Thu, Mar 1, 2018, 9:30 AM · Advertisement The lack of a display ahead of the driver is even more noticeable at night. After decades of having something glowing behind the steering wheel, complete darkness from that part of the car is eerie. Tesla isn't the first automaker to move the speedometer to the center of the dash. Mini did it decades ago. In fact, I own a Mini with the speedo in the middle of dash. I hate it. I'm not a fan. It wasn't enough to dissuade me from buying and enjoying my car. But it's something to keep in mind when you're thinking about the Model 3. These are dramatic changes from the Model S and X. Thankfully, though, some things do carry over from those two vehicles. Even though this is the affordable Tesla (its starting price is less than half the price of the base model Model S), if you plunk down $5,000 for the Autopilot option, you're getting the same experience as the other models. Tesla continues to refine its semiautonomous system, which is one of the best in the industry. The Model 3 had very few problems staying centered in its lane and tracking cars. The auto-lane-change option felt a bit more aggressive than the last time I drove a Tesla. Most of the time it was fine, but in one instance it quickly changed lanes, then immediately started braking enough to catch everyone in the car and the vehicle behind me off guard. It's a reminder that none of these systems are ready to be left on their own. Another place where the Tesla excels is its voice control. Even when I flubbed the names of locations, it figured out what I was trying to say. "Umpire State Building" was quickly changed to "Empire State Building" based on context. It did an outstanding job handling building numbers and parsing the names of friends I wanted to call. Currently, the feature controls navigation, the phone and media playback. But Musk said on Twitter that in the future, voice control would be integrated more into the vehicle's control, which is great news. But it'll be better when that actually happens. Definitely. You will be able to do pretty much anything via voice command. Software team is focused on core Model 3 functionality right now, but that will be done soon, then we will add a lot more features.