TESLA UI / UX

[WhiteOnWhiteMY]

If you can say these are the same interface, I don't believe you are even up for a discussion on this.

Highly recommend selling your Tesla if this bothers you so much; it isn't going to change, especially if the above two images are the same to you.

You don't need to be condescending and dismissive of anyone who thinks differently from you, it's just disrespectful to those who are trying to have a legit discussion regarding your thoughts.

 

[samori01]

It’s OBJECTIVELY trash buddy. There are formalised ways to test and confirm if it’s any good and as I and others have said, it would not be approved as a successful effort or even above average, by any professional design and interface consultancy or institution on the planet. Not a single one.

You don’t even need to use it to know this - just a few minutes LOOKING at it confirms it’s not been designed by a process or team fit for the purpose - a fully featured interface for MOTORISTS spanning a large and diverse demographic.

I’m going on about it because it’s such a missed opportunity and if sorted, would make these cars close to perfect.

No professional design consultant would approve it…not one. So you have queried everyone of them? Or do you continue to dabble in hyperbole because you have found a few like minds on a public forum. You detract from your own opinion when you state these embellishments as fact.

 

[Ratch]

Fine, I'll be less "lazy" which used in the sentence you wrote is a contradiction in itself, but that is to be expected given the following:

"Wondering what owners honestly, objectively think of this?"
No, you are setting everyone up so you can go on a rant.

"Every part of it is amateurish."
"It’s easily the worst interface of any I’ve used in a car, gas or EV."
Ok, we got your point. Is there a need to be so repetitive?

"Full disclosure, I’m not a UI/UX designer but I work in the field."
Oh thanks for clarifying, a few of us thought otherwise.

"it falls down even on basic fundamentals and that’s not subjective"
Please google subjective vs. objective and then read it 100 times.

"I had an S for a few weeks at launch. Now I have a Y and the UI/UX has not moved on in all those years inbetween."
Objectively false. Please see above comment for definition of objective.

"It’s OBJECTIVELY trash buddy."
"That is my objective opinion as I’m not a fanboy"
"So you’re not wrong to like it but you are wrong to say it’s good."

Instigate conflict? Check
Show hostility? Check
Bait people hoping for an argument? Check

Yep, you're a troll.

Oh, and drove a launch S for a few weeks but joined this forum two weeks ago to do nothing but complain about Teslas. Totally believable.

Forum heroes are so tedious. Do you have an opinion on the interface? Nobody here has given one. Nobody has bothered or is able to show or convince me that it’s not trash.

Don’t get upset just stay on topic as I have.

It’s so easy to label people trolls but I could say the same of you as what have you contributed to this thread? I created it and made various points in detail to stimulate discussion. Which it has.

What are you adding other than trying to drag the thread off topic with irrelevant noise?

Definition of a troll right there.

Stay on topic and don’t be so obvious. Take some time to think and offer something, or keep your vague moral utterings to yourself?

As for the Subjective v Objective - have you read the definition? Such confidence with your ‘takedown’ and you don’t even know the difference! Jesus.

 

[Ratch]

If you can say these are the same interface, I don't believe you are even up for a discussion on this.

Highly recommend selling your Tesla if this bothers you so much; it isn't going to change, especially if the above two images are the same to you.

You don't need to be condescending and dismissive of anyone who thinks differently from you, it's just disrespectful to those who are trying to have a legit discussion regarding your thoughts.

They’re the same. Same approach, same look and feel etc etc. You're using minor nuances to try and demonstrate what? That those two examples are chalk and cheese?

 

[samori01]

This is just such a deeply silly and pointless post. Doesn’t even Make any sense.

Do you have an actual opinion on the actual thread topic?

No you don’t. You’re no better than what you’re accusing me of.is

I already gave you my subjective opinion on the UI/UX. You gave hyperbole. You call my post silly and pointless, yet in your post make ridiculous, pointless statements like "not one single professional design consultant would approve it", yet balk when someone states that your posts are the epitome of exaggeration. You discussed earlier the definition of subjective/objective, you have used no facts at all, but merely used opinions of others, with no facts used you cannot have an objective opinion. When one is speaking of UX and UI, one is speaking of designs that will give users (human beings) a better experience. Since it is designed for humans, it automatically starts from the premise that all humans will not be pleased; however, the attempt is to make it pleasing to as many humans as possible. You obviously are in the camp of the displeased, and that camp is most likely a significant size. However, there is a large contingency of users who are either pleased with the experience and interface or not displeased with either. My issue with your posts remains, what you are posting is your subjective opinion, nothing more, nothing less. If you presented it as such, I believe this thread would not have devolved into what it now has become. Also, I am not sure what you call joining a forum to solely disparage the subject of the forum, but there is a definition for those that do so.

 

[Ratch]

I already gave you my subjective opinion on the UI/UX. You gave hyperbole. You call my post silly and pointless, yet in your post make ridiculous, pointless statements like "not one single professional design consultant would approve it", yet balk when someone states that your posts are the epitome of exaggeration. You discussed earlier the definition of subjective/objective, you have used no facts at all, but merely used opinions of others, with no facts used you cannot have an objective opinion. When one is speaking of UX and UI, one is speaking of designs that will give users (human beings) a better experience. Since it is designed for humans, it automatically starts from the premise that all humans will not be pleased; however, the attempt is to make it pleasing to as many humans as possible. You obviously are in the camp of the displeased, and that camp is most likely a significant size. However, there is a large contingency of users who are either pleased with the experience and interface or not displeased with either. My issue with your posts remains, what you are posting is your subjective opinion, nothing more, nothing less. If you presented it as such, I believe this thread would not have devolved into what it now has become. Also, I am not sure what you call joining a forum to solely disparage the subject of the forum, but there is a definition for those that do so.

You got there in the end, once you stopped flexing your ego.

Again, it’s not a subjective opinion. I made a statement based on having studied in the field so KNOWING what is the acknowledged best practice for proper human interface design. I have also garnered the opinions of PROFESSIONAL designers in this field, some even in automotive. I don’t work for Tesla. I am neither enamoured by them nor biased toward them - all of this permits me to make an OBJECTIVE STATEMENT.

It’s really not hard to grasp. I suspect you just don’t like my tone or bluntness but that’s irrelevant to the topic I’m afraid.

 

[samori01]

I will be done with this as I do my best not to keep going around in circles. You have your opinion and I have mine and we aren't changing each other's minds. However, you seem to be doing something that my 12 year old daughter unfortunately does when she realizes she is wrong, attempt to change the wording of what was said to make it more correct. Objective statements can be made when utilizing the opinions of others as long as those statements do not rely on personal feelings. So saying you made an objective statement (while still inaccurate) could have made it more difficult to dispute. But you did not say you made an objective statement, you said you had an objective opinion. These are not the same thing. Usually stating one has an objective opinion is an oxymoron. Nevertheless, there are instances when you can have one. For example: my objective opinion is Tesla has the most reliable chargers. You cannot, however, use a statement such as I have garnered the opinions of professionals (or anyone) as fact (because it’s still based off opinions) nor state that because there are best practices and a company does not use those specific practices that it is a fact that the product is trash. What you can say is your objective opinion is that they do not use best practices. Your tone, or bluntness while immaterial, merely highlights your error in speech.
While I enjoy my car, and have enjoyed each of the Teslas I have owned, I am not innately enamored with Tesla, and not Tesla Fanboy or Elon Stan. I am able to praise when I feel praise is warranted and critique when I feel I need to be critical. I have a history on this forum that demonstrates this to be true. Because of this track record one could look up said history and make an objective statement about my ability to be objective when it comes to Tesla. The same cannot be said for you. So your objectivity when it comes to Tesla can fairly be questioned.
And to address your ego statement: The whole premise that your opinion is fact and everyone who disagrees with your opinion is wrong is the essence of flexing one's ego.
You dislike the UI/UX, you feel it is horrible, you feel every other vehicle has a better UI/UX. All of these are valid feelings, and I cannot dispute your feelings as they are yours. I do not share these same feelings, and my feelings on this are also valid. We can debate the merits of how we came to these feelings, but not the feelings themselves. In the end we can agree to disagree. I hope you find an EV with a UI/UX more to your liking. When you do it is still unlikely that you will be able to say it is objectively better.
Hope you have a wonderful day.

 

[gx9901]

I will be done with this as I do my best not to keep going around in circles. You have your opinion and I have mine and we aren't changing each other's minds. However, you seem to be doing something that my 12 year old daughter unfortunately does when she realizes she is wrong, attempt to change the wording of what was said to make it more correct. Objective statements can be made when utilizing the opinions of others as long as those statements do not rely on personal feelings. So saying you made an objective statement (while still inaccurate) could have made it more difficult to dispute. But you did not say you made an objective statement, you said you had an objective opinion. These are not the same thing. Usually stating one has an objective opinion is an oxymoron. Nevertheless, there are instances when you can have one. For example: my objective opinion is Tesla has the most reliable chargers. You cannot, however, use a statement such as I have garnered the opinions of professionals (or anyone) as fact (because it’s still based off opinions) nor state that because there are best practices and a company does not use those specific practices that it is a fact that the product is trash. What you can say is your objective opinion is that they do not use best practices. Your tone, or bluntness while immaterial, merely highlights your error in speech.
While I enjoy my car, and have enjoyed each of the Teslas I have owned, I am not innately enamored with Tesla, and not Tesla Fanboy or Elon Stan. I am able to praise when I feel praise is warranted and critique when I feel I need to be critical. I have a history on this forum that demonstrates this to be true. Because of this track record one could look up said history and make an objective statement about my ability to be objective when it comes to Tesla. The same cannot be said for you. So your objectivity when it comes to Tesla can fairly be questioned.
And to address your ego statement: The whole premise that your opinion is fact and everyone who disagrees with your opinion is wrong is the essence of flexing one's ego.
You dislike the UI/UX, you feel it is horrible, you feel every other vehicle has a better UI/UX. All of these are valid feelings, and I cannot dispute your feelings as they are yours. I do not share these same feelings, and my feelings on this are also valid. We can debate the merits of how we came to these feelings, but not the feelings themselves. In the end we can agree to disagree. I hope you find an EV with a UI/UX more to your liking. When you do it is still unlikely that you will be able to say it is objectively better.
Hope you have a wonderful day.

Well said.

When this thread popped up I thought the OP wanted some good discussion on people's thoughts on the UI (though I should have known better after re-reading the original post), but clearly he just wants confirmation on his opinion, which he basically states as fact.

There's a saying out there that says "If you like it, you win". I think the converse is true, so I guess if you hate it, you lose?

Anyway, I think we're done here.

 

[jjrandorin]

You got there in the end, once you stopped flexing your ego.

Again, it’s not a subjective opinion. I made a statement based on having studied in the field so KNOWING what is the acknowledged best practice for proper human interface design. I have also garnered the opinions of PROFESSIONAL designers in this field, some even in automotive. I don’t work for Tesla. I am neither enamoured by them nor biased toward them - all of this permits me to make an OBJECTIVE STATEMENT.

It’s really not hard to grasp. I suspect you just don’t like my tone or bluntness but that’s irrelevant to the topic I’m afraid.

No, its subjective opinion, full stop, do not pass go.

An expert in the field cant do anything but provide a subjective opinion, professional designers or no. The fact that they are professionals does not change a subjective opinion to an objective one. A person who signs music performers to record labels may not like a song, but that has nothing to do with whether I like it or whether its "trash". It just has something to do with their opinion, that they get to enforce with money,

You are losing people with this repeated insistence on your opinion being presented as fact, regardless of where its corroborated from, its not, period. Thats why some people are saying it looks like you are trolling, because an opinion cant be fact, regardless of whose it is.

Personally, at this point, the thread and responses dont look like a desire for discussion either. It looks just like I thought it would look when I posted at the beginning of it. Im not a mod for this subform though.

 

[Ratch]

Well said.

When this thread popped up I thought the OP wanted some good discussion on people's thoughts on the UI (though I should have known better after re-reading the original post), but clearly he just wants confirmation on his opinion, which he basically states as fact.

There's a saying out there that says "If you like it, you win". I think the converse is true, so I guess if you hate it, you lose?

Anyway, I think we're done here.

No I’d love a debate on the actual topic as stated multiple times, if enough of you could stay on topic rather than try and win some by now deeply tedious debate. But it looks like you are neither equipped to do so or are more interested in flexing your argumentative side - both a waste of time and both hypocritical.

 

[Ratch]

I will be done with this as I do my best not to keep going around in circles. You have your opinion and I have mine and we aren't changing each other's minds. However, you seem to be doing something that my 12 year old daughter unfortunately does when she realizes she is wrong, attempt to change the wording of what was said to make it more correct. Objective statements can be made when utilizing the opinions of others as long as those statements do not rely on personal feelings. So saying you made an objective statement (while still inaccurate) could have made it more difficult to dispute. But you did not say you made an objective statement, you said you had an objective opinion. These are not the same thing. Usually stating one has an objective opinion is an oxymoron. Nevertheless, there are instances when you can have one. For example: my objective opinion is Tesla has the most reliable chargers. You cannot, however, use a statement such as I have garnered the opinions of professionals (or anyone) as fact (because it’s still based off opinions) nor state that because there are best practices and a company does not use those specific practices that it is a fact that the product is trash. What you can say is your objective opinion is that they do not use best practices. Your tone, or bluntness while immaterial, merely highlights your error in speech.
While I enjoy my car, and have enjoyed each of the Teslas I have owned, I am not innately enamored with Tesla, and not Tesla Fanboy or Elon Stan. I am able to praise when I feel praise is warranted and critique when I feel I need to be critical. I have a history on this forum that demonstrates this to be true. Because of this track record one could look up said history and make an objective statement about my ability to be objective when it comes to Tesla. The same cannot be said for you. So your objectivity when it comes to Tesla can fairly be questioned.
And to address your ego statement: The whole premise that your opinion is fact and everyone who disagrees with your opinion is wrong is the essence of flexing one's ego.
You dislike the UI/UX, you feel it is horrible, you feel every other vehicle has a better UI/UX. All of these are valid feelings, and I cannot dispute your feelings as they are yours. I do not share these same feelings, and my feelings on this are also valid. We can debate the merits of how we came to these feelings, but not the feelings themselves. In the end we can agree to disagree. I hope you find an EV with a UI/UX more to your liking. When you do it is still unlikely that you will be able to say it is objectively better.
Hope you have a wonderful day.

I couldn’t read all this, the grandstanding is nauseating.

Maybe try contributing something useful to this thread - you might like it.

 

[WhiteOnWhiteMY]

Lol thanks mods for banning the dude. Shame really, I never even considered that this was such a contentious topic. I knew the UI had it's downsides, but I never thought it was genuinely horrible.

 

[SalisburySam]

So, the real question for me is: should I make that next batch of popcorn? Or is the show over?

 

[Tha_Ape]

It does all depend on what you’ve had before. My Tesla has vastly less features than my previous cars.

Yea, I came from a 2010 Prius. Just wanted a plug-in with at least that amount of cargo room and ability to take long trips. MY was the only one that worked for me.

I had a pretty loaded Prius, lane keeping, adaptive cruise, auto-parking, etc... but the Tesla added a lot to that. (Except auto-parking, I lost that because I don't have EAP/FSD, but i nerve used it much anyway).

I can imagine if you're coming from a more luxurious car how it could be lacking though.

 

[laservet]

All of this. It’s just dreadful, and could be so much better with pretty much zero effort.

For me it’s the worst thing about the car, which has plenty of other flaws.

Apple CarPlay would massively improve the car.

At the moment I’m just counting the days until the MY is gone and I never have to put up with Tesla again. If the used car market (particularly Teslas) had stayed strong I would swap it tomorrow for a second hand Kia/Hyundai/Skoda. But it’s worth buttons (ironically).

Apple Car Play's cartoonish interface is not an improvement by any stretch of the imagination.

Tesla has the best UI of any vehicle and any EV I have seen (haven't played with Rivian's yet).

 

[bo3bdar]

Not sure it helps this discussion- but I personally make a large distinction between the sitting/playing/charging UI, and the driving UI.

I've done a lot of UI work in software myself and worked at Apple for a very long time, so I have some background and expectations about what works and what does not.

The sitting/playing UI is perfectly OK. Stuff is a little weird and hard to find, but overall it's a tablet UI and I think not a surprise to anyone. With the current UI fads being grey-on-grey and the point-and-click adventure for finding out what is live, instead of visually showing you what is live. The current fad is to emphasize white space, which makes readability suffer.


However- I think the driving UI is completely, measurably, horrible and makes the car more dangerous to drive than it should be. The driving UI has clearly not had any usability testing or user-group testing. You know, like Apple does.

Can we agree that looking away from the road for extended times is bad? I want to be able to see at a glance, what I need. I want to be able to make actions like wipers/lights/defogger/AC happen without having to hunt down UI elements. I want geographic stability for elements that I need while driving so that I don't have to visually search for what I need.

The Telsa UI fails in all aspects from a driving standpoint because they either don't care, or don't actually drive test it. Smallish buttons with grey on grey and small fonts. Hard to read at 70 mph glance. Extremely hard if you are over 45 and have presbyopia. There is no reason for everything to be small, low-contrast, and with tons of white space, while driving. Small buttons that are hard to hit with your hand bouncing around and swaying in the air.

The climate controls pop up when I hit the temperature- OK. Now while driving I have to look back at the road and stay focused. Look back, the climate panel has auto hidden. Thanks. Same with the wiper controls and high beam controls. Why do they hide, and why is the timeout so poorly chosen?

There is a bong for something to look at, and I'm busy actually driving and can't look right then. If I do get a chance to look it's this tiny oval with inscrutable text. If it was important enough for a bong, it's important enough for a large font. And that's if it stays up. Half the time it's gone by the time I look and I never know what happened. This is... not a good UI while driving. The UI should not be actively distracting me from the job of driving.


One last thing on the horrible driving UI. What's with wasting fully 1/3 of my most important screen for that stupid and useless driving animation? I'm driving! I don't have time to look at your stupid animation, and I honestly don't care what the car can see, ever. I don't understand why this is considered so important that it is always the primary focus of the UI.

That space could be used for larger, static controls. No hiding, geographic stabilty so I can get a muscle memory. Large enough to hit with waving/bouncing arms. Large enough to identify with a glance. But instead- white space with flickering animations I see in my peripheral vision.

It's not a UI designed for driving.

 

[MashinBenzin]

Apple Car Play's cartoonish interface is not an improvement by any stretch of the imagination.

Tesla has the best UI of any vehicle and any EV I have seen (haven't played with Rivian's yet).

You call it cartoonish, I’d call it an interface with buttons large enough to hit in a moving and bouncing vehicle. But ETTO.

Plus CarPlay opens up waze and many other apps.

I wouldn’t put Tesla in the top 3 UIs of vehicles I’ve driven, or perhaps I’d put it third behind iDrive and Pivi Pro. It’s all personal though.

 

[MashinBenzin]

Not sure it helps this discussion- but I personally make a large distinction between the sitting/playing/charging UI, and the driving UI.

I've done a lot of UI work in software myself and worked at Apple for a very long time, so I have some background and expectations about what works and what does not.

The sitting/playing UI is perfectly OK. Stuff is a little weird and hard to find, but overall it's a tablet UI and I think not a surprise to anyone. With the current UI fads being grey-on-grey and the point-and-click adventure for finding out what is live, instead of visually showing you what is live. The current fad is to emphasize white space, which makes readability suffer.


However- I think the driving UI is completely, measurably, horrible and makes the car more dangerous to drive than it should be. The driving UI has clearly not had any usability testing or user-group testing. You know, like Apple does.

Can we agree that looking away from the road for extended times is bad? I want to be able to see at a glance, what I need. I want to be able to make actions like wipers/lights/defogger/AC happen without having to hunt down UI elements. I want geographic stability for elements that I need while driving so that I don't have to visually search for what I need.

The Telsa UI fails in all aspects from a driving standpoint because they either don't care, or don't actually drive test it. Smallish buttons with grey on grey and small fonts. Hard to read at 70 mph glance. Extremely hard if you are over 45 and have presbyopia. There is no reason for everything to be small, low-contrast, and with tons of white space, while driving. Small buttons that are hard to hit with your hand bouncing around and swaying in the air.

The climate controls pop up when I hit the temperature- OK. Now while driving I have to look back at the road and stay focused. Look back, the climate panel has auto hidden. Thanks. Same with the wiper controls and high beam controls. Why do they hide, and why is the timeout so poorly chosen?

There is a bong for something to look at, and I'm busy actually driving and can't look right then. If I do get a chance to look it's this tiny oval with inscrutable text. If it was important enough for a bong, it's important enough for a large font. And that's if it stays up. Half the time it's gone by the time I look and I never know what happened. This is... not a good UI while driving. The UI should not be actively distracting me from the job of driving.


One last thing on the horrible driving UI. What's with wasting fully 1/3 of my most important screen for that stupid and useless driving animation? I'm driving! I don't have time to look at your stupid animation, and I honestly don't care what the car can see, ever. I don't understand why this is considered so important that it is always the primary focus of the UI.

That space could be used for larger, static controls. No hiding, geographic stabilty so I can get a muscle memory. Large enough to hit with waving/bouncing arms. Large enough to identify with a glance. But instead- white space with flickering animations I see in my peripheral vision.

It's not a UI designed for driving.

summarised to perfection

 

[LincolnsDoctor]

I don't understand why critical alerts et al are in small red type at the bottom of the screen. For example, if it thinks you aren't paying attention, why not display in big friendly letters before it kicks you out of Autopilot?

 

[zoomer0056]

So, the real question for me is: should I make that next batch of popcorn? Or is the show over?

I was thinking MMA. If the thrill of this one subsides into rational talk check out this fight thread (it may have run its course too): Horn placement and headlights on 2022 MS LR