New owner with questions on hands free calling

[spk56]

Hello all, happy to be a new Model Y owner after an 8 month wait! We generally love the car, very comfortable, great power, smooth and quiet, handles well as an SUV, and...no gas!
One complaint involves making outbound calls easily. We have iphones. If I press the steering wheel button and say "call (first and last name) mobile", it will almost never call directly.
First, it is incapable of getting my last name right, although it is not complicated. Then it always has a list of options on the screeen. Sometimes the correct person is not visible, so I have to take my eyes off the traffic, scroll down to the appropriate name, and press that to make the call. This is not convenient and likely unsafe!
The other alternative is to use my iphone with Siri voice commands. That works better as Siri understands the names better and usually dials with one command. But I'm afraid with the phone set under the dash on the charging pad, I could potentially exit the car, leaving it there, and have my phone and the car easily stolen.
How do you all handle this? Is there an easier way?

 

[mswlogo]

It’s very bad at that. Doesn’t understand “on Mobile” or “at work” either.

I split my most common people I call with a nickname and only one phone number.

Like “Call Fred” or “Call Mom”.

If a nick name isn’t recognized or conflicts I find another.

Works perfect. Shouldn’t have to do that but it actually is better than “Call Elon Musk on Mobile” since that’s the way I always call them from the car any way.

 

[Big Dog]

In addition to nicknames, try to speak clearly and slowly. That usually works for me. But if you have several contacts named 'John', it can get confused if you don't say, 'call..John..Adams' clearly.

 

[TigerNinety]

Hello all, happy to be a new Model Y owner after an 8 month wait! We generally love the car, very comfortable, great power, smooth and quiet, handles well as an SUV, and...no gas!
One complaint involves making outbound calls easily. We have iphones. If I press the steering wheel button and say "call (first and last name) mobile", it will almost never call directly.
First, it is incapable of getting my last name right, although it is not complicated. Then it always has a list of options on the screeen. Sometimes the correct person is not visible, so I have to take my eyes off the traffic, scroll down to the appropriate name, and press that to make the call. This is not convenient and likely unsafe!
The other alternative is to use my iphone with Siri voice commands. That works better as Siri understands the names better and usually dials with one command. But I'm afraid with the phone set under the dash on the charging pad, I could potentially exit the car, leaving it there, and have my phone and the car easily stolen.
How do you all handle this? Is there an easier way?

I’m still waiting for my M3LR (to replace my totaled MS75D). BUT, when I had my MS, I had a phone holder on the vent to the right of the screen and kept my iPhone there. It was always MUCH easier and more reliable to use “Hey Siri” than to use the Tesla voice dialing, even after the MCU2 upgrade.

As for the iPhone and car theft, I hope that after a while, you’ll develop enough habit (and sensing of a phone missing from your hand or pocket or whatever) to be sure not to leave it behind. But, I recommend that everyone use PIN to drive (which would take care of the car theft possibility). Lots of people poo poo it, but it’s the cheapest peace of mind you can buy (free) and takes 2 seconds to get going when you get in the car.

Good luck!

 

[spk56]

Thanks for the tips. I will set up the PIN to drive, and some simple names for the folks I call most often. SIRI will be the back up. It just seems like for what should be the most technology packed vehicle, phone calls should be figured out!

 

[ToniCbus]

True. You would think these kinds of basic features would be figured out. I experienced everything you said. Hate taking eyes off road. Already using a PIN, too. Just hope I can get the text messages to work.

 

[Midnightsun]

When I first got the Y back in Aug of 2020 the call "John Doe Mobile" actually worked well. A few months later things started to fail most likely due to OTA updates. At one point if you asked it to call X person it would want to navigate and not call however after a couple of months this was corrected.

Right now the most technologically advanced car cannot even handle a simple call John Mobile without giving us multiple manual interventions on screen. Unfortunately it is not as simple as user error, the telephone voice commands are still in kindergarten compared to the rest of the automotive world. I simply cannot figure out why this major fail has not been addressed after almost a year and a half. By the way, same behaviour on the Y and the S.