Suggestions for V11 Rework/Improvements

[drtimhill]

(Started in a new thread to focus on constructive suggestions to improve UI rather than just complaints...)

Ok, so here is my list of things that I think need to be changed/improved in V11, and how I think they should be changed. Of course, this is just my personal opinion, but I've attempted to integrate in some of the issues raised generally in some of the threads here. Also, this is purely aimed at M3/MY, obviously with the different screens MS/MX will differ somewhat.

Basic UI Panel Layout
I'm assuming we keep the basic split screen with "cars-eye view" on the left and map on the right (for left-hand drive cars, but most items mirrored for RHD cars). I'll also assume that you can do the new V11 swipe to expand the cars-eye view to full screen and back again (I think this will ne necessary as FSD gets closer to release).

There should be three basic sets of control panels, each associated with "fixed" buttons on the bottom toolbar (that are always present):

• Driver (Car icon, on far left to be close to driver) Access to all driving-related controls.
• Entertainment (Music Note icon on left, Volume Control icon on far right) Access to music, games, toys, and video streaming.
• Comfort (Temperature display/icon on left and right) Access to HVAC, heat seaters, window controls (child locks) dog mode, camp mode etc.

The icon positions are chosen so driver has easy access to driver icon, and both driver/passenger have access to the entertainment and comfort panels. Tapping the buttons brings up the appropriate panel. Tap again to hide the panel, or swipe down to hide (but see below). Notice that this layout needs only five buttons to access ANY of the panels, leaving a lot of space in the center of the toolbar (see below).

This simple layout is aimed at new users. The focus is on logical layout with as few "secret tricks" as possible to allow "sit and drive" (especially good for Hertz renters etc!).

Panel Details
All the panels share the same basic layout .. a pop-up that covers the map (but not the cars-eye view, meaning Comfort panel gets a new layout) with tabs in a column on the left. Each panel can be fully open (showing all controls), or partly open (just a thin bar along the bottom, like the Music panel did in V10), showing basic controls (so Driver panel can show stuff like wipers, Entertainment can show stuff like stop/play/volume, and Comfort can show heat seaters etc). These can of course also pop-up automatically in response to e.g. pressing wiper button or operating the left scroll wheel to change volume.

Panels should follow the V10 "low-density" control layout where possible, and use consistent UI conventions (not the mix of blue and gray for selected as present). Control buttons should be large with decent "dead areas" to avoid false selections. Control outlines should be designed for readability (higher contrast than the current light-gray on white nonsense).

Top Status Bar
The various items across the top status bar are informational, and not controls (with a few special cases, noted below). However, each control can be tapped to change the format. So you can tap the battery icon to change between percent/miles, or the clock icon to change between 12/24 hour format, the outside temp between F/C degrees, speed buttons to switch between MPH and km/h etc. Note that each of these choices can also be made on the appropriate UI panel .. tapping them is just a shortcut.

Technical status like BT, WiFi, driver profile etc stay in the Driver panel as per V11. However, when getting in the car, the Driver profile appears as a pop-up allowing quick access to driver profiles (but this vanishes when the car is put in drive/reverse).

Favorites
Each tab in the panels, and many of the individual controls (e.g. seat heaters, wiper speeds etc) should have a small "star" (aka favorite) icon next to them. While the car is parked (and only then), tapping this icon will add (or remove) the control or panel tab to the bottom toolbar, allowing direct access to the desired control or panel tab. These favorite buttons should be "smart", and not only access the function but show its current state (e.g. seat heater on/off etc).

The car should probably ship with a set of default favorites (seat heaters, back/front defoggers etc).

Individual Items
Some items need to be moved as they are not logically placed:

• The "Pedals & ... " tab in the Driver panel should be renamed "Driver Setup". It's a stupid name atm.
• The Steering and Wing mirror adjustment buttons should move to "Driver Setup" panel (out of Quick Controls). This groups all items that should only be done when parked into a single tab.
• The front/rear defrost buttons should move to the Quick Controls tab in the Driver panel. (They do NOT belong in comfort, they are nothing to do with comfort, the fact that they are implemented as heat is irrelevant.)

Open Items
I've not addressed popups here .. they are currently a mess, and can cause confusion between convenience popups (wipers), warnings (seat belts) and assists (blind spot cameras). This clearly needs addressing, but perhaps another day

 

[OxBrew]

That's a great start, and could be refined to work much better than v11 or v10, but another UI change that big won't happen anytime soon.

I think the best we can hope for is adding more customized controls to the lower bar (seat heaters defrost, old style music, whatever), add network connections/driver profile (persistent) back to the top bar, clean up the navigation, move the blind spot image somewhere better.

I disagree with vanishing driver profile. I need constant reminders for where key stuff is. Vanishing anything is a mind map mess, bad enough on a laptop, horrible in a car. If it should be hidden sometimes (like acceleration mode) bury it in a lower level screen. Permanent controls/indicators around the edge of the screen need to never change, period.

The goal should be drivers can learn such strong habits for all the basic controls that they never think about them. Then never change the UI/UX enough to break those habits.

Sure, roll out big future updates in new deliveries, as long as they make sense, but never break the in grained habits of existing owners (unless they opt-in and are hit over the head with education that this is basically a new car).

 

[jrweiss98020]

Move side warning camera screen to TOP left of display.

Remove separate right-side climate control when not in Split condition. Put defrosters back there.

Remove Toybox from bottom menu strip. Replace with Wipers, and move it to the left.

Make Mirror adjustment button more easily identifiable (different color).

Put Fog Lights back in quick Controls.

 

[Pyro]

Allow users to customize their own screen. Just like every smart phone, tablet and computer screen.

 

[luispa]

Hi I'm a newby here... only a couple of months with a MY... But I had the opportunity to first learn v10 so now with v11 is different and agreed on bringing back defrosters, profile, even LTE/Wifi signals, trip info, even opening a glovebox is complicated now (I mean 2+ steps)...

My biggest concern and change that I will do is to move the bottom bar to the top... while driving I noticed that looking at the bottom part of the screen is more dangerous, while looking down to do a command or change music, you always have to look down and totally lose sight over the road... what if this bar is on the top... you'll be distracted as well, I know, but you'll get some visibility over the road.

Totally agreed with Pyro, design a command dashboard, like the ones on home automation that you can design buttons w/icons for certain actions/commands. So you can have this dashboard on the main screen where you can have your favorite actions/commands to execute them instantly. I think the answer from Tesla will be that use voice commands... I understand, but I don't like to do voice commands while I'm listening music or when I have a baby sleeping on the back and everything is quiet, also it will be way faster to press a button than press the voice command, give the instruction an wait to be executed... I think that this idea will be a huge improvement to the Tesla OS...

 

[Xdama]

Shrink the daft car on the road size to half it’s current size, no other car manufacturers show your own car going past trucks, traffic cones, other cars etc, it’s pointless. Flash it up when there’s actually a danger to the car. Use that space to put driving controls, air con etc ie. things that ppl use in a car on there. Make the font size adjustable for people with bad reading vision (it doesn’t mean you need glasses for everything). Make a push on the volume button mute the radio, it’s easier at drive throughs etc than scrolling down the volume. Those are my tuppence worth lol
Edit: get rid of that blind spot warning camera gimmick, it’s a safety hazard in itself. Drivers should be looking in whatever direction they want to manoeuvre NOT at a centralised screen. If blind spot warnings are considered a necessity fit them in the bloody wing mirrors like every other manufacturer do ….. there’s a damn good reason they do that ….. it’s where the driver eyes should be

 

[Transformer]

^ Yes, but doesn't your model have the steering wheel thumb button to (un)mute, adjust volume, and go back/forward in the audio source? The Plaid yoke?

 

[Xdama]

^ Yes, but doesn't your model have the steering wheel thumb button to (un)mute, adjust volume, and go back/forward in the audio source? The Plaid yoke?

It has a scroll wheel, I’ve tried pushing it, which does nothing (unless I’m pushing incorrectly) scroll up to increase volume down to decrease volume, I guess left n right change track or station but I very rarely listen to anything other than 1 radio station so not sure lol.

 

[rjpjnk]

I love the car visualization personally and hope they never shrink or remove it, but I would suggest adding back the top status bar and it’s icons, and of course adding additional apps in the customizable app tray. We should be able to put any control we choose here.

 

[Xdama]

I love the car visualization personally and hope they never shrink or remove it, but I would suggest adding back the top status bar and it’s icons, and of course adding additional apps in the customizable app tray. We should be able to put any control we choose here.

No problem with the visualisation at all, agree about the top status bar & adding to the customizable section (why Tesla didn’t make this full width with all driving functions available is beyond me). I’d also add changeable font size for speed, energy use & bar too for those of us whose eyesight is lesser lol.

 

[Boza]

Suggestion for V11 improvement: A button to allow reversing to V10.

 

[Bouba]

Small improvement....
The ‘make a noise when locked’...would be nice if it had a disable while at home mode...just so I don’t keep disturbing the neighbors when I check on my downloads at 1:00AM

 

[Ben D]

I think the best we can hope for is adding more customized controls to the lower bar (seat heaters defrost, old style music, whatever), add network connections/driver profile (persistent) back to the top bar, clean up the navigation, move the blind spot image somewhere better.

I agree with this, if they want to persist with V11, they should at least give us more icons to customize on the bottom of the screen , and they need to replace the top bar information lost from V10. Also, I agree with this pearl.

A button to allow reversing to V10

But failing that (Tesla would never admit they were wrong) I really miss the V10's ability to monitor tyre pressure while driving along (which was very useful for track days or any performance motoring, not to mention early pick up of leaks from slow punctures). Tyre pressure is important for range, safety and performance, so I mourn this loss every day I drive my performance 3. To fix this, I wish they also provide an option (box to tick as a display option) to show tyre pressures on the car icon as rendered below. We can only live in hope. But overall, I think V11 was a huge backward step, much change for the sake of change.

 

[Boza]

That was in jest, of course
I think allowing to dock important car functionality (e.g. defroster, seat warmers, etc.) - similar to how we can dock apps - would be a great step in restoring functionality lost with the upgrade. Of course, there are many other issues (that would have been discovered during proper UAT) but that would be the first they would need to tackle.
Also, I would love to have the option not to download bloatware - games, farts, fireplaces, etc.

 

[rjpjnk]

Small improvement....
The ‘make a noise when locked’...would be nice if it had a disable while at home mode...just so I don’t keep disturbing the neighbors when I check on my downloads at 1:00AM

Agreed. I don't lock my car at home for just this reason. I would like to have the option to disable the beep-when-locking feature at home or work.

 

[sleepydoc]

Shrink the daft car on the road size to half it’s current size, no other car manufacturers show your own car going past trucks, traffic cones, other cars etc, it’s pointless. Flash it up when there’s actually a danger to the car. Use that space to put driving controls, air con etc ie. things that ppl use in a car on there.

I actually find it useful when in full self driving mode as it helps me to see what the car is 'thinking.' It's also more useful than the blind spot camera gimmick in terms of showing where cars are around you but in all honesty, I just have my mirrors properly adjusted so I don't have a blind spot.

Make the font size adjustable for people with bad reading vision (it doesn’t mean you need glasses for everything).

Agreed - why on earth did they make the speedometer smaller?

Make a push on the volume button mute the radio, it’s easier at drive throughs etc than scrolling down the volume.

That's what it should do - The left scroll wheel (at least in the U.S.) increases/decreases the volume when scrolled, changes the source when pushed to the left or right and mutes the volume when pushed straight in. Are you sure you're pushing straight and not accidentally pushing to the side? If it isn't working then something's wrong.

Edit: get rid of that blind spot warning camera gimmick, it’s a safety hazard in itself. Drivers should be looking in whatever direction they want to manoeuvre NOT at a centralised screen. If blind spot warnings are considered a necessity fit them in the bloody wing mirrors like every other manufacturer do ….. there’s a damn good reason they do that ….. it’s where the driver eyes should be

Yes! a thousand times, yes!

 

[sleepydoc]

- Bring back the cards for the trip odometer and tire pressure
- put the profile settings back on the main screen (if they really want to get rid of it, they can make it disappear once the car starts moving but hiding it while in park is stupid)
- Add expected battery life back to the map screen
- put the turn by turn directions back on the left screen when the map is covered
- add the map view options back to the map screen
- GET RID OF THE DAMNED GAMES! There is ABSOLUTELY NO REASON to have games while driving!
- Put the seat heaters back on the main screen. Make it so they toggle Auto-III-II-I-OFF when you tap them. For the two people who live in south Florida that were offended by their presence they can make it so you can hide them. Everyone else wants them back.
- Ditto the defrosters.
- Add a generic Audio screen instead of having separate ones for each source

 

[Boza]

- Bring back the cards for the trip odometer and tire pressure
- put the profile settings back on the main screen (if they really want to get rid of it, they can make it disappear once the car starts moving but hiding it while in park is stupid)
- Add expected battery life back to the map screen
- put the turn by turn directions back on the left screen when the map is covered
- add the map view options back to the map screen
- GET RID OF THE DAMNED GAMES! There is ABSOLUTELY NO REASON to have games while driving!
- Put the seat heaters back on the main screen. Make it so they toggle Auto-III-II-I-OFF when you tap them. For the two people who live in south Florida that were offended by their presence they can make it so you can hide them. Everyone else wants them back.
- Ditto the defrosters.
- Add a generic Audio screen instead of having separate ones for each source

In other words - bring back V10?!

 

[Xdama]

I actually find it useful when in full self driving mode as it helps me to see what the car is 'thinking.' It's also more useful than the blind spot camera gimmick in terms of showing where cars are around you but in all honesty, I just have my mirrors properly adjusted so I don't have a blind spot.

I don’t have FSD, (not sure it’s actually legal in UK yet but could be wrong). Personally I don’t want it anyway, I like driving

That's what it should do - The left scroll wheel (at least in the U.S.) increases/decreases the volume when scrolled, changes the source when pushed to the left or right and mutes the volume when pushed straight in. Are you sure you're pushing straight and not accidentally pushing to the side? If it isn't working then something's wrong.

Probably just my idiotic fingers not operating correctly then lol. I’ll try many more times lol

 

[RandomNumber]

Thanks very much for the constructive suggestions on V11 improvements. My priority suggestions:

1. Seeing supercharger stations near me while driving. This was available before. Superchargers are now available by hitting the navigation search bar and then clicking charging, but this is not active while driving on a trip, as far as I can tell (I might be wrong, happy to learn if I am). I was on a 9-hour drive last week, and given low temps, wanted to be able to see superchargers around me when my range dropped, but didn't know how to do this. I may have missed something, but I this is important. Have a seen a few others agree in the forums. For longer trips I'll now drive with ABRP on a phone with the info until this is fixed. I also had strange results routing trips where it would actually propose a route which would have me arriving at a supercharger with less than 0% battery. This could have been a connection issue I suppose, but it happened 3 different times.

2. Seat heaters, defogging, heat as icons for bottom bar. Agree that there should be an option (and more room for icons on the bottom) to bring these to one touch. Those who don't need it, don't put them on the bar, give an option to those who would like it, to account for the differences in weather in locations / time of year.

3. Blind spot and cross-traffic alerts. For me there are only two real complaints that I have with my MY. 1. Re safety - put a blind spot indicator on the wing mirrors ideally or at least have slight haptic wheel feedback when someone is overtaking you, and have a back-end cross traffic alert system, which I guess could be a software add. These are important safety features. Relying on a blind spot camera on the screen to the right of you when you are shifting left doesn't seem to make a lot of sense, A blind spot indicator would be useful on the mirror also because it tells approaching cars that the driver of the car you are passing has been informed that you are overtaking, reducing your risk, even if you need to retain awareness of course. There are third party convex mirrors, which I'll probably go ahead and install, but would love the ability to have a yellow indicator when cars are in my blind spot. 2. The other is suspension / roughness (I don't see that adding MPP coils really help although again I could be wrong), and linked to that is road noise, which would be helped by double glazing in the back windows as well as the front.