Nav 8.0 - UI not made for driving

[SeminoleFSU]

The original Tesla software had a very well defined UI model - which was consistent across all of the apps. And while the functionality was limited, it was pretty intuitive to use.

8.0 breaks that. Activities that were simple before have become more complicated (or even much more difficult to do).

A quality user interface is much more than having it look cool - it needs to be intuitive and easy to use. And especially when the user is using the interface while also performing a critical function (such as driving a car), it's even more critical that the interface be easy to use.

For UI changes, there is a methodology for evaluating the effectiveness of the changes - something that clearly wasn't done with the 8.0 release.

When planning UI changes, typical operations are developed as "use case scenarios", things like changing media source, picking a favorite radio station, browsing through songs, ...

For those use case scenarios, it's possible to measure how well the interface works by having someone step through the scenario to perform the function, measure the amount of time required and the number of interactions (screen/button touches). And for someone that is also driving a car, another important measurement is how much time is required for the user's eyes to be on the interface - and not on the road.

This should have been detected by Tesla's beta testers. Since these problems were present when the software was released, either Tesla doesn't have enough hand-picked beta testers OR those testers don't have experience in methodically testing new software products OR Tesla ignored reports on major UI problems.

This should have been detected by Tesla's internal QA group.

And, this should likely have been detected while the software was being developed AND should probably have been addressed when the software changes were even being planned.

Absolutely. This never should have made it past internal QA. Heck, it never should've made it into technical requirements because it violated UI best practices

 

[SeminoleFSU]

IMHO, Tesla UI Beta testers must be a small group of hand-picked/carefully selected people very close to Tesla who have drank their Kool-aide and will just go along with almost anything they crank out in the UI. These are clearly not actual people with UI/UX experience.

The only thing we have seen them accomplish is adding color back to the top row of icons. If Tesla was going so far as to remove color and their significant visual cues in a DRIVING UI like that, there has to be some major UI egos heading up the development team. At least they backed down on that, but clearly didn't change anything else they farked up.

It baffles me how 90% of this code got into release/production, it's just so, so bad.

My theory is they are giving good feedback much like we are but the Tesla top brass is ignoring it. Much like Elon ignored his engineers when they tried to talk him out of Falcon wing doors on the MX which resulted in massive delays

 

[SeminoleFSU]

Not making the top nav auto hide feature a setting you can toggle was a miss.

 

[bob_p]

What we are seeing in 8.0 should not be viewed as a failure by the software developers - they are probably doing what they were told to do. The problems are more likely a combination of using an inadequate development methodology (planning, review, testing) coupled with a lack of senior management commitment to delivering quality software.

 

[SabrToothSqrl]

I agree with the above. It's actually hard to use, and damn near impossible to see things any more.

I miss the "visited chargers" list as well. It was a list of pride, showing all the place we've been.

The UI would be fine on an iPad, but it's impossible now to use while driving. If I can't change the radio while driving... that's a huge fail.

 

[AmpedRealtor]

It's quite obvious to me that Tesla's "UI designers" have no experience in vehicle UI design. None. I put the term UI designer in quotes because I don't believe there is really any such person at Tesla. I believe the UI is being handled by people who handle other tasks as well, and their primary expertise is not vehicle UI design. I would also venture to guess that nobody on this fictional UI team actually spends any real time using their UI in the vehicle. If they did, of if they had any actual vehicle design experience, would not make such idiotic choices.

 

[R Carlson MD]

Not making the top nav auto hide feature a setting you can toggle was a miss.

Absolutely!

As a minimum the Auto Hide "feature" should be an option that can be TURNED OFF! This would be a trivial software mod.

HUGE STEP BACKWARDS!

 

[R Carlson MD]

Has anybody figured out how to navigate to a contact via a voice command? We used to be able to do this.

Before version 8 we could say "Call Tommy" and Tommy's contact info would come up on the big screen with the various phone numbers and addresses. We could then simply tap to initiate a call or start navigation.

Now a voice command like "call Tommy" defaults to a single number and the contact information is no longer shown on the big screen.

The only way to see all the contact information is by doing a ludicrous amount of tapping and scrolling through a couple thousand contacts to finally select the correct contact, then the phone number or address. Ridiculous!

HUGE STEP BACKWARDS!!

-- R Carlson MD

 

[Boatguy]

Anyone in the food chain that provides s/w for the driver (not vehicle control s/w), including execs, product managers, UI/UX designers, QA, etc. needs to do some reading. Something in these genres:

User Experience Basics | Usability.gov

https://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijvt/2013/526180/

Essay on Human Factors in Design of Car Interiors - 2814 Words

What Is User Experience Design? Overview, Tools And Resources – Smashing Magazine

Human Factors and Ergonomics Society

https://www.amazon.com/Human-Factor...F8&qid=1476405160&sr=8-5&keywords=david+nagel

The Role of Human Factors in Improving Aviation Safety - Text Only

What is Human Factors | National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)

And then hire someone like: UserTesting | User Experience Research Platform

 

[R Carlson MD]

In my opinion, "Auto Hide" is an increased safety risk, and there is currently no way to disable this "feature".

The driver must now tap the screen, wait a few seconds for the screen drop down, and then tap on an icon. This extra few seconds with the eyes off the road obviously increases the danger of distracted driving, often at highway speeds.

If anything, I would rather see the climate control icons at the bottom of the screen optionally auto hide, because they are seldom needed once set.

 

[bob_p]

I agree - if anything should be hidden - it is the bottom row. Move the settings button to the top status bar - and show that bar all of the time, and then add a button to show/hide the climate controls.

What I'd also like to see the ability to have a "now player" media player window, about the size of the bottom bar because you really don't need to consume 1/2 of the display just to show what is playing now, and provide a few navigation buttons. Perhaps a way to toggle between climate and media player...

However... What is really needed is to have a UI designer go back to the drawing board on the touchscreen and dashboard design - and create new design rules for how all of the display space is being used - and how the interactions are done. The interface needs to be intuitive and minimize the number of interactions to do typical functions.

For example, one safety-related issue is know what the current status of the air suspension system is. Since lower clearance increases the risk of hitting objects on the road - there should be a way to quickly verify the air suspension status. With 8.0, this requires bringing up the settings and then navigating to the suspension screen. Something you really don't want to be messing with if you see an object on the highway in front of you - and you need to make a quick decision on avoiding it...

Compared to other software, Tesla's user interface is really very, very simple - and it's surprising 8.0 has so many poorly designed UI elements... It really isn't that hard to develop a good user interface - as long as that is one of the design goals for the development team - and for the QA group - and for the beta testers.

 

[HankLloydRight]

However... What is really needed is to have a UI designer go back to the drawing board on the touchscreen and dashboard design - and create new design rules for how all of the display space is being used - and how the interactions are done. The interface needs to be intuitive and minimize the number of interactions to do typical functions.

They already did that. It's called Firmware 6.2.

For example, one safety-related issue is know what the current status of the air suspension system is. Since lower clearance increases the risk of hitting objects on the road - there should be a way to quickly verify the air suspension status. With 8.0, this requires bringing up the settings and then navigating to the suspension screen. Something you really don't want to be messing with if you see an object on the highway in front of you - and you need to make a quick decision on avoiding it...

While I agree the UI needs to be more simple for simple tasks, raising the variable suspension isn't a quick action. Assuming you could quickly hit the "max level" button, it still takes dozens of seconds to fully raise the suspension.. especially if it's at the lowest setting while cruising on the highway. That's going to take ages longer compared to finding the UI button. If you noticed, it raises the back a little, then the front, then the back, then the front, then the back, etc. By the time it is fully raised, whatever it was you were trying to avoid (at highway speeds) is likely passed or you hit it.

 

[bob_p]

There is a warning displayed on the dashboard when the suspension is being raised at a memorized point (I've got some of those, when i wanted to raise the car once when parking, and the car memorizes those, and still tries to raise the car even though I'm on the nearby street and driving too fast to raise the car).

There is no warning the suspension is being lowered. And, there's no reminder or any way to easily check the current status of the suspension.

It's not changing the suspension height quickly - the issue is that the current suspension state is a potential safety issue - and it takes too many screen interactions to get the status of the car.

It really doesn't seem that Tesla has anyone looking at the overall user interface and ensuring that the interface is consistent, intuitive, and optimized for use by a driver.

 

[LetsGoFast]

I've searched a dozen threads and failed to find this, so I'll drop a potentially dumb question here. Is there still a way to get a list of nearby superchargers and/or destination chargers? I can't find it from the new destination selector screen and it is very useful when you are in unfamiliar parts of the country.

 

[wayner]

I agree with the OP on this but it doesn't affect me as much as I prefer driving with the rear camera active and I prefer having the camera in the top half and the Nav in the lower half. IMHO it is safer to have the camera in the top half as I use this to help check when changing lanes and when it is in the upper half your eyes don't have to move as far off the road.

So one way to get around auto-hide is to not put Nav in the top screen, but Tesla really tries to push you in this direction.

 

[gnxs]

I use the Nav System extensively each and every day and I have to say I MUCH preferred the 7.0 system. If Tesla doesn't revert back to the old version at some point, I hope they at least bring back most of the features that made 7.0 more intuitive to work with while driving.

Any suggestions on the most effective way to communicate my feedback to Tesla? I'm going to attend the Saturday Social next week since I believe the new Nav interface is the main topic. I will definitely will give my feedback to the store employees although that might not go any further.

 

[apacheguy]

When will the UI overhauls finally come to an end? First we heard that it was 7.0 then 7.1 then Elon says 8.0 sill have biggest overhaul in 4 years and now it looks like we are primed for yet another in 8.1 based on the complaints.

 

[Boatguy]

I've searched a dozen threads and failed to find this, so I'll drop a potentially dumb question here. Is there still a way to get a list of nearby superchargers and/or destination chargers? I can't find it from the new destination selector screen and it is very useful when you are in unfamiliar parts of the country.

Superchargers are always shown on the map.

Pressing the lightning bolt icon (after tapping the map once so it is displayed) will show destination chargers on the map and popup a list of superchargers. Scrolling further down the supercharger list reveals the list of destination chargers.

Consistent with the rest of the Nav interface, doing all this while driving would be a real challenge!

 

[simonog]

I seem to be a loan voice here - I like the new UI. At the risk of bringing the sky down on me, I find it less cluttered and once I have learned my way around the changes it's just as easy to do things.

On long journeys I try to have AP on before I do anything which involves the screen. I find this minimises risk though YMMV.

What matters to me is that these guys are trying to improve our experience. Elon has already said that we will get a decent browser "soon" (OK, Tesla time but it's on the radar screen). The journey will be a bit uneven especially as the software has to make provision for more hardware developments.

 

[jeffro01]

I seem to be a loan voice here - I like the new UI. At the risk of bringing the sky down on me, I find it less cluttered and once I have learned my way around the changes it's just as easy to do things.

On long journeys I try to have AP on before I do anything which involves the screen. I find this minimises risk though YMMV.

What matters to me is that these guys are trying to improve our experience. Elon has already said that we will get a decent browser "soon" (OK, Tesla time but it's on the radar screen). The journey will be a bit uneven especially as the software has to make provision for more hardware developments.

Nope, not a loan voice at all... I completely agree with you...

Jeff