Published on | Prototyping: From UX to Front End — Medium Spencer Camp

What will driving the future look like?

In 2017, Tesla launched the mid-priced Model 3 with huge success. Some believe that the electric car company will take steps toward reinventing the automobile away from its analog past to a more computerized hardware and software platform. The pressing question is:

How will Tesla design the user interface of its new operating system?

Designer Goodlad’s accurate Model 3 mockup in InVision

Will it be a closed OS with native software or will Tesla open up the platform with an SDK? What role will an AI assistant play in the user experience and how will voice be involved? How much, if at all, will augmented reality be used as a heads up display?

Dashboard Checklist

SDK for apps (Spotify, etc.)
AI Voice assistant
Multi-tasking
Clean UI

Dashboard

Dashboard is a virtual dashboard for applications and quick-access utilities. At the bottom of the screen, a horizontal list of scrollable apps makes it easy to access music from Spotify or restaurant ratings from Yelp. Swipe up from the bottom to access apps and swipe down from the top to open a quick-access screen to alter the volume, climate control, as well as other features.

AI Voice Assistant

AI Voice Assistant will be the main access point for a large number of Tesla’s features. Speak using the command, “Tesla, take me to the Hollywood Pantages Theatre, in Los Angeles, California” or “Tesla, set climate controls to 70 degrees.”

Command Center

Command Center is the virtual heads up display. Situated on the left-hand side of the screen, it displays speed, transmission, battery charge, and other essential driving features, and in the future it will be a visualization tool for autonomous driving.

Automotive Computing

Designing what driving the future will look like means taking advantage of the differences between automotive computing and personal computing.

Differences

Longer use of hardware
Greater reliance on voice
More space for computing
Bigger battery size

The benefits of automotive computing means that you can use new design techniques:

Modular Computing
AI Voice Assistants
Expansive Computer Hardware
Intensive Multitasking

In the new AC paradigm, the dashboard on your car should be, at a minimum, 10 times more powerful than your PC.

Do you want Tesla to build an operating system like this? If so clap it up, tweet at them: @elonmusk, @Tesla, and follow me @spencercamp,!

Designing the Tesla Model 3 Dashboard was originally published in Prototypr on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Designing the Tesla Model 3 Dashboard

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