Tesla Christmas Update Summary & Thoughts Behind It

On the evening of December 23, 2021, U.S. time, Tesla officially began pushing Christmas car updates in the United States. Tesla's "annual retention project" has been carried out for several sessions. With the growth of Tesla's market share and the further increase in the market's emphasis on intelligence, this year's attention is different from the past.

Compared with last year's Christmas update, Tesla's "rearrangement" of the car-machine UI, Tesla's Christmas update in 2021 can be said to be a phased reconstruction of the car-machine interaction level .

01 What's new?

There are two specific version numbers for Tesla's 2021 Christmas Edition car and machine update. For most ordinary users, it is 2021.44.25.2 . For those users who have obtained FSD Beta internal testing permission, it is 2021.33.25.5. The latter excludes car and machine content. In addition, it also includes the assisted driving software update of FSD V10.8.

However, Tesla has not yet opened the related tests of FSD Beta in China, so the Christmas update we can receive this time is still about the car and machine. Let’s quickly review the contents of this update in the order of the system update instructions.

light show

The first item in the Christmas car update is the atmosphere group function "Light Show". Everyone has seen this function as early as the old version of Model X. After turning on the corresponding function in the system's toy box, the vehicle will start playing Christmas songs and Linked car lights to perform a light dance show.

Customize app launch bar

The application launch bar of the new version of the car now supports free dragging of App order, and can be customized to delete or add related applications from the application menu.

Simplified vehicle control buttons

After the update, the information displayed on the central control screen focuses more on navigation, multimedia and commonly used functions. The original vehicle settings are more simplified. After clicking, the complete settings menu will no longer pop up, but a small area will be stretched out to display shortcut icons for commonly used settings.

Steering blind spot display

A steering blind spot display function has been added. After enabling this function in the Autopilot settings, when the user uses the turn signal, the rear-view ADAS camera on the vehicle fender will automatically display the real-time image of the corresponding side of the vehicle on the central control screen.

Navigation waypoints

The vehicle navigation has added a waypoint function. Click the navigation add button on the central control screen to set stopping points on the route.

Apps and new game updates

Cheji Douyin has improved the theater mode, the game Low-Model War has added a multiplayer mode, and Cheji has added two new games: Sonic the Hedgehog and Sudoku.

Cold climate optimization

After the update, the remote air conditioner can now be used when the vehicle is on lower power, but the remote air conditioner still cannot be enabled under extremely low power conditions. This change requires the use of Tesla mobile app 4.4.0 or newer to implement.

Automatic seat heating

The front seats of the vehicle can now turn on automatic seat heating in automatic air conditioning mode, and the seats will automatically adjust according to the cabin temperature and the air conditioning set temperature.

Driving recorder file management

The path to delete the driving recorder file is now optimized. You can delete the driving recorder video file by entering the security option through the control menu and finding the driving recorder column.

Night mode

Manual night mode is now added to the display settings of the central control.

Hide navigation information

Detailed information in the navigation state can now be hidden by clicking the hide icon.

Other special updates

The special part of this update is that the updated content is not exactly the same for different models, different hardware and even models in different regulatory regions. For example, the facelifted Model S and the 22 Model Y have updated an item called " Megaphone" function.

This function can use an external speaker as a loudspeaker to play the user's voice when the vehicle is parked, and can also achieve a voice change effect.

If you look carefully, you can also see in the picture above that the "Megaphone" has updated the column above, and some models have also received updates to the monitoring permissions of Sentry mode.

After completing the update, as long as the permission is turned on in the security settings, users can view the real-time monitoring screen of Sentry Mode on their mobile devices.

On the mobile page, you can find that in addition to the monitoring function, Tesla has also opened three operations to users. From left to right, they are whistle, flashing lights and remote voice playback . Therefore, for the abnormal alarm pushed to the user in Sentry mode , after the update, suspicious persons can be remotely warned directly through the above means.

Some users also discovered that the matrix LED headlights equipped with the newly proposed Model 3 can project the English text of TESLA in this light show.

The facelifted Model S/X has specially added a car wash mode in the update. In this mode, the vehicle's doors and windows will automatically close and close, and the automatic wipers will also be deactivated. In the automatic car wash scene with a conveyor belt, you can also choose to enter the coasting mode. mode puts the vehicle into neutral.

For S/X models, this update also adds the option of "automatically adjusting the air suspension to comfort mode in AP state".

However, it needs to be explained again that the content of this Christmas car machine update varies between different models, the hardware of the same model is different, and the regulations in different regions are different. Will China usher in sentry mode remote monitoring, voice playback, etc. this time? The function will not be known until it is pushed.

02 Besides functions, what else has Tesla changed?

The car computer used by Tesla Model 3/Y can be said to be very typical and very special among smart electric vehicles. The typical thing is that the car computer central control uses a 15-inch nearly 16:9 screen with a resolution of 1,920 × 1,200, why is the screen vertically oriented not 1,080? As mentioned below, many people have been exposed to this size and ratio on PCs, so when this screen appears on a car, compared to those displays with special ratios, this It is a screen that everyone feels familiar and normal in their habits and perceptions.

The special thing about the 3/Y screen is that it is not only the central control screen of the vehicle, but also takes into account the responsibilities of the instrument screen , so this also makes the layout of the human-computer interaction page of Model 3/Y very obvious. Block division.

Tesla’s three-zone display

Looking back at the early car-machine versions of Model 3/Y, it is not difficult to find that Tesla at that time had divided the display area of ​​the screen into three large areas , among which:

• The side close to the driver is the vehicle information display area. The display area of ​​this area is 580 × 1,080;
• The right side is the main content display area, with a display area of ​​1,340 × 1,080;
• The bottom is the resident Dock bar, with a display area of ​​1,920 × 120.

So if you remove the part of the resident Dock bar, the two areas at the top of the screen have a resolution of 1,920 × 1,080, a standard 16:9, which is perfectly compatible with the ratio of full-screen video playback, so from the hardware size of the screen Tesla The Dock bar has been considered as a fixed independent area.

On the entire Dock bar, there is considerable space between adjacent icons, ensuring the ease of touch operation of each function. However, if you observe carefully, you can find that the "format" of the icon arrangement at that time was relatively centered. In the Dock bar, The air conditioning temperature adjustment and volume control methods in the first-level menu are also up and down adjustments inherited from the physical buttons and are relatively inertial.

在车辆信息显示区域这一块，特斯拉又将车辆的功率输出指示条作为了分割线，在这条线之上，是传统汽车行业的「仪表信息」，在这一片只有手机屏幕大小的区域显示了包括档位、时速、续航、大灯状态、胎压状态以及其余警报图标等信息。

而当时业内绝大多数的电子仪表采用的都是拟物的显示风格，用一块面积巨大的仪表屏显示和机械仪表一样的时速表加转速表，但实际上对于驾驶者有意义的数字和图标本可以用更少的显示面积。

也就是从那时起，特斯拉车机的信息展示思路就是「合并同类项」， 尽量把同类目的信息放到一起 ，提高显示的密度的同时增加信息获取效率。

在功率输出指示条往下的这块区域，静止状态下是车辆的前后盖及门锁控制区，行驶状态下则是车辆的辅助驾驶可视化 UI，和辅助驾驶状态信息，再往下则是盲区摄像头、能耗以及语音。

右侧的内容显示区域以导航为背景，下方是可多级上拉的多媒体播放菜单。点击车辆图案的图标以后这里则会升起车辆的设置菜单，那时的 Model 3 整个设置菜单里只有 8 项，Autopilot 菜单也只有 3 行设置。

特斯拉的三区显示从发布至今仍然是车机布局案例中最值得学习的案例之一，它非常合理且高效地把控制的层级，信息显示的区域做了划分，让整个屏幕的显示区域得到了充分的利用，并且保证了信息获取和交互的便利性。

随着时间的推移，特斯拉车机系统 不断加入新的功能和应用 ，设置页里的内容开始变得密集起来，并且伴随车辆 辅助驾驶能力的提升 ，Autopilot 成为了用车辆使用中越来越高频的一项功能，在这两件事情的联合作用下，特斯拉车机的布局也开始有所变化。

调整的核心：优先级

Dock 上，从交互便利度的角度做出的改进包括图标的排列格式也变成了「等距铺满」，将 Dock 栏两侧的空间利用了起来，让车辆设置按钮离主驾驶更近，也让音量设置离副驾驶更近，并且 Dock 栏的将音量、温度调节改为了左右滑动，相比原先的上下滑动有更大的触控操作面积。

Dock 栏上的宝贵的一级显示席位开始调整，前后挡风除雾从 Dock 栏的左侧被移动到到了右侧，手机图标被砍掉，音乐被移动到了左侧，二级菜单也给了一个单独的图标。

如果去思考其中的逻辑，可以发现，特斯拉做出这样的调整的关键在于 优先级 ，更进一步来说，是对应需求的 重要性 和 使用频率 。

决定砍掉手机图标而保留两个除雾按钮的核心在于根据使用的场景和频率，前者是一个低频的不重要需求入口，而后者是虽然也是低频需求，但它是一个重要需求。

车窗起雾影响的是驾驶视野，如果这时候不能快速开启除雾，无疑将影响到驾驶安全，所以将它保留在一级显示是有必要的，但显然除雾功能的使用频率比不上多媒体，于是特斯拉把它移动到了 Dock 右侧，这个过程中特斯拉显然参考了用户的屏幕触控热区。

同样的逻辑，在行车信息显示区，特斯拉也考虑到了信息显示的优先级。从去年圣诞更新以后将所有的灯光和车辆状态信息图标也合并到了屏幕最左侧列为一排，更有同类信息排列逻辑，让屏幕左侧成为了车辆的「状态栏」。

并且这么一来顶部释放出来的空间让整个可视化 UI 得以上移，但一个矩形区域放大都是同时伴随着横纵两个方向，可视化 UI 同时也往右扩张了不少领地。

此时搭载 HW 3.0 芯片的 Model 3/Y 在这个版本的车机下已经有着较为丰富和细致的环境可视化显示，更大的显示面积有助于保证显示的效果。

从此也可以看出，在特斯拉的价值观里，保证信息不缺失的情况下，可视化 UI 可以挤压行车信息，也可以挤压地图 。

一切都有铺垫，一切都有结果

此次圣诞车机大更新的前提，其实依然是车辆应用和新功能的加入以及辅助驾驶能力的提升，只是这次的幅度比以往来得要大不少。

今年初改款 S/X 的车机已经在预示着特斯拉已经开始把娱乐环节在系统里的优先级拔高，前不久国产 Model Y Performance 搭载 AMD 新款座舱套件，CPU 和 GPU 性能大幅提升以后 3/Y 车型的后续思路和 S/X 也基本达成一致。

所以不难预料到更多的应用和更多的游戏会在后续加入特斯拉车机系统，这也预示着应用菜单的使用频率将逐渐提高，需要有更便捷的入口给这种潜在的变化预留出来。

果不其然，特斯拉这次在最能体现其优先级概念的 Dock 栏上进行了大改，除去车辆设置、空调温度设置以及音量调节以外，其余所有的空间都让给了自定义的应用启动栏。

值得注意的是有三个按键在这次的更新中被踢出了一级显示菜单，这三个按键是空调和主副驾的座椅加热。

特斯拉为了安置好这三个 Dock 上的钉子户，这次也想到了一些妙招，比空调设置页面看似被砍掉，实际上将其和温度调节集成在了一起，实际上没有减少，而自动座椅加热联动自动空调以后减低了座椅加热的手动设置需求，将其放入 Dock 栏的二级显示目录此时也有理有据。

前后除雾按钮虽这次就比较惨了，被移出一级显示的同时没有自动功能，但好在这次的 Dock 栏二级菜单里给它们留下了一个宝贵的位置，相比原来的便利性有所下降但并不算特别严重。

这次的车辆设置图标经过简化后点开只有几项快捷入口，做出这一改动会带来的变化是点击车辆设置图标以后设置菜单不会完整弹出进而像现在这样挡住整个内容显示区进而遮挡导航和多媒体信息。

这种设定不难联想到如今安卓手机的一层下拉状态栏，把最顶部一排最常用的几个开关显示出来即可，仍然保留通知栏的信息显示。

到了车辆的设置页又是此次车机更新的一个大改动，原来目录式的菜单现在转向了矩形的卡片式 UI。这样一来快速控制菜单的横向空间利用率大大提高，一行可以放多个开关，整页可以显示更多快捷设置，并且图标的面积变得更大以后不再要求那么高的操作准确度，使用便捷性也得到了提升。

这样的设置很像移动电子设备里的控制面板，但在特斯拉新版车机里这个「控制面板」集成在了设置页里，而不是全屏或显示者第一层的置顶浮窗设定，更像是一个被收纳在二级菜单里的虚拟按键面板。

让我觉得比较奇怪的部分是这次的设置页砍掉了左上角的「X」退出按键，现版本车机在这一页面的退出交互可以通过点「X」、点按车辆设置图标以及拖动设置页顶部的手势条下滑来收起关闭。

对此我的想法是新版车机的设置菜单项目以及来到了 13 个，纵向空间上已经比较吃紧，在不遮挡时钟和天气显示的前提下如果再保留「X」图标可能会对布局造成一定影响。

Visual UI with customizable scale

The perception of FSD Beta has been greatly improved under surround vision, and the corresponding displayable visual UI area has also been expanded several times. At this time, the original driving information display area has been difficult to display the complete visual UI content without scaling. .

Therefore, in the Christmas update, Tesla added custom dragging of driving information. When the user drags the driving information display area to the far right of the screen, he or she will get a full-screen display effect as shown below.

As mentioned earlier, Tesla believes that the visual UI can squeeze the content display area, but in this version Tesla has even allowed the visual UI to completely cover the content display area. At this time, the map information is gone, and only navigation instructions are available. Information will also be displayed.

For such a display, I think there is still a problem of missing information. But if you think about it carefully, the original arrows and map are to simulate the route of the vehicle on the road. The full-screen visual UI will actually make it possible to create a visual UI version of God's perspective 3D navigation in the future.

However, the visual UI for viewing traffic information obviously cannot display beyond visual distance, so I think there is a certain probability that Tesla will add a "mini map" navigation display to the full-screen visual UI in the future .

But another situation is that if the ability of FSD Beta reaches a certain level, the navigation will basically not have to worry about setting the destination before departure. At this time, the priority of the navigation map will also be weakened.

03 write at the end

This time I saw that Tesla integrated seat heating into automatic air conditioning, which reminded me of a saying, "Real technology should make you unable to feel the existence of technology."

"Technology" in the world of smart cars means "convenience", and in the car machine it means efficiency, the efficiency of information transmission and the efficiency of interactive implementation.

The biggest feature of touch screen interaction is that it can both display and interact and has countless forms. All pixels on the screen can become components of virtual buttons, and everything that has been established can be erased and started over.

The values ​​that Tesla adheres to in the design and interaction concepts of its own vehicles can actually be summarized in one sentence: to accommodate as many functions as possible while ensuring efficiency and experience.

But given the limited screen size, it’s often difficult to achieve both.

Most traditional car manufacturers have given up on interaction efficiency and experience on the car, and have crammed a huge number of functions into the system. However, the menus are too many and messy. After picking up the car, users may not open many functions until they sell the car. Once. But simplifying the hierarchy does not mean displaying all content at one level, which would be the same as the desktop of a phablet.

In order to achieve a good balance, Tesla uses both addition and subtraction on the car. Tesla's addition is to cultivate users' habits and predict users' future needs, such as the visual UI whose display area has been getting larger, and more and more derivative functions under the open electrification architecture.

But what deserves more attention is Tesla's subtraction on the car, how to challenge users' established habits and minimize the discomfort in the experience or even improve the experience.

After this year’s Christmas update, I believe more people will have a deeper feeling about this.

Written by: Reinhardt
Editor: Reinhardt