Model S Software/Firmware wishlist

[Steven Scheck]

Here is a few more observations/requests. If you like them, please reply to the message so that they get noticed.

- Make the station favorites delete button be a 2-step process like the iPhone since my wife keeps deleting the stations by accident by pressing the "X" since she sits in the passenger seat. When I add them back, they go to the bottom.
- Let us reorder the station favorites like the favorite contacts on the iPhone and maybe let us make our own categories instead of just FM, AM, Slacker, Tunein, etc..
- Need a favorites tab on the phone contacts for the people we call the most.
- Have a weather popup show when you click on the outside temp. which shows the weekly and hourly weather for your city.
- You can use Degen Braking to get you down to 3 MPH at a stop light but then have to press the break to get to 0 MPH. I want to get to a complete stop using Degen Braking since I am too lazy to move my foot to the brake pedal.
- I understand why reading emails and text messages on the screen is a bad idea but how about being able to pull up your calendar from your iPhone.

 

[NigelM]

- Need a favorites tab on the phone contacts for the people we call the most.

Agree. Although recent call list works well for that. Also voice control makes a favorites list less necessary.

- Have a weather popup show when you click on the outside temp. which shows the weekly and hourly weather for your city.

Like.

- You can use Degen Braking to get you down to 3 MPH at a stop light but then have to press the break to get to 0 MPH. I want to get to a complete stop using Degen Braking since I am too lazy to move my foot to the brake pedal.

Just go into your settings and turn off "creep".

- I understand why reading emails and text messages on the screen is a bad idea but how about being able to pull up your calendar from your iPhone.

That's in the system, it's been seen by some people behind the service screens. Presumably waiting for a future firmware update to enable it.

 

[Brian H]

Nonsense. Settings cannot be assigned to individual key fobs and the car isn't able to differentiate between one in the drivers pocket and one in the front passengers pocket.

Manners, manners.

Ownership tells me it didn't make it out of prototype and into production ... yet. To start, the FOB currently merely needs to be in range, currently, and profiles are strictly manual.
(A default Enter - Exit profile is in the works but not high on the priority list. Meantime, one that e.g. moves the steering wheel up and out of the way, and the seat forward somewhat, could be owner-created and selected before exit, though.)

 

[NigelM]

Ownership tells me it didn't make it out of prototype and into production ... yet.

OK, Ill bite. With no car and no reservation, how do you get inside information from Ownership?

 

[efxjim]

- You can use Degen Braking to get you down to 3 MPH at a stop light but then have to press the break to get to 0 MPH. I want to get to a complete stop using Degen Braking since I am too lazy to move my foot to the brake pedal.

Ditto: I would love Degen or as I would call it Genbrake.

 

[Billott]

I currently set the dash to show projected range (vs rated). I'd like to see the background color coded to show if I'm ahead (say green) or behind (say orange) rated. An alternative would be to show both 240/210 projected/rated or rated/projected.

 

[Billott]

It's been cold in Raleigh these last few days, so we've been running the heat in our Mod S. WHen the front windshield fogs up we turn on the front defroster. The car immediatley turns on the vents to the windshield and the AC and opens the outside air. Within seconds the fogs is cleared and I turn off the front defroster. At this point the car sets the vent to auto and the AC to auto, even though I had them custom set. The cars the outside air vent on, even though I had it set to closed. I'd like the car to put the setting back were they were prior to me turning on the front defroster, instead of the default settings.

 

[FlasherZ]

It's been cold in Raleigh these last few days, so we've been running the heat in our Mod S. WHen the front windshield fogs up we turn on the front defroster. The car immediatley turns on the vents to the windshield and the AC and opens the outside air. Within seconds the fogs is cleared and I turn off the front defroster. At this point the car sets the vent to auto and the AC to auto, even though I had them custom set. The cars the outside air vent on, even though I had it set to closed. I'd like the car to put the setting back were they were prior to me turning on the front defroster, instead of the default settings.

If you're still at 1.15.14, that's why. This is changed in later versions.

 

[dwhite]

Having the media display use the album cover embedded in the mp3 file, rather than going searching on the internet for the wrong one.

 

[Todd Burch]

1. I request an option for the door handles to remain extended while the car is parked, even if locked. This would reduce wear on the components. Also, every time I go in and out of the house when I'm unloading groceries from the frunk--or when I'm working around the car (even when unlocked), the handles keep retracting after a minute and I have to tap them again to extend them. I want the option to just leave them out until I go to drive!

2. This has been mentioned before, but the day/night ambient light sensors need some sort of smoothing, or need to be better tied to the current time. They're too sensitive. Sometimes I'll go into shadow for awhile and the headlights will go on, even though it's 3 in the afternoon. Or, on my drive home, the screens will switch from day to night mode twice over the period of 10 minutes as the sun is going down.

 

[GeekGirls]

This has been mentioned before, but the day/night ambient light sensors need some sort of smoothing, or need to be better tied to the current time. They're too sensitive. Sometimes I'll go into shadow for awhile and the headlights will go on, even though it's 3 in the afternoon. Or, on my drive home, the screens will switch from day to night mode twice over the period of 10 minutes as the sun is going down.

Headlights should be on in a tunnel, and they need to come on relatively quickly to be useful — so you can't tie them to time of day.

 

[mknox]

Copied from another thread, but probably makes more sense here:

I'm likely alone on this, but would like a user-configurable option on the re-gen to move it from the accelerator to the brake. A light press on the brake (i.e. enough to activate the brake light switch) would start re-gen and further pressure would activate the standard friction brakes.

In my couple of test drives, I found the car to be quite "jerky" because my habit is to completely remove my foot from the gas and coast, with my foot covering the brake pedal ready to stop. I'm sure I could train myself not to do this, but I still drive ICE cars and I wonder about going back and forth. This would also alleviate the "panic" when re-gen isn't there, because the car's behavior would be more consistent with an ICE. Sure, in cold weather re-gen might not be there with the light brake pedal push, but you're already on that pedal and just have to continue pushing.

I think this would be an easy software fix. Just add another setting to the already present re-gen settings. If you don't like it, you don't have to use it.

 

[jerry33]

I'm likely alone on this, but would like a user-configurable option on the re-gen to move it from the accelerator to the brake. A light press on the brake (i.e. enough to activate the brake light switch) would start re-gen and further pressure would activate the standard friction brakes.

Getting regen on the brakes is really tricky. Tesla could have spent a bundle in R&D doing it (wouldn't surprise me if it would have cost as much as developing the motor). It's not even remotely as simple as installing a switch.

1. You need a stroke simulator to give pedal feel.

2. You need a number of sensors to monitor whether it's working or not.

3. You need a failsafe so that it will work on hydraulics only if there is a problem.

4. The brake fluid routing is more complex.

Tesla took the sane way and purchased off-the-shelf brakes rather than trying to go the Toyota route (I thought you said you didn't like the Prius--that's how their brakes work). My guess is that we wouldn't be getting our Model S cars for a couple of years if they tried to go that route.

 

[Todd Burch]

Copied from another thread, but probably makes more sense here:

I'm likely alone on this, but would like a user-configurable option on the re-gen to move it from the accelerator to the brake. A light press on the brake (i.e. enough to activate the brake light switch) would start re-gen and further pressure would activate the standard friction brakes.

In my couple of test drives, I found the car to be quite "jerky" because my habit is to completely remove my foot from the gas and coast, with my foot covering the brake pedal ready to stop. I'm sure I could train myself not to do this, but I still drive ICE cars and I wonder about going back and forth. This would also alleviate the "panic" when re-gen isn't there, because the car's behavior would be more consistent with an ICE. Sure, in cold weather re-gen might not be there with the light brake pedal push, but you're already on that pedal and just have to continue pushing.

I think this would be an easy software fix. Just add another setting to the already present re-gen settings. If you don't like it, you don't have to use it.

As Jerry mentioned, this would be a difficult change.

I've never driven an EV before the Model S, but have a lot of time in both automatic and manual trannies. Give the Model S's system a try for awhile...I'd be curious to hear your thoughts once you've been driving a bit. The one-pedal driving really is awesome. You can so easily modulate speed and braking force and without dancing back and forth between pedals. It's smooth as butter.

 

[ragoldwasser]

I would like to see "blind spot" protection.

 

[Todd Burch]

Headlights should be on in a tunnel, and they need to come on relatively quickly to be useful — so you can't tie them to time of day.

Of course there's a happy medium, they're just too sensitive. They also shouldn't be going on on a slightly overcast day or when going in and out of moderate shade.

WRT time of day, correct--you can't just tie straight to the time. But you can use it to adjust the thresholds. For instance, if it's nighttime, I'd prefer the maximum light intensity to be higher than its current threshold for the lights to go off. If it's daytime, I'd prefer the minimum intensity for the lights to go on to be lower. Combine this with a little smoothing and tweaking, and you'd have less unnecessary on/off action.

 

[mknox]

Getting regen on the brakes is really tricky. Tesla could have spent a bundle in R&D doing it (wouldn't surprise me if it would have cost as much as developing the motor). It's not even remotely as simple as installing a switch.

1. You need a stroke simulator to give pedal feel.

2. You need a number of sensors to monitor whether it's working or not.

3. You need a failsafe so that it will work on hydraulics only if there is a problem.

4. The brake fluid routing is more complex.

Tesla took the sane way and purchased off-the-shelf brakes rather than trying to go the Toyota route (I thought you said you didn't like the Prius--that's how their brakes work). My guess is that we wouldn't be getting our Model S cars for a couple of years if they tried to go that route.

I wasn't thinking of anything that complex. Just an algorithm to activate re-gen when the brake light switch goes on and regular hydraulic brakes after that. No need to change the hydraulic brakes at all.

I don't recall having an issue with the Prius brakes, but I didn't care for the noisy, buzzy engine and how the whole car trembled every time it started and stopped (which was a lot!), among other things.

- - - Updated - - -

I've never driven an EV before the Model S, but have a lot of time in both automatic and manual trannies. Give the Model S's system a try for awhile...I'd be curious to hear your thoughts once you've been driving a bit. The one-pedal driving really is awesome. You can so easily modulate speed and braking force and without dancing back and forth between pedals. It's smooth as butter.

I actually do agree, but was thinking of winter use. People have reported being "startled" when the expected re-gen braking wasn't there due to the battery pack being too cold, and I was worried about the rear wheels losing traction if I backed off the accelerator too quickly on icy roads. I was thinking of it being an optional setting, not a compulsory change that could be selected when conditions warrant. It has been suggested to just switch to low re-gen, but then you lose the ability to recycle as much power.

 

[Todd Burch]

I actually do agree, but was thinking of winter use. People have reported being "startled" when the expected re-gen braking wasn't there due to the battery pack being too cold, and I was worried about the rear wheels losing traction if I backed off the accelerator too quickly on icy roads. I was thinking of it being an optional setting, not a compulsory change that could be selected when conditions warrant. It has been suggested to just switch to low re-gen, but then you lose the ability to recycle as much power.

The limited regen doesn't bother me a bit. Just move to the brakes when you need them, same as anything else.

Regarding the ice + regen, I've been looking out for it on slippery roads. Haven't noticed a problem with wet roads, but for extreme conditions, maybe try the winter driving thread. I suspect Traction control would engage and reduce regen automatically.

 

[efxjim]

Agree headlights come on to early (not dark enough).

 

[Lloyd]

Copied from another thread, but probably makes more sense here:

I'm likely alone on this, but would like a user-configurable option on the re-gen to move it from the accelerator to the brake. A light press on the brake (i.e. enough to activate the brake light switch) would start re-gen and further pressure would activate the standard friction brakes.

In my couple of test drives, I found the car to be quite "jerky" because my habit is to completely remove my foot from the gas and coast, with my foot covering the brake pedal ready to stop. I'm sure I could train myself not to do this, but I still drive ICE cars and I wonder about going back and forth. This would also alleviate the "panic" when re-gen isn't there, because the car's behavior would be more consistent with an ICE. Sure, in cold weather re-gen might not be there with the light brake pedal push, but you're already on that pedal and just have to continue pushing.

I think this would be an easy software fix. Just add another setting to the already present re-gen settings. If you don't like it, you don't have to use it.

If you get a chance to drive a Rav4 EV with the tesla drive train do so.... They put 1/2 of the regen on the accelerator, and the other 1/2 on the brake. Nicely done IMO.