Tesla’s redesigned Model S and Model X will have a very unconventional and possibly controversial feature: automatic switching between parking, reverse, neutral and driving (or PRND). There will be an option to change driving modes on the touchscreen, but CEO Elon Musk made the case for automatic switching on Twitter on Wednesday night.
“The car guesses the direction based on the obstacles it sees, in the context and on the navigation map”, Musk tweeted. “After driving without using a PRND stalk / stick for a few days, it is very annoying to go back and use a shifter! You can replace on the touchscreen. ”
An internal Tesla document obtained by Electrek slightly expands what Musk means by “assumptions”:
The vehicle uses its autopilot sensors to intelligently and automatically determine the desired driving modes and select them. For example, if the front of the Model S / X faces a garage wall, it will detect this and automatically switch to Reverse as soon as the driver steps on the brake pedal. This takes another step for drivers of the world’s smartest production cars.
This is just one example, and we ask Tesla for more, although the company reportedly no longer has a public relations department and has not answered questions The Verge sends to its general press line since September 2019.
The general idea behind the decision fits in with the broader Silicon Valley ethos that Tesla adopts, however, to “eliminate friction”. The consequences of trying to automate the PRND will not be clear until people start getting these new cars, which should happen in a matter of weeks.
Car manufacturers have been tampering with the appearance and location of steering mode selectors for years, enabled by the emergence of automatic transmissions and the ability to change modes through software (also known as “shift by wire”). Many companies have traded the classic steering wheel stem for a button on the dashboard or center console or separate physical buttons.
Others tried to mix hardware and software, but it didn’t work. Fiat Chrysler had to collect more than 1 million Jeeps, Dodges and Chryslers because the interface – which involved a lever and a button that always returned to the central position – caused enough confusion for some people to be run over by their own vehicles. In fact, this “additional” problem is probably how actor Anton Yelchin died.
The so-called “confusion of modes” is a real concern, even in simpler designs. In 2018, one of Fiat Chrysler’s own commercials showed actor Kathryn Hahn confusing the rotary gear selector on the Pacifica minivan with a volume knob.
The removal of the PRND rod that the Model S and Model X previously featured is part of a broader revision of the interior design of these vehicles, but it is not the only one to create a debate on safety. Tesla swapped his circular steering wheel for a U-shaped one – a decision that Roadshow the reports have already attracted the interest of the National Road Traffic Safety Administration, the federal motor vehicle safety regulator.
When asked whether NHTSA is examining Tesla’s decision to automate the PRND, the agency responded with a fair response: “Manufacturers must certify their vehicles [to] meet federal motor vehicle safety standards before putting them on the road “, and that this will require vehicles found to be non-compliant or that contain a safety defect to be collected and may impose fines if a manufacturer does not recall the vehicles in a timely manner. ” The agency said it is “in regular communication with manufacturers to discuss possible security concerns” and that it reviews consumer complaints and company data to check for security risks.
While the federal motor vehicle safety standard number 102 describes the specific PRND sequence, and number 114 covers some really basic disassembly issues, it does not appear that any others would necessarily prevent Tesla automation or the lack of a physical selector. This despite the NHTSA saying that all the way in 1999 in a response to BMW about the use of alternative gear selection methods, such as touch screens, keyboards or voice controls:
We are concerned that as new designs of automatic transmissions that do not use a shift lever enter the market, there is nothing in Standard No. 102 to prevent these vehicles from moving incorrectly.