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Tesla’s redesigned S and X models will have a very unconventional and perhaps controversial feature: the automatic change between park, reverse, neutral, and drive (or PRND). There will be an option to change driving modes on the touchscreen, but CEO Elon Musk does the case for the automatic gearshift on Twitter Wednesday night.
“The car guesses the direction of driving based on the obstacles it sees, the context and the navigation map,” Musk tweeted. “After driving without using a PRND shifter / stick for a few days it gets really boring to go back and use a shifter! You can replace on the touch screen. ”
An internal Tesla document obtained by Electrek expand slightly on what Musk means by “guess”:
The vehicle uses its autopilot sensors to intelligently and automatically determine and select intended driving modes. For example, if the front of the Model S / X is facing a garage wall, it will detect this and automatically shift into reverse once the driver presses the brake pedal. This takes one more step for drivers of the world’s smartest production cars.
This is just one example, and we asked Tesla for more, although the company would no longer have a PR department and did not answer questions. The edge has been sending to its general press line since September 2019.
The general idea behind the decision is part of the larger Silicon Valley philosophy that Tesla subscribes to, however, “eliminate friction.” The consequences of the PRND attempt to automate won’t be clear until people start taking delivery of these new cars, which is supposed to happen in a few weeks.
Automakers have altered the look and location of drive mode selectors for years, thanks to the rise of automatic transmissions and the ability to change modes via software (also known as “shift by wire” ). Many companies have ditched the classic steering wheel joystick in favor of a button on the dashboard or center console or separate physical buttons.
Others have tried to mix hardware and software, but it didn’t go well. Fiat Chrysler must have recalled over a million Jeeps, Dodges and Chrysler because the interface – which involved a lever and button that always returned to the center position – was causing enough confusion that some people were run over by their own vehicles. . In fact, this “extra” problem is probably how actor Anton Yelchin died.
The so called “confusion of fashions” is a real concern even in simpler designs. In 2018, one of Fiat Chrysler’s commercials showed actor Kathryn Hahn mistaking the Pacifica minivan’s rotary gear selector for a volume knob.
The removal of the PRND rod that Model S and Model X previously featured is part of a larger overhaul of the interior design of these vehicles, but it’s not the only one that has sparked a debate on safety. Tesla ditched its circular flywheel in favor of a U-shaped flywheel – a move that Roadshow reports have already attracted the interest of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the federal regulator of motor vehicle safety.
When asked if NHTSA is reviewing Tesla’s decision to automate PRND, the agency responded with a fairly broad response: “Manufacturers must certify their vehicles [to] comply with applicable federal standards for the safety of motor vehicles before putting them on the road, “and that it will require the recall of vehicles found to be non-compliant or that contain a safety defect and may impose fines if a manufacturer does not recall not timely vehicles. The agency said it “communicates regularly with manufacturers to discuss potential safety issues” and examines consumer complaints and company data for security risks.
While Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard Number 102 spells out the specific sequence of PRND and number 114 covers some really basic bending issues, it doesn’t appear that others necessarily rule out Tesla’s automation or lack thereof. a physical selector. This is despite what the NHTSA says all the way back in 1999 in response to BMW on the use of other gear selection methods such as touch screens, keypads or voice commands:
We are concerned that as new designs of automatic transmissions that do not use a shifter come onto the market, nothing in Standard # 102 prevents gear faults in these vehicles.
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