Reinventing the Wheel - Tesla Edition

[Volvobrick]

19 minutes ago, Lethalstrike said:

Next step is to move accelerator and brake onto touch sensitive controls on steering wheel 

Door opening buttons, windows control, trunk/frunk release, seat adjustments - let's move all to the steering wheel yoke.

[SGCM928]

On 2/1/2021 at 1:18 AM, Carbon82 said:

Once upon a time, driving different car model is just about knowing whether it come with a clutch, the signal / wiper stalk are located on the left or right hand side of the steering and maybe, how to switch on the headlight and that's about all.

Suddenly, things started to get much complicated with BMW and Mercedes changing our mental model of how a gear knob should be (shifting and positioning), LCD screen replacing space used to be occupied by knobs and buttons, voice control (don't make the stupid mistake of calling out "Hey Mercedes" when you are behind the wheel of a say 7 series), etc.

Back to the topic, in case you are not aware, Tesla made headline a couple of days ago for its revolutionary cockpit layout for its 2021 Model S and X. Now, if you find adjusting radio volume or aircon temperature on a touch screen a pain in the a$$, you are in for deeper sh*t!

Tesla's Model S and X revamp says RIP to the traditional steering wheel

This isn't a yoke.

On Wednesday, Tesla rolled out the new interior look for its refreshed Model S and X electric cars. Both feature a new steering wheel design and touchscreen layout. Tesla is calling the new wheel a "stalkless steering yoke," meaning there's no stalk to press for the turn signal or to change drive modes.

Tesla describes the new steering wheel, which has no stalk: "The ultimate focus on driving: no stalks, no shifting. With a stalkless steering yoke, you can enjoy both the best car to drive, and the best car to be driven in."

BUT, how to maneuver the car with a game console-like steering wheel, how to signal, switch on the wiper and  headlight, etc?  These used to be something very straight forward till Tesla decided to make it a rocket science, at least it seems now. It is once again going to rewrite the mental model we have built up over the past few decades of driving...

Previously, Tesla used stalks on its steering wheels like most other vehicles for turn signals, headlights, and windshield wiper controls, and unlike other automakers, Tesla even used steering wheel stalks for other controls like Autopilot and the drive modes (PRND).

Tesla’s new steering wheel has none of that as the steering column is not equipped with any stalk. It’s instead packaged into a streamlined butterfly steering wheel design.

The steering wheel is equipped with the same scrolls already found on the Model 3 and Model Y wheel, but it now features new force touch buttons for the turn signals, high beams, honk, Autopilot, windshield control, and voice commands.

In order to replace the stalks, Tesla is betting on a mix of AI and force touch buttons on the steering wheels to replace these functions. Ultimately, Tesla’s hope is that all these functions will be performed automatically by the vehicle.

That strategy is especially shown by Tesla’s solution to replace the drive mode (PRND) stalk. The vehicle uses its Autopilot sensors to intelligently and automatically determine intended drive modes and select them. For example, if the front of Model S/X is facing a garage wall, it will detect this and automatically shift to Reverse once the driver presses the brake pedal. This eliminates one more step for the drivers of the world’s most intelligent production cars.

That’s quite a change in the way to operate a car, but Tesla is making sure that people are not too confused about it by adding force touch controls for “Park, Reverse, Neutral, and Drive” drive modes at the base of the phone charger on the center console (touch screen nevertheless).

Similarly, the car will sense and predict the need for direction change and switch on the left or right signal light on your behalf. If you want to DIY, head towards the touch screen... OMG!!

What's you thought of these innovation? Pray really hard that the system don't hang while you are in the car, it not longer matters if you are behind the wheel or not...

Will LTA even allow such steering wheel to be used on street car? I mean with the limited turn to turn angle, a minor movement on such steering wheel might resulted in a wide shift in driving direction, which can be extremely dangerous for most drivers since we are not trained to maneuver using such steering wheel?

[RenanLodi]

This week I have been watching different reviews of Tesla Model S Plaid on Youtube and the reviewers are shocked with this car. Its acceleration is awesome. Talking about the yolk, they say that it is a matter of habit to get used to this thing. Btw, visibility is greatly improved with the new solution.