From the article: “If you’re unable to unlock your car and drive, that’s a problem,” he said.
That's a bogus comment hovering on FUD.
In no general usage do you need app access to the car via the Internet in order to unlock or drive. My wife just drove one of our cars during the outage and didn't even known it was ongoing.
I would assume that even with the Model 3 using the phone as a key, it just uses LE Bluetooth -- not Internet access via the app.
Apparently the multiple Tesla owners on this thread and online are all just spreading FUD about how they can't open their own cars this morning...
As other commenters have noted, the problem arises if your Tesla app needs to update its license or whatever this morning. If it did, you're SOL until they fix the bug. If it didn't, like apparently your wife's Tesla app, then you won't experience the problem.
I wouldn't call it FUD. I wasn't aware of any outage and just went about my day dropping the kiddo off at Daycare this morning without issue.
I just now opened up the App to see if I was affected and it gave the usually "Waking up car" message before kicking me out to a splash screen that says "No Products Found\r\nJoin the Mission"(https://i.imgur.com/n34IKUc.png). When I try to view my account it displays an error (https://i.imgur.com/JnD6gev.png).
And with the App in that state I just checked and the car let me put it in gear. So even without my key(card) it still recognized me.
Idk what's going on but I wouldn't outright dismiss it as FUD.
Appears to be some confusion. I was calling the parent comment to my reply FUD, not the claims by Tesla owners about not being able to unlock their cars.
So I noticed the app would not connect earlier when I went to lunch so I just hopped in an drove to and from the store. I did use the app to open the frunk but I did not bother to see if it would sync up to the car.
However in the name of science I swiped the app off the phone so I had to restart it. Still could use my car. Now if the app is not loaded I cannot use the car. So I start the app and instantly I can use my car.
Now let me make it clear, at no time has the app forgotten which car I own. I am not sure how that falls off the app if it cannot connect? I am using an iPhone if that matters.
My Mac App, ValetforTesla of course cannot find the car as it needs to get back to the mothership.
On a side note, I had similar issues with my Volt's app when OnStar went on the blink but that car relies on the fob to unlock the car and drive off, all I lost was stats and ability to remote start.
I mean, I agree with you that Elon is typically full of shit, but it's FUD because it's not a problem in real life, the bluetooth isn't always reliable in the general case anyway, anyone who relies on the car in a practical sense understands that the key-card is the key, not the phone.
Every outage is a "real problem", I'm using a turn of phrase to express that it's not at all a big deal. Instead of the car magically unlocking and starting from your mere presence you must deign to reach for the physical key like some type of barbarian.
I was unaware of the outage and did my normal routine obliviously and without ever opening the App. When I read about the outage, I opened the app and it basically gave me the middle finger. For shits and giggles I tried to use the car and it still worked.
So I'm not sure how the Phone talks to the Car but for me, on Android, the App losing it's mind didn't kill my phone's ability to drive the car.
I also carry my card with me at all times in case something happens to my phone. Seeing as how the replacements are only $25, I might pick up one or two just in case.
S/X drivers will, since they can't use the phone as a key anyway. And unlocking the car through the app is extremely slow and cumbersome compared to the app (IMO).
A lot of newer tech products seem intended to move us to a place where we don't need to carry separate wallets/keys alongside our phones. That's a reasonable goal.
Ok but the question isn't whether it's a good idea. The question is how much it harms tesla owners. It sounds like this might significantly disrupt people who only use their phone and I wouldn't be surprised if a decent number of people made that(poor) decision.
They're not passive. If they were, you'd see a lot of articles about Teslas being stolen after someone walking by used an RFID reader. They contain a private key to create a challenge-response system with the car that essentially makes them impossible to clone.
I've seen articles of people using Java cards to create a Model 3 key card that works, but it wasn't possible to clone an existing card. They created a card, then had to use an existing authorized card (or phone) to unlock and turn on the car, then use the car's tablet screen to add the created card to the list of authorized cards.
The cards are Tesla branded passive RFID Java Cards, you can confirm this with the NXP RFID reader app on Android. They are powered by the RFID reader.
I'll take your comment a step further, you don't need any of the screens to drive the car (2018 S) either. I once had a (software) crash and reboot at highway speeds, only thing I noticed (besides the screens going black) was the A/C turned off and back on.
I think that's a step too far. Losing the screen while in motion is quite disorienting, yes the car continues to function fine mechanically, but you lose all of your telemetry, voice commands, maps/navigation, and some other critical functions like wiper settings. In addition to that, the Model 3 has very poor rear visibility, so it's pretty unsafe to do much of any backing up without screen-view cameras.
I had the screen crash on my Model 3 once as we drove out of our neighborhood. I initiated a reboot while driving and by the time we got where we were going 15 minutes down the road it was operating normally again.
That's a bogus comment hovering on FUD.
In no general usage do you need app access to the car via the Internet in order to unlock or drive. My wife just drove one of our cars during the outage and didn't even known it was ongoing.
I would assume that even with the Model 3 using the phone as a key, it just uses LE Bluetooth -- not Internet access via the app.