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It is a little premature. I think it will make much more sense in two or three decades (?) *when we can get self driving mostly working. This may be unpopular
by mcny 8y ago
It is a little premature. I think it will make much more sense in two or three decades (?) *when we can get self driving mostly working.
This may be unpopular but control knobs are silly. How often do you reach for that climate control knob? Why can't the car just do the right thing? Why does the knob need to exist?
My opinion is that doing away with knobs we don't need to be persistent is a good thing. Now, in a car today with no real self driving, we want the brakes to be accessible by a persistent control and it is in all cars. I just think tweaking climate control isn't that high in the list of priorities.
- brian-armstrong 8y agoI feel like I reach for climate control all the time. Cars have tiny enclosed cabins and they go from cold to hot quickly depending on sun/shade etc. And how would it do the right thing? The right temperature is pretty subjective.
- jfoster 8y agoYou set the temperature you like once. It can use that as the default. That will cover most climate control cases, and then there's an override value for when you have passengers. Since there would be someone in the passenger seat then, they can do it whilst the driver drives. The override gets reset every 6 hours. Theoretical way it could work; unsure how much of that applies to Tesla.
- SECProto 8y agoTemperature doesnt take in to account radiant heat (or lack thereof). If the sun is shining on you, and the cabin is set to 20, you'll be hot. If it's a cloudless winter night and -20 out, setting to 20 will be frigid cold. I mean just yesterday, I had to alternate between 18 and 22 depending whether the sun was shining on me, or was behind the car shining in the rear window (curvy road)
- jfoster 8y agoGood point. I wonder if that could be detected and compensated for, though?
- brian-armstrong 8y agoAbsolutely. My brain tells me I'm hot, and my motor system activates to move my arm, which adjusts the climate controls, bringing the temperature back within tolerance. It's pretty sophisticated.
- jfoster 8y agoAlso could be done by the car's software thermostat determining how much resistance it is up against in keeping the car to a particular temperature and adjusting that way. Lots of resistance => Lots of sun hitting the vehicle => Set the temperature a bit lower.
- Fins 8y agoMy (2011) car manual claims that there is a sun sensor that is used to control climate system, so I would assume that yes, it can.
- jazzyjackson 8y agoWell, OK, but what makes a touchscreen an improvement? Why is it good to take knobs away? The number of 10 year old devices with knobs that still function is way higher than the number of 10 year old devices with touchscreens that still function, for many reasons. Also, the volume and radio controls are high on the list of "things I like to control without taking my eyes off the road"