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The "GOOD IDEAS" thread

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We've seen in the past that Tesla staff do peruse these forums and occasionally there is change instituted by the company in response to information posted here. We've also seen that in the trillions of tweets/tweetbacks directed at Elon Musk that once in the proverbial blue moon, he'll say "that's a good idea" or something along those lines and suddenly the implementation of that idea becomes a priority within the company. What is a real shame is that on almost every thread on this forum, someone mentions an idea they have that usually goes something like "What would be really good is if Tesla did ***". People have great ideas and they're repeated over and over in the threads, often it's just added noise to a thread that feels like Groundhog Day when we keep hearing the same suggestions over and over, and those of us who've been around long enough know it's going to fall on deaf ears.

So I thought it'd be nice to have a thread where people could post their "It would be great if Tesla did ***". We know that the vast majority of these features are software related which means there is no reason they can't be implemented; it's just a matter of them actually doing so and prioritising it. Those of us who've worked in the software industry are aware of the limitations of release cycle, validation, in-house pressures, priorities, funding, resources, staff etc etc. so we have some idea of why many things are not implemented. Nonetheless if we put all these great ideas in one place, there is the small chance that someone will see them and they might get implemented if we're lucky. It also removes redundant discussion from other threads. Of course this could be put in any vehicle thread, not just the model S but we don't have forum sections that apply to all cars. There is low hanging fruit there that may be very easy to implement, but we may as well be hopeful and list even hard ideas that are still possible to implement.

Please stick to polite new ideas, not just the implementation of features that have been already promised by Tesla. There is enough complaining on that front already elsewhere and I'm sure Tesla staff are acutely aware of what they have not delivered.

So I'll kick off with some of my own ideas or regurgitated ideas from other people that I think are good ideas.



Windows/sunroof - remote closing or opening of them via app and/or fob. Yes I know some safety reason they were removed or not offered or whatever but it'd still be extremely useful. To that end, the app should be able to show you the state of the sunroof and windows.

Heated seats/steering wheel - remote enable/disable of each discretely.

Nearfield communication - allow the phone to unlock/speak to the car in situations where there is no mobile or wifi connectivity.

Cluster display configuration - some would like a (digitally rendered) analogue speedo again or the option of using the old design, or other designs. I have issues with the current design that a lot of important icons are put along the top of the display and I can't see them since they're hidden by the top of the steering wheel without bobbing my head down and looking under the wheel.

Main display configuration - Many of us would like to leave the icons on the screen all the time without having to tap once to bring them up. Additionally theming of the display; colours layout etc. etc. the ability to add shortcuts to the top for frequently used features and so on.

Apps - well it's a security issue to add apps and I know it'll never happen but sandboxed android apps would be great...

Phone integration - everyone wants more and better integration, reading back text messages, emails, writing text messages with voice control, access to other apps, tom tom, waze etc. Video calls on the main display - heck they had it in Total Recall.

Driving configuration - more control over setting TACC - set offset from speed limit separately from speed alerts.

Control over style of autopilot driving - sport, standard, comfort for example to set how aggressively to accelerate (maybe even ludicrous for those who have it.) Configurable beep/alerts for autosteer on/off. Ability to disable just autosteer without TACC. Choice of TACC set to current speed only OR speed limit based. Optional TACC automatic speed adjustment by vehicle knowledge of speed limits - either map based or sign recognition based for AP1 and if/when AP2+ gets it.

Configurable regen - ability to make it hard on/off with zero throttle in addition to current options.

Mirror unfolding - every time I walk towards my car in a tight car park, the mirrors always get in the way when I approach it from the front. They should unfold when I open the door, NOT when I approach the car. Better yet, make it configurable. Also configurable unfold speed instead of making it fixed at 50km/h.

Sound system - set and save profiles rock, classical, etc. Turn DSP on/off, old-fashioned 'loudness', speed sensitive volume/DSP.

Navigation - configurable route options traffic, tollways, fastest/shortest/major roads/most efficient, consumption based etc. Customisable voices.

Wifi hotspot. Sure we're using Tesla bandwidth but if we provided our own to the car I'd love to have a wifi hotspot for the others in the car.

Driver only climate control - the climate control in the car is great but it's designed to keep the whole cabin at one temperature. I'm sure there could be power savings if it's limited to just the driver, especially when it comes to heating.

Shared data options - optionally use data from all other drivers such as suspension height adjustment since others have already traversed the areas and set to raise suspension we may as well benefit from their knowledge. Crowd sourced navigation data too since we're getting a lot more Teslas on the road now.

Launch mode - why do we have to enable max battery power or ludicrous+ mode to get launch mode availability?

Ludicrous+ mode - we all know it exists, do away with the need for the lightspeed animation and use it to replace max battery power which is a redundant mode now.

Cameras - ability to use cameras as dash cameras/store data, download to USB, whatever. Or even just the ability to look at what's coming in from the various cameras either in isolation or as a group of windows on-screen.

Analysis mode - display on the screen what autopilot/tacc radars, cameras, ultrasonic sensors are all being interpreted as showing.

Stats display - show main battery current draw, voltage, temperature, power into front/rear engine, power out etc. a bit like in ludicrous+ mode.

Firmware - allegedly we'll get the ability to check for updates which will be great, but also the ability to roll back to a particular firmware might be helpful if the latest update broke something that affects us (eg. heated steering in 2018.16).

Analytics - data downloaded, stored, uploaded etc. especially on wifi for those who don't have smart wifi access points at home and want to see how much data is being used.

Upgraded USB - our devices draw much more current than the ageing USB in our cars, and considering we're sitting on a massive battery, it's a shame it's so bad at charging phones. USB C mounts and support.

Induction charging for devices - the key fob for example; mine needs new batteries in about 6 months. Also phones etc.

Formal blind spot detection.

Power points (well I know this won't happen, but it'd be nice.)

That's about it for now that I can remember.

Discuss away. What great ideas do you all have?
 
Give option to enable “unlock on approach” when preconditioning is activated.

I don’t want “unlock on approach” on all the time as it’s a security risk now, but would be happy if it was activated when I turned on climate preconditioning from the app.
 
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Be smarter about sorting place names when searching for a business.

If you say “drive to Home Depot” and all Home Depot’s are spelled the same, it sorts them by distance and the closest is easy to find. If any are listed as “A Home Depot” in the database, those get listed first even if they are farther away.
 
I think it would be awesome if Tesla added an overlay for the maps that showed precipitation radar data like most weather apps now provide. Even better if one could animate the past few hours of data, too.

This idea popped into my head this week as I was wondering whether the dark sky towards my destination and sudden increase in wind meant that I would run into a heavy downpour, prompting me to pull out my phone to check. Then I thought, why do I have to pull out my phone to check this? Which is not a safe thing to do while driving. But a precipitation map is valuable information for driving.
 
Not original but Waze, CarDrive.

And a real MCU upgrade capability. And a real BioFilter upgrade capability by the SC. And newer headlight upgrade path as well - we'll pay for them, we just need the blessing/procedure.

Sound capability on the browser.

Auto some heated seat/wheel startup on pre-heat based on ambient temp.

OEM dashcam option. Front & rear.
 
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Feature requests already in the queue but going nowhere fast:

1. Nav - Superchargers: Improve the red/grey occupied pedestal bars to green/yellow/red to reflect relative health during last or current charge. Blinking and static to indicate occupied or not.

2. Nav - Superchargers: Improve the map icons to provide site health indications (up/down/impacted) at a glance.

And for the whole enchilada:

3. Nav - Routing: Dynamically reroute based upon SC health as well as (as is done today) perceived range relative to the destination. However, alert the driver with a pop-up that routing has changed.

Those of us who have fallen for the abrupt “exit here” change only to be routed backward rather than forward will appreciate that one.

And dare I type it...

4. Waypoints.

Yeah, this could be a very, very long list.
 
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I’d like a summary screen on the center console. Essentially a combination of the battery graph, car status with tire pressure, doors, sunroof, lights, odometer and trip meter, etc all on one screen I can pair with with maps or multimedia.
 
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We need a way to send an address to the nav system in the car from our phone. Imagine you're inside talking with your SO trying to figure out where you want to go to eat. You're each looking through Yelp until you find something that works for both of you. It would be great to be able to "Send to Tesla Navigation" and then just press start when you get in the car.

If one day the browser becomes usable (not really talking about performance, just a reason to use the browser in general), it should also support the "Send to Tesla ..." option.
 
We need a way to send an address to the nav system in the car from our phone. Imagine you're inside talking with your SO trying to figure out where you want to go to eat. You're each looking through Yelp until you find something that works for both of you. It would be great to be able to "Send to Tesla Navigation" and then just press start when you get in the car.

If one day the browser becomes usable (not really talking about performance, just a reason to use the browser in general), it should also support the "Send to Tesla ..." option.


I set things up on my phone calendar and that then syncs with the car over Bluetooth and I can just select it from the car calendar to get directions after that. So kind of already have that functionality
 
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1. Manual heater ON/OFF control, a fresh air ventilation setting, and a "Heater ON" indication.
2. Option of Constant Power for Cruise Control, in addition to the present (somewhat inefficient) Constant Speed option.
3. Option of zero regeneration when easing up on the go-pedal, allowing the car to coast.
4. Option of much higher regeneration and ability to bring the car to a complete stop using regen.
 
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I’d like an old skool chirp, “nanu nanu”, Gene Wilder shouting “Alive! It’s Alive! It’s Alive!”, plasma ball white noise...whatevs when I (my fob) walk away from the car. A couple of updates ago my auto-lock bounced back to no lock. Took me about a week to realize I was leaving my car unlocked. I look like a dork peering back at my car as I walk away from it at work.

If I’ve overlooked an existing setting for that, please shame me appropriately. Which brings me to my 2nd ask...I want to peruse my S’s settings from my iOS tablet or Windows browser or Android tablet or Mac browser...anywhere other than just the front seat of the car (in my garage, with my coffee/adult beverage sitting on the garage floor). Being able to update them remotely would be sweet, but not necessary for Rev. 1.