Hi, this is Wayne again with a topic “Tesla’s BIG Design Problem”.
I tend to be shallow when it comes to buying electronic things. I like them to look good and feel good and design matters a huge amount. But what happens when the design matters more than the function when something looks incredible, but then using it you’re like uh. That can become a real big issue and it’s something that we’ve seen in the past with some tech Giants and something I think we’re starting to see again with one of the largest players in the automotive and the tech space. I think Tesla has a design Pro.
So before anybody just gets enraging for dares saying anything critical of Tesla, it’s not really a video, that’s critical of Tesla at all. In fact, it’s a lot of Praise towards Tesla, but there are things I think that need to be improved and to be changed so meet Franz van holtzelsen, who I’m probably just gon na call Franz with the rest of this video uh. He is chief designer at Tesla and is largely accredited with pretty much everything that we’ve seen uh in modern Tesla vehicles, so back in 2008 uh. He joined Tesla and since then has designed the S the X, the three, the Y, the semi, the Cyber truck uh and the absolutely stunning uh second gen Roadster, and it makes sense that Tesla would trust Franz with this task. He’S got the pedigree behind it before joining Tesla, he worked at Automotive Giants, uh, VW, GM Mazda, working on a bunch of prototypes and production Vehicles.
This dude knows what he is doing and knows how to do it very well. So whether or not you love Tesla or you, don’t, I don’t think it’s up for much of a debate at a larger reason for their Monumental success, because the car’s design has been different from anything that came before it when it was released in 2012. The model S was the first time we got a great looking economic Chemical Green vehicle.
So he went from like this being the green standard to this and it was a giant deal. Evs didn’t have to look like golf carts with small range and no performance. Uh Elon Musk, franzan, holtzhausen and Tesla changed that, but, as time has gone on, it seems that the eye for design at Tesla starting to take over and it looks like it might be, reaching the points or form starting to Trump function and not in Trivial ways. But sort of fundamental parts of their vehicles – and I know I get it – design – is as subjective as anything like could be. What what you might think looks great might look horrible to me and, and vice versa and that’s okay. It’S like the prime example is clearly a cyber truck. This is Tesla’s most polarizing design, some people like it and some people just straight up hate it um, but that seems to almost be the point of this design. Tessa clearly wasn’t trying to make a truck that everyone would think is absolutely beautiful.
They had something else in mind and I think that’s fine or the design leads to more or fewer sales decision. Tesla we’ll have to deal with one way or another, but what I’m really talking about here is design choices that might seem better, but in a real world use just aren’t and everybody’s gon na jump in and be like. The yolk he’s talking about the yolk I’ll get to the yolk um, but what I’m talking about right now is the lack of instrument stocks and that’s true in the S and the X. The fact that I have to use a touch screen to put this car in different Drive modes – I don’t want to say silly, but I think it’s a very best case is cumbersome and because there are no stocks, that means I have to use buttons on the Yoke and it’s simply not better than using turn signals on a stock like every other car has now muscle memory you might get used to it that doesn’t actually make it a better solution.
I think this is a prime example of an idea that seems like incredible design on paper from Tesla’s perspective, the car’s smart enough not to need stocks, and in theory that is true, but in practice it’s not always the case and it makes driving the car. Sometimes more cumbersome and difficult, and while it’s okay, so that might be a more user-facing decision, Tesla’s recently made other design choices in aim of manufacturing. That, I think, has objectively made the car worse.
So I first got my model 3. A few years ago there was radar built in this would allow the car to better see the world around it and when you’re using autopilot, it was relatively reliable by the name of manufacturing efficiency. Tesla removes radar from their cars instead opting to only use the camera based systems. If you follow Tesla, you know they are pushing hard for their cars to be self-driving. We’Ve talked about it, a lot Tesla’s pushing the autonomy of their cars and at times their self-driving can be incredible and other times it can often be dangerous.
But the vision system that is running the full self-driving beta is at the same time running the regular autopilot and since the switch from radar, a lot of driver system reporting Phantom braking means a car. Will slam on the brakes for no reason they can get, saw a hazard on the road and the response to that is where you should just hit the accelerator and there’s a big Cadre people that are immediately making excuses for what Tesla is doing? Now? You can love a company and still be critical and you can love a company. I think there’s room for improvement and there’s definitely an area where I think there is room for improvement. Continuing discussion, autopilot top speed of autopilot is limits 85 miles per hour, which wasn’t the case when they’re still using radar, Tesla’s going to remove ultrasonic sensors in favor of cameras as well all the name of a simpler design, that’s probably easier and cheaper to manufacture.
These are just a few examples, but Tesla’s on a path that is making its products harder to use. I think in a lot of ways, rather than easier and Tesla is not the first company we’ve seen this problem occur in the tech industry. Remember this bald headed Beauty. It’S Johnny Ive uh.
He was the chief design officer of Apple from 1997 to 2019 and in that time, Apple revolutionized the world with his products, the iMac MacBook iPod, iPhone iPad. I mean the list of I things goes on and on. I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that didn’t have design expertise of Johnny Ive a lot of their products might have failed much like we’re seeing with Tesla. There came a point, though we’re designed at Apple.
It’S going to take over and function took a back seat. The most prime example of this was a 2015 and MacBook Pro aesthetically. It was beautiful uh, it was thin. It was light minimal when you think of every Apple product it just it hit through on point. That is so. It starts you know, use it like famously the ultra thin butterfly keyboard was a disaster failing for a ton of people, so much to the apple is actually forced to fix this keyboard for free and then there’s there’s this guy.
The touch bar and again design, wise and, in theory, should have been a really Innovative idea that gave you function rows more utility. In reality, it was infuriating to not have function, keys and removing every port, replacing them with the USBC made the dongle life a nightmare, and all these issues were created simply because design it took over function in one way or another, and it left a product and Consumer experience worse for it, I think, just like apple Tesla seems to be making similar decisions, but, unlike Apple, this issue might not all be on Franz van holtzelsen’s shoulders. He is, of course, the head designer at Tesla, but it might not be his fault that the cars are taking this direction. So when Elon Musk took the stage to release the updates to the model S, he gave us a big insight into what very well may be the issue for Tesla. He said in a quote, I think. Generally, all input is error. If you want to do something that the car could have done already, that should be taken care of the software should just do it so that one statement says it all. Really. Input is error in the eyes of Tesla or the very least in the eyes of Elon Musk, and the idea is clearly coming out in franza’s design, whether that’s from must direction or franz’s freedom to design what he thinks is best just like what happened with apple. There’S a design philosophy at work that seems to Trump user input and satisfaction, but I don’t think all hope is lost at all.
In fact, there are some hints that Tesla’s realize the issue as making a shift for the better before it becomes a huge problem. So remember that yoke steering wheel um now. Did you forget the oak steering wheel? Tesla reverse course is now giving buyers to the Ester and X the option to choose a yoke or a regular steering wheel and offer a retrofit for those that already have the Yoke. This is, after months and months of customers, saying they don’t like the Yoke or don’t think it’s better than traditional wheel.
Tesla to its credit, is not giving users a choice and it might seem like a small decision. I think it is a big admission. What must be revealed the Yoke on stage he praised it significantly better than a steering wheel. That’S like going back that decision. I think shows that design doesn’t always win and it does seem like Tesla knows it, starting to see really early Hardware 4 Model S and model X’s start to make their way to people and there’s a lot of Hope.
Tesla was going to do some very drastic things, so first, you’ve got computers that are going to be more capable, eventually and hopefully for full self driving, but also they’re, reversing some decisions. We’Ve got the new Phoenix radar in here as well. Supposedly is a crazy, Advanced version of radar, but we don’t really know what it’s going going to do since Tesla, officially hasn’t acknowledged a hardware for really exists yet, at least as of this filming a similar to Apple, the latest MacBooks, there’s no touch bar you’ve got A better keyboard, they got ports Apple left, the design over function, Paradigm made a product that customers love to use and like with apple the changes only come after customers demanded them and for Tesla the input is error.
Mindset is leading to design that doesn’t make sense to the customers at least not yet so for the consumers. I think it’s important to make your opinions be heard. A latest decision by Tesla gave me hope. There’S a possibility of designs in the future will be more customer focused.
It also made me think that Tesla is actually listening to their customers, which is amazing and awesome to hear if you don’t often see happening in these large tech companies. I think Tesla’s designs are aesthetically beautiful, certainly they are polarizing and I think the admission of giving users the option to pick. Do they want the function form they want the Yoke or not, is a huge step in the right direction. If customers the option to choose what they want, do you want a steering wheel? Do you want a yoke? Do you want stocks? Do you not want stocks? I know that leads to complications in manufacturing. Blooding users make the decision on what they want.
Instead of being told what they should want is a huge step for Tesla and also honestly, I’m more optimistic now than I was a few years ago. The Tesla it’s actually listening. .