Tesla screen crashed while driving

[AmericanPharoh]

My car has been acting strangely all morning. Auto presenting handles wouldn't present. Touch screen was very sluggish. Seemingly random proximity alert beeps. Decided I was gonna do a reset when I got home.

I turn on autopilot to see if it would give me any proximity beeps, but I don't hear a confirmation chime when autopilot engages. I look at the center screen and it had gone blank. Nothing except a dark imprint of the Tesla logo (as you'd see if you're resetting it). I panicked. I turn autopilot off and continue to drive the car, begging it not to all of a sudden shut off.

Music stops.

A few seconds later, AC stops.

Luckily it was not on the freeway, but the car operated perfectly fine. The instrument panel still worked like normal, it even had a grey steering wheel icon indicating I could use autopilot if I wished.

After the computer reboots I get back and the car seems to be operating in tip-top shape. The auto presenting handles are working again, the center screen has returned to its normal responsiveness.

Just wanted to let other owners know not to panic if your Tesla's center screen crashes while you're driving.

 

[rfmurphy81]

Sometimes the car reboots the different systems, even in mid-drive. I've always been told it's not anything to worry about, but perhaps others with more experience can speak to what they've encountered. I suspect the systems should be manually rebooted regularly anyway and maybe this is just the car's way of doing it itself to keep things fresh?

 

[Phoenixhawk101]

Mine has done reboots like this every now and then (generally about once a month i find). It's no big deal and the reboot takes only 20-30 seconds. The car will drive without issue in that time.

 

[Skipdd]

Believe there are threads on this with more detail from owners who are engineers/technical. This is not an uncommon behavior. My understanding is that the systems that drive the displays are separate from those that drive the motors and other critical driving elements. I've come to think of this the same as having to reboot my PC periodically.. It is after all a computer that drives

 

[S4WRXTTCS]

My understanding echo's the above few comments. Where the infotainment system is completely segregated from the driving systems.

In fact you can likely drive it with both screens crashed, but I've only have the 17" center console screen crash while driving. Hasn't happened recently though.

 

[deonb]

I've rebooted both screens many times while driving.

It's not a big deal apart from the AC that switches off.

 

[mmccord]

Yeah, it happens occasionally. Want to see the car freak out? Reboot the instrument panel computer with autopilot on.

 

[AB4EJ]

Yeah, it happens occasionally. Want to see the car freak out? Reboot the instrument panel computer with autopilot on.

Freak out? I think I'll let you do this one and post the video of it....

 

[RDoc]

I've had that happen once. It's not all that confidence inspiring IMHO.

 

[ecarfan]

Luckily it was not on the freeway, but the car operated perfectly fine.

You can reboot both screens while driving and it will not effect your ability to drive the car the "old fashioned way". The driving systems are independent of what the two screens display. Smart engineering.

 

[deonb]

The driving systems are independent of what the two screens display. Smart engineering.

Sure... but there isn't really any other way to engineer that. Drive control needs to be a RTOS but that would be a huge burden on a general purpose display. So that dictates independent systems.

 

[mmccord]

Freak out? I think I'll let you do this one and post the video of it....

My instrument panel failed a few weeks ago and I got to drive about 50 miles to the service center without it. When you activate autosteer without a functioning instrument cluster it makes the 'take over immediately' noise and displays a large 'red hands' message on the 17" screen.

Autosteer functions just fine though.

 

[Blusky]

I realize this an old post but am posting my response based on Technical supports answer.
I had this same issue while driving where the computer rebooted while driving . You will loose the A/C for about a minute then everything comes back including GPS destination and Map.
According to the Tech I spoke with he said that if we had anything plugged into the USB ports . We had 2 IPhones connected. He then asked about the USB cables we were using. We were using third party USB cables from Amazon. Apparently these cables give off some EMF interference that can effect the computer and causing it to reboot. He recommended purchasing 2 Apple cables that would solve this issue. He also Suggested to do a Manual reboot holding down the 2 scroll Keys for 10 seconds. Seems to have worked . No further issues.
Hope this helps.