Firmware 7.1

[Andyw2100]

I was really hoping for the power meter shown in one of the slides at the version 7 press event. At the time, many thought since it was not the version 7.0 power meter that it was likely to be the version 7.1 power meter. I guess I can keep hoping the change gets made eventually.

 

[dirkhh]

Why all the negativity? By reading the release notes I found several improvements, including some you mentioned, that are definitely worthwhile a release even without the summon feature.

But of course, there is always going to be a subset of people who like to complain

Hey, I'm German by birth, complaining is our national past time.

That said... there are plenty of people here who will relentlessly cheer every word Elon says, any thing Elon does, every change Tesla pushes to our cars. I feel that someone needs to occasionally speak up and try to balance things a bit more. And while I agree that the release notes list a ton of improvements for AP cars, I'd say that for non-AP cars (still about half the installed base) the pickings are slim. Driver door only opening. Spotify (Europe only). Other than that... not much comes to mind.
People get very excited about the shiny stuff. Which is why Tesla is focusing on that (and the fact that MB is pushing ahead with their version of autopilot and will have something competitive later this year certainly makes it reasonable for Tesla to continue to push). I just wish they wouldn't completely ignore the long list of issues that have been reported for a long time (and some of which Elon acknowledged and promised fixes for in 7.1 which AFAIK haven't materialized.

So that's why I'm maybe not quite as positive as apparently some people believe is required...

Hey, should I add a standard disclaimer to my signature? Instead of the usual "this post is copytighted... bla bla bla" I could write something like "even if my post may sound like I am not 100% excited 100% of the time, I still love my car and own TSLA shares"?

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I was really hoping for the power meter shown in one of the slides at the version 7 press event. At the time, many thought since it was not the version 7.0 power meter that it was likely to be the version 7.1 power meter. I guess I can keep hoping the change gets made eventually.

View attachment 107449

Yeah, that would be a big step in the right direction... let's keep hoping. Maybe in 9.4?
Oh wait, was that too negative again? Ok. Maybe in 8.3?

 

[AWDtsla]

I was really hoping for the power meter shown in one of the slides at the version 7 press event. At the time, many thought since it was not the version 7.0 power meter that it was likely to be the version 7.1 power meter. I guess I can keep hoping the change gets made eventually.

Going back to a logarithm power gauge? I think it would be great, but I don't think that's the actual order of things, that's probably beta software.

 

[MarcG]

Hey, I'm German by birth, complaining is our national past time.

LOL I believe it given one of my best friend is German.. :biggrin:

 

[Andyw2100]

Going back to a logarithm power gauge? I think it would be great, but I don't think that's the actual order of things, that's probably beta software.

I don't believe any of the beta software images that were leaked back then showed that power meter. Feel free to dig up the discussion from that time, but as I recall the general consensus was that it was likely to be in a future variation of the firmware.

Please don't take away my hope!

 

[andrewket]

Deleted.

 

[Cyberax]

As long as the human is there, it has all the sensing it needs for many more improvements. And, even though at some point new hardware will certainly be essential, and even though present hardware cannot be retro-fitted to pre-AP Teslas, that does not mean for sure that the present AP cars cannot be retrofitted with at least some future hardware.

I very much doubt this. Lidars or radars require quite a lot of infrastructure for installation. Even a backwards-facing camera will need some radical improvements to work.

Mercedes announced that they're going to do _real_ autonomous lane changes, with car checking for the safety. I guess that Mercedes is going to be my next car if Tesla doesn't pull its head out of its ass...

 

[Ingineer]

Tesla does not use a CDN for updates. All this goes over the VPN directly, so it's not possible to use outside resources without compromising security.

Every hour the car checks in with the mothership to see if there is a firmware update waiting. (providing it's not in a deep sleep) It sends the configuration string that shows which hardware and which versions of them are in the car. Tesla used to send a large tarball with a full version and all HEX files for all possible hardware, but more recently they got smarter and now only send the specific files needed along with a binary patch for the CID/IC. So this is an incremental system now.

The 7.0 update was pretty small compared to some. (surprisingly) It's possible the 7.1 update is more involved because the AP stuff is large.

 

[TheDane]

I very much doubt this. Lidars or radars require quite a lot of infrastructure for installation. Even a backwards-facing camera will need some radical improvements to work.

Sounds like radar/lidar is not really needed on future fully-auto cars, but just multiple cameras. And adding a camera to the rear window of TMS, like it has on front-window, is not that hard. I think it could be possible to retrofit SOME future upgrades to current AP cars, but I have a feeling that Tesla will not support/allow it, they rather sell a new car. Which is understandable, but may suck for some users.

 

[KyP85D]

This may have been mentioned before as I have missed a few post. While Tacc limits the speed when using auto steer on certain roads you can drive faster with the pedal and auto steer remains engaged on the restricted roads.

 

[PhillyGal]

If you look at this table from the 7.0 firmware tracker, you can see that for some odd reason we have 0.9% of the 60k VINs entering data in the tracker, but only 0.3 and 0.2%, respectively, of the 100k and 110k VINs.

VINs in the 60s were some of the very first off the line with the AP hardware. Could be related. Could be completely a coincidence.

 

[msnow]

The 7.1 update was about 125MB on the wire... * 50,000 cars is 62TB of bandwidth. That's a decent amount, not that I think this was a limiting factor.

The way Tesla's firmware updates seem to work is the car sends a request to Tesla's server, Tesla's server then builds a custom package for your car based on the configuration and module versions, then the car downloads this later when it's done. Definitely an interesting approach, and certainly more difficult to scale than just adding more bandwidth.

wk, the ~62TB bandwidth would only be a factor if they pushed all cars concurrently like they apparently did with 7.0 correct?

 

[AgentWimplo]

So it could be a total coincidence but I was asking support for my slacker login info and I mentioned that I'd like the 7.1 update and got this response:
Attached are your slacker radio credentials, and I have submitted a request to our software engineers for the firmware to be pushed to your vehicle. The 7.1 firmware has started to roll out to all Model S owners and will be installed onto your vehicle once the download has been completed. If you have any further questions or concerns feel free to contact us anytime at 1-877-798-3752.

FYI my phone received the notification of an update a few hours later and it's installing on my car now. Could have just been my time. Or maybe the fact that I washed the car last night. Dirty cars don't get updated as fast...

 

[BertL]

...and certainly more difficult to scale than just adding more bandwidth.

but also a lot smarter than sending everything to every car and letting the car discard what it does not need. That simply wouldn't be viable as the number of vehicles and number of software variations increase over time. We also don't know for a fact if Tesla does have some sort of bandwidth throttle contractually built-in to their negotiated agreement with AT&T -- if so, that could account for why WiFi updates hit more cars faster -- assuming they do. Regardless, if I were Tesla and watching my costs, assuming Tesla pays for bandwidth they do use, I'd always prioritize WiFi first.

I personally don't buy internet bandwidth or data centers being an issue -- at least they don't have to be. It's not sexy stuff, but there is no excuse if Tesla is not ramping up support infrastructure as there is an increase in the size of the fleet. You would think Tesla would have the money to do that as the cash becomes available for a slight increase in support infrastructure every time a new vehicle is sold, and they project to the Press and Shareholders how many that is going to be in advance. It could come down to Tesla just not prioritizing build-out of this sort of infrastructure in a timely manner. Apple e.g. had early problems with significant releases having hiccups and being slow getting to the masses on day of availability, but you don't hear much of those sort of issues these days with specific iOS packages being delivered to tens/hundreds-of-thousands of different iOS devices when it become generally available.

Without any facts to back it up, my own simple conspiracy theory is: I just think Elon didn't like CES and MBZ doing all the EV & Autonomous car announcements they did last week without Tesla also being in the Press and on Twitter. It started to bug him, so he pushed his company to get something out to enough cars that he could do a previously unplanned Sunday (!) press call. Under pressure, I bet the Tesla Development teams then elected to send the pieces and configurations that they had most confidence in or had ready-to-go -- vs perhaps all variations and the rest of the originally planned 7.1 changes many were expecting.

...and no, my S90D here in SoCal does not yet have the 7.1 download, now 2 days after the first one hit the waves.

 

[DPain44]

90D in Canada with VIN 11xxx and received the software notification a couple of hours ago. I am in the categories that didn't seem to have it yet. It is coming.

 

[msnow]

90D in Canada with VIN 11xxx and received the software notification a couple of hours ago. I am in the categories that didn't seem to have it yet. It is coming.

Good news! Update Tracker when it's installed.

 

[scaesare]

Coolest video of the summoning feature I've seen so far: Tesla Model S Summon –Knight Rider style


Tesla has built the real life "K.I.T.T." with the 7.1 Firmware release!

Why nobody has modified a nosecone (perhaps the upper "slim" piece, with a KITT LED array is beyond me.

Honestly.. I'm surprised.

Once Summon is available via a Siri command thru an Apple watch, it's Game Over.

 

[uberanalyst]

Warning: You may not like what 7.1 does to Autosteer on (divided) highways.

While out testing the new software yesterday, I discovered that on a 6-lane divided highway with perfect visibility, well-marked lanes, no curves, no hills, and minimal traffic, AUTOSTEER FORCES YOU TO JIGGLE THE STEERING WHEEL AT LEAST ONCE EVERY 15 SECONDS to prevent receiving a message to hold the steering wheel.

IMHO this effectively takes away the ability to cruise using Autosteer. Just lightly resting your hand on the wheel doesn't stop the nagging "hold the wheel" messages; you've got to actively remember to wiggle the wheel every 15 seconds.

With the previous version 7.0 on the very same highway (which I routinely drive to the airport) I was able to drive 30 minutes without getting the nag. A few weeks ago I drove from DC to Atlanta and back without getting the message unless warranted by conditions (e.g., lane markings disappearing).

Has anyone else noticed this change with version 7.1?

 

[msnow]

Warning: You may not like what 7.1 does to Autosteer on (divided) highways.

While out testing the new software yesterday, I discovered that on a 6-lane divided highway with perfect visibility, well-marked lanes, no curves, no hills, and minimal traffic, AUTOSTEER FORCES YOU TO JIGGLE THE STEERING WHEEL AT LEAST ONCE EVERY 15 SECONDS to prevent receiving a message to hold the steering wheel.

IMHO this effectively takes away the ability to cruise using Autosteer. Just lightly resting your hand on the wheel doesn't stop the nagging "hold the wheel" messages; you've got to actively remember to wiggle the wheel every 15 seconds.

With the previous version 7.0 on the very same highway (which I routinely drive to the airport) I was able to drive 30 minutes without getting the nag. A few weeks ago I drove from DC to Atlanta and back without getting the message unless warranted by conditions (e.g., lane markings disappearing).

Has anyone else noticed this change with version 7.1?

If this is correct I wouldn't use Autosteer.

 

[Max*]

At 8:15am today my update came through while I was driving the kids to preschool. It's downloading now. Going to have to try this auto-summon thing during lunch (I'll update the tracker once I know which version I got)