Tesla’s software needs work. That’s according to Elon Musk, who was highly critical of the interface, the browser and other programs in a video posted to the Tesla Owners Silicon Valley YouTube channel.
“We have a lot of work to do actually with the basic software in the car,” said Musk. “We definitely need to do work on the overall interface in the car.”
It was revolutionary when Tesla started putting large tablets in its vehicles in 2012. The huge touchscreen replaced most of the knobs and switches on the dashboard, giving Tesla yet another way to stand out in the automotive world.
However, touchscreens are relatively standard in most vehicles now, and there may be a few automakers doing it as well as Tesla soon, especially given the upcoming improvements to Apple's CarPlay.
Musk has heard the criticism, “there are a lot of complaints about the interface; you can do better on the interface.”
Musk doesn’t stop with his self-critiquing, “our web browser sucks. If you try to use the web browser in the car, it takes a long time to load, and then it is a trash browser. It’s worse than some iPad from five years ago, like by a lot.”
Tesla's browser is based on Google's open-source browser, Chromium. While the same engine powers Google Chrome, the browser in a Tesla lacks the speed and efficiency Musk expects.
Tesla has been working to improve the browser. Update 2022.12 came with a newer version of Chromium and introduced elements like autocomplete, changes to favorites and the ability to clear your browser cache.
However, this interview was conducted almost three months after that update was first released. Musk is clearly not impressed with the improvements.
He also says the rear screens in the Model S and Model X need a lot of work (rear screens may also come to Model 3 and Model Y).
The CEO points out that the rear screen is helpful to entertain people in the backseat, but the fact that the same audio plays throughout the cabin is less than ideal.
“We could, we should have separate audio for the back. Like, what is the point? We are currently playing the same audio level for the back screen as we do in the front.”
The first minivans with DVD players offered headphone jacks to provide an experience that wouldn't distract the driver.
“The back should play that audio; it should route to a Bluetooth that is keyed off of the rear screen, and then you give them headphones. So people can listen to music in the front and not get blasted by YouTube kids shows in the front, which is currently the situation.”
It's possible Tesla could offer the ability to stream the rear audio to Bluetooth headphones in a future update.
Musk added that "there's a bunch of stuff like that that we need to fix."
Musk did not commit to a timeline on making improvements or even if the changes he suggested will be made. Nevertheless, when a CEO says elements of the product “suck” and are “trash,” employees responsible for those aspects may want to get to work.
Tesla does not currently support CarPlay for a variety of reasons.
Video
Elon talks about Tesla's software at the 37 minute mark below.
