Not a fan of the yoke, but flew behind one for years so I guess I can used to it. But what is up with no stalks? Anyone have any idea how you change from forward to reverse to park? How about signaling and controlling windshield wipers and autopilot?
Looks like there are buttons around the scroll wheels, but also probably on the touch screen for wipers (like the Model 3)
On the Configurator site you can see 3 what look like soft-touch buttons on the left side - left/ right indicators and headlight. In the right maybe 4 buttons - autopilot, voice, wipers? Phone? Screen control?
Agreed with all of your points. My major concerns are: 1) What happens with a digital gear shifter when the OS crashes? I've had the MCU crash a number of times, I'd hate to get stuck in drive because of a software bug 2) How seamless is it to shift gears? Try to imagine doing a 5 point turn, or parallel parking in a tight spot, if you had to press a button on the screen each time to change gears 3) What is the turn ratio on the steering wheel? Is it a half turn in either direction like a true yoke? Or will you have to do multiple revolutions to get full steering?
Suspect the steering ratio will be variable. Like current 3/Y at highway speeds. Highly geared at slower for cornering without moving the wheel over 90°. On the shifter. Much like the 3/Y suspect the gear select method (probably a up down button) will be part of the subsystem, so operate even if the MCU goes down.
Everything controlled via the steering yoke (turn signals, shifting, horn, etc.) doesn't need the MCU to function. You won't hear things like turn signals when the MCU is restarting, because the sound in the cabin comes through the speakers which are controlled by the MCU, but the turn signals themselves will still work regardless of the state of the MCU. The gear shifter will work similarly.
Interesting... "...force touch controls for 'Park, Reverse, Neutral, and Drive’ drive modes at the base of the phone charger on the center console." Tesla's new steering wheel comes with Autopilot sensor-based drive modes, force touch buttons, and more - Electrek
There will be a normal round steering wheel option. There was a hidden image on the tesla website found by user u/tdoesstuff on reddit. Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/teslamotors/comments/l6oyhn/refreshed_model_sx_will_have_regular_steering/
I've read the link about directional controls and don't like the idea of putting the gear selector waaayyy down by the Hazard button. I'm wondering if it wouldn't make more sense to make it one of the scroll wheels (maybe/sort of/dunno)? The idea of reaching down below your line of sight each time you have to change gears doesn't make sense.
They've done this in large part because Autopilot will now also select your gear. It sounds crazy, but it's a feature they're rolling out on the new S and X. https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1354680585139187713?s=20
Sorry, still limited because: 1) AutoPilot cannot always understand what you're thinking, 2) right now, with AutoPilot it's a best guess and that right now has been prone to failure/incorrect responses. Go back to maneuvering to adjust a parking position, moving to a parallel spot for convenience or any other ad-hoc maneuver. You still need to be able to quickly override whatever the car decides. Again, if you need to reach down to where I've heard the buttons are supposed to be placed (down by the hazard button), it's essentially an after-thought and a poor decision. It needs to naturally fall wherever your hand would normally fall/sit.
Anyone who's tried to use auto park or summon will realize that the car selecting the gear for you is a terrible idea.
I don't disagree with you, but the "shifter" will also be on the center display. They've assumedly done a lot of testing on the UI and UX of this so while there's a sense that it's too early to do this, maybe it's more just a change as opposed to a bad change.
So, here's situation I'm concerned with: you put the car in reverse to back up but the car changes it to move forward. If you press on the pedal and move forward and hit something - who pays? Is it "driver error" or AutoPilot error even if in beta?
I'd put money on it actually shipping with a regular wheel .. those yokes are basically non-starters for domestic driving.
Yep, this exactly. I guarantee you there will be tons of accidents where someone is assuming the car is in one gear, hit the gas, and realize it's going the other direction. Once people get used to the car selecting the gear for them, they won't bother checking to see if it's right.