Feature Request: Volume "Modes"

With the weather getting nicer and my windows and/or pano roof open most of the time when I'm driving, I'm finding that every time I come to a stoplight I turn my music down (so my music's not obnoxiously loud). Then as I speed up, I have to increase the volume to overcome the wind noise. On the other hand, when the windows/roof are closed, the volume in the cabin is relatively constant, so I don't change the volume often.

So here's the idea:

There should be two volume modes. When the cabin is "sealed" (the pano roof and windows are all closed), the media player volume should match the current behavior. However, if I even slightly open just one window (so that the cabin is no longer "sealed", the volume should switch to a different mode. In this mode, there are two volume settings--one which is the volume while stopped (perhaps below 5 mph), and the other while moving (maybe 35 mph or more).

So in this mode, when you're stopped at a stoplight if you adjust the volume you're setting the "stopped" volume. As you accelerate, the volume ramps up linearly to the "moving" volume at 35 mph or greater. If you manually adjust the volume while moving, you are basically setting the "steepness" of this ramp and, indirectly, the max volume at 35mph or greater.

This mode switch can be completely automatic, and requires virtually no UI or thought by the driver. When the windows are closed at a stoplight, you set your volume. (This becomes the "sealed" volume). If you open the windows, the volume smoothly adjusts to the stopped level in the other mode. Then, as you accelerate, it smoothly increases toward the moving level. So you not only get compensation for wind noise, but can also set the stopped volume to avoid (or become?) that obnoxiously loud car at the light.

It sounds complicated to describe, but should be fairly simple for the driver to use. Just set the volume when needed as normal, and the car determines what thresholds to adjust.

Background: I am a UI/User experience guy at the software company I work at, so UI and human interfaces are not foreign to me .

Korben said:

The car has built in microphones. How about sampling noise level and using that to adjust?

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The music I'm listening to might interfere with that idea .

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pgiralt said:

I like the idea although I don't know how well it would work in practice. I've driven rental cars that had automatic volume settings that are supposed to compensate for engine / road noise and I've found that they are more annoying than helpful. Maybe Tesla could do better.

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Not sure. I'd like to see them try though!

Cyclone said:

My 4Runner's audio system has different "modes" for each input source. It remembers last volume and EQ settings. It also has an overall speed-sensitive volume control with Off, Low, Med, High settings. When I had a VW Eos, it has non-adjustable speed volume control and in while it didn't have different "mods" for each input, it did have modes for the convertible top open vs. closed. This maintained volume and HVAC settings across those two states. I liked both systems and think the natural progression would be as Todd suggested.

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That makes a good additional point...fan speed settings ought to also affect volume.

I think it'd be way more complicated to develop and implement and consume far more computing cycles to try to subtract the audio waveform from the microphone input. Far easier to just determine if the windows/pano roof are shut or not, and switch to the two-tiered volume mode if they are not.

kenkamm said:

I would agree with you if I hadn't owned about ten cars now that have had adaptive audio volume that works great. The more noise from road and windows, the louder the system gets. In fact with some systems, the spectrum of the audio is adjusted as well, not just the volume. Heck, my Chevy Volt even turns the A/C fan down when a call comes in so you can hear it clearly. These systems are trivial to implement these days because everything is driven by software and the required sensors are cheap. For some reason that's one of the "easy" things that Tesla chose not to implement. Like hooks for your dry cleaning!

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I'm just saying you don't need an array of sensors, waveform subtraction, and all that junk to have effective volume modulation. The state of the windows and your current speed should be sufficient information to adjust the volume properly.