Is a lack of instrumentation dangerous?

[bmzl]

Enjoyment in driving? What kind of madness is this? You're insane! /s



Voice controls are a crapshoot. It works, or it doesn't. You'd have to factor in the numerous quirks, ticks, and accents that constitute the English language. Multiply that by the numerous languages that Tesla's customers globally speak. I'm California born and raised - Apple and Google's voice assistant features still mix up "dad" and "dang", "Papa" and "purpose", "fox" and "fax", "controller" and "computer" and so on and so forth. I try to use it with Spanish and Japanese, two languages I'm very proficient at, it doesn't know what the hell I'm trying to say.
.

The biggest problem with voice recognition is computer power. All the different nuances of accent require massive computer power to analyze and resolve. Here is another area where the model 3 excels. It will have voice recognition capabilities beyond those any of us have experienced. Multiple languages are an insignificant issue as well. When you first get your car you will have to spend a little bit of time to get the computer to fully recognize your accent and idiosyncrasies.

Yes my first post was click bait and a bit of a troll. I was surprised that no one had apparently picked up on what I consider one of the greatest features of the M3 "voice activated controls."

I'm not an electric car nut; the largest source of electric power station fuel is coal--it is filthy--and the Trump administration is dedicated to maintaining it. The reason why I ordered and M3 is to have the car of the future today. That's why I have to bite the bullet and layout $8000 for FSD. But combine that with voice activated controls and we are just one dimension away from Star Trek.

 

[ohmman]

I'm not an electric car nut; the largest source of electric power station fuel is coal--it is filthy

Close, but natural gas has eclipsed it.

 

[Saghost]

Close, but natural gas has eclipsed it.

Also, the grid will continue to become cleaner over the life of the car, while gas will likely get slowly dirtier as the oil becomes harder to come by.

Of course, if you were really worried about this, it's easy to address by buying renewable electricity or installing solar panels, too...

 

[ohmman]

Also, the grid will continue to become cleaner over the life of the car, while gas will likely get slowly dirtier as the oil becomes harder to come by.

Of course, if you were really worried about this, it's easy to address by buying renewable electricity or installing solar panels, too...

For sure. There are also the vehicle efficiencies, but I didn't want to get into all of that. Just correcting the member's (only recently) erroneous statement. This slightly old chart is useful as well.

 

[Ken7]

Musk said with the efficiency of the Model 3, numbers can be as high as 110% or 120% in ideal conditions.

Of course, in addition to killing yourself, you'll be taking out some pedestrians in the process. That's why the 'kill ratio' is so high.

To the OP, any reason you're in this thread? If you have a 3 reservation (which I can't imagine why you would), please cancel to move me up one more spot.

 

[chipmunk]

As a suggestion to moderators, perhaps a new label could be created for threads like this: Just asking questions - RationalWiki

 

[N5329K]

[EDIT: re the aircraft thing, the consequences of computer failure are far greater at 10,000ft. You can't just slow down and pull off to the side of the road. Whole different set of logistics and not a great example.]
Sadly more than few commercial aircraft have gone in because of a "feature" of glass cockpits known as mode confusion. No computer has failed. Nothing is wrong with the airplane. Some menu has been invoked in error, or by sheer accident, and the airplane is doing exactly what you told it to do, only it's not what you want it to be doing.
One reason why the famous last words of "Watch this!" has been supplanted on CVR's by "What's it doing?"
The audio touch menu(s!) on my Prius are a good example. You poke a selection, the car hits a bump, and all of a sudden the car is quite certain you want to listen to the local Spanish gospel station. A stop sign looms as you try to figure out what's it doing. If you're wise you leave the screen fiddling for another time. If not, well, that's a problem and one not encountered when you're using a more human-friendly interface that requires only a finger, or a hand, or even just one eye rather than both.
Robin

 

[BluestarE3]

It's all fun and games until it accidentally calls your wife when you meant to call your girlfriend.

• Only pick a girlfriend who has the same name as your wife
• or don't ever address the call recipient by a given name when the call is answered; just say, "honey", "sweetie", etc.

 

[Ugliest1]

[EDIT: re the aircraft thing, the consequences of computer failure are far greater at 10,000ft. You can't just slow down and pull off to the side of the road. Whole different set of logistics and not a great example.]
Sadly more than few commercial aircraft have gone in because of a "feature" of glass cockpits known as mode confusion. No computer has failed. Nothing is wrong with the airplane. Some menu has been invoked in error, or by sheer accident, and the airplane is doing exactly what you told it to do, only it's not what you want it to be doing.
One reason why the famous last words of "Watch this!" has been supplanted on CVR's by "What's it doing?"
The audio touch menu(s!) on my Prius are a good example. You poke a selection, the car hits a bump, and all of a sudden the car is quite certain you want to listen to the local Spanish gospel station. A stop sign looms as you try to figure out what's it doing. If you're wise you leave the screen fiddling for another time. If not, well, that's a problem and one not encountered when you're using a more human-friendly interface that requires only a finger, or a hand, or even just one eye rather than both.
Robin

Good post. That's actually, on reflection, kind of what I meant by "computer failure".

But I stand by my point that in Tesla's case, the tradeoffs lean significantly to the side of "we should do this".

 

[bmzl]

Of course, in addition to killing yourself, you'll be taking out some pedestrians in the process. That's why the 'kill ratio' is so high.

To the OP, any reason you're in this thread? If you have a 3 reservation (which I can't imagine why you would), please cancel to move me up one more spot.

I can only provide you with information; I cannot force you to read it nor to actually think about what you read.

 

[JeffK]

I can only provide you with information; I cannot force you to read it nor to actually think about what you read.

I'm sorry, I missed the post with information. Can you repost that?

There were a few posts with speculation and FUD, but I'm sure it wasn't those that you are referring to.

 

[N5329K]

When it comes right down to it, arguing that putting all the information and most of the controls you need to operate a car (any car) on a touch screen and calling it "just as safe" is a branch of the same argument that says "I can drive while texting and be just as safe."
Cool story, bro.
Robin

 

[gambit48]

I agree with some of what you're saying, however I also think that this system is not all that much inferior to existing systems. And given the simplicity to manufacture (bringing more affordable and compelling EVs to more people quickly) and the ability to change/add new features over the air (yes, even including new "buttons" overnight!), in my view overall it's a step forward.

I don't think it's all that much inferior either. I just don't think it's superior to the best ones. Obviously, there are some bad ones out there that this could be superior to.

Gee, I don't remember the Model S getting horrible reviews. I remember it getting stellar reviews. Personally I far prefer using it's touch screen over my wife's Honda console.

I don't remember writing that the S got horrible reviews. I meant the touch screen or touch button systems on certain ICE cars, not Tesla. And still, the S/X has an instrument panel in front of the steering wheel. The 3 doesn't. That affects things as well (not all that much I bet cuz the Mini, some cheap Toyota, and I'm sure more cars have had center mounted displays before). Ford had some Sony ones that were pretty bad (don't know about the current model as I haven't touched a 2016 or newer one) and I think Cadillac was pretty bad for a while). That's just off the top of my head.

 

[bmzl]

Close, but natural gas has eclipsed it.

The biggest reason why natural gas has eclipse coal is because of the huge reduction in coal usage during the Obama administration. However, the Trump administration is devoted to eliminate all the Obama era regulations (and has actually already eliminated quite a few).
My point is that electricity is really not as clean as most think it is. But that is irrelevant to me; because for me the model 3 is the first true car of the future, in large part because of its fully voice activated controls.

 

[gregincal]

When it comes right down to it, arguing that putting all the information and most of the controls you need to operate a car (any car) on a touch screen and calling it "just as safe" is a branch of the same argument that says "I can drive while texting and be just as safe."
Cool story, bro.
Robin

This thread is talking about the controls, and there are a large enough body of Tesla's on the road with almost all the controls on the touchscreen (minus the steering wheel controls, of which the Model 3 has the same number) that I'm sure statistics can prove things one way or the other. I definitely haven't heard about Tesla's having a higher accident rate.

 

[ohmman]

The biggest reason why natural gas has eclipse coal is because of the huge reduction in coal usage during the Obama administration.

Or economics.

 

[N5329K]

This thread is talking about the controls, and there are a large enough body of Tesla's on the road with almost all the controls on the touchscreen (minus the steering wheel controls, of which the Model 3 has the same number) that I'm sure statistics can prove things one way or the other. I definitely haven't heard about Tesla's having a higher accident rate.

Just the opposite, I think. Statistically, Tesla drivers (can't leave them out of the equation, since the cars don't go places by themselves yet) seem to be a lot safer than drivers of other brands. It will be a very good thing if that continues to be true as figures grow to become more meaningful.
Robin

 

[Ken7]

I can only provide you with information; I cannot force you to read it nor to actually think about what you read.

There is a big difference between 'information' and opinion.

 

[Runt8]

When it comes right down to it, arguing that putting all the information and most of the controls you need to operate a car (any car) on a touch screen and calling it "just as safe" is a branch of the same argument that says "I can drive while texting and be just as safe."
Cool story, bro.
Robin

None of the controls you need to operate the car are on the touchscreen.

 

[bmzl]

There is a big difference between 'information' and opinion.

True, but this is information not opinion:

"Yes my first post was click bait and a bit of a troll. I was surprised that no one had apparently picked up on what I consider one of the greatest features of the M3 "voice activated controls."

I'm not an electric car nut; the largest source of electric power station fuel is coal--it is filthy--and the Trump administration is dedicated to maintaining it. The reason why I ordered an M3 is to have the car of the future today. That's why I have to bite the bullet and layout $8000 for FSD. But combine that with voice activated controls and we are just one dimension away from Star Trek"

I don't know if you wrote your ad hominem without reading it or understanding it. But clearly it is one or the other.