UI Tweak #3 -- AP Following Distance

[ForeverFree]

Assuming that it would be difficult to add an S/X style twist to the already-designed shift/AP stalk (best solution), here's next best:

Use the AP "toy car" portion of the display:

Tap anywhere on front of car or above car to decrease following distance.

Tap anywhere on back of car or behind car to increase following distance.

Upward/downward chevron symbols could be added, if desired.
​

This would:

Make control immediately accessible, rather than buried in menus

Provide very large finger press targets, needing minimal glances​

 

[ForeverFree]

Eager to hear your thoughts!

 

[SabrToothSqrl]

I'd rather use one of the steering wheel knobs. Up/down for speed. Left/right for distance, while AP is on. the right one, as left does music I believe.

 

[Pkmmte]

A problem with this is that it's not immediately known to the user after/before they tap that area. Perhaps adding an after-touch animation would help with this concern.

 

[SpotfireY]

Invisible tap zones could be awkward and visible buttons could clutter up the interface...
How about this: Make the car draggable. As soon as you tap and hold the car it shows a distance indicator in front of the car together with the numerical following distance and dragging the car up or down like a slider sets the following distance.
I feel this would be quite intuitive and it allows for good visual real time feedback from the AP display.

 

[ForeverFree]

Invisible tap zones could be awkward and visible buttons could clutter up the interface...
How about this: Make the car draggable. As soon as you tap and hold the car it shows a distance indicator in front of the car together with the numerical following distance and dragging the car up or down like a slider sets the following distance.
I feel this would be quite intuitive and it allows for good visual real time feedback from the AP display.

Slider approach would be perfect!

 

[KiddFunkadelic]

I keep thinking that the right steering wheel button needs to be leveraged for many things for ease of use, so - they should update the UI to add a little banner section in the lower left (above or below the trip odometer / etc area) that has little easily recognizable icons showing the available contexts and visually highlighting the current context (ie all but one are a grey, the active one is in red or blue) for the right wheel.

Wheel up/down works the selected function, left right changes the context. So you can easily get to speed increase/decrease and follow distance without touching the screen, along with anything else that's worth this elevated level of control. Then you could easily have 5 or 6 contexts that are easy to access (wiper speed? anything else?)

 

[mlondre]

I keep thinking that the right steering wheel button needs to be leveraged for many things for ease of use, so - they should update the UI to add a little banner section in the lower left (above or below the trip odometer / etc area) that has little easily recognizable icons showing the available contexts and visually highlighting the current context (ie all but one are a grey, the active one is in red or blue) for the right wheel.

Wheel up/down works the selected function, left right changes the context. So you can easily get to speed increase/decrease and follow distance without touching the screen, along with anything else that's worth this elevated level of control. Then you could easily have 5 or 6 contexts that are easy to access (wiper speed? anything else?)

Yes yes yes a thousand times yes! This is what I’ve been thinking would work well. I love the right wheel in the Model S/X, since you can make it work with temperature, fan speed, recent calls, and I think a few other things.

I would LOVE if the right/left clicker allowed us to more easily set which scroll setting up was activated. I’d love the following to be on there:

• Temperature
• Fan speed
• Autopilot speed
• Autopilot follow distance
• Recent calls
• Wiper speed

Any more programmable settings?

 

[ForeverFree]

A+!!!

 

[T34ME]

Eager to hear your thoughts!

I'm going to be the contrarian here. All the ideas proposed in this thread are so 20th Century. What Elon has in store for us are VOICE COMMANDS for all the functions:
"FOLLOWING DISTANCE 4" (or 1 or 2 or whatever)
"WINDSHIELD WIPER HIGH" (or auto or slow or mist or whatever)
"PLAY SOUNDS OF SILENCE BY SIMON AND GARFUNKLE" (oh wait we already have that)

Be patient, Elon will soon drag all of us into the FUTURE, kicking and screaming, and there will be no turning back!

 

[mlondre]

What Elon has in store for us are VOICE COMMANDS for all the functions

I hope they do that, too! But I’m not a big fan of voice controls as they usually require perfect syntax to work well. Plus, what else would the right scroll wheel be used for? If voice were the only option, they would have put just a big “microphone” button in its place

Also, voice control in cars can wake up passengers while sleeping. I’m not sure my wife or 4 month old want to be hearing “Tesla, increase autopilot speed to 75 miles per hour!” “Tesla, reduce follow distance to three!” “Tesla, change temperature to 70!”
But for your sake I hope voice is at least an option

 

[T34ME]

I hope they do that, too! But I’m not a big fan of voice controls as they usually require perfect syntax to work well. Plus, what else would the right scroll wheel be used for? If voice were the only option, they would have put just a big “microphone” button in its place

They are used for side mirror adjustment, steering wheel adjustment, audio volume and select

Also, voice control in cars can wake up passengers while sleeping. I’m not sure my wife or 4 month old want to be hearing “Tesla, increase autopilot speed to 75 miles per hour!” “Tesla, reduce follow distance to three!” “Tesla, change temperature to 70!”
But for your sake I hope voice is at least an option

You are using too many words

• speed 60
• distance 3
• temperature driver 70
• ventilation driver medium
  
• change lane left (right)

It is coming!

 

[Runt8]

They are used for side mirror adjustment, steering wheel adjustment, audio volume and select


You are using too many words

• speed 60
• distance 3
• temperature driver 70
• ventilation driver medium
  
• change lane left (right)

It is coming!

While I hope voice commands are expanded (choice is good), I personally hate the idea of using them. For some reason I have a problem announcing to world everything I'm doing (I don't use twitter either ). Even if they worked perfectly 100% of the time, and could parse any natural language I chose to use (instead of me having to learn the syntax) I still probably would rarely if ever use them.

Give me a nice, silent scroll wheel solution like @KiddFunkadelic has proposed and I'll be happy!

 

[T34ME]

Give me a nice, silent scroll wheel solution.................. and I'll be happy!

A car with lots of buttons and dials may be more to your liking. I don't think that is where Elon is headed. He is committing to FSD and that does not require buttons and dials.

 

[daniel]

You are using too many words

• speed 60
• distance 3
• temperature driver 70
• ventilation driver medium
  
• change lane left (right)

It is coming!

I really want this to be true. Do you have information from Tesla, or is this speculation based on the fact that it makes sense and is a great idea?

(I'd also be happy with scroll-wheel for TACC set speed and follow distance. It's just not safe having those on the screen. Especially follow distance now cannot safely be changed while driving.)

 

[T34ME]

I really want this to be true. Do you have information from Tesla, or is this speculation based on the fact that it makes sense and is a great idea?

I have Elon's personal cel phone number. He often calls me for advice.

My speculation is based on logic, observation, innuendo by tweet, and gut feeling. You really can't have FSD without voice commands. Believe me, it is the FUTURE, we all need to be patient.

 

[Runt8]

A car with lots of buttons and dials may be more to your liking. I don't think that is where Elon is headed. He is committing to FSD and that does not require buttons and dials.

I definitely do not want a ton of buttons - I love the Model 3 interior. But I also don’t want to have to talk to my car to do everything, especially when there’s two very underutilized controls right on the steering wheel.

 

[daniel]

I definitely do not want a ton of buttons - I love the Model 3 interior. But I also don’t want to have to talk to my car to do everything, especially when there’s two very underutilized controls right on the steering wheel.

One is underutilized. The other controls the stereo and I use it a lot.

 

[Runt8]

One is underutilized. The other controls the stereo and I use it a lot.

Fair point.