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The single worst feature with Tesla is it takes at least two taps to turn on wipers. During that time, it has just started raining, which is a dangerous time to

by Lendal 6y ago

The single worst feature with Tesla is it takes at least two taps to turn on wipers. During that time, it has just started raining, which is a dangerous time to take your eyes off the road. And you must take your eyes off the road because the taps are in two different locations on the screen, and there is an animation involved, and after that animation you must decide which speed setting to tap on. All this time your eyes are not on the road. There is an Auto setting there, but Tesla's rain-sensing tech is unusably bad. I never use Auto. All my other luxury cars with rain-sensing I've always used Auto, but not Tesla.

Loopsnut 6y ago
Doesn't hitting the button on the end of the left stalk turn on the wipers for you for a short period? Should cover any dangerous just started raining scenario. Maybe it's gotten better over time but the auto setting seems to work fine for me
ggreer 6y ago
There are other ways to trigger the wipers: - Half-press the button on the left stalk to trigger the wipers once. Fully press it to do wipers with fluid. - Press the voice command button (right scroll button on the steering wheel) and say "turn on wipers" or "increase/decrease wiper speed". It's not as nice as physical controls, but it's much safer than futzing with a touch screen while driving.
- kleer001 6y ago
  > - Press the voice command button Star Trek was an outstanding achievement on so many levels and for so many decades. However it did burden us with the idea that voice controlled computers would be a good idea. They're not and for many non-obvious and non-trivial reasons. But the idea is pernicious and doesn't seem to be going away any time soon. In fact I bet there's a very similar essay like this one about voice control. Several, posted every few months for the last two decades. /rant
  - ogre_codes 6y ago
    Voice interfaces are fantastic in specific realms. Controlling complicated things when you don't have the bandwidth to control it with your hands is ideal. Also text messaging and dictation. Outside specific realms, they are far less useful.
    - kleer001 6y ago
      I would argue that all falls off the cliff in terms of usability when we consider the rest of the world in terms of multiple languages, accents, creoles, and dialects. Seen this skit? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqAu-DDlINs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqAu-DDlINs So, maybe voice control is great for local work, but as soon as we consider the rest of the world, IMHO, its profitability and usefulness nosedives.
      - ogre_codes 6y ago
        Every interface is going to have limits and constraints. Visual interfaces are great for people who have excellent vision and precision control. A friend of mine had a weird stroke which affected his cognitive functions and he lost the ability to read. He could see fine, speak reasonably well, had cognitive abilities... he just couldn't read. He ended up using voice controls and speech for everything on his computer. If we let the things which affect individuals limit what interfaces we use, we'd quickly end up with nothing. Ideally, we have 2 or more ways of doing anything to try and deal with the limits of individuals and the software/ hardware we interface with. Having both audible controls and visual controls as they do on the Tesla is ideal.
        kleer001 6y ago
        Your argument is flawed. The density of appreciable variations in speech patterns in English speaking countries is far greater than the differences in abilities to navigate visual interfaces in the same population.
ogre_codes 6y ago
Just tap the end of the stalk. Or auto works well. I’ve never manually adjusted them and it’s rained damned near every time I’ve driven it (Oregon, February). Sounds like how happy people are with the auto setting varies greatly.

by Lendal 6y ago

Loopsnut 6y ago

Doesn't hitting the button on the end of the left stalk turn on the wipers for you for a short period? Should cover any dangerous just started raining scenario. Maybe it's gotten better over time but the auto setting seems to work fine for me

ggreer 6y ago

There are other ways to trigger the wipers: - Half-press the button on the left stalk to trigger the wipers once. Fully press it to do wipers with fluid. - Press the voice command button (right scroll button on the steering wheel) and say "turn on wipers" or "increase/decrease wiper speed". It's not as nice as physical controls, but it's much safer than futzing with a touch screen while driving.

kleer001 6y ago
> - Press the voice command button Star Trek was an outstanding achievement on so many levels and for so many decades. However it did burden us with the idea that voice controlled computers would be a good idea. They're not and for many non-obvious and non-trivial reasons. But the idea is pernicious and doesn't seem to be going away any time soon. In fact I bet there's a very similar essay like this one about voice control. Several, posted every few months for the last two decades. /rant
- ogre_codes 6y ago
  Voice interfaces are fantastic in specific realms. Controlling complicated things when you don't have the bandwidth to control it with your hands is ideal. Also text messaging and dictation. Outside specific realms, they are far less useful.
  - kleer001 6y ago
    I would argue that all falls off the cliff in terms of usability when we consider the rest of the world in terms of multiple languages, accents, creoles, and dialects. Seen this skit? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqAu-DDlINs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqAu-DDlINs So, maybe voice control is great for local work, but as soon as we consider the rest of the world, IMHO, its profitability and usefulness nosedives.
    - ogre_codes 6y ago
      Every interface is going to have limits and constraints. Visual interfaces are great for people who have excellent vision and precision control. A friend of mine had a weird stroke which affected his cognitive functions and he lost the ability to read. He could see fine, speak reasonably well, had cognitive abilities... he just couldn't read. He ended up using voice controls and speech for everything on his computer. If we let the things which affect individuals limit what interfaces we use, we'd quickly end up with nothing. Ideally, we have 2 or more ways of doing anything to try and deal with the limits of individuals and the software/ hardware we interface with. Having both audible controls and visual controls as they do on the Tesla is ideal.
      - kleer001 6y ago
        Your argument is flawed. The density of appreciable variations in speech patterns in English speaking countries is far greater than the differences in abilities to navigate visual interfaces in the same population.

ogre_codes 6y ago

Just tap the end of the stalk. Or auto works well. I’ve never manually adjusted them and it’s rained damned near every time I’ve driven it (Oregon, February). Sounds like how happy people are with the auto setting varies greatly.