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SW/Firmware: Model S Apps

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#22
I'd like to see a plugin to show the speed limit from the map data; tom-tom does this but I'd like to see in by the speedo.

{UK folk: Obviously useless in England as the speed limit is posted regularly along the road but in the US, NJ anyway, you can pull onto a modest road and drive 2 miles at 25mph with a tailback of locals behind you until you hit a 35 or 40 mph sign.}
 
#23
mpt said:
I'd like to see a plugin to show the speed limit from the map data; tom-tom does this but I'd like to see in by the speedo.

{UK folk: Obviously useless in England as the speed limit is posted regularly along the road but in the US, NJ anyway, you can pull onto a modest road and drive 2 miles at 25mph with a tailback of locals behind you until you hit a 35 or 40 mph sign.}
Click to expand...

Ironically, this happened to me last night coming back from New Egypt *doh*. Audi has this in their nav-equipped cars and it's definitely helpful.

I second Mitch's desire for home automation apps, especially ones that can view security cameras
 
#24
I use Crestron gear in my house - ideally they would do the home automation app, but I don't see Teslas as a huge market yet (they would have some variant of their existing iPod/iPad app as a Tesla app, it would be very cool).

If I end up writing this myself, it'd be some generic front end that connected to some secure port at home, and from there relayed commands to the automation controller. Not as integrated on the automation side, but it'll get the job done, and would be adaptable to other systems.

Cameras _should_ be easy, most web cams have a secure HTTP port you can connect to and stream motion JPEGs. Tesla used webkit for their web integration (also used by Chrome, MacOS, iOS, etc.), so you should theoretically be able to use any web-formatted content in your apps too. Let's hope so!

Other apps:
- I guess I could imagine a message center for those that do the whole twitter/facebook/social media thing (not me).
- Stock charts, weather, etc. Formatted simply for the car's display (web pages have way too much info).
- historical energy usage/charging data
- voice memos and recording
- Access to my work calendar


I might wonder if there will be a way to communicate with the computer when the car is _off_. The iPhone app they showed can do some things, like locate the car, turn on the AC, etc. I figure with all that battery power there, running the computer in low-power mode should not be a problem, so I should be able to communicate with the car pretty much all the time from the outside.

/Mitch.
 
#25
I'd like an app that you put in the following criteria:

1. ICE EPA MPG (21mpg)
2. Oil change Cost and Mileage ($45 every 3,000 miles)
3. Other annual ICE only expenses
etc.

1. Cost of Kw/h
2. Cost of yearly maintenance

Then the car keeps a money saved counter. So as I drive, the car calculates savings. Then when my friends say, "hey, you dont save any money driving this car!" I can just show them the running total. Also, would help justify upgrading batteries etc cause you would have a really good tally (I know you could do this in excel, but I think it would be cooler in the car)
 
#26
MitchL said:
Other apps:
- I guess I could imagine a message center for those that do the whole twitter/facebook/social media thing (not me).
- Stock charts, weather, etc. Formatted simply for the car's display (web pages have way too much info).
- historical energy usage/charging data
- voice memos and recording
- Access to my work calendar
Click to expand...

Interesting, but none of them while driving....please.
 
#27
MitchL said:
I use Crestron gear in my house - ideally they would do the home automation app, but I don't see Teslas as a huge market yet (they would have some variant of their existing iPod/iPad app as a Tesla app, it would be very cool).
Click to expand...


As a developer, I've found Crestron to be hard to work with. It's slow and dated. We're moving on to Savant and a friendlier/more open tool-set. It should be fairly easy to write custom apps to connect to your home's system.

MitchL said:
I might wonder if there will be a way to communicate with the computer when the car is _off_. The iPhone app they showed can do some things, like locate the car, turn on the AC, etc. I figure with all that battery power there, running the computer in low-power mode should not be a problem, so I should be able to communicate with the car pretty much all the time from the outside..
Click to expand...

Yes, I think that should be fairly easy, though developers will need to watch consumption on the apps they develop. All we need is a rogue app rendering your car useless when you return.

One of the first "hacks" I'd like to see, is an app to customize the pedestrian sound which I assume Tesla is still planning to include. I'm actually eager to tear into the system myself. I hope to find it's just a .wav or .mp3 sitting somewhere on the filesystem :smile:
 
#28
NigelM said:
Interesting, but none of them while driving....please.
Click to expand...

Absolutely. I would hope they would include APIs to detect motion, there _are_ some classes of apps that might be useful while the car is moving.

AnOutsider said:
As a developer, I've found Crestron to be hard to work with. It's slow and dated. We're moving on to Savant and a friendlier/more open tool-set. It should be fairly easy to write custom apps to connect to your home's system.
Click to expand...

I do my own programming, and I agree that it's a bit wonky.


Yes, I think that should be fairly easy, though developers will need to watch consumption on the apps they develop. All we need is a rogue app rendering your car useless when you return.
Click to expand...

If "useless" means "renders the touch screen inoperable", I agree. I would worry about apps eating CPU and making the screen unresponsive for normal car operation.

I don't think the touch screen computer has anything to do with the actual driving stuff, that is apparently a separate ECU.

I doubt that any application could cause the computer to soak a 40KWh battery. Let's say the computer is super inefficient and consumes 75 watts, which is more than a Macbook Pro takes running full tilt with the hard drive, CD, and LCD on... you still get about 22 days before it fully drains the 40KWh battery. In reality, the computer is likely to be way more efficient than that (I'm guessing some ARM CPU, does anyone know?), no real hard drive, no CD/DVD. Most of the power goes into the LCD backlight (two of them), which would be off when you're not in the car.

We'll see -- I'm very keen to learn more about the software structure they've developed.

/Mitch.
 
#30
Just to register a dissenting voice about applications "while moving": my wife and I often travel together, and I'd be dismayed to find that one of us can't look for restaurant reviews while the other drives. I do not need my automobile company playing parent for me and deciding what's right or wrong. Call me a libertarian, but it's one thing to tell me that something is unwise or illegal, it's another thing to cripple my belongings so as to enforce those judgments.
 
#31
Agreed, but a simple warning, or changing the app ui when in motion (like de-emphasizing functions that are hard or rarely used when in motion) would work. I hate that no one can pair a Bluetooth phone when my car is moving.
 
#32
Does anyone really think Tesla will allow Apps to run in the background, access car systems, and have unrestricted access to the Internet link - car moving or not? I can't imagine they will. The liability and support issues would be horrendous.

It would be different if the computer behind that 17" display was completely separate from the vehicle control systems (just a giant iPad embedded in the console), but I doubt it. From what they show, the system has pretty extensive access to several vehicle control systems. I expect it to be something like the VMS/VDS system in the Roadster. Allowing end-users to run custom software in that system would be a nightmare, and jail breakers dream,

Ford is probably the furthest along with this, with their Sync system. But, from my understanding, that doesn't allow anything to run on the car, but merely car UI control of the Apps running on the cellphone. The car controls the Apps, not vice-versa.

Sorry, to be the nay-sayer, but I see the API as something akin to the iOS API v1 (web apps only) or perhaps v2 (very basic native level display-only). I'd be overjoyed to be proven wrong, but expect not to be.
 
#33
What I'd like to see happen (and this works with cell phones, too) is if you are alone in the car and the records (phone, car log) show distraction use at the time, assumed insurance liability percentage would be adjusted so that the minimum percent would be 50% (i.e., if you're in front and someone rear-ends you since you were stopped at a green light texting) - essentially, assume at least as much guilt on the part of the person using the distraction. Certain things (talking / texting while driving - human beings just can't do it) still need to be illegal, but the insurance money aspect of it would be a strong incentive for doing the right thing without the need for goofy click-though mumbo jumbo screens. And I bet it would get the insurance companies to mount a major media campaign against the stupid things people do while driving.
 
#34
markwj said:
Does anyone really think Tesla will allow Apps to run in the background, access car systems, and have unrestricted access to the Internet link - car moving or not? I can't imagine they will. The liability and support issues would be horrendous.
Click to expand...

I was thinking about this too.. the whole idea of a 17" touch panel in the dash of the car goes deep into the liability territory in my opinion. As interesting as I think the touch panel is, I'm actually kind of spooked by it. Somewhat off topic, when I first started thinking about reserving a Tesla, after sitting in one at the showroom, I tried to imagine using it while driving my current car, an '08 Honda Odyssey Touring. It has a big LCD for the navi, but I like the physical buttons for the radio, the headlights, answering the phone, sunroof, etc. I don't need to take my eyes off the road.

Weird example: Every Tesla demo I've seen so far highlights the fact that we see cover art on the front display, where the speedo is. It is probably the most useless piece of information to place on the most critical display... I mean really, animated cover art next to warning lights? I'm told this will be customizable, so I intend to turn it off.

It would be different if the computer behind that 17" display was completely separate from the vehicle control systems (just a giant iPad embedded in the console), but I doubt it. From what they show, the system has pretty extensive access to several vehicle control systems. I expect it to be something like the VMS/VDS system in the Roadster. Allowing end-users to run custom software in that system would be a nightmare, and jail breakers dream
Click to expand...

Clearly the computer has _some_ access to the car, but I'm hoping it has no direct access to anything involved in the drivetrain. The dashboard computer ought not to be able to stop the motor, brakes, steering pump, etc. If I were designing this, those functions would live in a locked-down ECU like modern ICE cars, possibly with some status readout that can be relayed to the big LCD.


Sorry, to be the nay-sayer, but I see the API as something akin to the iOS API v1 (web apps only) or perhaps v2 (very basic native level display-only). I'd be overjoyed to be proven wrong, but expect not to be.
Click to expand...

Why be sorry? These are valid points, and hopefully Tesla is thinking about this stuff, or is reading us while we think out loud.

I've been making assumptions about how the onboard systems work, based on how I think I'd do it. Tesla has a bunch of smart people, but the company's not that big and they're under pressure to deliver, so it would be interesting to see if they cut any corners to get the software out.

As I suggested above, I'd think that drivetrain stuff is a separate computer, but we've seen that the touch panel computer has access to plenty of non-drivetrain things that present a safety hazard - it can definitely control the headlights, windows, sunroof, trunk latches, door locks, climate control, air suspension. It can probably interface with the charger. Given that most devices will probably live on one or more CAN buses, there can't be all that much security.

Web apps (like iOS 1.0) might be just fine for many of my needs. I think I'd also be happy with a walled-garden approach, with Tesla vetting apps before sale.

I do know this: I'll go to the dog house permanently the first time an app _I_ wrote disables the car while my wife is in it, and I don't even want to think about what would happen if she was driving!

/Mitch.
 
#35
mpt said:
I'd like to see a plugin to show the speed limit from the map data; tom-tom does this but I'd like to see in by the speedo.

{UK folk: Obviously useless in England as the speed limit is posted regularly along the road but in the US, NJ anyway, you can pull onto a modest road and drive 2 miles at 25mph with a tailback of locals behind you until you hit a 35 or 40 mph sign.}
Click to expand...

Trapster does this. On the model S it would work even better. (maybe a map overlay with your planned route also) It would also help to have an app that would customize your route to best fit your range remaining with stops for charging. (or like AVIC Feeds that works with my pioneer)

I'd like to have an app for ADT security's Pulse system. They already have an iPhone/iPod app and it'd be really nice to be able to disarm your alarm and open the garage door at the same time.
I'd also like to see some layering in real time over the map view. (thinking import a map file from google earth and display it on the integrated map)
 
#36
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