V9 Poll: How do you love the new bottom-half split-screen UI?

[S4WRXTTCS]

I am envious of people who don’t have to worry about traffic all the time while they are driving.

It's really situationally dependent on whether someone has to use nav. For me any trip that isn't within 5-10 miles is going to be maps centric because of traffic.

My primary beefs with navigation/maps is that's it's not where it really needs to be in order to earn a locked spot on the top of the center screen.

As a result it's not creating the kind of bonding with the user that it should.

Here are some examples:

It doesn't use pattern recognition to know where I'm driving even if I drive there every M-F at the same time. It would be nice if it had some AI assistant that checked the route to work, and let me know if there was any issue on my common route.

The car doesn't have V2V communication so it doesn't know about traffic ahead without having a cell connection. The car doesn't even warn me about traffic suddenly slowing down a mile or two ahead. Instead I have to glance at the nav screen occasionally. The V2V communication is going to be an increasingly important element of driving because it allows the car to know what's up ahead from not just other cars, but the infrastructure itself (built into traffic lights, roads, etc).

A lot of times it doesn't even have the speed limit correct. Of course people blame AP, but it's really the failure on Tesla in having good maps, and keeping them up to date. The AP should only be there to act as a verification of something the car already knows or a way to trigger the Tesla maps team to update something if the two conflict.

There is no version number of the maps, or a way of manually updating them if one doesn't always connect the car to wifi.

It doesn't display the location of cops or emergency vehicles on the display like waze does. It also doesn't have any reporting features when it could be as easy as pressing a single button. It could have much better waze integration.

Tesla has to make a much more concentrated effort to improve Nav/maps before it really earns the spot.

Like easily being able to do way points.

But, even with improvements and with user bonding you're still going to have the case of the person who just wants to drive the car with whatever they want on the center screen as it's an auxiliary screen.

The funny thing is what's driven the discussion was really another UI/UX failure by Tesla. That failure was not putting proper radar based blind spot monitoring in the mirrors. This failure has resulted in people finding work arounds. My workaround is to accept that the car doesn't have it, and I just use my mirrors along with routing my head. Other people use the rear-view display.

With AP2 they can improve blindspot/side monitoring/protection through audible, and heptic feedback (using the steering wheel). They should also always show a red line if you can't safely switch lanes. I don't know how precise it can be about that because I don't know if it's currently capable of estimating speed of the incoming car like it could if it was radar based.

 

[Bill D]

Tesla could solve this easily - Just add an up-arrow in the upper right corner of the camera display screen.

A tap on that arrow would move the camera up and expose the bottom section for any other app (or the Nav).

Maybe I'm missing something, but it seems like this simple change would make everybody happy.

I like the ability to put my camera on top. Most of my driving is local without Nav needed. When I do need it locally, it's for addresses in my phone contacts. Tesla took away the ability to voice command navigate to phone contact addresses back in v7, so since then, I use Hey-Siri on my iPhone instead, which initially searches in my contacts and provides turn-by-turn voice directions.

 

[Galve2000]

Previously, you could always tell because it was green. Now, there is no way to distinguish between "road is clear" and "data is not available for this road". The lack of green may also make it harder to tell which side of the road has a problem when an orange or red line is displayed.)

i'm glad they removed the green.

while your point is noted and understood, I have to believe that in most cases the traffic data IS available.. so not red or orange (formerly green) means the road is clear and traffic is moving normally/well.

in the past I would have to take traffic data off to see in which direction traffic was flowing on a particular street and found that annoying.

the directional arrow was covered by the green line.. and you know.. the green streets were the ones you wanted to take, so you needed to know which direction traffic was flowing in.

 

[rush6410]

Imagine that you bought a large flat-screen television for your home. Sometimes you watch news, other times you watch sports, other times movies. It's your choice, and life is good.

One day, the manufacturer updates your TV so that it always has the news channel on in the background. When you want to watch a movie, it appears in a smaller window on top of the news. You can move the smaller window around, but you can't make it take up the full screen like it used to. You can't get rid of the news channel; it's always on and visible.

Then your neighbor says, "why are you complaining? Every function is still there, it is just accessed and/or positioned differently."

But it's harder to enjoy a movie now.

Apples and oranges. The main function of a TV is to watch a program. The main function of the car is to drive. The equivalent change to a TV would be they changed the menu. The primary function of watching the TV is unchanged or better.

 

[thecloud]

Apples and oranges. The main function of a TV is to watch a program. The main function of the car is to drive. The equivalent change to a TV would be they changed the menu. The primary function of watching the TV is unchanged or better.

I think you misunderstood my point. As you say, the main function of a TV is to watch a program, so you might be unhappy if the manufacturer suddenly changed things so you could only watch your chosen program in a smaller window than before, with a required program also running on the screen at the same time.

 

[mknox]

I am envious of people who don’t have to worry about traffic all the time while they are driving.

It doesn't use pattern recognition to know where I'm driving even if I drive there every M-F at the same time. It would be nice if it had some AI assistant that checked the route to work, and let me know if there was any issue on my common route.

That is another feature that was "taken away". It was called "Commute Advice" and if you had a Home and Work address entered, it would automatically tell you that traffic on your normal route was going to take longer than normal by the number of minutes you specified, and then offer to plan an alternative route. Didn't have to be using Nav or have the map up for this to work. I discovered it was gone the hard way... stuck in traffic on my way to work wondering why the car didn't tell me.

 

[rush6410]

I would say they removed two functions.

1.) The ability to have maps not on the screen
2.) The ability to move an app (energy, rearview camera, etc) to the top of screen.

And, they added two functions.

1.) The ability to have three "apps" on the screen at once versus only two.
2.) The ability to have flexible sizing of an app. Before an app could either take up one tile or both tiles.

We do have to be careful of what we claim isn't a function.

People are really sensitive to size, and location of a UI elements. As an example in a previous firmware update older owners complained about fonts being too small, and too hard to read. To them it was a functional loss over the previous version. They complained and Tesla improved the fonts.

Technically, what you mention are not functions. But, they are UX (User experience) items. I am not trying to diminish the importance of the UX. Even though all the functions are present, how you navigate, access, and interface with the functions are critical. For example, I had a long trip this weekend. In V8,I typically set up my navigation for it to display in the "Heading up" orientation. Specifically I use the maps for traffic and battery estimated consumption. With V9 they changed the maps view in "Heading up" orientation where the consumption is no longer visible. V8 it was visible. I relearned how to display battery consumption using the energy app displayed at the bottom with maps in "Heading up" orientation. So, they changed the UX to accomplish the same outcome. Unfortunately UX changes are common with software. Tesla will need to weight the impact to UX vs. internal efficiency.

The UX was changed to consolidate software versions and functions across all models. We cannot underestimate how important it is to align the platform. This will allow Tesla to more efficiently improve all platforms with the least amount of effort and function acceleration. Software companies have to constantly weight those factors. Behind the scenes, platform optimization will lead to a better quality product. Or, they will have better control of the code and minimize bugs.

UX can always be improved. I would keep the input coming and displeasure of driver experiences. Once the platform is optimized, they will work to improve UX.

 

[rush6410]

I think you misunderstood my point. As you say, the main function of a TV is to watch a program, so you might be unhappy if the manufacturer suddenly changed things so you could only watch your chosen program in a smaller window than before, with a required program also running on the screen at the same time.

I do get your point. I just don't equate the viewing experience of being able to watch your desired program on a TV to the UI changes Tesla made. My point is the primary function of a TV is viewing a desired program. The primary function of the car is to drive. A change on the TV viewing experience would equate to a change to the ability to drive a car; acceleration, steering, braking. I see the Tesla UI changes equivalent to TV menu changes. Neither impact the primary function. I just don't agree with your analogy. But, I do get the point the UX is extremely important and Tesla should take the feedback seriously. I do think they will address in the future.

 

[Leo Snow]

What I like the most
- new features
- new ui language
- new app launcher

What I don't like
- media player and its placement and its behavior. HATE THAT DAMN THING.
- new ui logic (especially ac settings)
- 1 app per screen instead of 2
- thicker ui for the dash screen

Overall, besides new features and the design (not ui logic) I DONT like it.

 

[electronblue]

i'm glad they removed the green.

while your point is noted and understood, I have to believe that in most cases the traffic data IS available.. so not red or orange (formerly green) means the road is clear and traffic is moving normally/well.

in the past I would have to take traffic data off to see in which direction traffic was flowing on a particular street and found that annoying.

the directional arrow was covered by the green line.. and you know.. the green streets were the ones you wanted to take, so you needed to know which direction traffic was flowing in.

Tesla could easily solve this to wider satisfaction by adding more user-interface settings to the car. Simple show green on nav kind of setting (default off) and this particular point would be a short discussion. Unfortunately Tesla is very stingy with user interface related settings and version 9 seems to be worse than ever regards to customization.

 

[rush6410]

I don't give a rat's ass how "aligning the platforms" helps Tesla more efficiently make "improvements" if those changes SUCK. I didn't buy a cheap-ass Model 3; I bought an expensive Model X. And I don't appreciate that we're now experiencing trickle-UP software changes from cheap models to expensive models instead of the other way around like it's supposed to work.

Sucks for you...but great for me.

 

[spectrum]

I don't give a rat's ass

Please mind your language. You are not making Tesla owners or these forums look good.

I didn't buy a cheap-ass Model 3; I bought an expensive Model X

The Model 3 is literally the car that will make or break Tesla. It has a better motor, better batteries, and better electronics built in. I know how you feel, I bought a $120K Model X too, but that doesn't mean I look down upon Model 3 owners. They're like our children, and that's not how you talk about your kids.

 

[RayW]

I don't give a rat's ass how "aligning the platforms" helps Tesla more efficiently make "improvements" if those changes SUCK. I didn't buy a cheap-ass Model 3; I bought an expensive Model X. And I don't appreciate that we're now experiencing trickle-UP software changes from cheap models to expensive models instead of the other way around like it's supposed to work.

Ditto