Is Tesla's UI intuitive or not? It is for digital natives

[Magellan55]

My 15 year old wanted to sit in my car to do her virtual class since our house AC was being worked on and her room was too hot. But she wanted to turn on the cabin lights so she wasn't in the dark in our garage, and I couldn't help as I was in my own Webex. Didn't take her long to figure out where to go on the menu. Later we were sitting in our Lexus hybrid that she's logged 14 hours of driving on her learner's permit, and I asked her to turn on the cabin lights. She couldn't find the switch!

So it's all perspective - old timers like me know where all the knobs and buttons "should be" on traditional cars, and a touch screen could seem daunting. But to the youngsters, touch screens are just natural.

I love that no one ever claims I drive an "old man's car", like they could if I had gotten a Porsche or 'vette

 

[Bigtanuki]

Completely agree that the Tesla UI takes some getting used to. Old guy (67) here but I spent my working life split between old tech and new tech so not too hard to make the adjustment. I would like to address those reviewers who criticize the fact that the Tesla's controls are almost completely menu driven with only a couple of programmable buttons as in our 17 MS. However, I have come to find that most settings just don't need to be changed all that often. Those that do need regular adjustment (cruise setting, hvac, stereo) can all be set into the wheel buttons on our MS. Not sure about the M3 or MY but I'm guessing there is some sort of setting available. Things like wipers and lights all seem to work well enough in auto that I almost never change them manually. Things like mirror and steering wheel adjustments aren't something that seem to change often for me and I do them while in park in any case. User profiles take care of different drivers.
That being said, I wouldn't mind a couple of user programmable multi-function buttons under the display for those edge cases that some folks might want.

I drove my sister-in-law's Porsche Cayenne Turbo and frankly the number of buttons was overwhelming and pretty damn busy. I found it awfully distracting with all those lights and buttons everywhere. Its really all what you're used to I suppose.

 

[bob_p]

The UI appears to be designed for a target audience of one (Musk), tending to focus more on how the UI looks than on usability.

Periodically changes will be made that don't make much sense. Like when the time-of-day clock was removed from the center console (which was quickly restored) or when the first letter scroll bar was removed from the media player lists (also quickly restored).

Musk has long promised increased customization of the UI - and that really hasn't happened (yet). We're still stuck with limited customizations of the S/X dashboard display, and limited ability to customize the center console display.

The media player "favorites" list continues to be less than useful at times - especially after the "improved" XM user interface broke some of the functionality.

If you're patient and willing to tab through the various settings pages and then navigate through sub-windows or scroll down long lists, it is possible to find and use features.

But it's pretty clear, Tesla hasn't done any UI measurements on how the UI is actually being used.

But it does look nice... And provides more functionality than other vehicles...

 

[cmarshack]

I personally have issue with the Dark Blue/Lighter Blue soft buttons on the display. It is impossible to tell if the Dark Blue is "On" of "Off" or vise vera. To me, that is not intuitive at all.

 

[P100D_Me]

But it's pretty clear, Tesla hasn't done any UI measurements on how the UI is actually being used.

This is why most manufacturers have moved to offering CarPlay and/or Android Auto, those companies have perfected the UI for automotive usage.

 

[David29]

There are many things in the Model S UI I wish were easier to do or easier to read. But I sure am glad it is not as bad as the one in the Model S/Y. Personally I would hate to need to search through the UI to open the glovebox or adjust seats or windows or windshield wipers. I do agree that it is partly a question of the devil you know. But I can operate the wipers, seats, audio volume, cruise control and windows all by touch without needing to look at either screen, and that is a lot of the frequently used functions that, in my view, should be readily accessible and not buried in menus. And in many cases, those functions are easy to find and learn because they are in the same or very similar places in other cars.

 

[bob_p]

We have Android Auto in our RV. That UI is extremely limited - rather than providing all Android apps, Android Auto is limited to a small number of apps, and those apps only provide a subset of the functionality. Plus Android Auto has some reliability issues (at least with my Galaxy S20 Ultra) - the media apps often refuse to start and Android Auto will periodically hang or crash.

While I still believe Tesla should consider adding Android Auto and Apple CarPlay as an option, with the larger displays in Tesla vehicles, a better solution would be more generic screen mirroring, that would work with any app - which is what Musk (several years ago) had promised Tesla would do.

David, you're illustrating my point about poor UI design - at least from a usability standpoint. For typical functions, there are often unnecessary touches required on the display - which is a bigger issue when accessing functions while the vehicle is in motion.

Tesla should provide more customization for the "home" display - allowing drivers to select the frequently used functions that should be displayed on the home screen. For example, adding a toggle button to open/close the sunroof or an up-down button for the adjustable suspension. Since owners have different interests, the home screen should be customizable, allowing owners to select the functions they want displayed and their location.

However... I wouldn't be surprised to see little improvement - we haven't seen a lot of usability improvement since the early Model S software releases 8 years ago. With Musk's focus on FSD, it's more likely they'll continue to focus on how things look - and adding a few new features (primarily games/entertainment) and not worry so much about making the UI efficient, since they want vehicles to operate without a driver (eventually).

 

[beatle]

Its really all what you're used to I suppose.

This right here. All of my other vehicles have been old (my newest is a 2007) so there is a distinct lack of tech. That said, I work in IT and like most gadgets, but some things that should be "easy" are not. I have never owned an Apple product, and coming from Android and PCs, I find their interface baffling. I know I'm in the minority here, and is just my inertia for those other interfaces, but it is there. Heck, I didn't even like moving to Windows 3.11 from DOS, and the jump to Windows 95 was terrible. Don't get me started on Windows 8.

Given enough time, you can generally get comfortable with any interface, though there are some inherent drawbacks of each (menu driven vs. single button press). You can ultimately have control over more things with a UI like Tesla, but the speed at which you can start the commands is generally slower overall.

 

[Magellan55]

My son's Civic has Android auto, and it's so glitchy he doesn't use it - just does BT from his phone.

 

[artx55]

I feel like Tesla's UI is miles ahead of most in the industry right now. It definitely has its quirks (settings hidden in menus that do not necessarily make sense) and the experience could depend on what hardware version you have. But I like it overall.

 

[beatle]

I feel like Tesla's UI is miles ahead of most in the industry right now. It definitely has its quirks (settings hidden in menus that do not necessarily make sense) and the experience could depend on what hardware version you have. But I like it overall.

Check out the UI in the Polestar 2. It's great. I'm not a big fan of the Polestar's looks, but it does appear to have a very good UI that appears to be more flexible than Tesla's. The reviews I've seen of it all remark at how well it works.