I would call them virtual buttons rather than true physical buttons, as they are capacitive touch buttons that don't depress and are missing a defined physical boundary. Granted, they are fixed in place and don't move. Except that, as you point out, they do move...

"Designed for California" nonsense. It's pretty common to wear gloves while driving in the winter in Canada. Now you have to make sure your gloves are compatible with your car.

the new model 3 highland buttons feel and behave exactly like physical buttons.

You’re supposed to signal before you turn the wheel.

Way too often I see people signaling as they turn, not because they are trying to communicate with other road users but because it’s the law. Indicate your intent first and then take the indicated action.

You might already be turning, but completely unrelated to an upcoming maneuver that you must signal.

Yeah, that might actually be an advantage of that new Tesla layout (never seen a Tesla from the inside): small fiddly sensor surfaces on the wheel are best operated while going straight, whereas the stalk keeps tempting the driver to leave operation to the hand movement that happens anyways when starting the turn. Guilty as charged, deeply sorry about that (I don't think it's a regular habit of mine, but we've all seen cars driven like that)

But, as a sibling comment already mentioned: roundabouts! One of the most important indicator engagements is made crazy awkward for people who keep "walking" their hands to neutral position while the wheel is turned instead of wrestling it like some animal.

Which does make me wonder: has any carmaker started engaging turn signals from navigation? I'd imagine that this could be an amazingly subtle user interface for following a route: just don't press the veto button when the car decides to engage indicators and steer as if the indicator decision had been your own. No more following robot voice orders. An established pattern I don't know about? Tried, but turned out to be terrible? Legal uncertainty (or legal negative certainty)?

> Yeah, that might actually be an advantage of that new Tesla layout

Seems annoying if you want to do a turn when in a turn?

Absolutely, that's the roundabout scenario. Downsides do outweigh the advantages.

Roundabouts..

Correct. But then maybe OP lives somewhere where roundabouts aren't very common so they never ran into that usecase.

I do, but I’m also an idiot. Worse, I’m an idiot that does not even own a Tesla. Maybe my temper in traffic got the better of me in that comment.

In my country there are a lot of roundabouts, but also crossroads do happen on a quite tight curve especially in smaller cities.

In the UK, which has loads of roundabouts, this issue is still common enough to notice, and derided.

> Roundabouts..

And crossroads that aren't at 90 degrees. Like, you know, old cities that weren't built on a grid.

The one time i test drove a Tesla I abandoned a left turn because all the roads involved were curvy enough I couldn't get the turn signal to stay on ;)

Mind, it was just a test drive. I guess that if I practiced for years I could master the wisdom of Tesla controls.

Some countries, e.g. Poland, require you to turn on your left indicator as soon as you enter a roundabout and as long as you stay in the roundabout. If you intend to exit, you have to switch from left indicator light to right indicator light. Switching happens while steering left. Poland has multi lane roundabouts where you are expected to stay on the innermost lane possible and only move to an outer lane when your exit is close.

They're not physical buttons. They're touch sensors. They don't move or click.

So that’s why everyone who drives a Tesla never uses their turn signal?

They used to own BMWs

:D

That's a weird assertion, because if you're driving a Tesla and using autopilot/TACS you have to use turn signals to change lanes.

I've seen hundreds of Teslas driving in the UK and they're just as likely to use a turn signal as anyone else (~99%).

I'm not sure I've seen a less substantive comment on hacker news that wasn't flagged.

People in the UK actually use their turn signals. Try driving around Central Texas. The joke, as another commenter pointed out, used to be BMW drivers. There is some kind of linear relationship between the luxury of a car and the lack of conscientiousness amongst many American drivers.

> Which ofc isn’t optimal, because you turn it…

You're supposed to indicate before you turn, to be fair.

Not if you want to indicate that you're exiting a roundabout, in which you'll be constantly turning