Firmware 7.0 Beta Discussion

[liuping]

To me, this is obvious: You stop too close to the car in front. There is NO reason to get closer than 20 feet, leaving you the option to get out of the way, or pull up to allow more room behind you.

If everyone left 20 ft between stopped cars, we would only get 2-3 cars in each turning lane and 1/2 as many cars on the on ramps at the lights waiting to get on the freeway. It would also cause all sorts of problems and grid lock downtown.

5 feet is more than enough, 20 feet will get you honked at and flipped off in SoCal

 

[saladman]

If you don't hold the brake, your brake lights are not on. If you get rear-ended in this situation, due to not having brake lights on, you are at fault. Guaranteed. Ask any attorney.

Sorry, not true. Californisa law states that the driver following is responsible for always maintaining a safe distance that alllows for reacting, even in the event of light or signal system malfunction or failure.

 

[Max*]

If everyone left 20 ft between stopped cars, we would only get 2-3 cars in each turning lane and 1/2 as many cars on the on ramps at the lights waiting to get on the freeway. It would also cause all sorts of problems and grid lock downtown.

5 feet is more than enough, 20 feet will get you honked at and flipped off in SoCal

NYC too. And DC too. And probably Boston, though I haven't driven much there during rush hour traffic...

 

[SabrToothSqrl]

lol 20 feet? I could park 2 tesla's in that! I'd drive around someone if they left a 20 foot gap in 0-10 mph traffic.

in NY you'd be lucky to get 20 inches between cars!

 

[LetsGoFast]

I haven't been able to read the entire 120 pages of posts so my apologies if some of this is a FAQ. But my thoughts:

1) I wonder how they were able to "significantly" improve the climate control performance with only a software upgrade?

2) I'm glad they are making the reverse-to-forward transition smooth, it actually kind of bothers me more than I should admit today.

3) I'm excited to try the new and improved Autopilot, especially in stop-and-go traffic. I'm hoping it can handle that a bit more gently than it does today too.

4) I don't love the new UI nor do I hate it as much as some of you do until I get my hands on it and find out how much (hopefully) I can configure it.

5) I'm excited the lane-intrusion alert and I'm hoping AutoPilot will be able to take advantage of that to either accelerate or slow down if somebody comes into your lane while on AutoPilot. Do we know if this is true?

6) Finally, I hope to be pleasantly surprised on the auto-parallel-park feature. I don't think I'd use it regularly but it would be nice when getting into a really tight space, assuming it can handle that. Just two nights ago I had to park against a very low curb with no street lights at night. I came about 1/4" from road rash on my rear rim and didn't even realize it until I got out of the car. I'd doubtful the car could have parked in those conditions but if so that would have been great.

1) They can significantly improve climate control via software. I can get much better results by messing with the temperature and fan speed controls myself, therefore, they could accomplish the same thing on auto without changing any underlying hardware. I think that the current climate control doesn't use enough compressor when the delta between the cabin and target temps is large and tends to overcool once the delta is very small.

5) I don't know if it is true, but that is probably the single biggest problem with TACC today.

I have no trouble with loosing the 3D feel if that makes it more clear and modern. ..
Loosing essential information for a display designed for an autopilot car IS troublesome

Which items on this display is superfluous?

I'd say the date, the time, the odometer, the outside temp, the status of the door locks, the instantaneous energy consumption meter and arguably either the graph or the numbers on the range display.

To me, this is obvious: You stop too close to the car in front. There is NO reason to get closer than 20 feet, leaving you the option to get out of the way, or pull up to allow more room behind you.

I agree that most people get too close, but 20 feet is pretty crazy. In many places, you'd block the next intersection back like that and pretty much everywhere you'd screw up the design of turn lanes and force people to miss an extra cycle of the traffic light whenever they want to turn across traffic. Our local DMV handbook suggests that you park far enough back at the light to allow you to see the rear tires of the car in front of you, which is probably 10 feet at most.

 

[Max*]

Our local DMV handbook suggests that you park far enough back at the light to allow you to see the rear tires of the car in front of you, which is probably 10 feet at most.

That's the way I was taught to drive too (not in VA though). And you can adhere to it outside of big cities. In NYC (where I learned to drive), you can't leave that much, you're guaranteed to get cut off. In DC you can't leave that much either.

 

[LetsGoFast]

That's the way I was taught to drive too (not in VA though). And you can adhere to it outside of big cities. In NYC (where I learned to drive), you can't leave that much, you're guaranteed to get cut off. In DC you can't leave that much either.

Assuming that 10 feet is an accurate estimate, not even a Mini could fit in there.

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

Assuming that 10 feet is an accurate estimate, not even a Mini could fit in there.

It's all the crazy smartfortwo drivers that are the problem.

 

[MartinAustin]

Which items on this display is superfluous?

I take your point. However it is not necessary to know the outside temperature in two places in the car! It's at the top of the center console display. (I do not know why they display it in two places) Also, it's not necessary to know the day, date and time right there. It's handy... but not necessary.

What is not necessary either IMO is that massive blue speedometer graphic. I would only need the number, and an enlarged orange/green display for the throttle/regen. It doesn't look like they're going that way based on the leaked photos, but the leaked photos don't tell all the story.

One thing I would really like to see would be a printed wattage number somewhere. So that when you are sitting at a traffic light and you're using 7kW, it shows "7kW" somewhere on the display. Basically it prints the number that is graphically indicated by the orange or green.

- - - Updated - - -

I'd say the date, the time, the odometer, the outside temp, the status of the door locks, the instantaneous energy consumption meter and arguably either the graph or the numbers on the range display.

I have a sneaking suspicion that it might be a legal requirement to show the odometer reading in the dashboard at all times. (stemming from the old days when the odometer was always visible)

 

[Cyclone]

The current implementation of Hill Assist does leave the brake lights on until it releases, so I would expect that to continue.

You beat me to it! I was going to say the same thing.

- - - Updated - - -

My niece was parked behind a bunch of cars at a stop sign. The semi driver had zoned out, and never hit the brakes. A half dozen cars were crunched. She saw him coming, but was "too close" to steer out of the way. Who's fault is that?

People follow too close. Then they get into these scenarios.

Leave more room.

I've used this example in another thread talking about how close one stops behind the other car. The gist was that some of us stop so that, from the driver's seat, we can see the rear tires hit the ground of the car in front of us. I personally do this and have had to hop to the right to avoid an incident.

 

[TonyOrr]

All these leaks and we still don't know if the system nags you, or how Autosteer is enabled....

I believe (from comments on these forums) that there is no nag unless the car loses sight of road painted lines. I expect Autosteer comes on with TACC assuming you have it enabled in settings and the road meets the conditions required.

 

[Max*]

I believe (from comments on these forums) that there is no nag unless the car loses sight of road painted lines. I expect Autosteer comes on with TACC assuming you have it enabled in settings and the road meets the conditions required.

People on these forums don't know yet. It's all speculation right now. Speculation + a few leaked screenshots.

 

[anxman]

People on these forums don't know yet. It's all speculation right now. Speculation + a few leaked screenshots.

Someone saw the implementation and commented on it yesterday. He said he was the passenger and saw it work this way.

 

[Max*]

Someone saw the implementation and commented on it yesterday. He said he was the passenger and saw it work this way.

Link?

 

[anxman]

Link?

Firmware 7.0 Beta Discussion - Page 115

 

[Max*]

Firmware 7.0 Beta Discussion - Page 115

Thanks!

 

[LetsGoFast]

I have a sneaking suspicion that it might be a legal requirement to show the odometer reading in the dashboard at all times. (stemming from the old days when the odometer was always visible)

Some cars definitely allow you to remove it from the display. Lexus for sure, probably others.

 

[JST]

I have to say that the people that think a temp display is "superfluous" likely live in places where it doesn't routinely ice.

 

[ohmman]

I have to say that the people that think a temp display is "superfluous" likely live in places where it doesn't routinely ice.

I appreciate this comment, because I live in such a place and have never considered the temperature display valuable. I also find it relatively inaccurate, but that's because I mostly look at it to gauge how hot it is, not how cold it is. Your point is well-taken and I can now see where that information is plenty worthwhile.

 

[wdolson]

I used to drive a stick, I'd always wait at red lights without holding my brake. In 10 years of doing that, I got pulled over 0 times.

I've never heard of me being at fault if I got rear-ended. That seems absurd to me (not saying it's not true, just absurd).

I know of a case my SO's law partner had right now. It was from a road rage incident. The guy who rear ended the other car had a rear camera and dash cam so he caught the whole thing. The other driver zoomed around the other car and slammed on the brakes giving him no chance to stop. Then to add hit and run to the charges, he drove off without stopping. The guy who caused the accident had a big truck and the car with the cameras was small, so the truck was still drivable, but the small car was totaled. The dashcam footage proved the car was not at fault.

I had an accident many years ago where I had to stop on a curving freeway transition ramp due to a backup. Someone ran into me from behind and the jolt knocked my foot off the brake and drove my car into the car in front. I suffered some minor neck injury, but was otherwise OK. The guy who ran into me was uninsured and I was driving a rental car, so it did become a mess between my insurance company, the rental car's insurance and the guy who caused the accident. The rental car company tried to come after me for the repairs, but they eventually backed off.