Firmware 8.0

[Boatguy]

With what seems like the very slow start/stop deployment of 8.0, and Elon having set the tone the rollout wouldn't be en-masse like other big releases from the past, I am more of the opinion what is going on is final test and/or perhaps back-end system load balancing using the live fleet. I don't want to think Tesla is running into big unconsidered problems, but what we out here in the fleet are seeing is strange if there was a complete EAP with perhaps 700 to 1000 vehicles as has been reported for past major releases.

A Theory: Perhaps Tesla is focused on analyzing/tweaking the new or changed AP data collection, and any real-world changes to logging being sent back to the mothership. That work either requires they add more capacity than anticipated or fix something else at the mothership, and/or further refine what is being collected by the fleet.

Like all of us, IDK for sure, and am just guessing from the sidelines what the reasons for this enlongated start/stop approach could be. Any other theories what Tesla may be tweaking as real fleet deployment grows -- beyond fixing something that is broken?

I think it's all about AP. So while I wish they were reconsidering some of the UI changes which they consider to be enhancements, but many users consider annoying (e.g., Nav), and the actual regressions in the media player (with no advances), it's probably something to do with AP.

And yes, the rollout is very slow and seems to have paused, so I think there is something in the AP they are "fixing".

 

[Stoneymonster]

Not happy about this change to remove the Volts & Amps from the display when super charging.
Many Superchargers in California have been slow charging and we need the data for reporting to Tesla.

Why doesn't the kW indicator suffice? Unless it's a long rolling average that will tell you the same thing.

 

[pdxgibby]

A Theory: Perhaps Tesla is focused on analyzing/tweaking the new or changed AP data collection, and any real-world changes to logging being sent back to the mothership. That work either requires they add more capacity than anticipated or fix something else at the mothership, and/or further refine what is being collected by the fleet.

Very pragmatic theory here -- and one I hadn't considered.

 

[AmpedRealtor]

Not happy about this change to remove the Volts & Amps from the display when super charging.
Many Superchargers in California have been slow charging and we need the data for reporting to Tesla.

kW charging rate is all I care about, that's still there right? Couldn't care less about volts and watts, what matters is the actual kW being fed to the car.

 

[NikeWings]

Like all of us, IDK for sure, and am just guessing from the sidelines what the reasons for this enlongated start/stop approach could be. Any other theories what Tesla may be tweaking as real fleet deployment grows -- beyond fixing something that is broken?

Alt theory - he's missed several self-imposed deadlines of late, and woke up last Sunday and said, "Ready or not, I'll be damned if I'm going to miss this one." He has thus created the 7th sigma.......combining pre & post production testing. We are his pre-pops.

 

[chillaban]

Personally as an end user, I think supercharger instantaneous kW is the more useful unit anyway, because I'm not that great at multiplying in my head. But I certainly understand from the enthusiast perspective why voltage/current displays are helpful.

They still look like they appear over the API as the app shows it.

 

[NikeWings]

I think it's all about AP. So while I wish they were reconsidering some of the UI changes which they consider to be enhancements, but many users consider annoying (e.g., Nav), and the actual regressions in the media player (with no advances), it's probably something to do with AP.

And yes, the rollout is very slow and seems to have paused, so I think there is something in the AP they are "fixing".

I agree with you......this has been ALL about AP with a few extras thrown in. And if that's what it took to satisfy NHSTA and squash the media, then I'll cut some slack on the rougher edges of this release. Hard to believe it was only a few months ago that many in the media (including TMC) were demanding recall, renaming and elimination of AP. We'll never know what occurred behind the NHSTA curtain, but I'm chalking this release up to a masterful Musk move to swiftly reign in some AP risk while promoting the next greatest release to the masses.

 

[Cyclone]

Personally as an end user, I think supercharger instantaneous kW is the more useful unit anyway, because I'm not that great at multiplying in my head. But I certainly understand from the enthusiast perspective why voltage/current displays are helpful.

They still look like they appear over the API as the app shows it.

But we had instantaneous kW in 7.1 as well. So we just lost info here, we didn't gain anything except having miles and kW on the same screen. I guess that is a win, but 7.1 has room for both and Tesla chose not to display it. We easily could have just had both in 8 and even removed the Energy vs. Miles setting.

 

[pnungesser]

I see one person rated this "funny". I wonder why. It makes perfect sense to me, no fooling, assuming the radar reflector can be made small enough. Hell, I'd buy one.


Apparently it's only useful skeumorphism that's dead. Irritating eye candy is still very much alive. :-(


Anybody who thinks 105F counts as "Air conditioning is ON" is NOT invited to be my HVAC contractor. I generally keep my thermostat set a bit lower.


Why not?


Oh gross. Because you're not supposed to worry your pretty little head I suppose. But absolutely fabulous skeumorphic cartoon so it's all good.


They could just buy a smartphone for anyone for whom this is actually a problem. A basic smartphone is cheap enough. I kid, but only a little.


Wait, you said "IT department" and then you said "techies". Which is it?

On the issue of radar reflectors, most marine reflectors consist of three metal plates, circular or square, joined at right angles. You can google them and find examples for less than $25, but they may be too large to mount on a bike. I would experiment with cardboard models wrapped in foil to see how small it could be made and still work. At sea with limited visibility and wanting to be seen several miles ahead, a more robust unit is prudent. Remember Elon's comment that a aluminum can could produce a large echo, so size may not be a big issue. Under any condition, it would only work if your bike were in the beam of the unit, which limits its usefulness. If you test something on your bike I would love to know the results.

 

[NikeWings]

Personally as an end user, I think supercharger instantaneous kW is the more useful unit anyway, because I'm not that great at multiplying in my head. But I certainly understand from the enthusiast perspective why voltage/current displays are helpful.

They still look like they appear over the API as the app shows it.

Are you using the recent update to the app? Hope so, and its good to see the former displays in tact.

 

[msnow]

Alt theory - he's missed several self-imposed deadlines of late, and woke up last Sunday and said, "Ready or not, I'll be damned if I'm going to miss this one." He has thus created the 7th sigma.......combining pre & post production testing. We are his pre-pops.

I think this also makes sense and rather than an alternate theory combined with @BertL we probably have 10k cars running 8.0 (using the same percentages from Tracker but extrapolated to the entire fleet but not counting 1k EPA testers). My guess is later today the rollout continues after the data is analyzed.

 

[NOLA_Mike]

Not happy about this change to remove the Volts & Amps from the display when super charging.
Many Superchargers in California have been slow charging and we need the data for reporting to Tesla.

It's not just California, it's happening at Superchargers all over the country.

Weird Supercharger Incident (Reduced Charge)

Couple of supercharger stalls weren't at max performance, should I contact Tesla, and how?

 

[chillaban]

Are you using the recent update to the app? Hope so, and its good to see the former displays in tact.

Correct -- there's no changes to the app behavior in the latest version

 

[jgs]

Under any condition, it would only work if your bike were in the beam of the unit, which limits its usefulness.

Yeah, I guess it doesn't help prevent you from being sideswiped, at least not by a Model S that has no side looking radar. But even being able to recruit car automation to help with safety in the limited case would be a plus.

 

[tonyquan]

Alt theory - he's missed several self-imposed deadlines of late, and woke up last Sunday and said, "Ready or not, I'll be damned if I'm going to miss this one." He has thus created the 7th sigma.......combining pre & post production testing. We are his pre-pops.

I've got 20 years experience in software development and test, and currently work on a website with north of 400 million users. We studied for a long time how to do software rollouts like this and how to do a slow rollout is a pretty standard approach in the software industry.

The ideal is to rollout your software to 50% of your users as quickly as possible. Then you have a very strong basis of comparison of how the new and old software is behaving. All configurations, likely quirks, etc are probably going to be hit if you get to 50%.

However, if your software is high risk to rollout (and I think any sane software engineer would say 8.0 is) you must start at some lower percentage first, in case major issues were not found in your early rounds. Yes, Tesla did do beta testing with ~1k users, but you need to guard against those 1k not being representative enough, bugs with upgrading from old builds that the 1k didn't expose, etc. If I were Tesla, I would start at some low percentage (perhaps as low as 1%) of the existing userbase and stop the rollout to gather data on the new software's behavior. This lowers risk. However, the problem with a low rate rollout like 1% compared to 50% is that it can take a long time to get a statistically significant signal of how things are going. So you have to hold at 1% for a fairly long time (perhaps days) to be certain you can move to higher steps.

If I know this, Tesla software engineers and testers certainly know the same. The pattern of rollout I see so far with them doesn't surprise me in the slightest.

 

[AmpedRealtor]

I think it's all about AP. So while I wish they were reconsidering some of the UI changes which they consider to be enhancements, but many users consider annoying (e.g., Nav), and the actual regressions in the media player (with no advances), it's probably something to do with AP.

And yes, the rollout is very slow and seems to have paused, so I think there is something in the AP they are "fixing".

There is going to be "something in the AP they are fixing" for years to come.

 

[NikeWings]

If I know this, Tesla software engineers and testers certainly know the same. The pattern of rollout I see so far with them doesn't surprise me in the slightest.

The roll out pattern doesn't surprise me either Tony. I may not think the release content was quite ready, but that is different than release methodology. I grasp the mechanics of your explanation, very insightful, thank you. Hey, do you work for instagram, linked in, other? 400MM is damn good!!

 

[AWDtsla]

Not happy about this change to remove the Volts & Amps from the display when super charging.
Many Superchargers in California have been slow charging and we need the data for reporting to Tesla.

Tesla already knows. They just don't want YOU to know. Your reports are basically going into the trash.

 

[ecarfan]

But we had instantaneous kW in 7.1 as well. So we just lost info here, we didn't gain anything except having miles and kW on the same screen. I guess that is a win, but 7.1 has room for both and Tesla chose not to display it. We easily could have just had both in 8 and even removed the Energy vs. Miles setting.

What may be "gained" by not showing amps and volts is less user confusion and fewer frantic calls to Tesla Support. Knowing the kWh value while charging is still enough information for the user to make an informed decision as to whether they are charging at a rate consistent with their past experience at that charger or if the rate is signfiicantly less. Showing only kWh makes it easier for the AVERAGE user (not the highly technical user) to make that determination.

Cars are a mass market product that need to work well for a wide range of users. Contrast the amount of "technical" information shown to a Model S/X user compared to what is available to a Roadster user in the VDS. The Roadster has far more technical info, way more than most users need or can understand. The Model S has much less information, but it has sufficient information.

 

[AWDtsla]

Also, the new charge indicator is stupid. People are going to think their packs actually "fills up" like that. Is it really necessary to defy reality? What was wrong with the old indication? It's like change for change's sake instead of a usability improvement.