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Gasp... pure touch interfaces aren't what consumers want

Dohmar

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if the rivian steering wheel contains tacticle buttons for volume and changing radio stations or 'next song' then it'll be fine. My subaru forester has all of that and it's 10 years old, so perhaps theres a way to get the best of both worlds.
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electruck

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if the rivian steering wheel contains tacticle buttons for volume and changing radio stations or 'next song' then it'll be fine. My subaru forester has all of that and it's 10 years old, so perhaps theres a way to get the best of both worlds.
Fine for the driver but not accessible to a visually impaired passenger.
 
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electruck

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I don't let my non visually impaired passengers touch the radio either.
It's your vehicle, you are free to do as you please.

My visually impaired wife is media director when she's in our car, control over tracks/channels and volume are imperative. It is also a requirement that she be able to control everything within her space. This includes managing her own seat heater, adjusting seat position, window, etc without me having to do it for her because the touch screen is not accessible. Rivian, and many others, are taking the easy way out by trying to solve accessibility through voice commands. While this does provide a basic level of accessibility, it is often a very poor user experience and still inaccessible under certain conditions - such as when there are already other conversations in progress (hey... can you guys shut up so I can turn down the seat heater my buns are toasted...) or the music is playing loud and there is tire noise filtering into the cabin drowning out any attempt to give verbal commands to mute the radio or control other features. Control of these features is easily accommodated via dedicated physical controls.

I will warn the auto industry now to account for proper accessibility for all disabilities. It's just a matter of time... the lawsuits and government regulation (clarification/extension of ADA, etc) are coming. Steve Jobs proved quite successfully that accessibility does not impede profitability when baked into the design from the beginning, there's no reason for the auto industry to continue to exclude those with disabilities - especially with autonomous driving on everyone's product road map for the future.
 

Rivet

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.....voice commands. While this does provide a basic level of accessibility, it is often a very poor user experience.....
I'll go along with that, voice control of my Garmin 55 dashcam is hit & miss, especially with music playing.
 

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I always wondered, since the interface is all screen, could they probably provide a separate gadget for ADA purposes, you just plug it with a USB ( or Bluetooth) and the passenger can have control to certain things on the gadget with knobs and buttons.
 

skyote

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I always wondered, since the interface is all screen, could they probably provide a separate gadget for ADA purposes, you just plug it with a USB ( or Bluetooth) and the passenger can have control to certain things on the gadget with knobs and buttons.
Cool idea. Even wireless/bluetooth, and with the ability for the user to program/customize functions and macros.
 

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"Tesla updates ridiculous warranty on problematic media unit and touchscreen"

Tesla has updated its warranty for its already problematic media unit and touchscreen with a ridiculously shorter 2-year or 25,000-mile limit.
As we previously reported, Tesla had a problem with the embedded Multi-Media-Card memory (eMMC) in its original MCU (the central media unit with a touchscreen).
It is being overwritten to the point of failure and many early Tesla owners are having to replace it.
If it failed during Tesla’s 4-year limited warranty, Tesla would replace it with a new or refurbished unit, which also had a 4-year warranty or 50,000-mile warranty.
...
Earlier this year, Tesla also started offering MCU2 upgrades for $2,500. Based on the language on Tesla’s website, it looks like this new MCU also falls under the new 2-year warranty.

Not sure if any of this will be relevant/concern for Rivian's touchscreen and MCU (or equivalent) but I hope they are at least taking notes, that is, that neither device pre-maturely will need to be replaced or feels they need to provide a separate and shorter warranty for them like Tesla just did.

Any of our forum members that have or had a Tesla experienced this potentially costly problem?
 

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Any of our forum members that have or had a Tesla experienced this potentially costly problem?
I have a 2015 Model S. The MCU failed a few months ago at about 42,000 miles. It was replaced under warranty, but I could not get a straight answer from the service tech about the replacement. I asked if it was an MCU-2 unit. He said no, but it was an "updated" MCU-1. I asked if that meant it was a rebuilt unit. He paused and then said no, it was a new unit. I don't believe that Tesla is still buiIding that original design. I suspect it was a rebuilt original unit with a replaced memory storage device, which is where the failures were occurring.

Unfortunately, I have learned that there are certain questions Tesla just won't answer clearly.
 
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electruck

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If I recall, Tesla was insistent on using consumer grade electronics because they were far cheaper than automotive grade components. Unfortunately this wasn't ideal for the operating environment.
 

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Hmp10

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Yes, for data storage in the MCU they used the same kind of device that is used in a USB memory stick, which is designed for long-term storage of data, not for frequent overwriting with new data.

It's been claimed that Tesla did not anticipate the amount of data over-writing that would occur with system updates and more and more new features being used. Maybe . . . but I suspect that it was one of the shortcuts they took in managing the gargantuan task of getting an entirely new car into production.
 

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If I recall, Tesla was insistent on using consumer grade electronics because they were far cheaper than automotive grade components. Unfortunately this wasn't ideal for the operating environment.

I looked into this deeply once, I was afraid something will happen to mine. The screen they used is Industrial grade, this sounds good, right? Apparently no, this is very bad as automotive screen must pass a lot more stringent tests which is why they are expensive; which is also why mainstream manufacturers never installed big screen in their vehicles as no one manufactures them to begin with.

The MCU problem, it's not about consumer grade, they just used the wrong type of medium for the application, however flash memory at the time might have been a cheaper alternative as you stated, but I can't understand how someone thought that a component that will work only for X number of times is a good solution for logging.
 
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electruck

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I looked into this deeply once, I was afraid something will happen to mine. The screen they used is Industrial grade, this sounds good, right? Apparently no, this is very bad as automotive screen must pass a lot more stringent tests which is why they are expensive; which is also why mainstream manufacturers never installed big screen in their vehicles as no one manufactures them to begin with.

The MCU problem, it's not about consumer grade, they just used the wrong type of medium for the application, however flash memory at the time might have been a cheaper alternative as you stated, but I can't understand how someone thought that a component that will work only for X number of times is a good solution for logging.
Let's not get hung up on "consumer grade", I think we both agree the issue was automotive grade vs not automotive grade.

https://www.thedrive.com/tech/27989/teslas-screen-saga-shows-why-automotive-grade-matters

The logging to flash issue was likely just an oversight. The implementation of so called "non-functional requirements" such as those for logging are quite frequently not given the same level of review as the primary system requirements.

Someone had to be the first to develop automotive grade touch screens, it could have been Tesla. But in usual Tesla fashion, they opted to get a product out the door first and deal with the consequences later. I suspect Tesla may not have survived without taking this approach as the cost in time and $$ of solving all of the problems up front would likely have been prohibitive. While still frustrating to their customers, Tesla has been lucky to have a market base willing to put up with these kinds of issues. It will be interesting to see how much longer that remains the case as they cease to be viewed as a startup.
 

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Getting back to the original subject. Remember Blackberry and people saying they only want a physical keyboard? The consumer reverts to legacy until you can prove a better interface.
 

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The key is to strike a balance between a touchscreen and physical controls.
If you had to use the touchscreen to activate your turn signals or roll down your window, that would be bad. Having a slide-out keyboard to enter destination info for the nav system would be just as bad.
Most people want controls frequently accessed while driving to be easy to use without taking attention away from the road. Temp/fan controls that reside only on the touch screen seem to generate the most complaints.
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