This is the thread started by shank2k over on /r/teslamotors. According to his flair, he is a Tesla employee and seemed genuinely interested in hearing ideas for future Model S upgrades. Since this is the User Interface sub, I filtered out all the hardware requests (they were all the same for the most part; lots of support for ventilated seats, processor upgrades, automatic frunk, HUD, and more cupholders). Below are all the requests that could be implemented from a software standpoint alone. Link to original thread, and thanks for shank2k for asking the question in the first place: What features are you missing in the model S? : teslamotors
· Option to not load album art when scrolling any list of music. The lack of performance of the tegra3 chipset is very clear here and extremely unflattering to the interface when it stutters / jumps / freezes while scrolling. I’ve noticed that anything more than a couple hundred items causes this and it just gets worse the more in the list.
· Camper Mode made official
· Add "play all under" option much like is found when you make it into an artist folder. So when browsing by folder, and you make it one layer down, give option to play everything in the directory tree and below. This would be especially useful to everyone who has music organized by directory (genre --> artist --> album). For example, there are many subsets of pop and techno. Sometimes I want to listen to anything electronic so therefore trance, techno, electronica. But as it is now, I can only choose one of those subsets at a time or change the genres to all the same in the ID3 tags and screw up the organization on the other end when a specific genre is needed.
· Ability to append playlist of genres/artists/albums together and either play in order or shuffle the group. For example, play pop rock, then add techno, turn shuffle on, then the player randomizes that ‘new’ playlist consisting of both genres or multiple selected Artists/Albums, etc.
· Shuffle turn-off resumes at next song in album instead of next song by alphabetical title. For example, I'm playing genre soundtracks and “Battle of Endor” comes up from Return of the Jedi. I turn shuffle off and the next track is “The Emperor's Throne Room” track because that is what is next on the album. Hit shuffle back on, and I get a new shuffled soundtrack on next track advance.
· Buttons on now playing interface for "insert artist" and "insert album" into a shuffled playlist. For example, Fiona Apple's “Criminal” comes on and I want to hear more from that artist without re-selecting music and fiddling with the screen too much, so I hit “insert artist” button and the media player grabs a random song from the same artist that was set to play later on in the shuffled playlist and moves it to the head of the line for the next track. Same functionality for "insert album", another song from the album plays next (preferably the next track number). Here is the kicker, multiple presses results in multiple changes. I press it six times, the next six songs are Fiona apple or the next six songs are from that album in track order.
· Ability to rename USB device labels from generic USB 1/2 – I understand it would be unwise to write data to USB storage, so the car would either have to read the VOLUME label from the USB stick and use that info OR allow the user to associate the volume label with a label of their own for the media player to display. Much easier to just read the volume label I would think.
· More granular control over equalizer. Five band by 4 channel or 10 band by 2 channel parametric equalizer built in, along with, wait for it... Savable presets that could be customized by the user and selected at will (useful for audiobooks too). Even just 10 band equalizer instead of the current 3-band would be an improvement and then have maybe no more than 5 pre-sets or custom profiles.
· Bookmarks that save timestamp in the track, more so useful when listening to audio books. Also useful for audio books, real-time timestamp display when holding marker in seek bar.
· Info button on now playing screen that brings up bitrate, file details, encoder info, file type
· Recently added playlist shortcut with customizable window of time. For example, if it is set to 30 days, the playlist generates and plays everything added to that media in last 30 days. Or better yet, just sort the playlist by timestamp on the media so that newest items are played first and then you eventually get to the last song in the playlist that was first added to the media.
· Additional playlist generation to organize a playlist selection by least often played / most often played, in addition to new addition suggestion above. This way you wouldn’t have to favorite each song you like, but on the programming end, you’d have to have a Play Count variable.
· Enable option for right steering wheel scroll wheel to scroll song list on center screen as well as scroll voice-dial results (and select).
· Interior temp listed somewhere on the displays so as to better tweak HVAC
· Nerd oriented diagnostic screen where cool vehicle telemetries can be seen, such as, coolant temp, radiator fan RPM’s, individual TPMS for tire pressure and heat, motor(s) RPM, High-voltage battery temp/volts/amps, and anything else you guys would think is a cool number or reading to list. I know this is available to technicians, we want ready-only access too.
· GPS enabled side-view mirrors so they automatically retract when I am pulling into the garage. Could also be linked to Homelink button press so that when I open my garage door, the mirrors retract. Better yet, automatically open garage door and retract mirrors based on GPS location of me pulling into driveway. It would have to be an option because it might not be useful for every single user.
· Option to auto-close windows and sunroof when receiving a phone call or accepting a phone call.
· Macro button to close all windows and sunroof with one touchscreen button/shortcut. Same for opening windows/sunroof all at once. Similar to driver profile, where I move the windows/sunroof to a position of my choosing, and then save that state so I can press a button to return them to it later.
· Total center screen off ability beyond the screen-clean setting. Especially useful for night-driving.
· Touch-screen button to turn on dome light in rear hatch for kids.
· Auto-closing sun-roof when rain sensor for wipers is triggered.
· Auto retract steering wheel when entering and exiting car.
· A programmable button to lower all the windows to a certain heigth and open the sun roof. I call it "maximum decompression".
· Macro builder to link a set of settings or actions to a button for easy access.
· Home mode (based on GPS and/or WiFi and plugged in status) that optionally prevents doors from automatically locking, so it's always unlocked in your garage.
· always-on frontal collision prevention which pushes back on accelerator when closing on a object rapidly
· Half-screen CarPlay support.
· Precondition HVAC based on calendar events away from current location. Turn on max HVAC when approaching car after being away for a set period of time (via the app) and interior temp is outside of comfortable range. Make this more aggressive when plugged in.
· Red light / stop sign warning if approaching without slowing and yellow light assist to recommend when to stop or go through based on traffic/time/current speed. With this, make the time before going into "hold" mode (on cruise control) much longer if no stops or red lights are detected.
· Active noise cancellation
· recording of front and rear cameras to SD card to replace dashcam functionality
· A not so drunk navigation system
· Option to not load album art when scrolling any list of music. The lack of performance of the tegra3 chipset is very clear here and extremely unflattering to the interface when it stutters / jumps / freezes while scrolling. I’ve noticed that anything more than a couple hundred items causes this and it just gets worse the more in the list.
· Camper Mode made official
· Add "play all under" option much like is found when you make it into an artist folder. So when browsing by folder, and you make it one layer down, give option to play everything in the directory tree and below. This would be especially useful to everyone who has music organized by directory (genre --> artist --> album). For example, there are many subsets of pop and techno. Sometimes I want to listen to anything electronic so therefore trance, techno, electronica. But as it is now, I can only choose one of those subsets at a time or change the genres to all the same in the ID3 tags and screw up the organization on the other end when a specific genre is needed.
· Ability to append playlist of genres/artists/albums together and either play in order or shuffle the group. For example, play pop rock, then add techno, turn shuffle on, then the player randomizes that ‘new’ playlist consisting of both genres or multiple selected Artists/Albums, etc.
· Shuffle turn-off resumes at next song in album instead of next song by alphabetical title. For example, I'm playing genre soundtracks and “Battle of Endor” comes up from Return of the Jedi. I turn shuffle off and the next track is “The Emperor's Throne Room” track because that is what is next on the album. Hit shuffle back on, and I get a new shuffled soundtrack on next track advance.
· Buttons on now playing interface for "insert artist" and "insert album" into a shuffled playlist. For example, Fiona Apple's “Criminal” comes on and I want to hear more from that artist without re-selecting music and fiddling with the screen too much, so I hit “insert artist” button and the media player grabs a random song from the same artist that was set to play later on in the shuffled playlist and moves it to the head of the line for the next track. Same functionality for "insert album", another song from the album plays next (preferably the next track number). Here is the kicker, multiple presses results in multiple changes. I press it six times, the next six songs are Fiona apple or the next six songs are from that album in track order.
· Ability to rename USB device labels from generic USB 1/2 – I understand it would be unwise to write data to USB storage, so the car would either have to read the VOLUME label from the USB stick and use that info OR allow the user to associate the volume label with a label of their own for the media player to display. Much easier to just read the volume label I would think.
· More granular control over equalizer. Five band by 4 channel or 10 band by 2 channel parametric equalizer built in, along with, wait for it... Savable presets that could be customized by the user and selected at will (useful for audiobooks too). Even just 10 band equalizer instead of the current 3-band would be an improvement and then have maybe no more than 5 pre-sets or custom profiles.
· Bookmarks that save timestamp in the track, more so useful when listening to audio books. Also useful for audio books, real-time timestamp display when holding marker in seek bar.
· Info button on now playing screen that brings up bitrate, file details, encoder info, file type
· Recently added playlist shortcut with customizable window of time. For example, if it is set to 30 days, the playlist generates and plays everything added to that media in last 30 days. Or better yet, just sort the playlist by timestamp on the media so that newest items are played first and then you eventually get to the last song in the playlist that was first added to the media.
· Additional playlist generation to organize a playlist selection by least often played / most often played, in addition to new addition suggestion above. This way you wouldn’t have to favorite each song you like, but on the programming end, you’d have to have a Play Count variable.
· Enable option for right steering wheel scroll wheel to scroll song list on center screen as well as scroll voice-dial results (and select).
· Interior temp listed somewhere on the displays so as to better tweak HVAC
· Nerd oriented diagnostic screen where cool vehicle telemetries can be seen, such as, coolant temp, radiator fan RPM’s, individual TPMS for tire pressure and heat, motor(s) RPM, High-voltage battery temp/volts/amps, and anything else you guys would think is a cool number or reading to list. I know this is available to technicians, we want ready-only access too.
· GPS enabled side-view mirrors so they automatically retract when I am pulling into the garage. Could also be linked to Homelink button press so that when I open my garage door, the mirrors retract. Better yet, automatically open garage door and retract mirrors based on GPS location of me pulling into driveway. It would have to be an option because it might not be useful for every single user.
· Option to auto-close windows and sunroof when receiving a phone call or accepting a phone call.
· Macro button to close all windows and sunroof with one touchscreen button/shortcut. Same for opening windows/sunroof all at once. Similar to driver profile, where I move the windows/sunroof to a position of my choosing, and then save that state so I can press a button to return them to it later.
· Total center screen off ability beyond the screen-clean setting. Especially useful for night-driving.
· Touch-screen button to turn on dome light in rear hatch for kids.
· Auto-closing sun-roof when rain sensor for wipers is triggered.
· Auto retract steering wheel when entering and exiting car.
· A programmable button to lower all the windows to a certain heigth and open the sun roof. I call it "maximum decompression".
· Macro builder to link a set of settings or actions to a button for easy access.
· Home mode (based on GPS and/or WiFi and plugged in status) that optionally prevents doors from automatically locking, so it's always unlocked in your garage.
· always-on frontal collision prevention which pushes back on accelerator when closing on a object rapidly
· Half-screen CarPlay support.
· Precondition HVAC based on calendar events away from current location. Turn on max HVAC when approaching car after being away for a set period of time (via the app) and interior temp is outside of comfortable range. Make this more aggressive when plugged in.
· Red light / stop sign warning if approaching without slowing and yellow light assist to recommend when to stop or go through based on traffic/time/current speed. With this, make the time before going into "hold" mode (on cruise control) much longer if no stops or red lights are detected.
· Active noise cancellation
· recording of front and rear cameras to SD card to replace dashcam functionality
· A not so drunk navigation system
