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German Court Suspends Driver for Adjusting Wiper Speed in Tesla Model 3

20 points by aloukissas 6y ago

joegibbs 6y ago
The title seems a little bit misleading: he didn’t get pulled over for driving with the wrong window wiper speed, he crashed his car into an embankment and got his licence suspended for that.
- FearNotDaniel 6y ago
  Not quite true either. He reached over and operated a touch screen device, thus causing the crash to happen, and it was using the touch screen while driving that caused his licence to be suspended. If it's really true that you can't adjust the wiper speed on a Tesla without taking your attention off the road and onto some ludicrous touch screen interface, then I have no idea why any government in the world would accept these vehicles as roadworthy; surely wiper speed is a safety critical function that must be operated quickly, by touch alone, and without having to stop and think or look away from the road.
  - verdverm 6y ago
    Looks like they have voice commands for the wipers, which might be even better, assuming it correctly interprets you. https://www.tesla.com/support/voice-commands https://www.tesla.com/support/voice-commands
    - perl4ever 6y ago
      Well that seems like a good solution; you'd only crash the first time, when you look for the wiper controls and they're not there and you go searching through the touchscreen menus.
      - verdverm 6y ago
        Or you could push the wiper button on the left, which will bring up the wiper controls on the screen.
  - firecall 6y ago
    Agreed. Much as I would love a Tesla, these are clearly concerning issues. Even the switching of wiper and indicator stalks to different sides on Euro/US/AS/ASIA cars can be discombobulating for a moment. And a moments distraction is all it takes... The touch screen isn't always better, but it is always different and sometimes worse.
  - erulabs 6y ago
    For whatever its worth, you can trigger the wipers with the left driving stalk, and they are by default in "automatic" mode, which causes them to kick on when the behind-the-windshield camera detects visibility issues through the glass. I would suspect, if one looked into the details of this case, the fact that the wipers can be adjusted in other ways than just the touchscreen was probably a deciding factor against the driver. At any rate, it's always the drivers fault if they do not know how to operate the vehicle they're driving safely. All this said, the little UI for the wiper controls is really small and fiddly.
sschueller 6y ago
German courts should prevent tesla from selling the model 3 in Germany for not having buttons and stocks for basic controls. We spent many years to get these things right and then some company which thinks it needs to reinvent the wheel takes us all 2 steps backwards. VW has started doing the same crap and it's just as bad. Try adjusting your mirror while driving in the new electric VW.
- aloukissas 6y ago
  100% agree. Having physical controls for the most common-used functions (eg climate control, volume) has been best practice, not only for UX but for safety. Many auto manufacturers are guilty for doing this, it just that Tesla has taken it to the next level by trying to take "form over function" to the next level.
jmpman 6y ago
Hopefully I don’t lose my license in the US for screwing up in the car wash, where setting a Model 3 into neutral takes the dexterity of a skilled surgeon. Hey Elon, when you detect I’m in a car wash (you already turn off the automatic wipers in there), can you put a big button for Neutral on the screen. My wife practices setting the car into neutral before entering the car wash, and even then, she’s only 75% successful.

20 points by aloukissas 6y ago

The title seems a little bit misleading: he didn’t get pulled over for driving with the wrong window wiper speed, he crashed his car into an embankment and got his licence suspended for that.

FearNotDaniel 6y ago
Not quite true either. He reached over and operated a touch screen device, thus causing the crash to happen, and it was using the touch screen while driving that caused his licence to be suspended. If it's really true that you can't adjust the wiper speed on a Tesla without taking your attention off the road and onto some ludicrous touch screen interface, then I have no idea why any government in the world would accept these vehicles as roadworthy; surely wiper speed is a safety critical function that must be operated quickly, by touch alone, and without having to stop and think or look away from the road.
- verdverm 6y ago
  Looks like they have voice commands for the wipers, which might be even better, assuming it correctly interprets you. https://www.tesla.com/support/voice-commands https://www.tesla.com/support/voice-commands
  - perl4ever 6y ago
    Well that seems like a good solution; you'd only crash the first time, when you look for the wiper controls and they're not there and you go searching through the touchscreen menus.
    - verdverm 6y ago
      Or you could push the wiper button on the left, which will bring up the wiper controls on the screen.
- firecall 6y ago
  Agreed. Much as I would love a Tesla, these are clearly concerning issues. Even the switching of wiper and indicator stalks to different sides on Euro/US/AS/ASIA cars can be discombobulating for a moment. And a moments distraction is all it takes... The touch screen isn't always better, but it is always different and sometimes worse.
- erulabs 6y ago
  For whatever its worth, you can trigger the wipers with the left driving stalk, and they are by default in "automatic" mode, which causes them to kick on when the behind-the-windshield camera detects visibility issues through the glass. I would suspect, if one looked into the details of this case, the fact that the wipers can be adjusted in other ways than just the touchscreen was probably a deciding factor against the driver. At any rate, it's always the drivers fault if they do not know how to operate the vehicle they're driving safely. All this said, the little UI for the wiper controls is really small and fiddly.

sschueller 6y ago

German courts should prevent tesla from selling the model 3 in Germany for not having buttons and stocks for basic controls. We spent many years to get these things right and then some company which thinks it needs to reinvent the wheel takes us all 2 steps backwards. VW has started doing the same crap and it's just as bad. Try adjusting your mirror while driving in the new electric VW.

aloukissas 6y ago
100% agree. Having physical controls for the most common-used functions (eg climate control, volume) has been best practice, not only for UX but for safety. Many auto manufacturers are guilty for doing this, it just that Tesla has taken it to the next level by trying to take "form over function" to the next level.

jmpman 6y ago

Hopefully I don’t lose my license in the US for screwing up in the car wash, where setting a Model 3 into neutral takes the dexterity of a skilled surgeon. Hey Elon, when you detect I’m in a car wash (you already turn off the automatic wipers in there), can you put a big button for Neutral on the screen. My wife practices setting the car into neutral before entering the car wash, and even then, she’s only 75% successful.