Elon Musk said the next major software update to the Model S is set to include a raft of new driver's aids, but he also mentioned a "complete UI overhaul." With any luck, it should look a lot like this.
As pointed out in our P85D review, the infotainment system of the Model S is looking more and more dated. Martin Oberhäuser, the namesake of design firm Bureau Oberhaeuser, agrees, and he and his team put together this mockup to test some ideas and give it a fresh coat of paint.
But it's not just about prettifying the screen and adding some visual flair. Some of the standout features include dragging and dropping different tiles to rearrange them, using a more flexible grid design, and saving screen states as presets. However, Oberhäuser admits it's still very much a work in progress:
I want to emphasize again that this is an early stage concept that was built within a few weeks as a side project. We are aware that it's much harder to design a car interface under real life conditions with all the technical and budgetary restrictions of building a production car for the mass market. It would require much more work and real life testing to make this concept ready for market, but we believe in the general approach and will continue to refine it.
Still, not bad for a few weeks of work. And given Tesla's propensity for over-the-air software updates, a visual redesign – once it's been proven functional – shouldn't be difficult, and Musk says it should land in the next few months.
Contact the author at damon@jalopnik.com.
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