Software Features

[cyure]

Another benefit of profiles IN THE SCOUT APP. Because, with PaaK, and if the owner grants someone else permission to a key, you don't do anything at all... Once you have a handshake with the vehicle using PaaK, the Scout would know who you are without any interaction through the U/I. Of course you'll still want the U/I to enable profile creation and switching easily, but with PaaK it just happens automatically.

Good to know.

 

[R1TVT]

What about when you and your wife/partner jump in the Scout at the same time...

Default is always to the owner of course!

 

[Crazychicken563]

What about when you and your wife/partner jump in the Scout at the same time...

I have this exact issue with my current car (2021 Polestar 2). Both my wife and I have our phones paired as car keys, and both of us also carry our fobs with us.

It is a total toss up which profile will be picked by the car when we both get into the car. That said, 99% of the time I am the one driving, but she is the one getting into the car first (while I unplug from the charger) which results in the car swapping to her profile and moving the seat into her position.

We get around this by having a memory setting in both of our profiles for my seating position since I literally cannot get into the car when the seat is in her position. It's all really annoying and a total hassle each time we want to set off together.

There's two ways I think Polestar could have done a better job with auto profile switching.
1. The profile detection only triggers when SOMEONE SITS IN THE DRIVERS SEAT. It's so annoying that it just triggers as soon as the car is unlocked, which at best makes things at toss-up, and at worst it picks the wrong profile since the passenger is usually getting into the car first.
2. There needs to be a configuration setting that allows priority-ordering of profiles so the car knows which one to select when multiple keys are present.

EDIT
A 3rd way might be to have whatever sensor is auto picking the profile be targeted at just the drivers side of the car. No idea how that would work or if it would be reliable, but if it were it would solve a lot of my current problems.

 

[maynard]

I have this exact issue with my current car (2021 Polestar 2). Both my wife and I have our phones paired as car keys, and both of us also carry our fobs with us.

It is a total toss up which profile will be picked by the car when we both get into the car. That said, 99% of the time I am the one driving, but she is the one getting into the car first (while I unplug from the charger) which results in the car swapping to her profile and moving the seat into her position.

We get around this by having a memory setting in both of our profiles for my seating position since I literally cannot get into the car when the seat is in her position. It's all really annoying and a total hassle each time we want to set off together.

There's two ways I think Polestar could have done a better job with auto profile switching.
1. The profile detection only triggers when SOMEONE SITS IN THE DRIVERS SEAT. It's so annoying that it just triggers as soon as the car is unlocked, which at best makes things at toss-up, and at worst it picks the wrong profile since the passenger is usually getting into the car first.
2. There needs to be a configuration setting that allows priority-ordering of profiles so the car knows which one to select when multiple keys are present.

EDIT
A 3rd way might be to have whatever sensor is auto picking the profile be targeted at just the drivers side of the car. No idea how that would work or if it would be reliable, but if it were it would solve a lot of my current problems.

I like option 1 best...

 

[Crazychicken563]

I suppose the driver's seat approach does have the issue of if my wife's profile is the current one and I want to drive the car, then I cannot actually sit in the seat to trigger the profile switch when it's in her driving position...

Tricky problem.

 

[dumbdork]

Ya know, now that I think about it.. have the profile switcher (like the AI pic I posted) and then the wheel under the power button could be used to scroll quickly to the desired driver profile if it needs changing before turning it on. And like others have said: have a 'smart default' that tries to guess who's driving.

 

[Chaz26]

Maybe they could have it auto to a profile like normal as one option for those who like/want that, but also have a different option setting where if you have an easy entry option selected (where the seat goes pretty much all the way back for max room) they could have the profiles listed on the screen so you just tap which one you want when you get in and it adjusts accordingly.

 

[J Alynn]

Ya know, now that I think about it.. have the profile switcher (like the AI pic I posted) and then the wheel under the power button could be used to scroll quickly to the desired driver profile if it needs changing before turning it on. And like others have said: have a 'smart default' that tries to guess who's driving.

View attachment 11494

Awesome. Now there is justification to keep the start button and dial. Brilliant - ️

 

[Crazychicken563]

Speaking of start buttons - one thing I absolutely love about the Polestar 2 is that it doesn't have one. It just turns on when you get in the car and turns off when you get out. In contrast, my dad's Rav 4 Prime needs to be turned off and on, and I have left it on 100% of the time when driving it myself and getting out. It's just insanely easy to forget that the car is "on" without any engine sound to back that up. The Rav 4 will just sit there using up battery power with headlights on and climate running with no one inside. At least it has an auto-shutoff, but that defaults to ONE HOUR.

I understand having a power-on button to get that special "sense of occasion" when getting into your Scout to drive it, but I hope it's smart enough to turn itself off when everyone gets out. (unless some pet mode/hold climate is active of course)

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

Ford solves the entry-exit issue for different profiles by allowing a setting for “easy enter/exit.” This shifts the driver’s seat back when the vehicle is shut off. Obviously this is only available for trims with electric seats.


I won’t buy a work/off-road vehicle that doesn’t have a positive action button to turn on/off the vehicle. Nor if it automatically shuts itself off when I exit the vehicle. I don’t want some nonsense software to guess my intentions with the vehicle. It’s one of those non-designer engineering “design" ideas of “let’s be different” without thinking beyond their limited use-cases.

Nearly every weekend I use the vehicle to do things like work on the ranch which involves a lot of actions as such:

1. Enter and start vehicle
2. Set mirrors, cameras, and other temporary settings, usually for backing up very close to a fence or hole or other feature
3. Drive 5, 10, 100 meters
4. Exit vehicle, leaving it on
5. Do some work, often using the power output from the vehicle
6. Enter vehicle
7. Drive 5, 10, 100 meters
8. Exit vehicle
9. Do some work, using the power output of the vehicle
10. etc.

I do something similar while off-roading.

If the vehicle shuts itself off every time I exit the vehicle, it would be a huge hassle. I don’t want to have to restart the vehicle, reset the mirrors and cameras, and etc. every time I re-enter the vehicle.

If Scout is going to market this to ranchers and farmers and as a multi-tool, then it shouldn’t jump on the “do it differently just because” bandwagon. They’ve understood that with the physical buttons, and hopefully they’ll continue to understand that there are thousands of ways to use the vehicle that don’t fall into the simple category of “get in, drive, stop, get out.”

 

[Crazychicken563]

I guess the answer is settings, settings, and more settings. No way to please everyone, but make things customizable whenever possible!

 

[R1TVT]

If the vehicle shuts itself off every time I exit the vehicle, it would be a huge hassle. I don’t want to have to restart the vehicle, reset the mirrors and cameras, and etc. every time I re-enter the vehicle.

What happens when your truck "shuts itself off" that is the hassle? What do you mean by having to reset the mirrors and cameras everytime you enter? Isn't your profile able to take care of all of that, and wouldn't your profile serve as the default if you were last to exit and first to re-enter? Sounds like there may be more to having an on / off button with Ford's implementation compared to others.

I guess the answer is settings, settings, and more settings. No way to please everyone, but make things customizable whenever possible!

Agreed, I guess settings are a good solution. For my personal use case, I would just have the truck default to my last settings and not do anything different (when I get in or out of the vehicle for 99% of my usage)!

 

[dyamifly]

Just my 2 cents... start simple. Nothing wrong with my 5th gen 4runner. It starts, drives, stays on till I shut it off. Sure, some modes are nice, but just make it a rig, not an iPad.

 

[oldgeeksguide]

I understand having a power-on button to get that special "sense of occasion" …

This has been discussed ad nauseum, and lots of scenarios have been described for which an on/off button is just the ticket. TBH, it’s more than a little insulting to dismiss everyone else’s needs and opinions, implicitly elevating your own preferences. We can express opinions while still respecting the needs and opinions of others, and maybe even learn some things along the way.

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

What happens when your truck "shuts itself off" that is the hassle? What do you mean by having to reset the mirrors and cameras everytime you enter? Isn't your profile able to take care of all of that, and wouldn't your profile serve as the default if you were last to exit and first to re-enter? Sounds like there may be more to having an on / off button with Ford's implementation compared to others.

When a vehicle that is meant to be used on a public-road is shut off (through whatever mechanism), and then later restarted (through whatever mechanism), it should default to public-road driving mode, including some reasonable default for mirror placement, reasonable set of cameras that are active on-screen or preferably all inactive. It should also default to a public-road-safe driving mode like “Normal” or “Sport."

My driver profile is set for driving on public roads. When I get in and start the vehicle, it adjusts the mirror placement, seat, etc., to prepare for driving on public roads, as it should.

Often when I’m working on the ranch, I have to set my mirrors so I can see things down by my tires. Or maybe I want the mirrors to show something down by the corners of the vehicle. Or maybe something on the ground that's within my turning radius. What I definitely don’t need is to see vehicles 20 meters behind me or in another lane. And each time I go to do ranch work, it might be different because I’m doing different kind of work.

I use the cameras to give me views of situations in front, at the trailer hitch, in the rear, or a full 360 view. For the cameras not to interfere with public road driving, they should not default to the settings I have when using the vehicle for ranch work. They should also not default to be the mode that first comes up when starting the vehicle. And I don’t want them to turn off when I get out. I have them set up to remain on when in park, which doesn’t make sense for public-road driving.

I also often have to set the vehicle to be in off-road mode with the differential locked or something similar. I might also want to have 1-PD turned off for various reasons. It would be very poor design for the vehicle to default to a non-public-road driving mode when restarting.

When working on the ranch, there’s no always-set-to-this-configuration that can be programmed into a profile. But each time there’s usually a set-it and use-it configuration for that day. Tomorrow or next weekend it might be different.

It’s an annoyance to have to reset everything if the truck powers off and returns to public-road driving mode default on restart. I’m not going to reprogram my profile every weekend and then again during the week for different use-cases. Simply put: if I have to re-do the configuration of everything every time I get out to install some fence posts, I won’t buy the vehicle. It’s obviously not a serious work vehicle and is intended for someone other than me.

Instead of creating a bunch of weird work-arounds, we could stick with the thing that’s been part of automobiles for >100 years: A start-stop mechanism like a push-button so the vehicle stays on unless it’s explicitly told to shut off.

 

[R1TVT]

In my case, and based on my settings, if I get out of my truck to work on your ranch and have already adjusted mirrors, drive modes and cameras, then I leave the vehicle (or, turn it OFF in your case) my truck can retain whatever settings I had used last. The truck is still sitting there on the ranch (in your example), and you are now getting back in to do something else and want those setting retained. If given the option, a truck can be programmed to do this - BUT the SW must allow for it (and can provide for various other configuration settings).

Here's one example: If I adjust my seat backwards because I need more room to get boots on in the front seat, I will get a pop-up message that I can choose to RETAIN that seat setting (next time I access the truck), OR, I can simply ignore that message and it disappears. If I choose to ignore that option and do not retain the seat position, the next time I drive the truck my seat setting reverts back to its normal position.

Point being, there does not need to be an on/off interaction that causes changes, provided the S/W handles these things elegantly. It is more about design choices & features that can be enabled (and choices a driver may choose to make to enable them based on different use cases).

 

[theonetruestripes]

Do all EVs have a car wash mode or is that a Tesla thing?

I’ve had one EV without a car wash mode and two with Car wash modes.

I would think any EV where you need to do multiple things before you go into a car wash should just bundle them all together in Car Wash mode to make it easy. So if for example you need to disable automatic windshield wipers and external touch controls (maybe for something like the charger port and/or the frunk) having that in the “Car Wash Mode” is handy.

 

[cyure]

I’ve had one EV without a car wash mode and two with Car wash modes.

I would think any EV where you need to do multiple things before you go into a car wash should just bundle them all together in Car Wash mode to make it easy. So if for example you need to disable automatic windshield wipers and external touch controls (maybe for something like the charger port and/or the frunk) having that in the “Car Wash Mode” is handy.

Now here’s my question. I don’t take my vehicles in car washes. Do you have to put it in “car wash mode” if you are washing it with a power washer/foam cannon?

 

[Chaz26]

Now here’s my question. I don’t take my vehicles in car washes. Do you have to put it in “car wash mode” if you are washing it with a power washer/foam cannon?

I do in my Tesla because if the car is unlocked and I hit the charge port door when power washing it would open (you can tap the charge port door to open it normally in my car) and that disables it.

 

[Jasco]

Now here’s my question. I don’t take my vehicles in car washes. Do you have to put it in “car wash mode” if you are washing it with a power washer/foam cannon?

Scout should make it so carwash mode is automatically activated whenver a foam cannon is nearby! I'll add that to my previously suggested automatically deny entry to traditional car washes.