Update, January 28th: Late Wednesday night, Tesla CEO Elon Musk took to Twitter to answer everyone's question, "Where the hell is the shift lever on the new Model S?" but his explanation only made things more confusing. Musk says the car "guesses the direction of travel based on the obstacles, context and the navigation map." Basically, the model S determines whether it puts itself into drive mode or into reverse gear, based on the driver's direction of travel intended by the computer. Seems perfectly safe right?
No more stems. The car guesses the direction of travel based on the obstacles, the context and the navigation map. You can overwrite on the touchscreen.
- Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 28, 2021
A new report from Electrek says it has received internal documents from Tesla detailing how the process works: The car "uses its autopilot sensors to intelligently and automatically determine and select intended driving modes. For example, when the front of the model S / X. If it is in front of a garage wall, it recognizes this and automatically switches to reverse as soon as the driver presses the brake pedal. "
Electrek added that the Model S would have force-sensitive touch controls on the center console under the wireless charging pad, but that doesn't seem to be the case another tweet from Musk. He said drivers can override and shift the car manually using the touchscreen, adding that "it is very annoying to go back and use a gear stick after driving without a PRND stick for a few days ! "
As mentioned earlier, we are asking Tesla to clarify the problem, but the company no longer has a PR or communications department. Read below for our original story.
The Tesla Model S. was updated on Wednesday with an all-new interior, and the most radical change is the new yoke-style steering wheel that pokes right out Knight rider. But what could be even more radical is something I can't see: it seems like there isn't a conventional PRNDL gear selector (Park, Reverse, Neutral, Drive, Low) or a display in the cluster that indicates which one is in Gear you are in.
So far you have switched a Model S into the aisle using a column-mounted handle from the Mercedes-Benz parts container. (The Model 3, Model X. and Model Y. Use the same handle.) However, Tesla has removed all of the handles behind the updated Model S wheel and moved the turn signal, horn and windshield wiper controls to the yoke itself. How exactly are you moving?
In all of the published images, the center console and dashboard are sleek and devoid of any controls, with the exception of the 17-inch touchscreen and the hazard warning button, which is located under the wireless charging pad below the screen. There is also nothing on the door panels or the headliner.
The switch controls are in this middle screen, but there's no visible evidence of it. Climate control and heated windshield controls appear in the lower left corner of the screen, while media information is displayed in the lower right corner. At the top left is an icon that shows a top-down view of the car. So maybe that's where the PRNDL is? However, it seems extremely dangerous to keep such an important function in a submenu of a Digital display that could break.
Now chances are that these CGI images are all at an angle that obscures the PRNDL shifter, or that they have been rendered or edited to remove its position. The only mention of Tesla on the subject is this blurb under a picture of the steering wheel on its website: "The ultimate focus on driving: no stalks, no shifting. Model S is the best car to drive and the best car to be run in. "That seems like an obvious indication of this Tesla's full self-driving system, which is nothing the same.
Regardless of how advanced Tesla's full self-driving technology is, the driver must be able to put the car into drive, reverse, neutral, or park. In fact, there are even laws in the books that dictate the order of the letters PRND and require the shift position to be always visible, as our friends at GearPatrol explain, and although I'm not sure there is an actual law governing a car requires to have a gear lever, it seems like there must be one.
If this was a different auto company I could just call the PR team for an explanation, however Tesla closed its PR department a few months ago. I guess I just need to tweet on Elon Musk.
The updated Tesla Model S features a Knight Rider steering wheel
First published on January 27th.
