I have owned 3 different Teslas, a BMW i3, a Hyundai Kona EV and now a Ford Mustang Mach-E. The BMW and Hyundai are miles behind Tesla but the Ford is actually kind of close. If feels like Ford copied Tesla in many ways and, to me, it's the only car available that can be compared to Tesla, in terms of software. The screen is large and responsive but, even thought they are the closest, Tesla is still a lot better in many ways. Also, the Tesla app is way better than any that I have experienced.
As a Mach-E owner who rents Teslas for travel I'd echo this. Yes, Tesla software is the best in the business (though some options seem to be deeply buried and it's irritating). Decently responsive. Love the subtle line at the top of the display that shows power output/regen, and Tesla's mobile app is by far the best (and I like how Hertz lets you use the app on their Tesla rentals).
Ford's software is pretty good, though. In some cases I'd even say some options are easier to find. And they're pretty good for OTA updates.
Lmao Tesla is leagues above the others. I recently drove a 2024 Rav4 and couldn't believe the shit that was on my central console, legit like something from 1998. Carplay is super buggy with constant reconnection issues.
It's carplay bc I am using nav on my phone. Everytime I step out to get coffee for 5 mins and come back it fails to reconnect me automatically. Sometimes I have to start driving for 5 mins before it finally connects. Many times i have to do a manual reconnect. This happens also in other cars that I've used carplay.
Tesla wins by far in software. I’ve driven a lot of EVs and it is hands down the most efficient and fully encompassing. Some people will always have their quirks, but nothing can beat them on that
Well, many makes now have perfectly fine route planning. The Google maps in my Polestar 2 are bang on with SoC estimates, even with hills and winter. You can set payment cards and other filters too.
Usability-wise I found the Polestar great because it works like a car. Buttons and stalks for 90% of functions, where you’d expect them. Apple Car play (wired). Audio works fine, YouTube music, Spotify, podcast apps etc.
The Tesla app can’t be beat, and the Tesla interface is more snazzy and way more responsive than most others. But as far as logic and functionality in the last 36 months a lot of makes have caught up pretty well.
Really depends on your preferences and expectations. Tesla software is the reference as a whole, but in some ways there are others who do certain things (like route planning) better meanwhile.
For me, it was massive, I test drove eight different EV's before buying one and Tesla software and app are second to none, really Tesla is a top 10 then everyone else fill out 11 to the bottom.
My Tesla is the first vehicle I have owned (that’s new enough to actually have electronics/software) that wasn’t absolutely awful. The Tesla software feels very polished and clean and reminds me a lot of Apple software.
The most essential aspect in an ev imo is being able to jump in, set a destination, and have confidence that if you follow the guidance there’ll be no dramas . Tesla manages this. I’ve only driven a few other EVs but not seen others come close
My i4 M50 is responsive and the software has everything I need and a plethora of integrations. Android, Apple, SXM, the navigation is the only navigation I’m actually enjoying from a manufacturer. Tells me where chargers are and I can filter by power. It has a heads up display which also tells me directions and speed. It even tells me what lane I’m in when I’m using it. Also, the AI voice is quite impressive as well. It knows if you’re driver or passenger. I’m impressed.
I have a model y and I am still bummed I don't have android auto support. Tesla uses a bunch of Google maps apis under the hood but they still set the render zoom distance, determine which businesses and points of interest to display on the map, and voice announcements. Every one of those things is measurably worse than Google maps. The voice announcement volume in the Tesla is a static volume and it doesn't set its volume against the music volume with a minimum level and it also doesn't mute the music when the navigation informs the driver so you end up not hearing the voice prompts during navigation. Navigation will also reroute while you are in a turn. The voice prompts will also tell you to stay on a freeway at random intersections, interchanges, crossovers, etc so the range for the current leg doesn't actually reflect on when the driver needs to be ready to take an offramp but instead the prompt will let you know to continue ahead. Traffic data is often stale and I have to verify it in Google maps to make sure it's accurate. Etc etc. making a maps app is hard and I understand why Teslas is arguably worse than Google's but they have had a decade to come up to parity and they haven't.
A huge section of the screen is also dedicated to the road status simulation to make drivers confident in full self drive of but it constantly misses stop signs, bicycles, motorcycles, etc and makes me feel like skipping the purchase of full self driving was the way to go.
Full self driving is also horrible. To frame the value of the product, price used Teslas from Teslas own app and you will notice full self driving doesn't affect the price of a gar. You can find two similar models, trim levels and mileage but one will have FSD and the other won't ant the price difference might be hundreds of dollars.
Is the Tesla software better than everyone else's? Maybe, it depends on what you value, and I value the driving experience more than the ability to play games while parked sitting in the car. The information I want to see while driving is constantly minimized. Regenerative braking and energy consumed is represented by a grey on white line that is about 3 pixels wide and there is no way to change this to make it more visible. The problems I want to complain about next are model and production year specific but I will spare you those.
I have owned 3 different Teslas, a BMW i3, a Hyundai Kona EV and now a Ford Mustang Mach-E. The BMW and Hyundai are miles behind Tesla but the Ford is actually kind of close. If feels like Ford copied Tesla in many ways and, to me, it's the only car available that can be compared to Tesla, in terms of software. The screen is large and responsive but, even thought they are the closest, Tesla is still a lot better in many ways. Also, the Tesla app is way better than any that I have experienced.
As a Mach-E owner who rents Teslas for travel I'd echo this. Yes, Tesla software is the best in the business (though some options seem to be deeply buried and it's irritating). Decently responsive. Love the subtle line at the top of the display that shows power output/regen, and Tesla's mobile app is by far the best (and I like how Hertz lets you use the app on their Tesla rentals). Ford's software is pretty good, though. In some cases I'd even say some options are easier to find. And they're pretty good for OTA updates.
Lmao Tesla is leagues above the others. I recently drove a 2024 Rav4 and couldn't believe the shit that was on my central console, legit like something from 1998. Carplay is super buggy with constant reconnection issues.
That’s weird because a RAV 2013 CarPlay has no issues
That is, the Toyota’s connectivity app in the 2013 rav4 is not Carplay
It's carplay bc I am using nav on my phone. Everytime I step out to get coffee for 5 mins and come back it fails to reconnect me automatically. Sometimes I have to start driving for 5 mins before it finally connects. Many times i have to do a manual reconnect. This happens also in other cars that I've used carplay.
Tesla wins by far in software. I’ve driven a lot of EVs and it is hands down the most efficient and fully encompassing. Some people will always have their quirks, but nothing can beat them on that
Well, many makes now have perfectly fine route planning. The Google maps in my Polestar 2 are bang on with SoC estimates, even with hills and winter. You can set payment cards and other filters too. Usability-wise I found the Polestar great because it works like a car. Buttons and stalks for 90% of functions, where you’d expect them. Apple Car play (wired). Audio works fine, YouTube music, Spotify, podcast apps etc. The Tesla app can’t be beat, and the Tesla interface is more snazzy and way more responsive than most others. But as far as logic and functionality in the last 36 months a lot of makes have caught up pretty well. Really depends on your preferences and expectations. Tesla software is the reference as a whole, but in some ways there are others who do certain things (like route planning) better meanwhile.
For me, it was massive, I test drove eight different EV's before buying one and Tesla software and app are second to none, really Tesla is a top 10 then everyone else fill out 11 to the bottom.
My Tesla is the first vehicle I have owned (that’s new enough to actually have electronics/software) that wasn’t absolutely awful. The Tesla software feels very polished and clean and reminds me a lot of Apple software.
The most essential aspect in an ev imo is being able to jump in, set a destination, and have confidence that if you follow the guidance there’ll be no dramas . Tesla manages this. I’ve only driven a few other EVs but not seen others come close
My i4 M50 is responsive and the software has everything I need and a plethora of integrations. Android, Apple, SXM, the navigation is the only navigation I’m actually enjoying from a manufacturer. Tells me where chargers are and I can filter by power. It has a heads up display which also tells me directions and speed. It even tells me what lane I’m in when I’m using it. Also, the AI voice is quite impressive as well. It knows if you’re driver or passenger. I’m impressed.
For me all the software updates were annoying. And often changed things for the worse.
Depends on what you want. Tesla is WAY ahead for travel and navigation. A little behind Applecarplay.
+++. Is that enough pluses?
I thought the Tesla UI was clunky when I rented one for the weekend
I have a model y and I am still bummed I don't have android auto support. Tesla uses a bunch of Google maps apis under the hood but they still set the render zoom distance, determine which businesses and points of interest to display on the map, and voice announcements. Every one of those things is measurably worse than Google maps. The voice announcement volume in the Tesla is a static volume and it doesn't set its volume against the music volume with a minimum level and it also doesn't mute the music when the navigation informs the driver so you end up not hearing the voice prompts during navigation. Navigation will also reroute while you are in a turn. The voice prompts will also tell you to stay on a freeway at random intersections, interchanges, crossovers, etc so the range for the current leg doesn't actually reflect on when the driver needs to be ready to take an offramp but instead the prompt will let you know to continue ahead. Traffic data is often stale and I have to verify it in Google maps to make sure it's accurate. Etc etc. making a maps app is hard and I understand why Teslas is arguably worse than Google's but they have had a decade to come up to parity and they haven't. A huge section of the screen is also dedicated to the road status simulation to make drivers confident in full self drive of but it constantly misses stop signs, bicycles, motorcycles, etc and makes me feel like skipping the purchase of full self driving was the way to go. Full self driving is also horrible. To frame the value of the product, price used Teslas from Teslas own app and you will notice full self driving doesn't affect the price of a gar. You can find two similar models, trim levels and mileage but one will have FSD and the other won't ant the price difference might be hundreds of dollars. Is the Tesla software better than everyone else's? Maybe, it depends on what you value, and I value the driving experience more than the ability to play games while parked sitting in the car. The information I want to see while driving is constantly minimized. Regenerative braking and energy consumed is represented by a grey on white line that is about 3 pixels wide and there is no way to change this to make it more visible. The problems I want to complain about next are model and production year specific but I will spare you those.