Firmware 7.1

[Ingineer]

I've also found references to a "Tesla Connectivity Subscription", so it's clear Tesla plans to make customers pay for 3G/LTE at some point soon.

Interesting to note that "Max Power Mode" is internally referred to as "Drag Strip Mode".

Another interesting tidbit on the Auto-Brightness: (I didn't read how this works until now)
"When auto-adjust is checked, the car will dynamically adjust the screen brightness based on the amount of light outside the vehicle. While in this mode, you may further fine-tune by using the the brightness slider. The auto-adjust system will take this into account.
Toggling auto-adjust off will erase fine-tuning and revert system to default auto-adjust state."

 

[green1]

But of course, as discussed here at nauseum, if the car misreads the signs, that's a PITA. BTW: 6.2 would misread speed signs on this very commute all the time. I had not a single misread sign today in heavy rain.

This is something I'm very interested in, if they have in fact figured out a way to make speed limit detection (both by signs, and by database) much more accurate, I would consider going to 7.1 I'll have to ask some more drivers, especially local ones.

 

[Ingineer]

Hands-on-wheel

The car detects whether your hands are on the wheel by looking for reaction torque as it makes fine adjustments. So it needs added mass, not "tugging". If you hands are in contact with the wheel, but not gripping (and thus adding mass), the system will not detect them. Note that gripping and keeping your arm stiff are two different things. Ideally you want to grip it, but keep your arm relaxed so it just moves along with the wheel.

Their algorithm also takes a few seconds to detect the added mass, so when you are satisfying a "nag", you need to give it time to detect you.

 

[RDoc]

The car detects whether your hands are on the wheel by looking for reaction torque as it makes fine adjustments. So it needs added mass, not "tugging". If you hands are in contact with the wheel, but not gripping (and thus adding mass), the system will not detect them. Note that gripping and keeping your arm stiff are two different things. Ideally you want to grip it, but keep your arm relaxed so it just moves along with the wheel.

Their algorithm also takes a few seconds to detect the added mass, so when you are satisfying a "nag", you need to give it time to detect you.

A slight amount of torque on the wheel will also clear it pretty much instantaneously.
I find that if I grip it just tightly enough that the wheel moving moves my hand, that's enough to avoid all nags.

 

[dirkhh]

This is something I'm very interested in, if they have in fact figured out a way to make speed limit detection (both by signs, and by database) much more accurate, I would consider going to 7.1 I'll have to ask some more drivers, especially local ones.

So I have posted about this a few times. It would RELIABLY misread three different speed limit signs that I drive past more or less every day. It got all three of them right today. But that's 6.2->7.1 -- I cannot tell you how 7.0 compared to that.

 

[Cyberax]

I've also found references to a "Tesla Connectivity Subscription", so it's clear Tesla plans to make customers pay for 3G/LTE at some point soon.

It would be great if they also allowed a hotspot mode. Tesla's connectivity is often better than my tablet's or phone's.

 

[msnow]

Summary: I'm pretty happy. I don't regret holding out, from what I read here I think I would have liked 7.0 a lot less. But this is solid. It's a step forward. Yes, I said it. Go ahead, make fun of me.

Great review and very well written!!

Thanks

 

[jgs]

Oh, back to the UI one more time: the cars and the lines and the lights and all that activity... maybe one gets used to it and ignores it more, maybe I paid more attention because it's all new to me. But I found that more than a little distracting.

Yeah, me too, though over time it has become less distracting. Although I'm sure the "force field" animations are a cool achievement, they really don't help me with my driving at all. A simple blind spot indicator would suffice.

 

[green1]

So I have posted about this a few times. It would RELIABLY misread three different speed limit signs that I drive past more or less every day. It got all three of them right today. But that's 6.2->7.1 -- I cannot tell you how 7.0 compared to that.

I only had 6.2 for a short while, however I did not notice any difference going from 6.2->7.0 in speed limit accuracy. Of course signs are only half the battle, I frequently get speed limits pop up (usually inaccurate ones) when no sign has been passed. I suspect this is from a database somewhere.

 

[beeeerock]

The car detects whether your hands are on the wheel by looking for reaction torque as it makes fine adjustments. So it needs added mass, not "tugging". If you hands are in contact with the wheel, but not gripping (and thus adding mass), the system will not detect them. Note that gripping and keeping your arm stiff are two different things. Ideally you want to grip it, but keep your arm relaxed so it just moves along with the wheel.

Their algorithm also takes a few seconds to detect the added mass, so when you are satisfying a "nag", you need to give it time to detect you.

Yes. My thinking was that it was detecting a larger polar moment on the wheel that would indicate hands and arm weight hanging from the wheel. Driving with one hand on the wheel is not comfortable, because you need to take the weight yourself or cause the AP to disengage. AP seems to want the balance there, in both directions. Two hands at the normal spots encouraged by the wheel shape, simply hanging, allow the system to work just fine. And you instantly feel when the car is going to do something you might not like, because the steering reacts very quickly. I wouldn't expect a driver could reliably make a grab for the wheel quickly enough to catch a mistake... hands on the wheel is prudent.

In spite of the comment about 30 entries above, I do keep my hands on the wheel and don't consider myself to be an idiot for doing so. It's an assist function, not a self-drive function. I wouldn't be overly happy if the pilot and copilot of the 747 I'm travelling in came into the seats and started chatting with the passengers. Yeah, the autopilot should manage to keep the plane flying straight and level, but I wouldn't be comfortable. And there are no dogs running across the flight path, potholes, innumerable other planes, etc., that would add to the danger level we have on the ground.

 

[andrewket]

It's possible we're all participants in a massive A/B test. Two groups, one with the previous AP behavior and one with new (timed nag) behavior. After some period of time (weeks, months) Tesla will compare the number of incidents as well as the number of pieces of feedback from the two groups.

 

[Max*]

It's possible we're all participants in a massive A/B test. Two groups, one with the previous AP behavior and one with new (times nag) behavior. After some period of time (weeks, months) Tesla will compare the number of incidents as well as the number of pieces of feedback from the two groups.

That's the most reasonbale explanation I've heard.

 

[Soolim]

Yes. My thinking was that it was detecting a larger polar moment on the wheel that would indicate hands and arm weight hanging from the wheel. Driving with one hand on the wheel is not comfortable, because you need to take the weight yourself or cause the AP to disengage.

Driving with the left arm resting on the armrest and left hand applying gentle pressure just for the torque sensor to know that I am there works for me.

 

[Max*]

Driving with the left arm resting on the armrest and left hand applying gentle pressure just for the torque sensor to know that I am there works for me.

When I'm holding the wheel, I do the same, and that's also how I drove my previous car without AP, so it just feels natural

 

[MarcG]

It's possible we're all participants in a massive A/B test. Two groups, one with the previous AP behavior and one with new (timed nag) behavior. After some period of time (weeks, months) Tesla will compare the number of incidents as well as the number of pieces of feedback from the two groups.

You mean we're all just a bunch of mice in Tesla's lab? Say it ain't so!! :biggrin:

 

[mrElbe]

Tesla hasn't corrected any of the dozens upon dozens of places I reported speed limit issues, I highly doubt they'll fix any of the places that it misidentifies divided roads either.

There's also no current way of knowing which roads it will be without downgrading my car first.

I'm willing to do some beta testing, but I'm not willing to lose features just so that I can provide feedback that I can almost guarantee will be ignored.

You must have weird speed limit signs in Alberta. I so far have observed at least a 98% rate of correct speeds in all my 49,000 km of travels in eastern Canada and US and also to South Dakota. Since I stay on the metric system while travelling in the US, even the US mph speed limit signs are translated correctly into km signs on the instrument panel.
If your camera does not see the signs correctly then get it looked at or at least clean the windshield.
Do all the other Alberta owners have the same problem?

 

[green1]

You must have weird speed limit signs in Alberta. I so far have observed at least a 98% rate of correct speeds in all my 49,000 km of travels in eastern Canada and US and also to South Dakota. Since I stay on the metric system while travelling in the US, even the US mph speed limit signs are translated correctly into km signs on the instrument panel.
If your camera does not see the signs correctly then get it looked at or at least clean the windshield.
Do all the other Alberta owners have the same problem?

It's only partially the signs, I frequently get speed limits popping up on my dash where no sign was passed, many of these are wrong too (most likely from a database somewhere)

As for the signs themselves, the vast majority of the time it doesn't read them at all. I would say it's probably about 35% correct reads, 55% no read at all, 10% incorrect read.

 

[Paul8810]

In Edmonton I'm finding 7.1 significantly better with speed limit recognition - yet to see it provide an incorrect reading. Overall very impressed with this update, it's quite amazing what they can accomplish in a couple of months.

 

[bhzmark]

It's possible we're all participants in a massive A/B test. Two groups, one with the previous AP behavior and one with new (timed nag) behavior. After some period of time (weeks, months) Tesla will compare the number of incidents as well as the number of pieces of feedback from the two groups.

This would be really smart on their part. They probably should be doing crowd-sourced design exactly like this.

 

[Stoneymonster]

After 100 miles with autopilot on 7.1, I gotta say in my estimation it's massively improved. I didn't have more nagging than before on the same mixed route (Hwy 1/Hwy 17 in the Bay Area). It handles curves better, has fewer confusions and is much more tolerant. On restricted areas I didn't find that applying a little pressure to the accelerator to override was especially burdensome.