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I came into the ownership experience pretty nervous that the touchscreen would be a distraction. But it works and works well. The screen is huge and all the targets are a comfortable size. You don't really get a feeling for the real scale of thing from a screenshot. It's organized and intuitive, with common controls well anchored to the edges and corners.

Working with an active navigation route was the one area where I felt they could improve. In particular, the UI for cancelling guidance is too small and fussy. I'm probably not the only one who noticed because it looks like they reworked some of that.

I am NOT optimistic about how they appear (in 8.0) to be hiding the main navigation at the top. Doesn't seem like the extra space was ever needed. It feels like a cosmetic decision that adds an extra step.

2 comments

I don't own a Tesla, but I've driven them, and I'd echo this sentiment. The screen really is huge, and the UI works surprisingly well. I say surprisingly because I came into the experience thinking it'd be difficult to navigate, hard to hit the right things on screen while driving etc., but there was none of that. All in all it was a nice experience, and I can't say I missed physical knobs and switches much.

The one thing I immediately did miss in the car though, oddly enough, were the assist handles – the ones above the passenger doors where you can hang dry cleaning etc. There were none of those. I know this has nothing to do with the original question, but still. One of those details I didn't think I needed (or wanted) until they were missed.

Geez, especially in a car that can accelerate as quickly as a Tesla, you'd think they'd give the passengers some nice handles in a predictable familiar spot like that!

Small detail you're right, but that's pretty funny.

Haha that's actually exactly how I noticed: a friend was driving and wanted to see how fast the thing would go. Naturally I grab for the handle and – it's just not there. :o)

Thanks! That's good to hear and sounds better in real life.

For what it's worth, I'd say about the same. You can generally ignore the touchscreen while driving, and at least for me, its mere presence isn't distracting. I was worried about it, but it turned out not to be a problem.