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by miki123211 944 days ago
Today I learned. The Tesla owner's manual has alt descriptions for its images. They're not good alt descriptions, but they are there.

In fact, it is one of the most screen reader accessible manuals for any device I've ever seen, most are some weird PDF abominations where all the button names are replaced by their unlabeled icons. Even devices made specifically for the blind have these issues sometimes. This? This is just perfectly readable HTML.

It's especially ironic considering that Teslas (as far as I know) aren't accessible in any way. Even the infotainment system, which a blind person might want to use, for example when waiting for a sighted acquaintance in the car, does not have a screen reader and is not in any way usable.

2 comments

> Even the infotainment system, which a blind person might want to use, for example when waiting for a sighted acquaintance in the car, does not have a screen reader and is not in any way usable.

It has really excellent voice commands for pretty much any function though. Sadly it can only be triggered by pressing the right scroll wheel on the wheel. While possible to just reach over, it's probably not optimal for your suggested use case.

I don't think that there are any cars that are accessible in the way you've mentioned. It seems like too niche of a use case in exchange for more complexity and time to develop. These systems are usually built for drivers first and foremost, so them being able to see is an assumption that most can make.