Poll on V11 interface

[SMAlset]

I get the impression that there is a lot of, ‘what you are used to.....’, those who have had the car longer are bemoaning the changes very much as if someone came and relabeled all the dials and switches on your legacy car. Those who are new owners are happier as they never had the attachment to the older UI.
So perhaps a new poll, comparing how much you like/dislike the V11 against how long you’ve been driving a Tesla...

While learning a new UI isn’t fun for everyone, in this case going from the UI in v10 which gradually improved over time for drivers to v11, it’s clear to many on here that some of these placement changes aren’t logical for the majority of drivers and for driving safety.

No doubt in my mind Musk wants to train drivers to use voice commands and eventually AI to operate their cars. Making a current UI harder to use isn’t the way to get there.

 

[Stu Redman]

The only number I look at when navigating somewhere that is a tight fit for range is the estimated SOC at destination. If that number starts to decrease unacceptably then I know I will have to make changes in speed, Hvac, or route if possible. If it holds up, then I can enjoy myself and drive the car the way I want. If I want to see wh/mi., I’ll look at it after arrival as history. If I’m where I want to be and got there the way I wanted to drive, I don’t care what that number is. It’s irrelevant to enjoying the car.

 

[SteelClouds]

If everyone gets complacent and goes along with these poor decisions, in 10 years Tesla will no longer be the dominant player in this space. And we'll have lost something special. So people who are defending this UI are doing far more harm to Tesla than people who are upset about it--that harm may not show up in the next few quarterly reports, but several years from now it'll matter.

It won't be 10 years.. it will be under 5 at best. The market is exploding right now for EVs and anyone who makes a large mistake will instantly get left behind. And screwing up the UI/UX is a pretty major mistake. What would be worse is to screw up the UI and then get sued over an accident because someone was trying to use something as simple as a windshield wiper that everyone else has in plain sight. It would suck to have something as good as Tesla only to get wiped out by the "pinto effect" where a very stupid decision about a .50 cent part cost an entire product line. In this case, its even worse since it's all just software and could have been caught and fixed within a day or less if they had the proper staffing and decision process in place. Every day they wait, its just adding to the poor press and the poor "buzz".

And this really isn't about "choice" as much as I complain about my lack of choices with this current UI. It's about all the research and prior work done on effective and safe UI design they completely ignored. You can have choice AND be safe. They are not mutally exclusive. You just need to pay attention to what has been done prior. Something has simple as a gauge.. they have proved time and time again, it's easier for a human to look at a gauge and decide if the indicator is in the "right place" vs having to look at a number, interpret the number and then decide if it's correct or not. For any key control, you should not have to take your eyes off the road to use it.. hence analog knobs/buttons are far safer than digital dashboards. If I can't use my phone in my hand because it's a "distraction" then I should not be allowed to use this iPad of a screen while driving because it's an even worse distraction. If I can't see the screen on my dash clearly because some idiot decided that white on light grey was "pretty" and an accident happens because I, the driver, literally cannot see the information , you can bet that the company will be sued over it. This is why many dashboards/gauges are high contrast so you the driver/pilot etc do not need to strain to make out the information. Again, basic stuff.. validated many, many times. Its a pretty long list when you go over the details.

 

[CNC1]

Lol, in what word is remaining battery % meaningless? I guess you think a fuel gauge is meaningless in an ICE too?

ICE cars dont need to use extra fuiel to heat the cabin.
Also, last 20 years all my ICE cars were able to display "distance remain" just by ony click of the button. Just fuel level is basically meaningless as well. It is just not so critical to know how long i can drive ICE vehicle since i can find gas station literally around next corner.

 

[rmh9]

But why do you need to see your trip information when there is an icon showing your remaining battery %?

Trip meter and battery % are completely unrelated. Many of us use our cars for business related trips and need to track distance for specific trips during the day. You obviously don't use the trip meter which is fine, however for those of us who do, it's now more difficult than before the v11 update.

 

[SMAlset]

It's a mixed bag, but why does it have to be a one-UI-for-all scenario? Tesla should do what Apple did with the Apple Watch - let the users configure the presentation within certain boundaries. There are drivers here focused on FSD, others who might like driving data that was readable or controls easily accessible, and there might be some more interested in efficiency/range. I'm old school and visually oriented, so I like analogue gauges. Whatever - let the users decide.

And I think Tesla has offered that to a large degree and I like the customization. However where I part from this is that certain basic car info and function controls need to be in a standard place so anyone driving the car (family member or when you rent a car or lend to a friend) without thinking knows where this info/controls are.

 

[Sporty]

While learning a new UI isn’t fun for everyone, in this case going from the UI in v10 which gradually improved over time for drivers to v11, it’s clear to many on here that some of these placement changes aren’t logical for the majority of drivers and for driving safety.

No doubt in my mind Musk wants to train drivers to use voice commands and eventually AI to operate their cars. Making a current UI harder to use isn’t the way to get there.

How did the v10 ui improve over time? I recall features being added which was great. But I don’t recall existing UI features being improved to work better. Trash cans, traffic cones, and stop lights appeared in the ui - to me those are “new features”

Note I’m legitimately curious about the list. I think it would help to get some positive examples posted.

 

[Big Earl]

Remaining baterry in % is meaningless is you do not now power consumption.
Moreover, enegey screen where you can see how long you can drive before depleting batery was not kind of hidden even before. Now it worse.

The energy screen is not at all hidden. It’s in the app launcher just as it was before, but now you can pin it to your pinned apps, making it even more accessible than it was before.

In my opinion, the energy screen provides better energy consumption data than the trip odometer.

 

[Hurricane4911]

Er, you mean Vista? XP was pretty awesome for its time, and it lasted a very long time.

Hmmmm....
True.

More like Microsoft "Bob" ?

 

[DDHEverything]

ICE cars dont need to use extra fuiel to heat the cabin.
Also, last 20 years all my ICE cars were able to display "distance remain" just by ony click of the button. Just fuel level is basically meaningless as well. It is just not so critical to know how long i can drive ICE vehicle since i can find gas station literally around next corner.

What ICE cars use or don’t use fuel for is irrelevant. The vast majority of drivers need only to know the rough SOC of their vehicle in order to feel comfortable about their drive. Which makes this a very meaningful figure.

So now you have to “click” two “buttons?” Instead of one?

 

[Sporty]

It won't be 10 years.. it will be under 5 at best. The market is exploding right now for EVs and anyone who makes a large mistake will instantly get left behind.. … [stuff deleted]

I thought this before but it appears the other car companies can get out of there own way. The original roadster was amazing. No one had anything like it. So ok it’s new. 10 years later almost no change. Tesla announces another one and even the high end car companies are still caught flat footed. These guys are sleeping.

I agree that Tesla is giving the competition some very big opportunities. They are too slow to adapt. We bought an etron … years behind. Just got rid of it for another M3. I think new companies may have a better chance then existing ones.

 

[SMAlset]

The puzzling thing about the icon placement for TeslaCam and Sentry is that they removed them from the top of the display and buried them elsewhere without using that space that had them before. So why move them? They were in a very logical, visually noticeable spot on the screen before.

My husband put my device back in my car today after I had taken it out to check recordings using my laptop and he had no immediate visual on the screen it was now recording. Do not understand Tesla’s logic in some of these moves. Changes to the UI can’t come soon enough and hopefully make more sense to the driver.

BTW both my car (Model 3) and my husband’s (MS) are on the same software version. His MS displays the TeslaCam and Sentry icons still at the top of the display screen whereas they are absent on my car.

He’s able to tell immediately 1) if his dashcam is actively on (like after pulling and reinserting the USB device when it will be off until turned on or heck maybe the drive is even missing from your car) and 2) he can immediately tell if his car’s Sentry is active in a particular location (since you can exclude certain areas).

 

[DDHEverything]

Trip meter and battery % are completely unrelated. Many of us use our cars for business related trips and need to track distance for specific trips during the day. You obviously don't use the trip meter which is fine, however for those of us who do, it's now more difficult than before the v11 update.

If this is the root cause of your concerns than it fees exceptionally misplaced as you can still easily access trip data. It’s not like the update removed the function entirely.

 

[Baluchi]

I thought this before but it appears the other car companies can get out of there own way. The original roadster was amazing. No one had anything like it. So ok it’s new. 10 years later almost no change. Tesla announces another one and even the high end car companies are still caught flat footed. These guys are sleeping.

I agree that Tesla is giving the competition some very big opportunities. They are too slow to adapt. We bought an etron … years behind. Just got rid of it for another M3. I think new companies may have a better chance then existing ones.

The Chinese manufacturers are the ones to worry about.

 

[poppopmike]

Can anyone explain the difference in the dashcam behavior between "Manual" and "Auto" setting?

 

[PianoAl]

Musk wants to train drivers to use voice commands and eventually AI to operate their cars. Making a current UI harder to use

My impression is a designer who wanted the display super uncluttered bullied the others. That's the misguided philosophy behind the bad choices. For example, coverage display gone, profile gone, only 4 icons, no defrost, no seat heater icons, smaller AP indicator, no elapsed time for audio, and so on.

 

[Big Earl]

Can anyone explain the difference in the dashcam behavior between "Manual" and "Auto" setting?

Manual saves clips only when you tell it to. Automatic saves clips when the car thinks it’s necessary - when in an accident, with sudden deceleration, etc. I don’t know the exact triggers for automatic mode.

 

[PianoAl]

why does it have to be a one-UI-for-all scenario?

I agree, but developers don't like a lot of settings/options dialogs. That's why they do it that way.

 

[hatch]

This may be a crazy impossible dream.. but if Tesla UI engineers were so inclined, i'd love to see a software developer kit that would enable the community to develop skins. There HAS to be a safe way to re-arrange everything in a strictly cosmetic sense. There would always be a quick button to switch to the stock interface, for other drivers to use. Profiles could contain one or a few preferred skins.

The possibilities could be endless. There are many super smart people in our community. I could imagine this as one more advantage of owning a Tesla. There would be no other car with this type of capability. It's kind of like certain ICE car brands that have such great communities and so many aftermarket options. Tesla themselves, would not have to dig deep into everyone's complaints.

 

[PianoAl]

The puzzling thing about the icon placement for TeslaCam and Sentry is that they removed them from the top of the display and buried them elsewhere without using that space that had them before. So why move them?

Misguided Marie Kondo decluttering. I rarely use the map and have never needed to see the top millimeters of it.