Model S Software/Firmware wishlist

[Herbys]

Agreed except for number three. No idea why anyone would want a map that isn't stable. It's very disorienting to have the map continually turn.

Absolutely true. Especially in the Tesla where you have a second screen that does face in the direction of travel. The big map is not for guidance, is for orienting yourself in the area, and north-up is the only sensible way to display such a map. North up is for "next turn info" and that's on the second screen.

If I may ask for a feature on behalf of my wife (it's Valentine's): she want the GPS voice to be recorder by George Clooney. Since I want it to be recorded by Bender from Futurama, make that bound to the drivers profile.

- - - Updated - - -

I love the cornering lamps, but would like them to come on when I use the turn signals, not just when the wheels are turned past a certain point. For example, when searching for a dark driveway at night, having the left cornering lamp on while the left turn signal was blinking would help light the driveway. This needs to happen before I turn the wheel, as I don't know where to turn until I can see the driveway!

Awesome idea! +1 on that one.

- - - Updated - - -

I'd like to be able to tag my home address with the name "Home", then be able to say "Drive to Home".

My other cars all have a set of predefined addresses in the GPS, but at least having ONE "home" address seems like a must. Yes, I know where I live, but I not always know the easiest way to get en-route to go back home.

 

[adeokar]

Need to have color coded Climate button which is at the bottom center on the main console - Blue when A/C is working, Red when the heater is on and may be green when neither a/c or heat is on but just the fans are working.....it has some sort of indication on the mobile app but that might need to be work.....when cabin and set temp. are same it still shows blue arrows for flow which if only fans are on could be green....

 

[DriverOne]

north-up is the only sensible way to display such a map. North up is for "next turn info" and that's on the second screen.

I would agree... Except my wife can't grok the north-up map at all. She expects up to be what's ahead. Different styles for different minds. Maybe it's a male/female preference?

 

[dtich]

there are only a few things that tweak me on a regular basis at the moment, i'd love to see them 'fixed' soon:

- please make slacker, etc, start playing from last position in file rather than starting from beginning..... sigh. annoying to say the least, esp. when you can't fast forward slacker to regain your last play point....

- browse connected devices. please. not just random play.

- bump up to 4G. and make the browser more efficient. it hangs on page load too much.


i'm sure there are more, but the fact that these are the only ones i can think of at the moment is a very good thing.

OH. forgot my main thing: charge start timer. please. need. now. thanks.

 

[FalconNinetyD]

there are only a few things that tweak me on a regular basis at the moment, i'd love to see them 'fixed' soon:

- please make slacker, etc, start playing from last position in file rather than starting from beginning..... sigh. annoying to say the least, esp. when you can't fast forward slacker to regain your last play point....

- browse connected devices. please. not just random play.

- bump up to 4G. and make the browser more efficient. it hangs on page load too much.


i'm sure there are more, but the fact that these are the only ones i can think of at the moment is a very good thing.

OH. forgot my main thing: charge start timer. please. need. now. thanks.

Slacker resumes from the point that I exited in my car.

Also, from what we've been told, there is no 4G hardware in the car, so this wouldn't be a software upgrade. It is hoped that the browser is refreshed with something that is more responsive, it seems to be the weak link in the center stack...

 

[pete8314]

- Agree on the Slacker restart point, but would also like it with Tune-In. Most of my drives are typically 20 mins or less, and I can't tell you how many times I've listened to the start of the same radio show (in fairness, it only took me about 5 time to notice, and there wasn't any talking )

- Yes to 4G/LTE, although I'm pleasantly surprised by 3G to be able to supply map tiles and streaming audio at the same time.

- Better iPhone integration, so all the 'stuff' appears on the big screen (playlists, media options etc)

- Closing the sunroof when the phone rings is a great idea

- Would also suggest closing the sunroof if the car is parked, and rain is detected

- An auto-vent mode, where the roof pops (and optionally the windows drop a little) when the interior temperature exceeds a threshold

- Lines on the reversing camera, especially as the camera is not centered - I barely make it out my driveway each morning!

- Remote view of the camera via the phone app. Useless, but fun.

- When I have the camera on while driving, it sure seems like some cleaver programming could create some sort of lane deviation detector. Generally when I'm on the highway, and assuming the highway has lines, it seems fairly easy to detect when I wonder out of a lane without signaling. Of course, this is Texas where nobody signals, so maybe this is a flawed idea due to the human factor.

- On a similar note, blind spot detection. It wouldn't be perfect, but I think it could be close. I know that my last Audi needed the rear camera for blind spot detection to work, but I'm not sure if that was supplemented with other sensors.

- Add Spotify support

- Fix the surround sound so that it doesn't sound so hollow.

- Show other Model S's on the map in real time. Ok, maybe that's creepy

 

[jerry33]

- When I have the camera on while driving, it sure seems like some cleaver programming could create some sort of lane deviation detector. Generally when I'm on the highway, and assuming the highway has lines, it seems fairly easy to detect when I wonder out of a lane without signaling. Of course, this is Texas where nobody signals, so maybe this is a flawed idea due to the human factor.

I think you've watched Texas Chainsaw Massacre one too many times

The lane-keeps that I'm familiar with also make it hard to steer unless the turn signal is on, so the programming would have to access the power steering as well. Not that this couldn't be done, but it's more than just programming a beep.

 

[brianman]

Slacker resumes from the point that I exited in my car.

Mine already does this. Are you on 4.1 (and have sleep mode enabled)?

 

[Herbys]

At the risk of sounding sexist, I think there's a strong correlation between north-up/track up and male/female. I recall having seen a study on a few years ago that but I can't find the sources. But the point is, you already have a "north-up" map behind the wheel. Leave the other one alone

 

[brianman]

But the point is, you already have a "north-up" map behind the wheel. Leave the other one alone

I think you have this backwards...

 

[Robert.Boston]

A few more wishes:

1. Wind speed and direction indicator, based on station reports closest to the car (for estimating Wh/mile);
2. When trip meter is reset, clear the Wh/mile history in the Energy app, thereby starting a new "Predicted" run;
3. Some way of seeing Google traffic information along the navigation route;
4. Controls on Replay and Shuffle of tracks (currently, it always replays, and there's no shuffle)
5. Some way to show all of the track's title (currently truncates at uselessly short string when the track name is something like "String Quintet No.3 in G minor, K516 - III Adagio ma non troppo", just to choose one at random off my iPod) and have some drop-down or other way to view other tags
6. Speed-adjusted volume to compensate for increased cabin noise
7. Integration of openchargemap or similar data onto the navigation map.

 

[znino]

After having the car now for 2 months I feel I am ready to give my list of points I think would improve the Model S Software experience:

Navigation:

Most nav units allow to press a spot on the map and navigate to that point. This is not currently available
We should be able to save favorites in the NAV screen (Favorite places)
We should be able to re-order the favorites
We should have a default Home and Work favorites button
We should be able to put google maps with heading up (not just north up)
We should be able to delete ALL for recent places and searches (in one shot) (or batch delete multiple favorites)
When a destination is chosen, we should be given multiple route options (like in google maps) and able to choose the one we want

Browser:

Flash should be supported
We should be able to re-order Browser favorites
We should be able to batch delete favorites
We should be able to delete browser cache and history

Energy:

We should be able to show projected range in the dash console, not just ideal range (why not both? There is plenty of space)
We should be able to see a % left of battery, not just the green bar with the hash marks
In the energy graph, the Ideal wH/Km should be in a different color (such as green) to differentiate from the graph's gridlines

Settings:

We should have a mode to leave parking lights ON, even if car is locked and off (standard on most European cars for security reasons)
We should be able to dim screens separately from ambient lighting (would work around the lighting buzz issue for one)

Telephone:

We should be able to set favorites for the phone (speed dials)
We should be able to sort contacts by first name, not just last name
There should be a preferred connection order for when multiple phones are paired and present in the car

Camera:

The camera should overlay colored guidelines for different distances from the back of the car and side markers corresponding to the side of the car. This is standard on most backup cameras. (Tesla chose not to include rear parking sensors...this could at least help in that respect)
These overlay guidelines should be removable by settings
If possible the guidelines should curve to indicate the current path of the car corresponding to the steering wheel position
I would like to also see some hash marks along the top edge of the screen corresponding to a car being behind at various distances (the further the car is the narrower it appears on the screen so having a few sets of width marks at the top corresponding to let's say, 20 feet, 30 feet and 40 feet would allow a quick glance and to gauge how far the cars are in the rear or in the blind spots).

 

[Mario]

Ditto everything contaygious said except flash support, and add:

-photo support for downloaded contacts
-ability to hotlink addresses from your address book to the navi system with additional voice support as well. You should be able to say "Navigate to work" and the car should link your work address to the Navi
-Ability to hotlink addresses from the browser to the navi system. Look up an address on browser and tap to navigate to that address
-Ability to hotlink phone numbers from the browser to the phone dialer. Should be able to 'tap & hold" to dial the number or 'tap' with a quick confirmation screen
-Phone program should notify you when the car is fully charged or near empty
-Navi should tell you if you don't have enough charge to reach the destination you just input
-More EQ band control and control over the 7.1 settings with presets like Concert, Movie, Jazz Club...

spatterso911 nailed it. I would add to his fine list;
- the ability to send an address from ones phone to the car navigation.
- email app

 

[HFh]

I want to me, too:

- photo support for contacts. The fake outline picture now is simply mocking me.

- guidelines on the rear view camera (that reflect the current path); otherwise, what's the point?

- iPhone integration (to both Music and Podcasts apps, BTW). I end up doing too much using the phone.

Also a real manual would be nice. I keep accidentally discovering things. That's fun, but not when you accidentally discover something while driving and you can't fix it.

 

[kgb]

I just joined this thread, and we are on page 24, so I would like to +1 a couple requests, OR if these suggestions haven't been proposed, then I would like to be the one to propose them:

Web Browser:
There are many websites I visit that require login info. There should be a way to save login credentials. For example, my login to TMC would be nice. Also, when I leave work, I arm the alarm through the ADT Pulse website. Saving those credentials would be nice. Owners would just have to use common sense and not do online banking from the car browser.

Many people use YouTube as their main online source for music. That is impossible with the current browser settings.

Also, can anyone direct me to the non-firmware feature request thread? I want to request handles over the doors. My dad had a stroke, and those handles assist with ingress and egress.

- - - Updated - - -

Also a real manual would be nice.

The manual is online as a pdf on your mytesla page. I haven't tried accessing it from the car browser, but that would be a logical fix. Make sure the car browser can access an online version of the manual. The only issue would be if you are trying to troubleshoot a connectivity problem... D'oh! :scared:

- - - Updated - - -

Browser:

Flash should be supported

Without starting a big off topic debate... let's just say that there should be either HTML5 or Flash support (except that Flash is on its way out, so I think we should support the new standard)

- - - Updated - - -

Speed-adjusted volume to compensate for increased cabin noise

+1, I was just thinking that today

- - - Updated - - -

My other cars all have a set of predefined addresses in the GPS, but at least having ONE "home" address seems like a must. Yes, I know where I live, but I not always know the easiest way to get en-route to go back home.

I'm not saying that's a bad idea, except that I was told to never program your home in the Nav system, it is a security issue, for 2 reasons:
1) if your house keys are on your car key ring, then a valet or some other person with temp access to your car can make a copy of your house key, and they know your address.
2) if you are out of the house, and your car gets stolen, the thief can get directions to your home (and they know you aren't there), use the home link to open the garage, and rob your home.

there may have been other reasons why that is a bad idea. Of course, with the Model S, I think the theft scenario is less likely, and the first can be avoided by not keeping your house keys with the "little car FOB."

 

[montgom626]

I'm not saying that's a bad idea, except that I was told to never program your home in the Nav system, it is a security issue, for 2 reasons:
1) if your house keys are on your car key ring, then a valet or some other person with temp access to your car can make a copy of your house key, and they know your address.
2) if you are out of the house, and your car gets stolen, the thief can get directions to your home (and they know you aren't there), use the home link to open the garage, and rob your home.

there may have been other reasons why that is a bad idea. Of course, with the Model S, I think the theft scenario is less likely, and the first can be avoided by not keeping your house keys with the "little car FOB."

In Wisconsin we have to have our registration in the car. That tells anyone where I live.

 

[kgb]

In Wisconsin we have to have our registration in the car. That tells anyone where I live.

Locked in the glove box... but thanks for reminding me...

In my previous post, I forgot to request a "a valet mode." If there is a valet mode, I haven't found it yet, but there needs to be a way we can give the car to the valet and lock the glove box so that they can't get in there. Is that a feature already? I'd find it hard to believe that TM overlooked this.

 

[montgom626]

Locked in the glove box... but thanks for reminding me...

In my previous post, I forgot to request a "a valet mode." If there is a valet mode, I haven't found it yet, but there needs to be a way we can give the car to the valet and lock the glove box so that they can't get in there. Is that a feature already? I'd find it hard to believe that TM overlooked this.

I have always assumed that the lock on a glovebox poses no obstacle to any thief.

 

[spatterso911]

Except that our glovebox doesn't lock...

 

[brianman]

Many people use YouTube as their main online source for music. That is impossible with the current browser settings.

This is the first I've heard of it. Of course, there are many people I don't know.