Tesla’s redesigned Model S and Model X will have a very unconventional and potentially controversial feature: automatic shifting between park, reverse, neutral and driving (or PRND). There will be an option to change the ride mode on the touch screen, but CEO Elon Musk the case settled for automatic shift on Twitter late Wednesday night.
“Car guesses direction based on obstacles he sees, context and navigation map,” Musk tweeted. ‘After spending a few days without a PRND stem / stick, it’s very annoying to go back and use a shifter! You can ignore on the touch screen. ”
An internal Tesla document obtained by Electrek elaborates slightly on what Musk means by “guesses”:
The vehicle uses its Autopilot sensors to determine and select the intended driving modes intelligently and automatically. For example, if the front of Model S / X looks at a garage wall, it will detect it and automatically shift to Reverse as soon as the driver presses the brake pedal. This eliminates another step for the drivers of the world’s most intelligent production cars.
This is just one example, and we asked Tesla for more, although the company allegedly no longer has a PR department and did not respond to questions. The edge sent since September 2019 to its general press line.
The general idea behind the decision fits in with the larger ethic of Silicon Valley that Tesla endorses, but to ‘eliminate friction’. The consequences of the attempt to automate PRND will only be clear before people go to deliver these new cars, which are supposed to happen within a few weeks.
Car manufacturers have for years opted for the appearance and location of the dial mode, made possible by the increase in automatic transmissions and the ability to change mode via software (also known as ‘shift by wire’). Many companies have tossed the classic handlebar in favor of a knob on the dashboard or center console or separate physical buttons.
Others tried to mix hardware and software, but to no avail. Fiat Chrysler had to recall more than 1 million Jeeps, Dodges and Chryslers because the interface – which includes a lever and a button that always returned to the middle position – caused enough confusion that some people were run over by their own vehicles. In fact, this ‘roll-away’ problem is probably the way actor Anton Yelchin died.
So-called “mode confusion” is a big problem even in simpler designs. In 2018, one of Fiat Chrysler’s own ads showed that actor Kathryn Hahn had mistaken the Pacifica minibus’ rotary gear selector as a volume knob.
The removal of the PRND shaft that the Model S and Model X previously offered is part of a wider overhaul of the vehicle’s interior design, but it’s not the only one that is sparking a debate on safety. Tesla has thrown its circular steering wheel in favor of one that is U-shaped – a decision that Roadshow reports have already attracted the interest of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the federal regulator for motor vehicles.
Asked whether NHTSA was investigating Tesla’s decision to automate PRND, the agency responded with a reasonable inventory response: ‘Manufacturers need to certify their vehicles. [to] comply with the applicable safety standards for motor vehicles before being placed on the road, ‘and that it requires vehicles that do not comply or that contain a safety defect to be recalled and to impose fines if a manufacturer does not recall vehicles in a timely manner. ‘ The agency said it was in ‘regular communication with manufacturers to discuss possible safety issues’ and that it was examining consumer complaints and industry data to look at safety risks.
While the federal safety standard 102 for motor vehicles spells out the specific order of PRND, and number 114 contains some basic problems with roll-away, it does not appear that others would necessarily prevent the automation of Tesla or the lack of a physical selector. This is despite the fact that NHTSA said it already in 1999 in a response to BMW regarding the use of alternative acceleration methods such as touch screens, keyboards or voice controls:
We are concerned that since new designs for automatic transmissions that do not use a lever are coming on the market, there is nothing in Standard 102 that can prevent the shifting of faulty vehicles.