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Suggestion: Driver Profile and Key Fobs

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scaesare

Well-Known Member
Mar 14, 2013
10,780
25,103
NoVA
If the good folks at Tesla are reading this, I'd like to make a suggestion:

Link driver profiles to key fobs


Having the car auto select the driver profile based on which key fob it detects would be handy.

The obvious issue is if the car detects more than one inside the cabin (i.e.- mine in my pocket and my wife's in her purse). Assuming it isn't precise enough to determine which of the two is in the driver's seat, the car could just default to "most recent", and the driver could obviously override as we do today.

I was actually rather surprised this wasn't the case.
 
I asked ownership about this months ago--apparently the technology they used for the fobs and walk-up access is not suited to having the car recognize a specific fob and then triggering the matching driver profile. Too bad. This is a nice feature on our Lexus vehicles.
 
If the good folks at Tesla are reading this, I'd like to make a suggestion:

Link driver profiles to key fobs


Having the car auto select the driver profile based on which key fob it detects would be handy.

If I remember correctly, early marketing materials did say it would recognize each fob and set the profile accordingly. Having read that early on, when they started making the cars and they didn't implement that I was very surprised.
 
Direct quote from a TM product planner Feb. 2013:

Entry/Exit is slightly more difficult than it seems. At the moment, each Model S key is not recognized individually by Model S. They each have the same security code and ID, hence why we're not pre-adjusting driver profile settings. The software team is investigating solutions but the manual entry/exit profile is the most convenient solution currently.
 
Direct quote from a TM product planner Feb. 2013:

Entry/Exit is slightly more difficult than it seems. At the moment, each Model S key is not recognized individually by Model S. They each have the same security code and ID, hence why we're not pre-adjusting driver profile settings. The software team is investigating solutions but the manual entry/exit profile is the most convenient solution currently.

Bummer.

Thanks JPP.
 
Direct quote from a TM product planner Feb. 2013:

Entry/Exit is slightly more difficult than it seems. At the moment, each Model S key is not recognized individually by Model S. They each have the same security code and ID, hence why we're not pre-adjusting driver profile settings. The software team is investigating solutions but the manual entry/exit profile is the most convenient solution currently.

There is a very easy solution that gets us 90% there though.

When you currently hold the open button on the key fob for a little while, it opens the windows. This can instead be a configurable action, so I would instead set press-and-hold to switch to one of the driver profiles.

And it doesn't need to be key-fob specific - it can just do the same thing from all fobs. (My wife can get in when the car is set to my profile, but not the other way around.)

Worse case, it can still be an app option.

There are quite a few low-hanging fruit solutions that would work better than the current reach-over-the-seat to get to the setting.
 
I'm sure there is serialization on the FOB itself. It's typically a manufacturing requirement so they can track components and know what batches might have issues (this is a large part of my day job). This information could be pulled if and when the software is ready in the car to recognize the specific FOB. It's possible that they don't have that info in the FOB, but I'd be surprised if that's not burned onto a PROM in the FOB.
 
If the good folks at Tesla are reading this, I'd like to make a suggestion:

Link driver profiles to key fobs


Having the car auto select the driver profile based on which key fob it detects would be handy.

The obvious issue is if the car detects more than one inside the cabin (i.e.- mine in my pocket and my wife's in her purse). Assuming it isn't precise enough to determine which of the two is in the driver's seat, the car could just default to "most recent", and the driver could obviously override as we do today.

I was actually rather surprised this wasn't the case.

you have my vote for this
 
This has been discussed elsewhere, but another solution is to create a profile called "Exit" and get in the habit of choosing that profile when leaving the car. By defining "Exit" to have the seat all the way back and the steering wheel at its most recessed position, it makes ingress and egress easier for everyone.

Now if my wife would just remember to switch to Exit when getting out of the car...
 
Don't think there are any plans to do this but don't know what 6.0 might bring. People still use driver profiles to get around this limitation. Hopefully they'll at least allow selection of profiles from mobile phone app.
 
I agree there must be serialization of each fob in some way that can be linked to a particular car/profile. It is this lack of BASIC features that make the decision to buy a Model S more difficult. I'll go out on a limb and say every other car in the $100,000 bracket has this and many more industry-wide features that are missing on the Model S. The buyer has to be super into the battery EV thing to overlook everything else. I myself was waiting for the 2015 S-Class Hybrid but really wanted more battery range and ultimately decided supporting EV's/Tesla was more important then ultra luxury features.

On the other hand, why can't Tesla buy module/software ABC that implements fob profiles and integrate it to the car? Is it because they have to write everything from scratch to work with their in-car computers? This is a big disadvantage. I understand they need a lot of custom software to manage the battery pack and related systems, but some of this basic stuff is already out there--don't reinvent the wheel if you don't have to. You're in bed with Daimler, give a call up to Bosch, it should all be there for the taking. And then take your time to write your own modules to ultimately replace the Bosch ones if you have to.

I know it's all easier said then done but the Model S isn't the first car ever made either.

Here's hoping 6.0 catches us up!

-m
 
I'm going to go ahead and disagree on this one - I like non-specific fobs better. We had driver profile linked fobs with our Infiniti, and while yes it was convenient sometimes, if my wife happened to get to the car first she had the choice of either waiting for me to get to the driver's door to press the little door switch (therefore standing there looking bored), or pressing it herself on the passenger side and thus setting the driver profile to her (and a little more difficult for me to get in). I could then of course, while I'm still walking to the car, reach into my pocket to click my fob to "re-open" the doors to set the profile back to me, but, it all seemed like extra steps.

With the Model S, doesn't matter who comes up, the doors unlock, the driver profile stays at me (I'm 90% driver), and it's a quick switch to my wife's profile if she's driving. I've toyed with setting an "exit" profile but would rather just struggle up right away (a kind of 55+ weight training :)) instead of waiting for the seat and steering wheel to move.
 
Would be much easier if the seats are going backwards and steering higher when leaving the car and remains in this position until the moment you come back and choose profile. (Alsmost similar like some other brands - had this feature in the past in a Land Rover)
If my wife drives the car, i can only get in when first selecting the profile.. otherwise i will not fit between the steering wheel and the seat ;-)
 
Don't think there are any plans to do this but don't know what 6.0 might bring. People still use driver profiles to get around this limitation. Hopefully they'll at least allow selection of profiles from mobile phone app.

I was supercharging at the Factory yesterday afternoon and was chatting with the staff in the Customer Center. We discussed features in 6.0 and a revised app, and one individual mentioned that s/he was pretty sure that setting a profile from the app was coming in the next version.