Maybe I never had the right luxury brand car, but I still see it as such.
If I want to have an app for my car, I’m my opinion that car failed me to provide with a simple, convenient driving experience.
I want to get in the car, check if it’s charged / filled up enough, check for errors (as a routine, but there shouldn’t be any), and drive.
If I need to change anything (AC, light, volume) I should be able to do it without having to take my eyes off the road.
What features do you like so much that you consider them “invaluable”?
> I want to get in the car,
I don't want to have to get in the car to do any of this. I'm able to get the climate control started in the car by saying out loud "Hey Siri, warm up car" (a shortcut I set up exposed by the Tesla app). The location is always up-to-date so if my wife is driving the kids in it, I can see their current location and ETA. I want to be able to open the door without unlocking the car manually. I want to be able to close the trunk remotely if I carried in a load of groceries. Etc.
None of this is some kind of alien technology that Tesla invented, but rather the vast majority of legacy car manufacturer apps are just total garbage piles that were outsourced to some low-bidder somewhere. It shouldn't be that hard.
> Pre-heating an EV cabin before departing
Cars have been doing this for a years now with a keyfob. But I suppose over network/cell gives you greater range.
> Turning charging on and off via lets you take advantage of low electricity rates.
I would have thought that'd be a feature of the charger, not the car, but not an EV owner so maybe I'm just wrong here. That does make more sense for an app, but also sounds like a feature that could work fine without one too.
Useful if you're charging in the parking lot at your work, or at a mall or whatever.