I seriously can’t believe that I’m seeing multiple Tesla owners across multiple threads demanding that Tesla never make software changes. Maybe you (the general “you”, not anyone specifically) don’t think that’s what you’re doing (or even worse, maybe you do), but you’re telling them “don’t you dare take away feature X because I rely on it and if it disappears we riot!” Who knows what the next “feature X” turns out to be. Innovation isn’t always a smooth process, and things generally get broken along the way. Part of a designer/developer’s job is not to give the user what they SAY they want, but what they’re actually looking to get. Maybe they sometimes miss the mark, but that’s part of the cost of moving forward.
Obligatory relevant xkcd:
xkcd: Workflow
To top it all off, we’ve pretty much devolved into full out tribal warfare between multiple camps. It’s frankly embarrassing. A portion of the general population already looks at our cars and thinks we’re a bunch of rich entitled douchebags. Can we try NOT giving them further reason to think that, please?
Just my 2 cents if it counts....
Having been in the hi-tech industry for a long time I see the adoption of technology best practices at Tesla Motor Inc./Tesla Inc.
1. I genuinely understand the desire of folks that want a stable driving environment that they have mastered, and now it changes again!!! The desire is as I said real, but that would keep you frozen in time...perhaps Tesla may let you stay behind by a couple of versions in the future, since it is difficult/expensive to support multiple versions.
2. As with the iPhone the upgrades keep coming - some good features come in the new version - and some of your favorite ones (e.g. music library) dropped - to your frustration. The manufacturers however listen to the audience so please speak up about the features, as we have all a common interest - and that is to improve the quality of the product (which we have already paid for) and the new versions are free (so far). Recently am important iPhone X feature was reversed in the latest release. I am giving the example of Apple, since I believe that is exactly what is happening, but on a larger scale, where life and death situations can occur.
What I have also paid for, i think is these upgrades. It is easier for a manufacturer to sell a car and leave it alone. There may be some recalls on mechanical parts occasionally, of which 25% of the owners will take advantage of.
It is more difficult for a manufacturer to upgrade the SW, put it through extremely rigorous test under all possible conditions and then make a formal release - that adds features and also cleans up bugs and perhaps even speeds up SW (not car) performance - which are critical to your safety.
Considering the above, we may want to provide inputs to Tesla on the features (they may already know of most). Providing user/owner guidance to the developers, and help build a better SW for the car will be in all our interests. It appears, that the majority of the Intellectual Property (IP) is in the SW, which controls of all driving, suspension and other features. By providing these inputs (Positive and negative) I believe we will have a constantly improving car, perhaps the first in the industry.
The last time I upgraded my SW on another car, it was for my navigation maps
