No text messages through the UI?

[stretchymantis]

So funny to read the defenses for the lack of a feature that reduces your risk compared to fumbling around on your phone. Which is what many people do as the alternative. How do you think people are getting the messages in tiny print on the car's touchscreen that pop up for various reasons? Or interact with all the car's functions which are on the car's touchscreen? Osmosis?

 

[jelloslug]

So funny to read the defenses for the lack of a feature that reduces your risk compared to fumbling around on your phone. Which is what many people do as the alternative. How do you think people are getting the messages in tiny print on the car's touchscreen that pop up for various reasons? Or interact with all the car's functions which are on the car's touchscreen? Osmosis?

How about not messing with your phone when you are driving?

 

[stretchymantis]

I agree 100%. But as I said, that is what many people do as the alternative. Try as we all might to educate everyone regarding the risks and dangers, a good percentage will persist in using their phones without an alternative. Voice-activated integration provides such an alternative. It's a bit unnerving to know that every single person I see on the road in a Tesla lacks that functionality and consequently increases the chances that they're fumbling with their phone.

 

[SomeJoe7777]

It's a bit unnerving to know that every single person I see on the road in a Tesla lacks that functionality and consequently increases the chances that they're fumbling with their phone.

There are 100 times more non-Tesla vehicles on the road that do not have any phone integration and are therefore in the same situation. I assum you're unnerved by them as well?

I also assume you're posting on the forums for those vehicle brands and models pointing out the need for the voice-to-text functionality with the same vigor that you're doing here, yes?

 

[cybergates]

there's really no reason this can't be done, so it's good to know that with software updates this should be possible in the future. In the meantime apple watch comes in handy to glance at messages.

 

[stretchymantis]

Nope. Why in the world would I do that? I don't own those cars. The "100 times more..." you're referring to are all older years. Am I also unnerved about all the other cars without it with many of the owners fumbling around on their phone while driving? Heck yeah I am, aren't you? Anybody should be. It's not as safe. But SMS integration is just about standard on any new vehicle nowadays thankfully. Toyota's cheapest car, the 2019 Yari, has SMS standard on it's lowest trim. Honda's cheapest car, the 2019 Fit, has SMS standard on all but the lowest trim. I'm sure the other manufacturers are similar. I'm not trying to argue, but I mean c'mon, this is a basic feature. Something I didn't even bother to look into because, well, of course it'd have it. Don't get me wrong, I like my car, but there was some definite corner-cutting and sacrifices in quality that went into meeting certain promised price-points. I understand the reasoning behind most of them. All-electric is an expensive car to build. The build quality of many of the battery components, drive train, etc are highest quality standards ever seen according to many reports. That all figures into cost. And I appreciate that about the car. Other things though, like using plastic accelerator pedals that are prone to breaking; the fingerprint-ridden cheap console plastic that bubbles if you put a suction cup mount on it; reports of paint defects and poor-quality paint jobs; inability to call someone w/ multiple numbers without having to...take your eyes off the road (safety safety) to select the number on the list that's partially cut off and only stays on for like 3 seconds; lack of sms integration; etc... These are all oversights or poor implementation, and should not be excused or defended, especially when declaring it having been done in the name of safety. That is just irresponsible on the side of the consumer. Now THAT was written with vigor. And I'm not trying to stir up an argument or debate. Just oozing out how I feel.

 

[Dan203]

I like that Teslas can be updated like this. When I bought my 2016 BMW 340i I missed the poorly labeled $300 option that enabled this functionality. (it said something about business email, didn't mention SMS) When I asked the dealer about enabling the option after the fact they said it wasn't possible. Even though it was just a software switch they had no ability to flip it even if I was willing to pay for it.

 

[CNC1]

Excuse me. I dont care what other cars do. You shouldn’t read texts while driving. If you pull over, then what’s the big deal to just use phone? If you want them read to you, use Siri or android equivalent. I see no good reason for Tesla to ever add this.

Actually using Slacker or Tune-in, evermore navigation requires significantly more attention than reading or listening text message.

 

[ljbad4life]

I actually like to drive "unplugged". The people that know I'm driving will call me, the other people can wait. I wouldn't mind if Tesla implemented it properly. If implemented horribly, it's terrible. I found with other cars it was super distracting. Ford's mysync was really terrible at needing prompts every single step of the way.
Ford: you have a text message (that's it)
User Prompt: from who?
Ford: From Bill
User prompt: read text message
Ford: Reading text from Bill
Ford: Reads Text
Ford: asks if you want to reply
You couldn't skip steps either. If you said read text message right after "you have a text message" it would say "Text from Bill, would you like to read it" Sending texts was equally verbose and distracting.

 

[jelloslug]

I like that Teslas can be updated like this. When I bought my 2016 BMW 340i I missed the poorly labeled $300 option that enabled this functionality. (it said something about business email, didn't mention SMS) When I asked the dealer about enabling the option after the fact they said it wasn't possible. Even though it was just a software switch they had no ability to flip it even if I was willing to pay for it.

I flipped that switch myself on my i3.

 

[sced06]

Being able to send a text or reply to a text by voice is a deal breaker for me. I've been using that in Android Auto for 2 years now. My audi lease ends in December and I want a model 3. According to Elon's twitter, this feature is coming in Version 10 but the description is vague. I hope 10 comes out before November so I can see if Tesla's version of texting is as robust as Android Auto's.

 

[jsmay311]

FYI... some text message capability got added with the 2019.40.50 software update. The implementation is not great so far, but it's better than nothing and hopefully it will get better in some future update.