Left side of screen nearly useless?

[Transformer]

@TigerNinety those are good design points. The UI was more like that before the 2020 holiday update.

However, touch targets near the bottom and right (on RHD cars) are best because the practical way to operate the touchscreen in a moving car is with a hand braced along an edge of the screen. Otherwise road bumps make the finger miss or double-tap the target, e.g. answering then immediately hanging up a phone call [not theoretical].

The current UI has many improvements since 2020. More of the touch targets are near the edges, including the incoming-phone-call panel. Also it now has a gesture to swipe up from the bottom to open the HVAC controls, and the UI makes that discoverable. Further, whenever you leave the seat heater controls out of the bottom bar, there are larger margins around the temperature controls so it's easier to adjust temp. without accidentally turning on the seat heaters [not theoretical].

Shortly after that holiday update, Elon promised to enable resizing the left-side visualization panel back to its old size. Indeed, I'd much rather give space back to the map, the rearview camera, and larger control panel buttons. There's no reason for any visualization panel when reviewing sentry video, where larger video magnification matters. The other cases have some use for the sonar proximity sensors.

The visualization panel has some utility. E.g. it shows when your headlights and taillights are on. If you hold a finger on it, it zooms out for more situational awareness.

 

[TigerNinety]

@TigerNinety those are good design points. The UI was more like that before the 2020 holiday update.

Thanks!

However, touch targets near the bottom and right (on RHD cars) are best because the practical way to operate the touchscreen in a moving car is with a hand braced along an edge of the screen. Otherwise road bumps make the finger miss or double-tap the target, e.g. answering then immediately hanging up a phone call [not theoretical].

I'd still prefer larger targets in or instead of the visualization panel.

The current UI has many improvements since 2020. More of the touch targets are near the edges, including the incoming-phone-call panel. Also it now has a gesture to swipe up from the bottom to open the HVAC controls, and the UI makes that discoverable. Further, whenever you leave the seat heater controls out of the bottom bar, there are larger margins around the temperature controls so it's easier to adjust temp. without accidentally turning on the seat heaters [not theoretical].

Shortly after that holiday update, Elon promised to enable resizing the left-side visualization panel back to its old size. Indeed, I'd much rather give space back to the map, the rearview camera, and larger control panel buttons. There's no reason for any visualization panel when reviewing sentry video, where larger video magnification matters. The other cases have some use for the sonar proximity sensors.

The visualization panel has some utility. E.g. it shows when your headlights and taillights are on. If you hold a finger on it, it zooms out for more situational awareness.

And, I'd still think that if you've looked down enough at the car image to see whether your headlights or taillights are on, you've been looking down too long! (For headlights, I prefer the indicator on the side of the screen, below the current speed; and why should we wonder whether our taillights are on?! I doubt we wonder in an ICE car....)

Thanks!

 

[dmurphy]

i need the map quite often driving locally.
might be potentially less an issue in the western USA because your roadlayout is more clear than europe (and australia. But I kinda live in a heritage city now with lots of little roads everywhere)

... as do I. I prefer the satellite-view as well - it lets me see landmarks and such while I'm driving. "Oh, there's the lake". "OK, make a right after the larger warehouse" -- etc. I'm in the northeast US which is very much heritage with lots of little roads. It's not nearly a grid.

I rented a Model Y recently that only had standard connectivity -- which means no satellite maps. What a turd. I decided on the spot that the $99 premium connectivity fee for my car @ home is the best subscription I pay for, bar none. Hoping subscriptions like that become part of the cloud profiles.

 

[Transformer]

(For headlights, I prefer the indicator on the side of the screen, below the current speed; and why should we wonder whether our taillights are on?! I doubt we wonder in an ICE car....)

Yes, the status info could be more prominent, also larger, bolder, higher contrast, and (speedometer) a bit more margin for readability.

Tailight feedback helps because of regenerative braking and TACC braking.

 

[DavidJH]

Until FSD is fully functional and Elon is taking full responsibility for whatever decisions the car make, you should always keep your eyes on the road.

Forget about diagnostic purpose or whatever excuses you give yourself, if emergency does happen you should even more focus on the road rather than having any thoughts of comparing what’s on screen and what’s on the road. Otherwise the split second delay may make the situation unrecoverable.

Simply put the display of what the car sees serves no purpose for the driver and it’s only there to entertain the passengers.

 

[stopcrazypp]

Until FSD is fully functional and Elon is taking full responsibility for whatever decisions the car make, you should always keep your eyes on the road.

Forget about diagnostic purpose or whatever excuses you give yourself, if emergency does happen you should even more focus on the road rather than having any thoughts of comparing what’s on screen and what’s on the road. Otherwise the split second delay may make the situation unrecoverable.

Simply put the display of what the car sees serves no purpose for the driver and it’s only there to entertain the passengers.

All cars are designed such that you have your eyes at least occasionally looking at the dash, not always on the road 100% of the time. At minimum there is the speed, but most of the time there are a ton more other gauges and status lights. This is not to mention other accessory usage like radio or climate controls.

If you look at how FSD Beta operates, the visualization is critical. For example, when making unprotected left turns, it's impossible to tell the car's "intention" just by looking at the road. Before the recent updates, it was nerve racking because it's essentially unpredictable what the car's next move is. The creep visualization made it a ton more clear the limit the car would creep to and if it would stop at the median (and where).
All Tesla FSD Visualizations and What They Mean

For general driving, the point brought up about taillight status is a good point. I glance at the visualization too to verify when regen braking.

There was another thread talking about following distances, and apparently a lot of people use very short following distances. If this is the case, yes looking at the screen is a lot more dangerous. If you follow the legal limits in most states (3 seconds), then there is a lot more margin.

 

[804son]

For the most part I would prefer if they replaced the driving visualizations with Music controls and a better layout for the important information. Speed, Range, Projected Percentage at arrival, etc....

 

[dusty22]

Hi everyone, my first post here although I've been reading for over a year. I bought my 22 M3 LR last December. It's the best, most amazing car I have ever driven.

I'll start off on this topic because, for me, I have recently discovered that the driving image on the left side of the screen has at least one use for me. Sometimes when driving in the dark the lanes can become confusing in some places due to oncoming headlights, wet road etc.and the cameras pick up the lane markings, reassuring me that I am centered in my lane. I'm still experimenting with this as these situations don't occur that often. Basically, I'm trying to determine if the cameras are better than my eyes. I have not reached a conclusion yet,

 

[father_of_6]

Basically, I'm trying to determine if the cameras are better than my eyes. I have not reached a conclusion yet,

They definitely provide an additional data point. Sometimes they can determine the color of a traffic light when my eyes are blinded by the sun... so that's another case where the visualizations come in handy.

 

[Ogre]

Most of the time I'm not looking at the left side of the screen or the screen at all. Much of the left side is obscured by my hand so I don't really care a whole lot about it regardless. I do appreciate very much that they let you move the pop up camera views to the top left of the screen now. Being able to see my blind spot is fantastic.

 

[Candleflame]

For the most part I would prefer if they replaced the driving visualizations with Music controls and a better layout for the important information. Speed, Range, Projected Percentage at arrival, etc....

the prototype ui was literally like that. essentially like the refresh model S gui look with split music and map but you had a small box with speed + AP status in the top left corner.

 

[heavyD]

So many of these issues would go away if these vehicles at least came with an option of HUD. Modern HUD's now display navigation directions, audio searches, blind spot detection, etc. On my BMW's with HUD I barely ever had to look at the instrument cluster for anything while driving.

 

[dmurphy]

So many of these issues would go away if these vehicles at least came with an option of HUD. Modern HUD's now display navigation directions, audio searches, blind spot detection, etc. On my BMW's with HUD I barely ever had to look at the instrument cluster for anything while driving.

HUDs are not for everyone. Had one in my Cadillac - I thought it was excellent. My wife, however, found it unbearably distracting.

The right answer, IMO, is to fix the onscreen display. And then if someone wants a HUD, totally fine, but I wouldn’t rely on it as a primary means of display.

 

[804son]

the prototype ui was literally like that. essentially like the refresh model S gui look with split music and map but you had a small box with speed + AP status in the top left corner.

Oh Ya, That's what I'm talking about. That layout is truly useful.

 

[heavyD]

HUDs are not for everyone. Had one in my Cadillac - I thought it was excellent. My wife, however, found it unbearably distracting.

The right answer, IMO, is to fix the onscreen display. And then if someone wants a HUD, totally fine, but I wouldn’t rely on it as a primary means of display.

Well I did say optional as that would keep cost down for people that don't want it. HUD's should have the ability to move the display around and adjust the brightness but I also understand that you can't make everyone happy and some people maybe are more sensitive to having more information placed in front of them. I still believe HUD is the missing ingredient (because buttons just aren't going to happen in this interior) in the 3/Y models that would solve a lot of the current issues with the display. There's only so much you can fix on a screen that is mounted outside of the driver's peripheral vision as the real fix is to move the information in front of the driver.

 

[father_of_6]

No HUD for me... having light in front of me while driving in low light is fatiguing on the eyes.

 

[TigerNinety]

Yes, the status info could be more prominent, also larger, bolder, higher contrast, and (speedometer) a bit more margin for readability.

Tailight feedback helps because of regenerative braking and TACC braking.

I'm not being combative, but I really have to ask: why? Why does this "taillight feedback" help?

For regen, (on M3) there's a big bar on the top left of the screen. And, for regen or TACC braking, why would looking down at a screen be worth more (safety wise) than actually looking at the cars in front of you? What is the screen telling you (and I mean "you" in the general sense, so don't take it personally) that is worth taking your eyes off the road or the cars in front of you?

 

[Transformer]

I'm not being combative, but I really have to ask: why? Why does this "taillight feedback" help?

For regen, (on M3) there's a big bar on the top left of the screen. And, for regen or TACC braking, why would looking down at a screen be worth more (safety wise) than actually looking at the cars in front of you? What is the screen telling you (and I mean "you" in the general sense, so don't take it personally) that is worth taking your eyes off the road or the cars in front of you?

It's a fine question.

It's important to find out that remove-foot-from-accelerator does signal the driver behind me that I'm rapidly decelerating.

The visualization also reveals that auto-wipers don't turn on the headlights (which are not directly visible in daylight). Legally, that means I need to use the touch screen to turn them on.

What's the regen line useful for? (For a while Tesla made it very thin, which for sure made it useless with older eyeballs.)

 

[stopcrazypp]

It's a fine question.

It's important to find out that remove-foot-from-accelerator does signal the driver behind me that I'm rapidly decelerating.

The visualization also reveals that auto-wipers don't turn on the headlights (which are not directly visible in daylight). Legally, that means I need to use the touch screen to turn them on.

What's the regen line useful for? (For a while Tesla made it very thin, which for sure made it useless with older eyeballs.)

Yep, I use it for the same. Brake light indicator tells me I'm signaling to the driver behind I'm essentially braking. Looking at the regen line does not tell me that. Sure, maybe I can guesstimate at which point it activates the brake lights, but looking at the visualization tells me that more quickly at a glance.

I should note I modulate the accelerator pedal (especially given I use "Hold" mode). For people that never do that (and instead just fully remove their foot from it) they may not see the point.

 

[dusty22]

Transformer said
It's important to find out that remove-foot-from-accelerator does signal the driver behind me that I'm rapidly decelerating.

I try to take note of brake light activation too. It is difficult to determine when this occurs during regenerative braking as opposed to the instant brake light activation when depressing the brake pedal of a conventional vehicle.

The brake lights in the Tesla visualization are very hard to see, especially during daylight. I wish Tesla would make them a lot brighter. It is very important that the brake lights give adequate warning to approaching vehicles. I have seen a fair amount of videos of rear end collisions involving Teslas. Perhaps earlier brake light activation could eliminate some of those accidents.