The Tesla App allows me to lock, unlock the car, pop and close the trunk, check the cameras, schedule it to warm itself up, input destinations, see its real-time location, and see charging issues.
The app isn't clunky to use. It's wonderful, and it's really well made.
The car's infotainment system is vertically integrated; all of the features are available in one common interface and work well with one another. The car will automatically turn down the fans when I'm on a call, as just one example.
The cameras turn on and show me the blind spots when I'm changing lanes (my only complaint there is that the side-view mirrors do not physically allow me to position them as recommended by NHTSA).
The integrated maps also include charging station availability; and the maps automatically update (I don't need to buy an SD Card from a manufacturer with the updated maps). The software team is able to push updates to my car; so if there are bugs with their bluetooth, it gets fixed without me having to go to the dealership and hoping they care enough about their technology stack to fix it.
If there are bugs, they get fixed; and since they're not dealing with different third-party modules, they own the entire stack that is in the car.
My only complaints are that I can't use Waze on my Tesla, which shows where cops are, and sometimes their navigation routes are wonky and aren't practical (like driving through the middle of DC to avoid going around the beltway), but otherwise the technical experience of owning and operating a tesla an using their infotainment system is lightyears ahead of any other car I've driven.
Contra that with the Volkswagen I just rented where its Carplay crashed and crashed the whole infotainment system; or the bug where its rearview camera stayed on until I manually closed it when I shifted into drive;
1) I drove a 2025 VW ID4 for months and car play has never crashed the infotainment once. I don't understand the argument for the rearview camera, if you keep being in reverse of course it will stay on until you shift to drive. Also, my ID4 unlocked itself through the app even just through bluetooth proximity.
2) Pretty much all the features you list are on competitors cars from ages or borderline irrelevant (I really don't care about fans getting quieter during calls). E.g. blind spots warning are decade+ old technology.
That’s the bug, that the rear view camera stayed on when I shifted into drive until I manually closed it. I could reproduce that bug reliably, leaving me to believe it’s just not a big deal to the manufacturer to fix.
Also, just because you’re unable to crash the infotainment system doesn’t mean no one is, or that it’s hard to crash.
These aren't unique to Tesla, though a lot of manufacturers want you to pay to have a lot of that stuff in their app, which is fucked.
I also want less touch controls and less entirely featureless controls. My car is a 2012 Mini Countryman (no screens other than dot matrix displays) and I was on a roof at a work site and threw my keys down to another guy to move it, He described it as being like `in a spaceship`. Which really tickled me because he had a 2024 mustang with big touch screens in it. I guess mine was like a spaceship to him because of all the physical controls and toggle switches.
My parents have a 2021 Hyundai Santa Cruz (First model year!) and the design is baffling to me. The AC controls are on a capacitive touch display below the main one so you have no idea what you're doing unless you're looking at it. There are also multiple controls with almost no tactile feel at the base of the drive select lever and seat climate controls mounted to the front of the center divider that just a few raised bumps on would go a long way to helping quickly identify them while pawing around there to turn the seat heat/cool. The infotainment does OTA but the maps updates require using a USB drive. You can do it at home though it is an incredibly clunky and antiquated process.
To be perfectly honest the only things about the Santa Cruz that I wish my car had as far as the electronics go is blind spot/camera feeds and modern media support (carplay). Other than that I strongly prefer my incredibly aged dash. My front and center is just a tachometer with a small dot matrix display that shows the current speed digitally with one more below that for a couple other things (I leave it on real-time fuel consumption.) That is it. I'd rather use my phone for maps (Standalone or via carplay) over anything built in to any vehicle I've ever driven.
Does Tesla make their app worse if you drive a non-tesla? When I scroll around looking for chargers in their app it is one of the laggiest, most frustrating map interfaces I've ever used. Much worse than other charger networks' apps or plugshare.
I can't really agree with the app. Yes, it isn't bad. Wonderful and well made? Not so much. I see this as more of a testament to how bad the rest of the industry is. And I say this as someone who thinks this vehicle sets the baseline standard for a good vehicle experience.
I'll start this by saying that while I don't agree with all the UX decisions Tesla has made, the UI of their interface and app is certainly extremely polished.
But (and I'll note you didn't claim this specifically) a lot of these are things others do.
My Audi app lets me lock and unlock the car, check fuel level/range and oil, need for service, see its location, etc.
Cameras with indicator usage is across multiple manufacturers.
I do not need to buy map updates, they come over cellular. As do software updates.
I realize that software is a different beast, but if you're comparing VW based on a rental, then the Teslas I've rented at times were garbage, too. Poor sealing so the cabins whistled at freeway speeds, non-updated software that played havoc with the cars world view, showing cars and trucks around me constantly vanishing and reappearing, phantom vehicles. Not to mention a plethora of "sensor/camera/etc blocked" even though the vehicle was clean.
The Tesla App allows me to lock, unlock the car, pop and close the trunk, check the cameras, schedule it to warm itself up, input destinations, see its real-time location, and see charging issues.
The app isn't clunky to use. It's wonderful, and it's really well made.
The car's infotainment system is vertically integrated; all of the features are available in one common interface and work well with one another. The car will automatically turn down the fans when I'm on a call, as just one example.
The cameras turn on and show me the blind spots when I'm changing lanes (my only complaint there is that the side-view mirrors do not physically allow me to position them as recommended by NHTSA).
The integrated maps also include charging station availability; and the maps automatically update (I don't need to buy an SD Card from a manufacturer with the updated maps). The software team is able to push updates to my car; so if there are bugs with their bluetooth, it gets fixed without me having to go to the dealership and hoping they care enough about their technology stack to fix it.
If there are bugs, they get fixed; and since they're not dealing with different third-party modules, they own the entire stack that is in the car.
My only complaints are that I can't use Waze on my Tesla, which shows where cops are, and sometimes their navigation routes are wonky and aren't practical (like driving through the middle of DC to avoid going around the beltway), but otherwise the technical experience of owning and operating a tesla an using their infotainment system is lightyears ahead of any other car I've driven.
Contra that with the Volkswagen I just rented where its Carplay crashed and crashed the whole infotainment system; or the bug where its rearview camera stayed on until I manually closed it when I shifted into drive;