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Comment by thghtihadanacct | Hacker News Reader

I complain about tesla a lot but this article simply reads like a complaint from someone that rented an unfamiliar vehicle.

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There's a number of interface conventions - especially about really important things - that "legacy" car manufacturers have standardized on but that Tesla jettisons. I frequently rent cars for travel, ride-share, etc., and while there's differences between them all, even if I can't figure out how to sync my phone (say), I can still drive any of them safely and comfortably within a matter of moments. Things like how a turn signal works are baked into my muscle memory. I haven't had the pleasure of driving a Tesla yet but wouldn't be surprised if the change-for-change's-sake is frustrating.

I rented a Volvo S90 to check out their driver assistance, and it was a similar experience after coming from a Tesla. Some of the way things work just didn’t make sense to me, but it wasn’t my car so I wasn’t used to them.

An aside, the Volvo self driving was scary. Not ready for prime time. Surprising given their record for safety

I returned my S90 at the end of a two year lease. The self driving was frightening. It often drifted out of the lines then would jerk back into the lane then disable itself without warning.

Also, the start/stop (or w/e it's called whereby the engine turns off when you stop) was such a jerky experience and sometimes it would turn off before I even came to a complete stop.

The infotainment system was terribly slow and would take almost a minute after starting for it to become responsive. Typing into the nav was especially sluggish and unintuitive. One time the AC crashed (not the HVAC unit, the computer module) and I had to take it in for a software update to fix.

The luxury, look and feel, and comfort were fabulous! The drivetrain and tech were trash!

Volvo's been owned by Geely for a few years now, so any weird issues are inherited from them using Geely's home market technology. A lot of Chinese luxury automotive stuff seems to be looks first function second and it's been hitting Volvo hard with the S60 and S90.

I think it can generally be summarized as "In a desire to save costs, Tesla stuffed every single bit of instrumentation and input into a touchscreen. Which sucks."

Trying to operate a touch screen WHILE driving more than "just sucks" it can also be dangerous. To make it worst the UI isn't very intuitive and is overly complicated

It's not just to cut costs, it also means they can remotely update the interface as new features are introduced or new designs implemented.

Imagine you wake up one day, get into your car and realise that the manufacturer sent technicians overnight who have rearranged buttons on your dashboard, all without your permission.

That’s cool in theory. How is the onboarding for new UI? I already don’t want to learn any new widgets on my phone, let alone a deadly tool like a car.

> they can remotely update the interface as new features are introduced

And take away "features" you have already.

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