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Tesla CEO Says Model S Will Support Third-Party Apps
thecarchik writes "The electric-car maker's CEO said at a conference today in San Francisco that the much-hyped Model S electric sedan will support third-party apps and text-to-voice capabilities. With its large 17-inch touchscreen console, car fans and investors have long suspected that third-party apps might be part of the Model S plan, but Wednesday's announcement was the first acknowledgement from Musk that the company is courting a developer community."
does it run Linux?
computer car viruses were born.
Why are they coming up with their own operating system and app ecosystem, is this really the core competency of a car company? Why aren't they using Android, which already has text to voice, voice to text, GPS navigation, and almost everything else you might need in a car?
I hope the computer systems that run the engine, wheels, and steering, are not networked into the entertainment console. Someone will just need to install a virus into the console, and then boom, steering freezes up and everyone dies.
Also, a 17 inch screen in the center console is just asking for a distracted death. Knobs are a far better interface when driving, buttons are the second best, touchscreens are probably awful.
Now we can have viruses that not only steal your data but steal your car as well.
The Tesla S. We must do TORCS to it.
Yesssssssssss.
There was a poll some time ago, must admit can't remember if slashdot or reddit, about the most overpriced piece of technology you use.
My answer would be car-related. From the ludicrous stereo to the 50p light snesing diode that seems to translate to hundreds of pounds when translated into the phrase "automatic headlights", in-car tech is ripe for commoditisation. An open platform will do wonders for this, even if 'open' isn't the libre definition but simply a published API.
Cheers,
Ian
Throw on Android, and hardware restrict ALL on-board electronics to be output readings only (current speed, fuel economy, GPS coordinates, temperature readings, etc.) We don't need some jackass rooting his car and disabling the power steering at 88 mph.
I'll be honest, we're throwing science against the wall to see what sticks. -Cave Johnson
You should have the right to repair your own car and not have to go to the dealer to read out some codes / reset stuff. Any car shop should be able to get the software / hardware needed to fix cars and not have it be locked to the dealer.
Now imagine a Beowulf cluster of these...
Man who leaps off cliff jumps to conclusion.
As a cyclist I look forward to a silent car where the driver is distracted by apps.
MINI offers something called MINI Connected, which is a system that has a screen in a car, and an application (Android and iPhone) that once hooked to the car, can display or record all kinds of information.
The interesting thing is that there's also been at least one third party application announced (I forget the name, some network radio company) that when linked into the MINI, detects the system and takes advantage of the in-dash screen, and even more importantly the control knob that you use to move through the UI when the app is being viewed from the car screen.
I think a system that leverages Android/iPhone devices and just provides a nice built in dashboard display makes a ton more sense. Then you have right away a huge number of people that can write something for your car without learning something new, or making small changes to existing apps to take advantage of your car integration.
MINI's system is kind of locked down (not sure if just anyone could develop applications that linked into the in-car system) but the idea there is a really good one if opened a bit more to all application developers.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Or can I download my apps from the Chinese store of my choice?
Fandroids hate facts.
Guys, I really don't get it. Can someone post a "car analogy" for me, please?
Questions raise, answers kill. Raise questions to stay alive.
They are working on the car, this is a side thing that will bring in things from the outside. You can't work on the car but you could add cool things to it and contribute to it in that way. It also means they may have some great new ideas that SELL the car to people who are less interested in going green. If they get a community going around this aspect they can free up resources.... like if the linux people take over the system and save MS taxes so later the smaller car can be cheaper.
Its not just about batteries - which they don't do - its about getting an affordable CAR that people can buy and actually drive. It has to be expensive, so they went with the high end sports car and now they've worked down to the expensive car next they can work down to a mid-level car. Its harder to get the cheap affordable car so their approach to appeal to the top and work down is a WISE MOVE and helps dispel the myths of electric that have been around for so long. The sports car did a great job showing all that PR was lies- the problem is range but they don't have to be weak ugly little cars like the stereotype. This is just a step towards an electric we can all afford (pending battery tech which isn't really their thing.)
The average American need more than just a smart electric car like the Aptera - sure they don't ACTUALLY need more most of the time but the problem is that they don't believe that.
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Or "apps". Too much "head down" time.
I don't want drivers looking at a screen instead of the road. They should be driving, not playing Angry Birds. At least until self-driving car technology is deployed.
You're not the target audience then. I own a Roadster, and have money down on the Model S, and I like what they're doing with it. That's what I want out of a ~$50K luxury sedan. If I wanted a bare bones Yaris, I'd go buy a Yaris.
is this really the core competency of a car company?
If you are asking can car companies do software, the answer is absolutely yes. Modern cars are loaded with software and every major car company has to be good at it. HOWEVER, the car companies are not very good at the sort of software you find in consumer electronics. Their development cycles are too slow, volumes are too low and their costs are too high to play in that space.
Ford actually did something pretty smart with their Sync platform and (finally) realized that they just need to provide an interface to the stuff on your smartphone instead of trying to reinvent it themselves. (and they did try - repeatedly) Lets the consumer electronics companies do what they do well and let the car companies do what they do well. Took Ford a lot of wasted development efforts to realize that but they seem to have come to their senses.
Oh, and I'm pretty sure a company founded by Elon Musk probably will have some clue how software works.
Anywhere that you have an abstracted interface that can change, knobs and buttons don't work.
The folks at BMW disagree with you. You may or may not like their IDrive system (personally I like it) but it's designed explicitly to not require a touch screen. Reason being is that the act of moving your finger at arms length to a specific point on a screen with no tactile feedback requires a dangerous amount of attention from your eyes. You cannot help but be distracted for a scary amount of time. With the controls in the BMW you can navigate the system with much shorter spans of distraction. The quality of execution of their particular system is debatable but in principle I think they are on the right track. Touch screens as they are presently implemented have interfaces that are relatively dangerous to operate while driving.
My truck has a built in touch screen and it is difficult to navigate the menus while safely driving. Fortunately it also has some voice controls so I frequently can get around this problem. I like having it but they really needed to put more thought and research into the interface. My eyes need to be on the road as much as possible, not navigating menus on an LCD screen.
the most overpriced piece of technology you use.
Easy - text messaging. Cost per megabyte is absolutely astronomical while the actual cost to the telecom provider is a good approximation of zero. Costs them more to bill you for the text message than they likely spend delivering it.
My vote for second most overpriced is inkjet printer ink. Costs more per ounce than human blood.
From the ludicrous stereo to the 50p light snesing diode that seems to translate to hundreds of pounds when translated into the phrase "automatic headlights", in-car tech is ripe for commoditisation.
My company makes wire harnesses and other auto electronics and I'm both the accountant and the engineer. These parts are not as cheap as you think they are, particularly when you consider the labor cost involved. A simple diode may be cheap but car companies don't buy a single diode - they buy sub-assemblies. That has to all be assembled ($$), engineered (more $$), tested (still more $$), etc.
Although my wife's Jaguar has a touchscreen, it is surrounded by controls for the most commonly used features (knob for audio volume, buttons for source select and program advance/rewind, touch-identifiable for temp/fan/defrost climate controls). Only infrequently used controls and the nav system need the touchscreen, and the nav system is never used (despite buying a map update) except by out-of-town visitors, and they get voice directions once I program the destination in the driveway. The most-used control on the touchscreen is the one that sets the display to the Jaguar logo, since it defaults to the main menu unless you had one of the other subsystems up when the car was shut down.
The electro-stoners that are busy running through the menus on their no-knob stereos and touch screen systems are as bad as any substance abusers. Confiscate their wheels and put their cars on blocks, so they can play in their living rooms without menacing the rest of us.
Back in 2009, RoundArch blog said "The Tesla Model S – Touch-Screen User Experience is Powered by Roundarch’s Merapi project ... ... [Merapi gives] Access to hardware devices: Browser-based technologies (Adobe Flash, Microsoft Silverlight, AJAX) previously did not have native access to hardware other than microphone and Web cam."
Roundarch’s Merapi is a revolutionary solution for bridging traditional desktop and Web technologies,
"Merapi is a technology that can be used as a messaging bridge between applications that run in the Adobe Flash player or Adobe AIR and applications written in Java."
Nothing much since, maybe Tesla has changed supplier. But it's unlikely Tesla is doing the work themselves, as you say it's not their core competency.
=S
Encouraging the development of apps that will draw power and reduce the range or carrying capacity of the vehicle is silly.
What's silly is having so little numeracy and common sense to think that even a 100 W touch screen computer (10× the power draw of the iPad power supply) will affect the power and range of an EV with a 42 kWh (or larger) battery pack and probably a 185,000 Watt motor.
=S
like if the linux people take over the system and save MS taxes so later the smaller car can be cheaper.
One tank of fuel's worth of cost difference on a $50,000 car is hardly a big deal.. I don't see why they'd go with MS on this anyway.
which is totally what she said
Ah, it's using Flash and Silverlight and has an internet connection. At least it will be secure!
which is totally what she said
I'm confused a little about the whole motivation behind electric cars. Maybe someone with a little more knowledge on the subject can fill me in.
I like the idea of eliminating or at least reducing our dependence on foreign oil for political purposes. I'm not so sure I like the idea of replacing our petroleum-based transportation with what will essentially be coal-based transportation. I personally don't think there's much we can do about global warming, and I'll admit I'm not 100% convinced that we're even causing it. That being said, from the perspective of a AGW fanatic, wouldn't this switch from gas to coal be undesirable?
Maybe AGW fanatics also support nuclear generation of electricity?
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Yeah so a motion sensor jiggly boob app. No, really, Officer.
https://www.innova.com/
I haven't personally tried these but I'm tempted to pick one up and test it out.
Lots of predictable comments about the safety implications but I'm surprised nobody has questioned the sensibility of adding an unnecessary power consuming device to an electric vehicle.
"What kind of music do pirates listen to?" -Paul Maud'dib
"Yeeeaaarrrrr n' Bee!!" -Stilgar, Leader of Sietch Tabr
How about we ask the other question - is it easier to clean up millions of cars, or thousands of coal plants? Or, put another way, is it easier to mandate that all cars have some sort of emissions control mechanism or to have all coal power plants do same? Or is it easier to control the emissions of millions of tailpipes or thousands of smokestacks?
Short of requiring all vehicles go through some sort of emissions and efficiency inspection annually (and have everyone complain about the cost of emissions checks, how the efficiency ratings screw the sportiness of cars, etc), it'll be pretty damn hard to ensure that all those vehicles are working at peak efficiency.
Bingo! ...and I do as well.
The problem is that not all AGW fanatics support nuclear energy. In fact, I would wager that most don't, and this will worsen in the coming months. Some seem to think that by driving an electric vehicle they are helping reduce greenhouse emissions, but in most areas, they aren't. In reality, they are contributing more. Electric cars will not help reduce greenhouse emissions until coal use is significantly reduced. Solar and wind will help a small amount, but electric cars and nuclear energy are a package deal.
Peak efficiency or not, gasoline is much cleaner to burn than coal. You can clean up coal plants all you want, but you can't change that. By trading your internal combustion engine for a car that runs on electricity produced by burning coal, you are making the situation worse.
Hydro, solar, wind, wave and geothermal already account for 45% of our electricity here in Portugal. Of course we pay heavily for that, with one of the highest electricity rates in the EU, in a country with one of the lowest average wages.
The lack of competition in the distribution to residences doesn't help:|
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By the way, we pay heavily for that because for now the government is subsidizing the construction of wind farms, solar panels, etc.
Supposedly we should pay less in the future; but with the way the economy is going, we'll be bankrupt before that.
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Cars, like computers, are all about add-ons. For regular cars, it is about the motor, etc. With electric cars, you do not have that. Now, Tesla is enlisting the geek world. Real smart on their part.
They made one big mistake. They should create a special plug for the rear of these cars, along with a hitch. That way, trailers can be added to give distances. The hitch should provide not just communications, but most importantly, it should allow for enough DC to run the car, or at least charge it to some large amount. With that approach, they will encourage different trailers that will use different techs to compete against each other. I image the first one would be a Motor/generator combo that would also allow for some small amount of cargo. Later, it might be ultra-caps, or fuel-cells, etc. The trailers could then be bought our rented.
br.regardless, Tesla needs add-ons to involve loads of manufacturers.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
You totally don't understand Tesla's target market, do you?
* Flash headlights in sync to music
* Make beeping noise when reversing
* Transform into an autobot
Can't wait to jailbreak it and start developing apps! Just think of the possibilities ....
*Automatically slow to the speed limit when coming up on a speed trap
*image processing app to detect police cruisers using the back-up camera
*ParallelParkMe
*IPhone Remote Control (for easy ghost riding)
MS likes to give stuff away create an addiction then charge you after you are hooked. There are a lot of cars out there for them to infect and HARM like they did with the computer industry for decades.
Last thing I want is another monopoly jumping to support the record industry when they bitch about public performances when my radio is too loud or I have > 3 people in the car or whatever crazy things they want to impose upon me.
An open system means cool hacks, cool software on your EXISTING car computer -- not paying for a 'professional' update or requiring the purchase of a new car or computer system. Say somebody adds a hack that ties into the car computer and the dealer doesn't like it-- an open system is going to be easier to do this. Some university could create optimized driving software to manage the car (may require hacks) or incorporate elevation into the map routing so you save power by not driving up hills.
After market add-ons or DIY mods like some sensors and automatic parallel parking etc. Its all much more realistically possible-- plus some DIY kit can get around most your IP laws hindering actual advancement.
Lots of apps possible....some more ideas
ID other drivers. an App which photos plates of other cars and IDs them using an online database. Measure the speed of the other cars... Peer ratings of other drivers online... automated driving grading; tests? virtual pets encouraging better driving. Score keepers for running over animals... Interesting security features... Detect police sirens and cut the music; USB radio devices for HAM or police scanning... Facebook crap (that'll kill people.) back seat stuff for the kiddies running on the same system. car-related watching games. Survival info (from useful to insane.) The car manual, FAQ, info on other cars-- how to use your HUGE power supply to jump start a normal car... simulators...that is, stupid apps that mimic TV shows. Route comparisons with online integration. Use wifi to automatically talk to your house; open doors, turn on lights, sync, backup, or whatever. Talk to fast food places already having wifi to make orders within range (or before you get there.) Pot hole detection and reporting to the DOT for repair. Virtual lawyer for accidents... Wind resistance estimators, car weight estimators (funny math geek problems turned into apps.) RFID scanner to pick up everybody else's info... Insurance company apps to rate and charge you based upon actual RISK not simplistic pooling (could be good for you if you are a good driver.) Company car tracking apps.... Car RENTAL. Run out of battery? it could help you find a rental place... they could meet you somewhere... (actually I'd like to see mini-trailers with gensets or batteries for extended ranges-- it could manage those as well.) Contests online for various driving feats (legal and illegal.) Take photos while driving without accidents. VoIP phone? various networking hacks and tethering hacks... Obviously somebody will port DOOM to it...then do something stupid like tie the game to your driving somehow. Liberty apps helping you not get screwed by the police.
One could track the lights and route and suggest speeds to avoid red lights, find turnabouts, use traffic info.
Social stuff -- wifi broadcast your music so curious drivers nearby could hear it? other silly things possible... would be nice to yell at somebody and have them hear you (optionally.)
Perhaps better real time performance enhancements for linux so it can handle doing everything-- including more critical aspects for the car.
The next car - possibly from somebody else may run the SAME software so you can migrate or at least be familiar with the new car.
This is just a little bit off the top of my head-- there has to be a TON of stuff others are thinking of.
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