Proposal: Tesla Native App - 'Gestures'

[ohmman]

I got to thinking about the 17" interface.

One of the downsides to the multi-touch display is that there’s no tactile feedback. I don’t think it turns out to be a huge issue most of the time, but certainly having physical buttons makes it easier to navigate without looking. I was thinking how that could be rectified, and I came up with the idea of a “Gestures” app. Initially I was thinking they could support gestures inside of each app, and I suppose they could. But this idea is slightly different.

The idea of the Gestures app would be to bring up a single or double panel of grey or black. Tracing one or multiple fingers across draws a trail until your fingers are lifted. At this point the gesture is processed and executed. I would imagine that the easiest way to develop this would be to support only "official gestures" without configuration ability. I'm sure you can use your imagination on what could be done, but some ideas would be:

slide two fingers down - temperature down
slide two fingers up - temperature up
single finger circle - enable recirc
double finger circle - enable bioweapon defense (MX)
slide three fingers down - open sunroof
slide three fingers up - close sunroof

Obviously there are endless options. The upside should be clear - you don’t have to take your eyes off of the road and navigate to the location of the button. You also don’t have to drop through menus. The downsides are development and a potentially overwhelming learning curve for owners.

An add on for this would be to mirror the gesture in one of the IC panels when a gesture is being drawn. I don’t think one would have to take their eyes off of the road, but that might help.

Discuss.

 

[Max*]

I like the idea, as a geek.

As a user, I would never use it.

I've never used gestures in any of the apps on my phone that support them. The main reason? I can't remember what I set the damn thing to. Was it 2 fingers or 1 finger? What exactly happens if I go up or down or sideways? What letter was I supposed to write on the screen to get Google to show up?

 

[ohmman]

I would argue that you probably use some gestures that are "built in" and native. Two finger scrolling, pinch and zoom, etc. I use them on my Mac trackpad all the time.. but I might be an exception.

 

[Max*]

I would argue that you probably use some gestures that are "built in" and native. Two finger scrolling, pinch and zoom, etc. I use them on my Mac trackpad all the time.. but I might be an exception.

Don't know what two-finger scrolling does, or if Android supports it. But yes, pinch and zoom I do use. I was specifically referring to in-app gestures (Chrome, Swype, ete.)

 

[Bangor Bob]

Douglas Adams (RIP) showed us where this would go, many, many years ago:

For years radios had been operated by means of pressing buttons and turning dials; then as the technology became more sophisticated the controls were made touch-sensitive—you merely had to brush the panels with your fingers; now all you had to do was wave your hand in the general direction of the components and hope. It saved a lot of muscular expenditure, of course, but meant that you had to sit infuriatingly still if you wanted to keep listening to the same program. - Hitchiker's Guide To The Galaxy

 

[BertL]

I personally like the idea. I too don't use many gestures on my Mac, iPhone or iPad, but there are a few I make use of all the time. I'd likely do the same if my MS had the capability... The two or three I remembered and were used most often would be the ones I'd use.

 

[Soolim]

I got to thinking about the 17" interface.

One of the downsides to the multi-touch display is that there’s no tactile feedback. I don’t think it turns out to be a huge issue most of the time, but certainly having physical buttons makes it easier to navigate without looking. I was thinking how that could be rectified, and I came up with the idea of a “Gestures” app. Initially I was thinking they could support gestures inside of each app, and I suppose they could. But this idea is slightly different.

The idea of the Gestures app would be to bring up a single or double panel of grey or black. Tracing one or multiple fingers across draws a trail until your fingers are lifted. At this point the gesture is processed and executed. I would imagine that the easiest way to develop this would be to support only "official gestures" without configuration ability. I'm sure you can use your imagination on what could be done, but some ideas would be:

slide two fingers down - temperature down
slide two fingers up - temperature up
single finger circle - enable recirc
double finger circle - enable bioweapon defense (MX)
slide three fingers down - open sunroof
slide three fingers up - close sunroof

Obviously there are endless options. The upside should be clear - you don’t have to take your eyes off of the road and navigate to the location of the button. You also don’t have to drop through menus. The downsides are development and a potentially overwhelming learning curve for owners.

An add on for this would be to mirror the gesture in one of the IC panels when a gesture is being drawn. I don’t think one would have to take their eyes off of the road, but that might help.

Discuss.

You have to wait for Apple to do it. Not priority in the eyes of Tesla, as it may not be so news worthy.

 

[AmpedRealtor]

2016 BMW 7 Series has gesture controls. It's very cool. In many respects, BMW and others are far ahead of Tesla in the technology department.

 

[ohmman]

2016 BMW 7 Series has gesture controls. It's very cool. In many respects, BMW and others are far ahead of Tesla in the technology department.

It's not a huge dev challenge, so I just thought it seemed like a neat way to keep people's eyes on the road. Especially as they add more features to the center screen.