I hate the dashboard!! (and I propose a redesign)

[E90400K]

I didn’t read any of that post because who has the time. I do hope that the Slate phone mount is removable and replaceable with my own mount. I’ve been using the Peak MagSafe iPhone mount for awhile now, and wouldn’t want to give up the convenience.

Here's what I wonder about the phone mount, of the ones I've seen in the prototypes, all have a center-mounted USB connector. I'm assuming it "floats" in the mount because the location of USB ports on phones is not standard, and it needs to be interchangeable between Lightning (for older iPhone), Micro-USB and USB-C.

Maybe Slate has provided the detail and I missed it?

 

[Dorbiman]

Here's what I wonder about the phone mount, of the ones I've seen in the prototypes, all have a center-mounted USB connector. I'm assuming it "floats" in the mount because the location of USB ports on phones is not standard, and it needs to be interchangeable between Lightning (for older iPhone), Micro-USB and USB-C.

Maybe Slate has provided the detail and I missed it?

The USB C port is fixed and centered front to back in the phone mount. The left side is spring loaded to open wider to accept a variety of phones. From the one I sat in, the actual USB C tip does not appear to be interchangeable. They might have a solution for Lightning, where you can disassemble the mount to replace the cord/connector, but I assume USB C will be the standard. Hopefully there will be a solution for people with iPhone 14s and earlier.

 

[Trace26]

Here's what I wonder about the phone mount, of the ones I've seen in the prototypes, all have a center-mounted USB connector. I'm assuming it "floats" in the mount because the location of USB ports on phones is not standard, and it needs to be interchangeable between Lightning (for older iPhone), Micro-USB and USB-C.

Maybe Slate has provided the detail and I missed it?

From what I've seen I think you're assessment is correct.
I've never seen any "universal" mount that worked very well, will it function? Probably, but I'll be buying/making one just for my phone/case.

 

[atx_ev]

You wrote way too much couldnt read it but I think I got the gist of it.


i cant stand to listen to the radio, mostly commercials, random djs talking, and not the songs I want to hear.

I use my phone to play spotify to the cars audio. I control the volume and what song is playing via the steering wheel controls. The head unit only has to accept bluetooth or a wired connection to receive the audio from my phone.

even better is when I can say "hey google play X song/playlist" and it will play literally anything.

hey google set volume to X

I use nav all the time and phone size nav is fine for me.

I like hand controls better than digital controls, but voice control is even better.

----
also radios are technology

you are emotionally arguing against technology when you are really arguing against a user interface. Instead of focusing on technology/not tech (everything in a car is technology by the way) you should focus on ease of use. Usability is about accomplishing your task in the fastest time with the least amount of errors.

Using your phone for music is far superior to using a radio with all the advertisements and random dj nonsense. Using voice controls is much faster, safer, and open up more capabilities than physical controls.

 

[Firstevexcited1]

TL;DR:
The Slate Truck's dashboard design sucks and the car stereo should be centered and accessible and the phone should be banished from sight. What is your opinion?

Otherwise, this is a long read, sorry. Most won't have the patience for it, but I believe it's actually important for minor safety reasons and because we all spend a LOT of time in our cars and want to be comfortable and happy, right?

We are all talking about what are generally more important or fun stuff on this forum, like "wish it had a bigger battery/more range", "wish it had AWD", "wish it had 4 doors", "wish it had a real (gas) engine", "I want this SUV topper", "look at my Slate wrapped in bubble gum pink" and so on, but people seem to rarely talk about that dashboard.

I'm really surprised the dashboard is not more of a hot topic. So, I wanted to post this thread to see if we can get more discussion going on what I think is important:

To say the Slate Truck's dashboard is unusual is a bit of an understatement. I'm glad it bucks current carmaker trends and isn't loaded with factory-installed screens trying to overwhelm the driver with unnecessary distractions. The dash design is refreshingly minimalistic and I love that. But it's FUNCTIONALITY does still concern me. Upon my first sight of it three months ago, my first thought was "BUT WHERE DOES THE RADIO GO?!" (internally screaming like the girl at the end of Poltergeist: "WHAT'S HAPPENING?!!!")

Slate had said they wanted to give the customer a cheap car designed from the ground up to be modified and customized to their liking and that's great for someone like me, but "Where do I put 6.5" speakers?". Even after Slate confirmed the dash IS designed to accommodate an aftermarket radio head unit, even double-DIN, they have never shown a picture of what their dash looks like with an aftermarket DIN-style radio installed in it and I don't believe they've confirmed whether or not 6.5" speakers are physically possible in the dash and so that girl from Poltergeist maniacally screaming "WHAT'S HAPPENING?!" never goes away.

If one wishes to remove the doors to get the Jeep-like open air experience (me) that means they won't want to install 6.5" speakers in the doors, but in the dash, preferably at the far left and far right ends below the air vents. I look at how the horizontal stripe of flip panels are segmented and I cannot get over how if one were to put an aftermarket stereo of their choosing into the dash, it's obviously going to be OFF CENTER AND TO THE RIGHT and also maybe recessed and HIDDEN BEHIND A FLIPPY PANEL. Please, no. No, no, no. Each and every image I see of the dashboard, Slate has chosen to put their phone mount bracket low down and right next to the steering wheel, so everything else in the cabin seems designed AROUND THAT DAMN PHONE while maintaining the dash's simple, clean, minimalist vibe.

Personally, I think of phones as anything but minimalistic. Downright overwhelming and intrusive.

I get that in the 2020s a lot of people are increasingly using their phones to wirelessly stream music to their BT enabled stereo head units, I do it sometimes, but that head unit needs to remain in the CENTER of the dashboard and not pushed aside by the phone and further away from the driver's seat, just to accommodate the PHONE. It's clear that SA has decided that most people don't care about where their car stereo head unit is, that they just care about where their PHONE is. Like all other concerns are lesser and the phone is top priority. God Phone. Phone is God. Phone. Phone. Phone. Phone. Phone.

Phone phone phone phone phone phone phone phone phone phone phone...

Enough!

TECH OVERLOAD:
This frustrates the hell out of me. I have to use my phone all day, every day. My work requires the use of no less than half a dozen apps to constantly update the status of one thing or another. Time stamping this and that. GPS. Schedule, schedule, schedule. Calling/texting supers and coworkers. Scanning barcodes and snapping pics of product. Tracking tracking tracking. Booting up apps. Notifications going off. It's inescapable. And that doesn't include personal life stuff.

When I'm off duty, I banish my phone as much as possible. I do have an aftermarket phone mount installed on my dash, but I don't use it much, only when I must be contacted regarding an important thing now and then, whether work or family. Otherwise, that infernal gadget is banished so I can unplug and go to a happy place. I prioritize music in my car.

DRIVING SAFETY:
When I'm driving in my personal car and I DO need my phone visible, like waiting for that important call or text, I put my phone up on an aftermarket phone mount and it's in a logical place, IMO: the upper right of the steering wheel area. It is closer to eye level at the top of the dashboard (road level), but does not block the gauge cluster or the road or the air vents or the stereo. It's perfect there in what is an otherwise dead zone of the upper dashboard. Perfect. But, again, whenever possible, the phone is banished from sight.

For those who DO want their phone to be the center of their universe, I believe this upper right of the steering wheel zone to still be the best place for the phone, not lower down and to the right where SA thinks it should be. Down low and to the right, the phone becomes MORE of a safety problem, taking your attention off the road and pushing the radio further away from the driver's seat.

I spend several hours per week commuting back and forth from work (I suspect you do, too). When I'm driving, I'm not looking at my phone. I'm looking at the road and glancing at the speedometer and adjusting the car stereo volume, searching for the next album or song. Not the phone. So why is the phone prioritized in the Slate Truck's cabin and not the radio?

ENTERTAINMENT:
When I'm driving......MUSIC is the center of my universe and I DO NOT WANT MY STEREO HEAD UNIT TO BE OFF CENTER AND TO THE RIGHT OR HIDDEN AWAY behind a panel. I believe this detail is actually quite important. When I am driving, I am focused on two things: THE ROAD AND THE SONG PLAYING. If you were a fly on the wall inside the cabin, you'd have the unfortunate experience of hearing my singing, and you'd see me frequently adjusting the volume up and down according to speed and road noise or reacting to a favorite tune, occasionally switching albums and selecting songs and singing (poorly) along and if you could read my mind you would witness me pretending I'm on stage playing guitar and shaking my butt and flaunting my perfectly muscled body and being screamed at by a writhing sea of beautiful women (horny, horny women), who think I am the bee's knees and throwing their panties onstage and lining up backstage after the show to take a crack at me. It's delulu. Delulu! THAT is what you would see that if you were a fly on the wall in my car.

Music is everything when I'm driving. And the road.

But, you will NOT see me fiddling with my damn phone much. Not one bit. My phone is usually in my pocket.

The past 15 yrs, we've been inundated with screens and while smartphones and tablets were all the rage and peaked in popularity around a decade ago, with all the tech experts predicting the end of the PC and the dawn of a new era of phone-based computing, it never happened, I'm happy to say. And there's tons of evidence that people in 2025 are more than exhausted of the touchscreen phenomenon and want to return to a simpler, less distracted life. Some people change their screens to greyscale to not be overstimulated by vibrant color. I get it. People are buying phones with less frequency and the sales of tablets are insubstantial in recent years. Smart screens are quickly becoming less desirable and more of a nuisance. The public has spoken about all the screens in cars, particularly touchscreens, and it's become clear that they want less of it, less reliance on touchscreens with menus that require time-consuming and sometimes frustrating visual interaction that takes the driver's eyes off the road and their hands off the wheel. People have made it clear they want a return to the tactile car cabin experience: switches, dials and buttons that don't require much visual interaction at all. We've all tried operating a touchscreen on a bumpy road. It is awful trying to accomplish the simplest little thing.

Slate says they understand that car buyers want fewer screens in their cars, maybe even no screens. So what do they do? They design their dashboard around the damn God Phone and relegated the DIN-style radio head unit to secondary citizen status, to be hidden away behind a flippy panel, further from the driver's seat, like an ugly stepchild banished to the dark, dingy attic. Like the classic car stereo is a pariah. Or a law-abiding brown immigrant.

SO, JUST WHAT IS SLATE AUTO THINKING IN REGARDS TO THEIR DASHBOARD DESIGN?
SA has confirmed that the phone is actually unnecessary for day-to-day driving and functionality, and that puts my mind at ease in that regard, because I loathe having every aspect of my life dominated by tech in my face. But still it doesn't change the fact that the Slate Truck's dashboard IS ABSOLUTELY DESIGNED AROUND THE PLACEMENT OF A PHONE OR TABLET and not allowing the owner to install a DIN radio properly CENTERED in the dash where it belongs, but off center and closer to the (usually empty) passenger seat EVEN THOUGH EVERYBODY LOVES TO LISTEN TO MUSIC WHEN THEY'RE DRIVING.

This is all very contrary. Contrary to the minimalistic aesthetic approach to the dash, contrary to the tech overload intrusion that affects all of our daily lives, contrary to routine and frequent (if not constant) music control, and contrary to driving safety.

Why is the tried-and-true DIN radio being crowded out by PHONE placement if the phone isn't necessary and SA "understands" people want fewer screens in their cars? It just doesn't add up and every time I think about it my brain twists in knots and I think "HOW CAN I RIP OUT THIS DASHBOARD AND FIX IT?" SA got the HVAC control unit right, centering it low on the dashboard where it belongs, with it's TACTILE, large dials. No touchscreen or menus to control the climate, just knobs! Centered!

BLUETOOTH SPEAKERS:
How many of you folks have actually used a portable bluetooth speaker in their car? I have. They suck for car audio. I've spent countless hours listening to bluetooth speakers in cars and work trucks and I can tell you they don't hold a candle to a good regular car stereo. And if you drive an open air car like me, at highway speed you NEED big speakers and an amp and maybe you want a sub, too. But big speakers are an absolute must and if you're taking the doors off or just opening windows, you need big loud speakers in the dash plus an amp. I own and use a LARGE portable bluetooth speaker daily for work purposes. It will not cut it for my personal car. It is not loud enough. It is not clear enough. It is not an optimal car audio experience. Not if you spend several hours every week commuting. When I see SA's pictures of a portable bluetooth speaker mounted low on the dash on their little accessory hot dog holder I just laugh. It simply is not realistic. It would be okay if you drive with the doors on (as I realize most people will absolutely be doing) and if your windows are always up and if the Slate Truck is well sound-proofed. But otherwise, a puny bluetooth speaker will not do for me, nor will SA's aftermarket optional bluetooth speaker set they have on offer. IF I BUY THE SLATE TRUCK I will be driving it doorless for much of the year, so that means big loud speakers and an amp, all in the dash, and this isn't optional.

People LOVE music when they're driving. So why isn't SA taking proper car audio more seriously?

When you take another look at their dashboard design, you see that there's copious amounts of storage space under those flippy panels. That's great for something like sunglasses and an unsightly phone cord you want to stash. But none of that space seems prioritized for car audio. Real car audio.

It seems that SA have designed their dashboard purely with the God Phone prioritized and with all dash storage space specifically intended solely for their "optional" bluetooth speakers they want to sell us, NOT standardized aftermarket car audio components. Go on their website. You'll see pictures of their "optional" puny BT speakers they'll sell you. They DO NOT show pictures of standard car audio components installed in their dashboard.

SO I ASKED SLATE AUTO ABOUT ALL THIS:
After three months being glad someone in the auto industry finally sees me and saying they are going to give me an affordable, DIY-friendly EV truck that I can repair and maintain myself and that isn't a hulking 4-door monstrosity favored by masculinity-challenged bros willing to spend $50-100K on a truck they're only going to use to commute to work with, but continuously asking myself "How am I going to fix the dashboard so I can banish my phone and prioritize MUSIC by centering the radio, I reached out to Slate Auto via a chat on their website...

I started off by saying "First, love the truck and I feel seen and it's the first car I've considered buying in nearly three decades, yada yada yada...", but then I said I don't like the dash because it prioritizes the phone and effectively pushes the DIN radio further away from the driver... the chat CSR completely ignored my comments and seemingly "misunderstood" what I was getting at and gave me a canned response the likes of "you can control your music with your phone!" as if that was a good thing. That creepy feeling of your concerns being ignored and a salesperson trying to INFLUENCE YOU to like what THEY want you to like was overwhelming. When I asked them to re-read what I said, that I specifically DON'T want to use my phone for that and that I DON'T wish to rely on bluetooth speakers and wished for my DIN radio to be properly centered in the dash, the CSR immediately became impatient with me and abruptly ended the chat! It seems that prospective customers wishes regarding radio placement in the dash is absolutely not up for discussion!

When it comes to the dashboard...that customer-friendly philosophy Slate Auto loves to talk about goes out the window!

Don't tell them where you want your radio!

CUSTOMER-FRIENDLY PHILOSOPHY?
This dashboard stuff is in severe contradiction to SA's stated philosophy of car design. Much talk about giving the customer a DIY-friendly vehicle that is easy to maintain and repair. They want you to "personalize" and keep and use and enjoy the Slate Truck not for a few years, but for many, many years without having to involve a corrupt dealership or pushy salespeople or outlandishly expensive replacement parts that can only be sourced from one company. This is how the SA execs talk in all their interviews and I've watched them all! And indeed it seems that that is actually how most of this truck is designed in regards to how easy it is to replace a fender or paint/wrap it however you like. No doubt the vinyl wrap idea is a great post-sale profit generator for Slate Auto. Good for them. I personally don't care about that. I plan to paint or "truck bed coat" my truck, not vinyl wrap. What I do care about though is listening to music when I'm driving back and forth to work several hours every week.

Technically you can install a DIN radio, but the dash clearly favors SA's post-sale accessory concerns and not millions of car owner's desire or need to utilize standard car audio components. While SA claims to be giving the buyer choice, their ILLOGICAL dash design choice is to make the dash difficult to install standard car audio components in favor of their "optional" small, square-shaped (probably crappy, certainly expensive) speakers of their proprietary design to be controlled by TOUCHSCREENS that so many people have emphatically said they don't want in their cars and I just hate it, I really hate it, and when I asked a Slate rep about it I got IGNORED, INFLUENCED and DISMISSED.

This is where Slate Auto appears to be just like all the other auto manufacturers.

Sorry, Slate Auto. I do wish your company well and I do plan to buy some of your post-sale accessories IF I BUY YOUR TRUCK, but your little, square speakers are not remotely in my consideration and neither is placing touchscreens where they crowd out my chosen music system. In this instance, it is Slate Auto that is being completely delulu. They are missing the boat here. Don't reinvent the wheel OR the dashboard, Slate Auto. Your dashboard design isn't logical and doesn't respect many, or even most, of your prospective buyers.

I love nearly everything about the Slate Truck. I really do. But my brain goes to a dark place when I look at that dashboard and think "Why, just why, do they think this is a good idea?" This dashboard makes me want this truck less, not more, because it is NOT customer-friendly. It is not user-friendly. It is not DIY-friendly. It is not music-friendly. It is not personalization-friendly. It is not designed with industry standard components in mind FIRST. It's designed for the car maker's proprietary audio system and unwanted touchscreens FIRST and that sucks and it makes me unhappy and looking at it only makes me think "HOW CAN I RIP IT OUT AND FIX IT?"

I get that SA is taking into consideration what a young Gen Z buyer would likely want to do, control their music via phone, because in theory all Gen Z'rs are born phone addicted, but what about the rest of the world that wants to use easily sourced, replaceable, upgradable industry standard car audio components? A puny Bluetooth system doesn't even come close to what I have in mind. Disposable bluetooth speakers suck for car audio. I fully intend to stick with tried-and-true STANDARD car audio components for a reason and it shouldn't be disregarded and after my interaction with SA's chat CSR, it really appears that Slate Auto has disregarded this stuff and don't wish to discuss it with their customers. Music equipment in my car should be up to me, not the car maker.

MY PROPOSED DASHBOARD FIX:
It's really quite simple. Move the phone away from the lower right area of the steering wheel and up to the wheel's upper right between the gauge cluster screen and the upper-center dash air vents, just below eye level (road level) and this allows the DIN radio to be shifted a few inches to the left and centered in the dash where it belongs and not hidden shamefully behind a flimsy, flippy panel. Allow large, loud 6.5" aftermarket speakers to be installed at the far left and right ends of the dash so that the doors aren't the only possible location for those who wish to go doorless and open-air.

This simple change allows both types of customer to get what they want. Those that want the touchscreen experience can install a tablet in the center of the dash where the DIN radio usually goes and they don't have to install a DIN radio if they don't want to. Those that DO want a DIN radio can enjoy their radio where it belongs, in the center of the dash and completely delete the touchscreen experience if they don't want that.

This doesn't call for a radical dash redesign at all. It would not raise the price of the car. It RESPECTS the buyers who want to use proper, standard, tried-and-true, aftermarket, LOUD, THUMPING car audio components IF THAT'S WHAT THEY REALLY, REALLY WANT. Don't design the dash to seemingly try to force people to buy the puny, square, BT speakers that simply will not be adequate for so many car enthusiasts.

IN SUMMARY:
I hate the Slate Truck dashboard!!

Slate Auto, I do believe you're monitoring this forum, please seriously redesign the Truck's dashboard because at the end of the day, IF I CHOOSE TO SPEND MY HARD-EARNED MONEY AND BUY YOUR PRODUCT, IT ISN'T YOUR TRUCK, IT'S MINE, so, too, it isn't YOUR dashboard, it's MINE. This is simple stuff. You can seriously win my heart here. I plan to install a double-DIN head unit and an array of standard size speakers in the dash, including up to 6.5", amp (and maybe sub), and I wish for that to not be made difficult by your cabin interior design team who appear to be obsessed with God Phone and wrongly believe that I am, too. Center the true source of my enjoyment, the DIN radio, and move the (optional) phone mount to the upper region of the dash where it's closer to where the eyes are already watching the road.

My preference: In my Jeep I have a double-DIN 7" touchscreen Android head unit. Though I detest touchscreens, especially in cars, I make an exception here simply because the big screen allows much easier navigation of my HUGE music collection AND it has tactile, physical buttons for all the most-used music control functions you simply cannot do with a phone. And it's CENTERED in my dashboard. And it does GPS navigation, too, though 99% of the time is just purely for music. Yes, it's a computer screen, but my use of it is as low-tech as it gets.

And my bothersome phone is usually in my pocket.

I'm shocked Slate Auto is getting this so wrong when they appear to be getting so many other things so right and I didn't want to continue watching the further development of the Slate Truck without loudly voicing my concern about PHONES and MUSIC. The screenlife experience should be the option, not the standard. The current dashboard design is just wrong and I just want to rip it out and fix it. It bothers me the SA chat CSR was so adamant about changing the subject and rudely pushing me, gaslighting me, into accepting something I already know full well that I really don't need, want or like. For three months I've tried to change my attitude about the dashboard, but I just can't. I still just want to rip it all out and fix it and make it right. My gut tells me that this phone prioritization and DIN radio minimization is a safety AND comfort AND entertainment mistake. AND it disrespects the customer.

YOUR OPINION ON THE DASHBOARD?
I ask all of you forum folks to think some more about it this way: the experience that matters most is how YOU, the owner, feels when in the driver's seat for several hours/week going back and forth from work. You're paying hard-earned money for this car. If the dashboard, which you'll be spending a LOT of time with, doesn't accommodate your needs, but something else entirely that you do not want and might even be inconvenient or even unsafe for you, that makes the car a lot less desirable, right?

How much do you really interact with your PHONE when you're driving?

How much do you really interact with your STEREO when you're driving?

Which do you want more of in your life, God Phone or Music? Which should be the priority in your dashboard?

Be honest. Truth matters. You'll be spending a lot of years with this truck.

It's a blank slate....build as plane jane as you can. Then, continue to build it for years and years like VW did with the bug.Dont change anything .Don't give in to options...that can come with accessories and aftermarket support. Keep the base model simple....reliable....plain.

 

[AZFox]

You wrote way too much couldnt read it but I think I got the gist of it.

4,072 words in the OP. 😯

 

[Letas]

You wrote way too much couldnt read it but I think I got the gist of it.


i cant stand to listen to the radio, mostly commercials, random djs talking, and not the songs I want to hear.

I use my phone to play spotify to the cars audio. I control the volume and what song is playing via the steering wheel controls. The head unit only has to accept bluetooth or a wired connection to receive the audio from my phone.

even better is when I can say "hey google play X song/playlist" and it will play literally anything.

hey google set volume to X

I use nav all the time and phone size nav is fine for me.

I like hand controls better than digital controls, but voice control is even better.

----
also radios are technology

you are emotionally arguing against technology when you are really arguing against a user interface. Instead of focusing on technology/not tech (everything in a car is technology by the way) you should focus on ease of use. Usability is about accomplishing your task in the fastest time with the least amount of errors.

Using your phone for music is far superior to using a radio with all the advertisements and random dj nonsense. Using voice controls is much faster, safer, and open up more capabilities than physical controls.

I think people are misconstruing “radio” and “infotainment” here.

OP wants the “radio” (infotainment) screen better placed. I see his point, it makes sense.

I probably coulda used about 5% as many words to get it across though.

 

[Neil Nelson]

Software updates are downloaded to the user's phone and then transferred to the vehicle via a USB connection.

Over-the-air updates ensure the vehicle remains up-to-date with the latest features and bug fixes without requiring dealership visits.

From google's AI.

Swinefuzz, You forgot about updating your Slate EV.