Software 8.0 Likes/Dislikes for Pre-Autopilot Model S

[SeminoleFSU]

2nd place annoyance is the left hand steering wheel controls with audio:

Before v8 these cycled through the source you were on. I like bouncing between FM stations just to hear what's on, especially in a new city when traveling when no favorites are set.

Now the v8 behavior is it cycles through all media player favorites, meaning it spans over different sources so if I press up or down and reach the end of FM stations instead of taking me back to the other side of the frequency range, it switches to a tune-in or slacker favorite. What the???

 

[Fabio]

Like

• Flash drives are not called "USB1" and "USB2" but instead show the volume name of the device.
• The turn-by-turn navigation in the instrument display zooms out when I'm driving fast, showing more of the map and zooms in as I slow. It also has a small vertical visual indicator showing how close I am to my next turn.
• When the driver or front passenger does not have the seat belt buckled and the car is moving, a graphic of the car indicates the infraction.
• The swipe-down-to-navigate-to-home-or-work feature isn't intuitive but is very handy once you know it's there.
• The media player now has controls on the left part of the screen and the song/artist/album on the right. This means my hand isn't in the way of the song information and I can reach the controls more easily.
• The missing icon bar raises the navigation directions upward by an inch on the display making written navigation slightly easier to see while driving.
• I can now display up to four trip meters on the instrument display, the normal two plus Trip A and Trip B, which can be renamed now.

Dislike (or disappointed to still not have)

• A flash drive name that includes a space shows up with a placeholder code instead of the space.
• Still haven't fixed hilariously incorrect album art for USB and Bluetooth songs and podcasts.
• There is still no outside temperature on the top of the 17" display for the passenger. My passengers miss that from Version 6.0 very much.
• The clock is sometimes hard to read on the upper right corner of the 17" display now that the icon bar is gone.
• I can't see how strong my cellular signal is without touching the 17" display. (It's sometimes relevant to explain why my music or maps aren't loading normally.)

+ Like: Album Art for USB does come from the song metadata.

 

[BTA2222]

I've decided for me the worst part about the v8 upgrade is the removal of audio source from the steering wheel controls. I run nav on top and Waze in browser on bottom of the IC permanently. I change media sources quite often to check traffic then flip back to music, or listen to talk radio then on commercial break listen to tunes before coming back. The V7 process was:
1) hit menu on right steering wheel control
2) select choice with right steering wheel dial

Now the v8 process is:
1) take eyes off the road and reach over to IC and tap nav to bring down hidden top icons
2) tap media app
3) hit the source I want on MP app
4) tap and hold browser to drag it back to bottom screen where it was
5) eyes back on the road

Couldn't agree more. I use camera and nav on main UI, so changing sources is now clumsy and dangerous. Elon will point at the new left wheel controls to toggle favorites, but that doesn't allow you to change the source (specifically there is no way to get to Bluetooth via favorites). What anyone gained by removing "media source" from the right wheel controls is beyond me. It's as if they removed it to avoid duplicative control....but all the remaining right wheel controls (sunroof, temp, brightness, etc) are also duplicatively controlled via main UI (and equally clumsy to get to while driving). Who beta tests this stuff? How does this kind of blatant exclusion make it into the release?

 

[BTA2222]

Is there an email address at which Tesla can be contacted directly about these issues?

 

[JPP]

I've decided for me the worst part about the v8 upgrade is the removal of audio source from the steering wheel controls. I run nav on top and Waze in browser on bottom of the IC permanently. I change media sources quite often to check traffic then flip back to music, or listen to talk radio then on commercial break listen to tunes before coming back. The V7 process was:
1) hit menu on right steering wheel control
2) select choice with right steering wheel dial

Now the v8 process is:
1) take eyes off the road and reach over to IC and tap nav to bring down hidden top icons
2) tap media app
3) hit the source I want on MP app
4) tap and hold browser to drag it back to bottom screen where it was
5) eyes back on the road

...and meanwhile you are covering 88 feet of highway every second your eyes are off the road and on the touchscreen....distracted driving imposed by a bad UI...

 

[SeminoleFSU]

To revise my list, #4 is just a tap I don't have to drag it back on the lower screen since they have given the nav up some persistent behavior on the top half of the IC. To voice your concerns to a proper e-mail address: [email protected]

 

[Electric Joe]

I've seen several rants regarding USB flash drive audio browsing but had not actually spent time with it until today. Wow. I'm not going to rewrite the rants that are already out there, but yeah, it's really, really bad. I tend to give software developers the benefit of the doubt and give them time to work out bugs, but I can understand why people are so angry about this serious regression. The problems the new USB browser create are so obvious after using it for 60 seconds that it's clear that the developers aren't actually using it themselves.

 

[AmpedRealtor]

I would encourage everyone to tweet their disapprovals to @ElonMusk on Twitter. He needs to hear from owners.

 

[Electric Joe]

I would encourage everyone to tweet their disapprovals to @ElonMusk on Twitter. He needs to hear from owners.

Could work, but I wonder if that is really the best way, going through the CEO for a software complaint. Maybe an email to [email protected] would be more appropriate.

 

[brooklynrab]

Could work, but I wonder if that is really the best way, going through the CEO for a software complaint. Maybe an email to [email protected] would be more appropriate.

No matter how you give them your feedback, they don't care and won't listen, take my word for it. If they did, a lot of old problems would have been solved years ago, just by viewing this website. It's got to tickle Elon's fancy to get dealt with, and the things we care about usually get little attention -- or they make it worse, possibly out of spite (ok, the last part is a joke.... kind of).

 

[bob_p]

It was understandable we had limited software functionality and quality issues when we received our P85 in early 2013.

But it's almost 4 years later - and while Tesla has added more features, compared to other manufacturers (or smartphone applications), the onboard "infotainment" software has limited functionality and continues to have obvious problems.

When other manufacturers start selling long range EVs (beginning with the Bolt in a few months), Tesla will begin to get serious competition - and the state of the onboard software may start impacting revenue, unless they are working now on adding the missing functionality and making the process changes needed to avoid major bugs getting into new product releases.

 

[AmpedRealtor]

Could work, but I wonder if that is really the best way, going through the CEO for a software complaint. Maybe an email to [email protected] would be more appropriate.

Tesla's software releases have been so dysfunctional lately that the CEO should know about all the frustration out there. For instance, Musk didn't even know that his own company was discounting vehicles until just a couple of days ago, prompting a memo to all employees. It seems the software team is not doing a very good job, so someone above that level needs to step in to fix it.

 

[Owner]

It is just a mess. I prefer 7.x

1. I can zoom myself thank you - new auto-zoom mapping feature no way to control.
2. USB Media support
3. No way to have a sticky camera in lower window


8.0 Update

 

[AmpedRealtor]

That's what we get when Talulah Riley is put in charge of software development...

 

[hmmm]

In addition to all the above, one more thing that was "omitted" from the release notes:

The fact that the AC set-up has changed:

1) You overall have to crank the fan speed much (and I mean MUCH) higher than before to get similar cabin temp (for example: from a 2 to a 6/7 to keep the cabin @ 72 once you have it cooled down to that temp, 75F outside). Much louder fans and uses more energy too.
2) AC Auto settings are overwritten w/o your knowledge: recirc now needs the fan to be set @ 4 or above. If you reduce fan speed below 4, it auto switches it to fresh outside air. If I am sitting in stop and go traffic behind a VW diesel ICE, no thanks.

Call me crazy, but I'd like to be able to control my AC settings or at least be made aware of this change so I can decide to not upgrade.

 

[Lump]

I think Elon is reading this thread, he just posted this on Instagram

Instagram photo by Elon Musk • Oct 4, 2016 at 5:34pm UTC

 

[Electric Joe]

I think I know the answer, but is there any practical way to roll back to 7.x?

 

[Camera-Cruiser]

Maybe we can do a Kickstarter to get Tesla a decent UI/UX designer? Maybe starting with a guy who actually drives a car?

Almost worth it for the press coverage alone.

 

[apacheguy]

I think I know the answer, but is there any practical way to roll back to 7.x?

Sure, the MCU does store a copy of the previous version. You'd need root access tho to initiate the rollback.

 

[markn455]

Please don't take any offense but "overall" I think it is an improvement. I especially like the improvements with TuneIn. We can now search and find podcast such as Tesla related podcasts like "Ride the Lightning" and "Tesla Tidbits", there may be more. There are lots of really good features in this new release. I agree there are some things like "auto-zoom", the disappearing tool bar when navigating, missing alphabetical listing in the media player, etc., which need work and user preferences added. I am sure they will digest the feedback and fine tune some things in updated iterations of the software. This is a BIG change and I am sure some of it will take some getting use to. We may find new ways to do some of the things we used to do.

Navigation is one that I think they really fall short. What they added is appreciated but when you have one of the most widely used navigation engines under the covers (Garmin), I would think they could expose some more functionality that is common place in their dashboard GPS devices and built-in navigation in some other brands.

Navigation Wants/Improvements Needed

• Posted Speed Limits for Non-A/P MS (common even in low-end GPS devices)
• Ability to save named routes (on-line and then send to the car, or locally in the car, perhaps both)
• Learned preferred route to routine destinations such as Home & Work. The navigation keeps trying to send me the wrong way on a one-way road or come up a one lane dirt road. Once I ignore the navigation multiple times, it should learn not to route me on that road anymore.
• Be able to enter a list of "avoids" so navigation will never route you through marked roads or areas.
• The list could go on and on.

There are other items many areas of the new software I might do differently but I am just one person. It's going to take weeks or months for Tesla to consider all the feedback and make adjustments. Bottom line, this is a great first effort with 8.0. With professional feedback and suggestions I expect we will see great things come out of this next generation user interface.