Smart Preconditioning

[ArtInCT]

If they can develop AutoPilot, this has to be simple in comparison. I don't know why it's been so slow to develop.

Tomp: Tesla implemented Mobileye's "autopilot" (Lane Keeping) in the S and X. What percentage of that which was "Developed" by Tesla is unknown. Based upon what I have read, Tesla working with Mobileye did a lot of work to customize the data for the Tesla specific displays and much back end work for the so called "Learning" on the neural network and database.

Regarding the Tesla Nav Software, what we do not know or understand is who is the creator and upgrader for Tesla Navigation. For all we know, Tesla Nav could be a purchased software "product", with the tribal knowledge of the code and rights being held by a 3rd party. When I worked for DEC, IBM, EMC, HP, there were MANY MANY software products that we sold and marketed and all customers thought we created them. Then come to find out, the software was actually developed and licensed with royalty fees to the big guys by a very quiet smaller firms which stayed in the shadows. This is very common in the computer industry. Examples of this were compilers, network analysis tools, networking software and the list goes on an on.

 

[tomp]

Interesting, thanks! I was thinking of the "learning" capability of autopilot and assumed that Tesla was responsible for that in-house neural network or other algorithm(s) they use. Thus I figured it would be easy to implement smart preconditioning as compared to driving the car

Thanks again.

Nonetheless, it sure would be great if they could improve this function. If nothing else, it could look at your calendar to determine when to turn the HVAC on, based simply on when events are scheduled - or have it look for events with specific wording that tells the car you intend to drive it ("drive to work" or "drive home")

Tomp: Tesla implemented Mobileye's "autopilot" (Lane Keeping) in the S and X. What percentage of that which was "Developed" by Tesla is unknown. Based upon what I have read, Tesla working with Mobileye did a lot of work to customize the data for the Tesla specific displays and much back end work for the so called "Learning" on the neural network and database.

Regarding the Tesla Nav Software, what we do not know or understand is who is the creator and upgrader for Tesla Navigation. For all we know, Tesla Nav could be a purchased software "product", with the tribal knowledge of the code and rights being held by a 3rd party. When I worked for DEC, IBM, EMC, HP, there were MANY MANY software products that we sold and marketed and all customers thought we created them. Then come to find out, the software was actually developed and licensed with royalty fees to the big guys by a very quiet smaller firms which stayed in the shadows. This is very common in the computer industry. Examples of this were compilers, network analysis tools, networking software and the list goes on an on.

 

[bancroftc]

Preconditioning update -

Checked my app last night around 8pm, had been home a few hours and the car was plugged in and charging. Preconditioning was active!? I don't think I've ever driven the car during this time. So far, the only times i've noticed preconditioning being active are at completely random times when I'm hours away from my usual driving times. So strange.

My $400 iphone can figure out when I leave to/from work every day and pops up a little notification telling me what the drive time + traffic is on the way, in advance of my departure. Every day, spot on.

I can't imagine it's THAT hard to program something that says "hey, if this car leaves X location, at Y time, within a Z minute time window, 70% of the time, then I will start preconditioning 30 mins before time Y at location X." I'm no computer programmer, but I could probably make a crude excel spreadsheet to manually log this data and come up with a reasonable preconditioning schedule within a couple weeks. Accuracy of preconditioning could be significantly improved by recognizing when climate control has been activated manually via the app.

I'll take manual/scheduled preconditioning as a happy alternative! I realize I'm beating a dead horse here, but it seems pretty simple.

Am I off base here?

 

[Max*]

It's fairly easy to do, Google has done it, Nest has done it before they were acquired by Google, etc.

Not only that, if Tesla gave us the schedule that Nest gives you, I can adjust it as I please and tada the "smart" preconditioning becomes regular precondition, and is a feature I'd use. As it stands, it's off.

 

[blanche]

It's fairly easy to do, Google has done it, Nest has done it before they were acquired by Google, etc.

The funny thing is that Tesla has also done it. When I drive in to work in the morning, I get a warning pop up about an extra long commute due to traffic. I had to go into settings and tell it to only notify me of an alternate route if traffic delays were greater than 15 minutes.

So clearly, the car knows when I'm going to work; why it can't precondition of shore power reliably for the morning commute is beyond me.

 

[tomp]

I think a key difference with the nav 'thing' is that it doesn't need to anticipate your actions. It just has to check "is the car at location X" and "is the time to get to location Y longer than Z (minutes)". But with smart preconditioning, it has to anticipate the time at which you will leave for work, and turn the HVAC on in advance.

The funny thing is that Tesla has also done it. When I drive in to work in the morning, I get a warning pop up about an extra long commute due to traffic. I had to go into settings and tell it to only notify me of an alternate route if traffic delays were greater than 15 minutes.

So clearly, the car knows when I'm going to work; why it can't precondition of shore power reliably for the morning commute is beyond me.

 

[bancroftc]

So I was just thinking about this as my car is yet again preconditioning itself in the garage at night right now. My car is on the last leg of its charging cycle and I'm wondering if the preconditioning is running as a way to cool the battery or something like that? My garage is warm tonight so perhaps it's possible the battery is getting too warm? That's assuming that the air conditioning system can actually cool the battery (which it might not)? As soon as I typed that I'm thinking back to my older ICE vehicles and how AC could actually overheat the engine in certain conditions. Would that cause similar conditions in an EV? If that's the case then my whole hypothesis here would be wrong. Who knows.