Slashdot Mirror
Tesla Model 3 Owners Share More Info On Model (arstechnica.com)
Owners at the Model 3 Owners Club compiled a list of over 80 different features of the Model 3 they're curious about, including questions about how the car operates (does the card unlock all the doors, where does the UI show you that your turn signals are active), physical aspects of the car (what does the tow hitch attachment look like, how much stuff can you fit in the front and rear cargo areas), and subjective details (how aggressive is the energy regeneration, does that wood trim cause glare). Ars Technica reports: So far, we've learned a few interesting facts. For instance, the windshield wipers are turned on and off by a stalk like just about every other car on the market, but changing the speed (slow/fast/intermittent) is handled by a menu on the touchscreen. The stalk also does double duty turning on the headlights, and there are no rain sensors for the wipers. The touchscreen UI really is the only way to interact with every other function, according to owners, even the rear air vents are controlled from up front (although there are USB ports in the back). Rear seat passengers also won't get seat heaters from what we gather -- unless Tesla plans to activate them in a later software update -- and the steering wheel is not heated either. The two buttons on the steering wheel do not appear to be user-configurable. Instead, the left button primarily deals with audio functions (scroll up and down for volume, left and right to change track) while the other one is for adjusting the mirrors and steering wheel position while in those menus in the UI. Additionally it appears that as of now, there's no way to tab through a different part of the UI without taking your hands off the steering wheel.
So one of the problems that any car attempting to integrate technology could face is a poor user interface. There's a video on an older Maserati on Youtube where the reviewer comments about flaws in the interface, including issues where some features require use of both the physical button and the on-screen controls, and in a nutshell, too much time has to be taken off paying attention to the road in order to operate these features.
Personally I think that touchscreens are a horrible way to control a car. There's no tactile feedback on a touchscreen. One cannot tell for certain without taking one's eyes from the road what one is doing with the interface. Its bad enough for optional things like the radio and cell phone interaction, but it's a real problem for things that are mandatory when driving. The article summary's comment on the windshield wipers is a case in point, if most of the time I just need a light intermittent wiper setting I probably will leave my wipers set that way. If I drive into a thunderstorm on the highwayay I might immediately need fast-speed wipers. It's bad enough to not have an immediate way to turn up the speed without thinking, but if I have to hunt through menus to find the setting then that could be disastrous.
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
" For instance, the windshield wipers are turned on and off by a stalk like just about every other car on the market, but changing the speed (slow/fast/intermittent) is handled by a menu on the touchscreen. "
So you can't see well because it's suddenly raining harder, so you need to adjust your wiper speed... and now you have to play with a touch screen app, instead of simply pushing the wiper stalk up higher?
That doesn't sound like a good idea to me.
The principle is that any essential and/or frequently performed task should be accessible by a control that does not require drivers to take their eye off the road
Good luck getting out of thing after you roll it.
Wanna buy a shirt?
https://www.redbubble.com/people/stealthfinger/shop?asc=u