Tesla Dashboard

My new Tesla S comes with a large portrait-oriented iPad-style dashboard console. One of the Tesla "apps" is a web browser, a modified version of Mozilla running on a modified Linux system.

The apps are pretty useful, but there are a couple things I would like, including a more-visible clock, and a localized weather radar display when stormy weather is about.

The Weather Underground has WunderMap, a display of U.S.-based weather information. I am not a fan of their web interface, but the full-screen version for iOS devices is superb. It shows squall-lines of incoming thunderstorms, snow, ice, and other driving-relevant weather events.

I wanted this display on my Tesla, with a simple, non-distracting interface such that driving remains safe. I coded something in Javascript: it's a little crude and doesn't quite work as nicely as I'd like, but you can try it and use it here:

Ches's Tesla Weather radar page.

There are have been a few questions and comments. Here are some answers:

  • Yes, it wants to know your location, and won't work without it. The display is centered on the Tesla, where ever it is, so the app needs to know.
  • It does seem to have some troubles running on Apple devices sometimes. I don't care: the Tesla is the target host.
  • As far as I know, Weather Underground does not supply radar information covering areas outside the U.S. It would be nice: it is very useful data.
  • I want the screen to respond to three taps: on the left, zoom in a bit, on the right, zoom out a bit, and in the center, refresh the display. (It should redisplay automatically over time, and as the position changes.)

    Also, a privacy note. The app seems to re-access my web server for each update. I don't want that, but don't know how to suppress the reload at this moment. I do log all web queries to my web servers, and keep the logs indefinitely. None of the queries to my servers contain location data, so I don't get that information. I do get your IP address. (Interestingly enough, some of the queries are from IPv6 sites. I guess the future is coming...)

    I will gladly buy back modifications to the script, and welcome suggestions for improvement. My Javascript foo is old and creaky.

    Bill Cheswick

    https://cheswick.com/ches/index.html