Tesla scandal: server falling and users on foot. Could it be true?
Let's face it: Tesla for better or for worse always talks about himself, and making like-catching articles is very simple, just mention it in the title!
The problem is that this is done only with bad information, and often maliciously!
In these days the news is circulating that many Tesla users would have been unable to use their cars due to a "crash" of the servers that run the App through which you can interact with the car.
I came across a lot of comments that border on the ridiculous, with people who set themselves up as experts as a professional electromechanical (who does not have an electric car) to pseudo mechanical dealers "who fix them and even sell the cars" receiving in return the nicest definitions like headboard lion, fan boy etc etc., because you know, it is easier to read the title and give credit to one's beliefs than to analyze things with knowledge of the facts and, perhaps, really knowing them; it reminds me so much of that little story about sour grapes .. remember? the Fox and the Grape? Well, I know so much that many denigrators of the electric world in general and of Tesla in particular are protagonists of this story.
We leave out the "fan boys" and the opinionated regardless and try to put the information in order, so that it is correct. And if you don't like electric mobility for any reason whatsoever, that's fine, it's not for everyone and not necessarily everyone has to marry its logic and philosophy. The important thing is that each argument is based on something solid and not on social media and surroundings!
Let's make a premise: Tesla may like it or not, but it has revolutionized the concept of cars as we have always been used to seeing it. We could define it as a tablet with wheels around it, to exaggerate the logic, but the example goes well with what the Tesla environment is. In "traditional" cars to make you understand, once purchased it becomes very difficult to upgrade safety systems or various functionalities because it would involve very expensive and not always feasible repairs in the workshop. Tesla instead allows all this with a simple click, and often for free with the regular updates that the car receives as if it were a mobile phone or a PC. It therefore happens that functions not included at the time of purchase are implemented at all without increasing costs, or that functions on request can be activated even for a predefined time simply by "purchasing" the service online or through the app that controls remotely the car.
With this logic, each car has its own account associated with the Tesla application and through this the owner can interact with the car by turning on the air conditioner or heating remotely, programming it to switch on at certain times, check and command charging when connected, open and close the car remotely, allowing remote driving even without a key and so on with a series of functions that make the use of the car very “smart”.
The 3 and Y models are born with an RFID card instead of the classic key, and this allows the car to be opened, closed and operated as if it were the classic key. In addition there is the possibility, to facilitate users, to make their mobile phone the key, so that you just need to have it in your pocket and the car recognizes the owner without making the "effort" to take out the RFID card and lean it against the upright.
Of course if I leave the card at home, which as such does not weigh and does not clutter, assuming that there will never be problems with the internet is a little naive, but I cannot blame anyone else but me. !
When a server fails, ie the app cannot communicate with the headquarters in order to interact with the car, as in the case reported by the media, it happens that you have to "struggle" to extract the card from your wallet, losing 15 seconds, then set off and do whatever you want, just like in any other car. Of course, if it's cold, you can't command to turn on the heating of the seats and the steering wheel from a distance, for example, something that cannot be done in almost any other car, even with functioning servers, but this does not mean that the news is to be expected. first page!
Here, what happened is exactly this, it was not possible to interact with the car remotely, that's all! We can compare it to having a mobile phone that at that moment does not have a field or internet coverage for example; everything works the same except the internet connection, which is not essential for the functioning of the car! And if you pretend to use the car without even the key, I would say that we cannot blame anyone except on our own too much confidence that things always go the right way. There is no big brother style remote control or who knows what UFO magicians. Tesla cars are always connected, but if by chance the coverage skips, such as tunnels, border crossings or the like, the worst thing that can happen is not to have the navigator updated with real-time traffic or a little more! Therefore, all supporters of sour grapes could at least question, with serious arguments, their beliefs and knowledge before shooting zero because "ammio cuggggino on facebook said that ..."
There is always something to learn, and I am the first to always want constructive comparisons, but "there is no more deaf than those who do not want to hear" is a great truth. Unfortunately, in the age of so widespread social networks, everyone has the right to speak, and God forbid, but we often lose sight of the fact that correct information is essential in all fields for which verifying the sources and above all one's knowledge should be the basis of every constructive discussion, which cannot and will never happen when the arguments on the pitch are arrogance, arrogance, aggression and… envy!
Marco Mazzocco
