Why are there no apps available?

[BestRadar]

I would like to see apps such as Waze, etc. be allowed to be integrated. Does Tesla not allow 3rd party companies to build apps for Tesla?

 

[jaguar36]

They do not.

 

[theslimshadyist]

Several months ago, EM mentioned that they see this integration in the feature.

 

[wayner]

Several months ago, EM mentioned that they see this integration in the feature.

Actually that is not the case. The original plan did call for having third party apps but Tesla has moved away from this. Elon said a year ago that they are working on allowing you to project your apps onto the Tesla's screen: Tesla may start mirroring apps from smartphones on its big touchscreen

I would love to see third party apps but the attraction may not be there for the app makers. How big is the market when Tesla has sold a total of about 200,000 cars in its history?

That's why attention has turned towards stuff like Android Auto and Apple's Car Play.

 

[HankLloydRight]

I agree with most of what you said, but there are A LOT of us who would develop in-car apps for free, just to improve on what's available and answer the call to fix what Tesla keeps insisting on breaking, like the media player.

 

[wayner]

That is true, but I think the other issue that hasn't been raised is that Tesla is somewhat worried about security and quality control. But with media playback there should be no security issues, as long as the critical car systems can override the media playback.

 

[bob_p]

Technically, it's possible for the onboard software system to be designed to allow 3rd party apps to run, and prevent them from accessing critical car functions - like what's done on smartphones or with commercial-grade operating systems.

But, for that to work, it almost has to be designed into the software system from the beginning.

Tesla had originally planned to have a 3rd party app store - and Musk even made some comments (in Europe?) about a new operating system release that would support 3rd party apps - but there hasn't been anything new on this subject since then.

Even if there weren't many 3rd party apps, among the Tesla owner community, there is probably enough support to get a few apps developed.

But, if Tesla hasn't designed their software to support a "protected" environment for running 3rd party apps, we're unlikely to ever see it, unless Tesla decides to re-implement their onboard software (which other companies do periodically with their major software systems).

It seems more likely we'll see a "screen mirroring" solution - that keeps the apps running on another device, and the Tesla console is only used as a display and limited user interface - without any 3rd party access to the car's critical functions.

This is an area where Tesla is clearly behind the other manufacturers...

 

[TexasEV]

Yes but Tesla is ahead of the other manufacturers where it matters. The company is still relatively small and can't do everything at once. It's focusing on where it can differentiate itself, as I think it should.

 

[BestRadar]

Yes but Tesla is ahead of the other manufacturers where it matters. The company is still relatively small and can't do everything at once. It's focusing on where it can differentiate itself, as I think it should.

I disagree. Tesla is doing what it can to entice customers to keep buying new cars without doing anything for the original customers that got Tesla where it is. What are they doing for the customers that bought 5 years ago? They dont have any Auto Pilot or any of the other functions they are working on. Throw all users a bone and improve the interface and give users more functionality. Why no Android Auto or Apple Car Play support, No screen mirroring or anything that would be much simpler than some of the biiger projects that Tesla is focusing on.

 

[Alex D]

Personally I would be perfectly fine with just app mirroring. Come on Elon, you can dooo eeet!