Let us explain. First, we know that electric cars don’t have gears. So by “shifter,” we moreso mean the ability to swap between drive and reverse.
Shared by the Tesla Owners Silicon Valley Twitter account, a video showcases one driver swiping up and down on their touch screen to change between drive and reverse.
The account also shared another post, explaining that this feature is an override system and not meant to become the primary method for shifting.
“Everyone please remember this is only to override the AI enabled shifter. Goal is that the car automatically knows if you want to move forward or backwards.”
So before you start to worry, the physical shifter stick behind the steering wheel is still there, and it’s not going anywhere. This feature appears to be connected to an in-development smart car feature previously mentioned by Tesla head Elon Musk.
Musk previous spoke about this, indicating an interest for vehicles to already know what the driver intends to do, and acting accordingly. For example, what if the car knew you wanted to turn, and activated the turn signal without needing to flip the lever? This is part of that.
In our personal opinions, this seems a bit unnecessary. If you’re driving a vehicle, the effort of shifting or activating turn signals isn’t going to make the experience any more difficult. Yet again, we’ve seen way too many people not use their signals when they should, so maybe they’re on to something.
