Poll on V11 interface

[Boza]

I agree on the yoke. I wonder how much if a distraction it would be to make it pluggable and sell a few options on shop-tesla. That would be an awesome customization feature. If only…

Yes, imagine the new revenue source and positive brand awareness from customizable wheel, highly customizable interface… On the background of negativism the investment to allow such customizations seems to be trivial. But we may be dealing with “I know best” syndrome.

 

[kc1953]

Yes, imagine the new revenue source and positive brand awareness from customizable wheel, highly customizable interface… On the background of negativism the investment to allow such customizations seems to be trivial. But we may be dealing with “I know best” syndrome.

This is a question. I wonder how making Tesla 3/Y more customizable with Tesla Store plug-ins would impact Tesla’s streamlined and standardized manufacturing process which is based upon limited product line and limited options. I could see a migration to your suggested approach in the future as they get the cybertruck and other initiatives online as well as new manufacturing facilities. I think now Tesla may be maxed out on how many balls in the air they can juggle. But you are right, they need to continue to evolve to maintain success in the light of growing competition.

 

[Kevy Baby]

If they continue with such amateurish behavior, which is excusable for a startup but not for the largest manufacturer in the world, they will have a very, very tough time.

A company does not one day flip a switch from "Startup" to "Mature" company. They are in the process of building a company with a still very evolving technology and trying to make it profitable. I think they are on the right trajectory and Wall Street agrees. They are no longer a startup who can spend freely to perfect everything: they have to watch costs (and sometimes the cost cutting shows).

Many people in this thread are acting like V11 is a total and complete failure. Myself, I see it as a step in the right direction. Yeah, there's a lot that needs to be fixed and it really seems like they rushed it out too soon. But I like the overall direction. The level of complaining about having to push two buttons instead of one to get where you want is so overblown it makes me laugh. "I want everything to get better but I don't want to have to change what I do."

 

[jrweiss98020]

I think we will all have to get in the habit of engaging TACC and Autosteer when trying to access the menus. It may not be perfect, but will be a lot better than drifting off the road while trying to find the Fog Light switch...

 

[Transformer]

I think we will all have to get in the habit of engaging TACC and Autosteer when trying to access the menus. It may not be perfect, but will be a lot better than drifting off the road while trying to find the Fog Light switch...

Will autopilot automatically turn on the front defroster so it can see?

If so, it'd be the fastest way.

 

[SalisburySam]

I think we will all have to get in the habit of engaging TACC and Autosteer when trying to access the menus. It may not be perfect, but will be a lot better than drifting off the road while trying to find the Fog Light switch...

There’s that, don’t disagree. But now we’re inviting phantom braking back onto the scene…it never went away.

 

[smogne41]

I think we will all have to get in the habit of engaging TACC and Autosteer when trying to access the menus. It may not be perfect, but will be a lot better than drifting off the road while trying to find the Fog Light switch...

I don't have either one of those. Guess I am SOL then

 

[Boza]

A company does not one day flip a switch from "Startup" to "Mature" company. They are in the process of building a company with a still very evolving technology and trying to make it profitable. I think they are on the right trajectory and Wall Street agrees. They are no longer a startup who can spend freely to perfect everything: they have to watch costs (and sometimes the cost cutting shows).

Many people in this thread are acting like V11 is a total and complete failure. Myself, I see it as a step in the right direction. Yeah, there's a lot that needs to be fixed and it really seems like they rushed it out too soon. But I like the overall direction. The level of complaining about having to push two buttons instead of one to get where you want is so overblown it makes me laugh. "I want everything to get better but I don't want to have to change what I do."

Actually, you have an interesting point. This may be a failure of leadership to properly prioritize the limited resources.
Was the last used source, favorite apps, etc. more important than fantom braking, non-working auto wipers, the fact that I had to turn on and off the HVAC every time I want to control the rear seat warmers, etc?… Instead of totally changing the UI those resources might have been better deployed at fixing the old UI. Or, if they wanted to go to the next rev, bake it a bit more - with opt-in beta, UT, etc. I have not heard anyone actually previewing/testing V11 (outside of Tesla) before they forced it out in the wild. If it is delayed - so be it. They already have an established practice to delay products. At this point their customers are not only early adopters; there are many mainstream people who don’t tolerate well beta products.

 

[Transformer]

Many people in this thread are acting like V11 is a total and complete failure. Myself, I see it as a step in the right direction. Yeah, there's a lot that needs to be fixed and it really seems like they rushed it out too soon. But I like the overall direction. The level of complaining about having to push two buttons instead of one to get where you want is so overblown it makes me laugh. "I want everything to get better but I don't want to have to change what I do."

Would more context make these posts less easily misinterpreted? Here's a try, at the cost of length:

Model 3 is my favorite car and I used to look forward to software improvements. I'm not bothered by change, even change for change's sake. Still, designers should aim for improvements. Standard practice is to usability-test each change with a variety of users (drivers) in challenging real-world conditions. Experiment, test, and iterate. And changes that are problems for some people should be optional. Don't delete features and driving status info.

V11 has improvements like making the dash/sentry cam states and trip info discoverable.

Honestly, some of us lack the dexterity of video game skillz. I played video games before there were any commercial video games but was never good at them. So please try to empathize that every screen tap takes my eyes off road a worrisome amount of time in traffic + rain. OK if y'all don't see that but it's bad that Tesla's UI team didn't imagine it or discover it via usability testing.

V11 appears to have some larger tap targets, which is great. (I'm estimating from demo videos and screen shots, having decided to wait for improvements before installing it.)

Some of us lack the visual acuity to rapidly refocus from the road to small/faint text on the screen. It's great that V11 moves the speedometer closer to the driver, but why make it yet smaller? (And why put unusable buttons on the driving screen, like dash cam viewer and toy box, while removing buttons like defroster and dash cam status+capture?)

My beef is about usability (not preferences) of critical driving functions. Yes, I know you can tap the stalk button then tap in the wiper control panel. I've found it challenging to switch hands, find the target, and tap before it disappears. (A suggestion was to operate the stalk and steering wheel with the same hand even though they don't move together. I'll try that next time.) It's a big improvement in V11 that you can swipe up from the bottom of the screen to get a control panel. (Undocumented?) I'd love to see more improvements like that for taking action while watching the road. I know voice commands can sometimes work around the limited physical controls, and that Tesla wants to automate everything, but these are inadequate today.

I'm a big fan of Tesla's mission and don't want the world's best EVs to be unsuitable for any driver, so it's sad to see software changes making things harder for some drivers. And TBH, I need my not-tech-savvy spouse to share the driving on road trips.

I'm patient about waiting for fixes but let's not crash in the meantime. And yes, they've been busy, but a year after Elon promised to fix the shrunken text and map, they've instead added yet more toys and games. That tells us their UI team really doesn't care.

 

[Automobilist]

I think it should be noted that v11 has done a lot to improve the size of touch targets in the interface and bring a lot of controls closer to the driver.

Sure the defroster controls are currently 1 level deeper now, but I think if people are being honest here it was not exactly easy to reliably hit some of the relatively small and cluttered icons in the v10 launcher. Or try hitting something like the Bluetooth or dashcam icons (which were all the way in the corner of the screen furthest from the driver) while driving 60 mph on an uneven road.

I’d argue that apart from what people are used to. It’s less distracting and more reliable to pull up the car menu and hit the giant dashcam button that now shows up rather than trying to repeatedly poke at the tiny icon in v10 while being tossed around on a typical SoCal or NorCal freeway at speed.

Sounds like just moving the defroster and seat heater controls to the launcher (at least as an option) would probably address 60 - 70% of the criticism I’ve seen of the new UI, I hope they do that so that so as to end this whole discussion.

 

[Boza]

Sounds like just moving the defroster and seat heater controls to the launcher (at least as an option) would probably address 60 - 70% of the criticism I’ve seen of the new UI, I hope they do that so that so as to end this whole discussion.

Sounds simple, right? Yet, it was not done prior to release. Wonder why?…

 

[lensovet]

I’d argue that apart from what people are used to. It’s less distracting and more reliable to pull up the car menu and hit the giant dashcam button that now shows up

In principle I would agree. In practice however the old position made it possible to brace your hand against the top of the display and keep it there while you kept your eyes on the road. The new position is in the middle of the screen together with a bunch of other stuff and is not any closer really. And does not provide any physical anchor point either as it’s too far away from any edge.

The same is true for the defroster btw.

 

[PianoAl]

For the record, I was trying to create a humorous thread for things like, "Ever since I installed the latest update, my cat gets car sick on long trips" or "Ever since I installed the latest update there's a humming noise from the tires."

It was prompted by many threads in which the posters figure that something they saw is related to an update (not just V11).

 

[RyanS]

Here is my wish list

1. Add defrost, heat seater, and wiper icons to the main screen icon by adding them to the customizable App Launcher
2. Please bring back the unified music favorites. Perhaps put stream, radio, and Spotify as sub-menu under the music icon. (Just like V10). I just need to see all my favorites in one spot.
3. Get rid of the last used icons. (Taking valuable space). Allow us to have two more pinned icons.
4. Dual passenger temperature controls are a waste of valuable space. V10‘s single temperature was working fine. Maybe add two more pinned icons instead of passenger temp.
5. Move the blind-spot cam to the map area. I recommend placing the right blind spot on the right side of the screen and the left blind spot on the left side of the screen. Just use the same location where the backup camera and side views appear. It will make it easy for me to figure out which view I am looking at.
6. Put the supercharging station icon or pin on the map.
7. Put the driver profile and dashcam icon on the main screen. Four people are using my M3 and need to know which profile. Sometimes I need to record dashcam quickly without honking. No time to go to control setting
8. Put the estimated battery capacity and round trip capacity on the navigation view. It is now at the bottom of the overview (I often use this to plan for charging when I am traveling a long distance.)
9. Put the navigation view button back.
10. Make the speedometer bigger and bold. And make fonts bigger. Old people also drive Tesla
11. Put the autopilot icon next to the cruise control
12. Use the standard blue color for on and off. I.e. seat warmer auto on/off is confusing
13. Please give us an option to switch the map view and the speedometer view. I want to place the map view to the left and the speedometer view to the right. My right hand is always blocking the blind spot view.
14. Waze app?

 

[SalisburySam]

After 3½ years of Model 3 ownership, 86 software updates, and the v11 debacle that v44.30.2, I‘ve got a wish list that is increasingly biased away from the UI. So my list, albeit radical in a horrific way against “the mission,” is:

1. Remove screen controls for wipers, HVAC control, defroster, and defogger, heated wheel (for those lucky enough to have this), and heated seats entirely. Replace with proper manual button and stalk equivalents.
2. Lose the driving visualization for all but close-in parking where the ultrasonic sensor readings can actually be helpful.
3. Put a HUD in the dash projecting speed and speed limit onto the windshield. Include turn signal blinking arrows and whatever the next navigation turn is and distance to it. Include a resettable odometer.
4. Let the kiddies in the UI playpen do wtf ever they want with the rest of the interface knowing they canNOT screw up driving the car anymore.
5. Oh yeah, and implement dumb cruise control. I may have mentioned that elsewhere too.

 

[Boza]

It is not that radical. It is called “air gap” and it is a very common concept in critical systems design.

 

[smogne41]

After 3½ years of Model 3 ownership, 86 software updates, and the v11 debacle that v44.30.2, I‘ve got a wish list that is increasingly biased away from the UI. So my list, albeit radical in a horrific way against “the mission,” is:

1. Remove screen controls for wipers, HVAC control, defroster, and defogger, heated wheel (for those lucky enough to have this), and heated seats entirely. Replace with proper manual button and stalk equivalents.
2. Lose the driving visualization for all but close-in parking where the ultrasonic sensor readings can actually be helpful.
3. Put a HUD in the dash projecting speed and speed limit onto the windshield. Include turn signal blinking arrows and whatever the next navigation turn is and distance to it. Include a resettable odometer.
4. Let the kiddies in the UI playpen do wtf ever they want with the rest of the interface knowing they canNOT screw up driving the car anymore.
5. Oh yeah, and implement dumb cruise control. I may have mentioned that elsewhere too.

Our only hope for most of that is probably the aftermarket. A lot of what you mention already can be done with aftermarket products, but kinda in a piecemeal way. If Tesla does not relent on V11 to a large degree more of those 3rd party solutions will have a lot more pressure to happen hopefully. I would also like to see more open source community projects for a lot of this stuff (very much in a similar vein to what Ryan Huber has done with the magnificent Model 3 wheel+stalk transplant into the new Model S).

 

[father_of_6]

Truly, I think the best solution would be to open it up. Provide an SDK so that owners can create their own UIs. Then everyone can have what they want. People who want v10 can have it, people who want to make their own can, and people that want to stay on course for the next bad update can.

 

[smogne41]

Truly, I think the best solution would be to open it up. Provide an SDK so that owners can create their own UIs. Then everyone can have what they want. People who want v10 can have it, people who want to make their own can, and people that want to stay on course for the next bad update can.

Unfortunately I don't expect any help from Tesla in that regard. Whatever we do to our cars will be in spite of them. From Tesla I only expect something between total indifference to full hostility, but I would love to be proven wrong.

 

[Transformer]

Truly, I think the best solution would be to open it up. Provide an SDK so that owners can create their own UIs. Then everyone can have what they want.

I'd be happy if Tesla got professional about safety- and security-critical UI and QA. Maybe automakers need NHTSA to set requirements on this including HAZOP methodology.

I'd love an accessory that adds physical controls. (S3XY buttons don't yet include the important features.)