In-car browser to get updated to Chromium!!

[Snowstorm]

I have a 2015 70D w/ MCU1. I find that since latest v9 (currently, on 2018.50.6), my browser regularly freezes/becomes completely inoperative. This is aside from the normally pathetically slow browser performance* since day 1, when it's actually working.

by "regularly", I mean the browser seems to freeze up every few days, since v9. Never noticed this happen before v9. A reboot is required to get back to normal glacial-speed browsing.

by "inoperative", I mean you can scroll through and pick a favorite but absolutely nothing then happens in the browser window - no excruciatingly slow advance of the progress bar that you've come to expect. No response if you tap on the URL bar to try to type. No response if you click to refresh the current URL. Nothing. just a blank window staring back forever, until you reboot

* btw, yes about a year ago there was an update that improved the browser speed a bit. The benchmark numbers did improve a bit after that update. But in practice, still painfully slow and almost unusable.

I hope this promise of a new browser will include fixing this for MCU1 cars

#metoo

 

[f205v]

Chromium and Chrome are different things, and Chromium is the Open-Source one, without telemetry to Google.
Chromium (web browser) - Wikipedia

 

[MGMDaware]

I don't have a smart phone, so it's my only browser. Even then, I still rarely use it. I check flights when picking up people at the airport. I might look up local stores or restaurants to see if they're open when supercharging at odd hours. I would use it more if it were much faster.

SERIOUS QUESTION . . . .

What kind of phone do you have? I have not seen a "dumb phone" available in many years. Also, I find it interesting that someone drives the pinnacle of on-road tech and lacks a phone with a screen. No offense, I am legitimately curious.

 

[scaesare]

How cool!

Out of curiosity, what do most people actually use their browser for?

Why, this of course:

 

[hcdavis3]

How cool!

Out of curiosity, what do most people actually use their browser for?

Run Speedtest to see how fast my WiFi is in the garage.

 

[boonedocks]

Musk tweeted that the in-car browser will be upgraded to Chromium!!
Tesla is updating its in-car internet browser with Google’s Chromium, says Elon Musk

Yes, very exciting! Looks like we will finally get a decent in-car browser.

Taking bets on when we wil ACTUALLY see it in our cars.....2 months....3months....6 months definitely. The list of “Musk tweeted this will be in our cars.”...is growing by an order of magnitude. Most of us still on 2018.50 and form another post here over 10 Musk TweetPromises from 2 months ago forward still conveniently missing.... #AnotherElonLetDown

 

[Snowstorm]

Well the last time Elon tweeted there would a browser improvement, it did happen. It took a few months and the magnitude of improvement is not great. Went from 95% unusable, to 80% unusable, with v9 it is now 100% unusable again.

I just hope new updates apply to Mcu 1

 

[dgpcolorado]

Back when I was still searching for pre-owned MS's I saw one 2012 MS where the owner described in the features that they had had the MCU replaced/updated under warranty. They then mentioned that the LTE modem was so much faster. Very likely this person was confused and thought a 3G->LTE upgrade meant the whole computer was upgraded.

I had my dead MCU replaced a year ago and the new one was LTE. The performance difference between the old 3G and new LTE is substantial.

Nothing to do with the MCU1 versus MCU2 question -- the LTE version of MCU1 is much faster and smoother than the 3G version of MCU1. It is a big difference in performance IME.

 

[⚡️ELECTROMAN⚡️]

How cool!

Out of curiosity, what do most people actually use their browser for?

Mostly for checking TSLA price, but also frequently use for checking National Weather forecast. I also like the star show, but don’t put it on as often as I should. I’ve also used it for looking up song lyrics but it’s really too slow for that. Too bad you can’t use voice recognition to do a Google search.

 

[AustinP]

There is this tip/workaround that does a lot to help the browser usability :

1- stop navigation if it is running
2- open the sketchpad Easter egg
3- do not exit the sketchpad Easter egg, leave open
4- open the browser. You can maximize its size indeed.

As the sketch pad fills the background, the CPU is freed of displaying the map, this is very helpful for the browser.

In that setup, the browser on my MCU1 with 3G is very stable and quite fast. Not smartphone fast obviously.

 

[ahkahn]

I'm not sure I buy the whole MCU1 processor speed issues. I get that it's an older processor, but even with 2012 technology, that was still a useable processor speed. The browser has been crap since the car came out, so that tells me that even a vintage 2012 processor with a 2012 level operating system and software wasn't good. I point more to dirty programming than I do processor issues.

I remember everybody saying processor issues back last year, and that it could never be fixed. When the "cleanup" and "accelerated" firmware came out late summer of last year, it was a night and day difference in speed on the MCU. Then version 9 came out and totally botched that up.

They just need to clean up the firmware and all will be fine.

 

[Snowstorm]

There is this tip/workaround that does a lot to help the browser usability :

1- stop navigation if it is running
2- open the sketchpad Easter egg
3- do not exit the sketchpad Easter egg, leave open
4- open the browser. You can maximize its size indeed.

As the sketch pad fills the background, the CPU is freed of displaying the map, this is very helpful for the browser.

In that setup, the browser on my MCU1 with 3G is very stable and quite fast. Not smartphone fast obviously.

Yes, that is a great tip. However, it does not stop the browser from completely freezing and not working at all until a reboot every few days.

 

[ucmndd]

There are at least two people in the local Tesla club that have had computer upgrades.

Not from MCU 1 to MCU 2 they haven’t.

 

[jerry33]

Not to MCU 2 they haven’t.

That's right, not MCU 2, but a faster version of MCU 1 (they already had LTE).

 

[ucmndd]

That's right, not MCU 2, but a faster version of MCU 1 (they already had LTE).

I wasn’t aware of any intermediate revisions to MCU 1 other than the LTE board and revised screen part numbers.

 

[jerry33]

I wasn’t aware of any intermediate revisions to MCU 1 other than the LTE board and revised screen part numbers.

They both indicated that they received much faster response, and that it was not due to LTE because they already had that. The service centre indicated it was a faster computer as well. They advised me to wait of the new one coming out later.

 

[kavyboy]

SERIOUS QUESTION . . . .

What kind of phone do you have? I have not seen a "dumb phone" available in many years. Also, I find it interesting that someone drives the pinnacle of on-road tech and lacks a phone with a screen. No offense, I am legitimately curious.

Geez, I don't even know. I only have it when I travel, so it's packed in a suitcase. It's some generic little thing that's years old.

 

[drklain]

Are you sure you're not talking about the upgrade from 3G to LTE for the MCU? That upgrade is well known and documented. It effectively requires replacing the cellular modem board. An MCU1 to MCU2 upgrade requires significant wiring changes and is a completely different computer with different connections to the car. If what you are saying is correct, those are the first documented cases of an upgrade from MCU1 to MCU2 computer I've ever heard of or seen mentioned on any forum...

 

[ahkahn]

Are you sure you're not talking about the upgrade from 3G to LTE for the MCU? That upgrade is well known and documented. It effectively requires replacing the cellular modem board. An MCU1 to MCU2 upgrade requires significant wiring changes and is a completely different computer with different connections to the car. If what you are saying is correct, those are the first documented cases of an upgrade from MCU1 to MCU2 computer I've ever heard of or seen mentioned on any forum...

I just had my MCU1 replaced with a like MCU1. There ARE different revisions... My old one was a "C" revision and it was replaced with a "D" revision. The only differences between the older "A"'s and "B"'s is the cooling aspects of the unit. Otherwise same processor, memory, etc. My brand new "D" does not act any differently than the older "C" revision. Oddly enough, in the loaner car I had, which was a 2013, the MCU seemed to run slightly faster, but that car did not have Autopilot (yes, I know it does not matter, separate computer), but my guess is that there were some other features the car did not have versus mine, which allowed the MCU to run slightly faster.

 

[drklain]

Agreed. An MCU can be replaced. The point I was making is that there haven't been any MCU1 to MCU2 upgrades. According to those who have opened up their cars, the units are not only physically different (different processors, etc.) they also have different wiring connections with the MCU2 having inputs that the MCU1 does not even have (with wires that are not even in the car's wiring harness).