What software updates should Ford add to the lightning?

[VeganF150]

Oh, some good ideas there. Screen Mirroring your phone while parked for watching movies? Totally agree.

Dog Mode? - absofreakinglutely.

I think you can already disable double honk in the F150 menu settings if I am not mistaken?

Yeah you can disable in current F150s. I just hope ford allows FORscan to still be used in the lightning to be able to do that as well

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[FordLightningMan]

I second the summon feature. It's a tight squeeze in my garage, having my Tesla pull in and out on its own is awesome. It would be even better to have a truck do this.

 

[Silenze]

Some way to keep the interior HVAC on while i live in my car because its 80 grand.

 

[beatle]

Your number 1 would be great. I've reached out to two guys that are the most popular apps that support Tesla. Neither are interested in trying to support Ford at all. The main reason is too few vehicles on the road. Their income has gone through the roof with Tesla and info on Ford is too hard to get.

Teslafi is incredible at automatically tracking every charge, temps at charge, efficiency, mapping my drives, giving me full scheduled remote to charging and to the car, tracking software updates, geofenced control. They could port to Ford in a heartbeat if they just had access to a reliable stream of data, but both said it wasn't worth their time to try.

I don't think they could do it at all without an API key. Tesla will allow you to create another API key that is dedicated to a 3rd party data service. This also allows you to revoke the key at any time if you no longer trust the service. While I love the idea of a 3rd party service (I love TeslaFi) I would not mind paying Ford directly for a similar service. This could be an absolute dream come true for fleet owners.

Oh, that is a really good point. I thought the API was more open. Mostly based on this post in Home Assistant around the FordPass app:

https://community.home-assistant.io/t/fordpass-integration/136778/12

It doesn't look like this queries the vehicle, just the data presented by the FordPass app via Ford's servers. Full API access gets you access to all sorts of data on the vehicle itself that is not available in the app. Still, it's nice to be able to do things like turn on the HVAC or start/stop charging without using a phone.

 

[Mr. Flibble]

Another one that makes sense after watching an Out of Spec reviews is having a manual battery pre-conditioning button in the menus.

That is, the ability to tell the vehicle that you are driving to a DC Fast Charger, and are going to start using it soon, so get the battery cooled/heated properly to accept that charge before you arrive. This will speed up your charging time as you won't have to wait for the system to kick in when it connects to a charger, you will have already started it.

 

[Labs4Lightning]

1) Watch Netflix when parked and charging
2)Dog mode
3) Record all cameras mode for security
4)Able to turn sidelight on mirrors on at any speed
5)Able to turn on the front/ rear camera at any speed and stay on
6) able to Disable double honk
7)able to stream video from phone to screen
8) able to customize background of screen
9) able to customize font on screen
10) able to move items around on screen to customize where everything is
11) able to customize start up screen movie
12) able to have a sport button( digital) on screen or whatever mode and lock that icon( or whatever) location
13) able to deselect fm/am, xm, or any media source when cycling through so don’t have to go through 10 sources to get to the one you want when pushing the button on the steering wheel
That’s all I got

Ford has a patent application in for pet mode. Could be a real possibility. ?

 

[jazzmanmonty]

I'm praying they will have wireless android auto. For God's sake, my wifes 2015 Kia minivan had it! These manufacturers need to spend the extra $10 and cut the cord!

I'd really love to see a "launch mode" software update.. with legal safety disclaimer screen and "Accept" button of course. I know they are holding back power via software that can make these things go. I believe tesla did that where they had customers pay to unlock a similar feature.

 

[GDN]

I'm praying they will have wireless android auto. For God's sake, my wifes 2015 Kia minivan had it! These manufacturers need to spend the extra $10 and cut the cord!

I'd really love to see a "launch mode" software update.. with legal safety disclaimer screen and "Accept" button of course. I know they are holding back power via software that can make these things go. I believe tesla did that where they had customers pay to unlock a similar feature.

For Model 3 and Y dual motor, non-Performance you can pay $2000 to unlock some extra power. I'm not sure Ford is nimble enough to do something like this, but just maybe. However, Tesla waited a bit of time to ensure they had enough data on their motors to know they could handle it.

 

[Mr. Flibble]

Interesting note from Out of Spec Reviews on the Rivian:



Seems a lot of the things that they had complained about/asked for in their reviews made it into the latest software push for the Rivian.

Hopefully, Ford is reading these suggestions as well.

 

[Labs4Lightning]

Interesting note from Out of Spec Reviews on the Rivian:



Seems a lot of the things that they had complained about/asked for in their reviews made it into the latest software push for the Rivian.

Hopefully, Ford is reading these suggestions as well.

I saw that video too. ford just doesn’t have a history of being that responsive to customer comments. Also Tesl, Rivian, Lucid are more like tech companies. But I will remain hopeful as I want pet mode which work for the guy that needs to live out of the truck because it’s 80k.

 

[beatle]

Ford will need to evolve or die. Many people laud the fact that Tesla (and now Rivian) offers feature updates periodically on vehicles that were already purchased, and they love them for it. If Ford is smart, they will want to capitalize on that customer desire in the same way.

Honestly I prefer the Rivian for a lot of reasons, but not being able to get one for many years, and buying from a startup that may not be able to service my vehicle or provide parts was a big concern. The latter is one of the main reasons why I'm leaving Tesla. Ford has a great opportunity to provide both service and features if they're willing to do the legwork.

 

[julian]

Others have mentioned-Telsa is a tech company which is why people love the software. It's what you want. Usually. I think copying Tesla is a great idea. What I hate about the T is that everything is software. When that happens, turning on headlights is a pain in a**. Ford seems to get it. I am cautious cause I had 5.0's in the past and know how horrible F has been responding to anything. There E-push seems different though. I have T, but my friends with the Mach-e all rave and love it. F may have actually learned from T and in many cases gotten better (the no lip frunk, the charge your house etc...)

 

[GDN]

Ford will need to evolve or die. Many people laud the fact that Tesla (and now Rivian) offers feature updates periodically on vehicles that were already purchased, and they love them for it. ......

You nailed it with this. I know I've heard of some updating on the MachE, I know it should happen on the Lightning, it can happen on the ICE F150, but is the current platform robust enough? And can Ford really add the kind of enhancements a ground up company like Tesla or Rivian can? Only time will tell, but I believe we are all going to be very disappointed in our First Gen Lightnings and their ability to update and evolve. The Ford infrastructure and truck components can't handle it.

It won't be until the next generation Lightning and ground up design that Ford can do what Tesla can do.

 

[GDN]

Others have mentioned-Telsa is a tech company which is why people love the software. It's what you want. Usually. I think copying Tesla is a great idea. What I hate about the T is that everything is software. When that happens, turning on headlights is a pain in a**. Ford seems to get it. I am cautious cause I had 5.0's in the past and know how horrible F has been responding to anything. There E-push seems different though. I have T, but my friends with the Mach-e all rave and love it. F may have actually learned from T and in many cases gotten better (the no lip frunk, the charge your house etc...)

Make no mistake - while I believe the base computers and Ford update system sucks - their vehicles are all software today too. It is just that they still give you a button or a switch to send the command vs tapping a screen. Those window buttons, those seat heater buttons, that steering wheel with 40 buttons, those other 500 buttons that many still like; they don't activate a motor, they don't turn on the seat heater. they simply send a command to the computer/control module which then carries out the task of activating a window motor or a seat heater, etc.

Those switches cost money to install, those switches break, those switches complicate the build and require miles of wiring to be added to a vehicle. Those switches require a TON of chips. I believe many of them will disappear in the next gen ground up vehicles from the traditionalists.

Tesla isn't doing it perfectly, but everyone else is chasing them. Think about those control panels, the chips that are required to go into everyone of them, the miles of wiring saved. It is an adaptation the human can and will learn to do without all the switches. We will all learn to use that center stack screen, and we will learn it as the next generation of vehicles come out from Ford, GM, etc, because they will reduce the number of buttons just for cost savings and the fact they can't get the chips to support them.

 

[julian]

Make no mistake - while I believe the base computers and Ford update system sucks - their vehicles are all software today too. It is just that they still give you a button or a switch to send the command vs tapping a screen. Those window buttons, those seat heater buttons, that steering wheel with 40 buttons, those other 500 buttons that many still like; they don't activate a motor, they don't turn on the seat heater. they simply send a command to the computer/control module which then carries out the task of activating a window motor or a seat heater, etc.

Those switches cost money to install, those switches break, those switches complicate the build and require miles of wiring to be added to a vehicle. Those switches require a TON of chips. I believe many of them will disappear in the next gen ground up vehicles from the traditionalists.

Tesla isn't doing it perfectly, but everyone else is chasing them. Think about those control panels, the chips that are required to go into everyone of them, the miles of wiring saved. It is an adaptation the human can and will learn to do without all the switches. We will all learn to use that center stack screen, and we will learn it as the next generation of vehicles come out from Ford, GM, etc, because they will reduce the number of buttons just for cost savings and the fact they can't get the chips to support them.

This is all true. And I agree. Mostly. There are a couple of things that are REALLY good to have as buttons. For example, wipers and headlights. Volume no, heated seats, no. I don't need a glove box button or a rear defrost button. I agree. Just don't bury the horn in a sub menu. Ha.

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