration with song/artist/genre/track/playlist on your iPod, iPhone, Android, etc? Like every other car on the road has had for YEARS?
Stop goofing around with look and feel, Tesla design team (I'm looking at you Mr. Boblett). Give us functionality, or go back to Apple where you belong.
Bit harsh. You might not like it but many people don't like EVs. Or porridge.
I personally like the new look. Ok, so the clock is way too stylised but so are the clocks in other high end cars. The "toy car" picture gives context to the sensors and AP and looks like it shows brake lights - finally, you can see when regen is activating them. Sweet.
I personally like the new look. Ok, so the clock is way too stylised but so are the clocks in other high end cars. The "toy car" picture gives context to the sensors and AP and looks like it shows brake lights - finally, you can see when regen is activating them. Sweet.
Lex
Member
Thanks for this slice of positive, I'm always hopeful for snappier performance but a bitmap is a bitmap to a computer. Perhaps 7 has smaller files and maybe the animations etc. are different too, though. There are always areas to optimize in the UI, if the effort is put on it. I just have a feeling the hardware is getting maxxed out.
I'm always for holding out hope and expect the unexpected with Tesla, but I know from my experience that bigger software version numbers, especially full version upgrades, snappier performance is not to be expected, and it's usually the opposite on the same hardware (and CPU upgrades are not an option here so far). With Apple as an extreme example I've learned to never press the "Upgrade" button without at least a week's worth of research (and millions of gamma testers).
Then again so far I'm doing the opposite with the Model S -- pressing the Upgrade button and then stepping away excitedly before having a clue what I just did to my car :tongue:
Reading this discussion, it looks like there is a split between two different camps on UIs. Some people want spartan UIs with very little information. Just give them the basics and they don't want to have any distractions. Other people want more information and want more control. Personally I'm one of the latter and I get frustrated with an interface that doesn't give me the option for more information.
It also looks like this might be a mistaken release. Wasn't there an announcement that 7.0 had gone to beta test only a week or two back? I could be mistaken about the timing, but if it is 2 weeks, that is way too little time for beta testers to report back their findings and have the programmers fix anything they found. I've been through many beta cycles with my projects. I had one go exceedingly well (no bugs of any significance found) and it still took a month to six weeks to wrap up all the details and get it out the door. And that was a much simpler project than this update.
I know Tesla moves faster than most companies, but I think two weeks pushes past the edge of good software practices.
I could be misremembering and maybe the beta has been out there longer.
It also looks like this might be a mistaken release. Wasn't there an announcement that 7.0 had gone to beta test only a week or two back? I could be mistaken about the timing, but if it is 2 weeks, that is way too little time for beta testers to report back their findings and have the programmers fix anything they found. I've been through many beta cycles with my projects. I had one go exceedingly well (no bugs of any significance found) and it still took a month to six weeks to wrap up all the details and get it out the door. And that was a much simpler project than this update.
I know Tesla moves faster than most companies, but I think two weeks pushes past the edge of good software practices.
I could be misremembering and maybe the beta has been out there longer.
NigelM
Recovering Member
Worth noting: whatever the reason for the leak (which is what it appears to be) this is, by definition, an early version of the firmware; it may change or may not for all we know and it may go through several iterations prior to general release. That's the point of having an early test group.
tinm
2020 Model S LR+ Owner
It feels like a software design (I should say "Design" with a capital D) that hardware designer Jony Ive would do. In other words, the wrong person designed it.
It feels like Design for Design's sake. I have no problem with lean, simple designs. Some of the existing Tesla screens have too many lines and headings and dividers, so reducing that while maintaining good information chunking is fine. But what I've seen in this leak does not feel like a solid, reliable, presentation of information for a driver who has split-second decisions to make. Put it this way: would an airline pilot like his or her cockpit instrument screen to look like this?
I also had hoped that in 7.0 the Tesla team would have worked more on eliminating user workflow, i.e., menu item drilldown, i.e., the driver should not have to reach out to tap some selection, read a new screen, tap another selection, read yet another new screen, find setting to tap. There's too much drilldown. Too many steps to do some tasks. Especially in the multimedia area.
It feels like Design for Design's sake. I have no problem with lean, simple designs. Some of the existing Tesla screens have too many lines and headings and dividers, so reducing that while maintaining good information chunking is fine. But what I've seen in this leak does not feel like a solid, reliable, presentation of information for a driver who has split-second decisions to make. Put it this way: would an airline pilot like his or her cockpit instrument screen to look like this?
I also had hoped that in 7.0 the Tesla team would have worked more on eliminating user workflow, i.e., menu item drilldown, i.e., the driver should not have to reach out to tap some selection, read a new screen, tap another selection, read yet another new screen, find setting to tap. There's too much drilldown. Too many steps to do some tasks. Especially in the multimedia area.
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