7.0 (2.7.77) to 7.0 (2.9.40)

[ecarfan]

For the vast majority of interstates, the grassy median is the center divider.

And Tesla AP may well consider that a sufficient "barrier". We don't know yet.
This controversy is yet another example of some individuals getting extremely agitated about a software change that is not yet in general use, so very little is actually know about it.
AP is literally a work in progress, and is going to continue to evolve and continually change for years to come. Tesla is pushing hard towards autonomous driving and it is going to be a bumpy ride with lots of "two steps forward and one step back" for quite some time.

 

[stopcrazypp]

And Tesla AP may well consider that a sufficient "barrier". We don't know yet.
This controversy is yet another example of some individuals getting extremely agitated about a software change that is not yet in general use, so very little is actually know about it.
AP is literally a work in progress, and is going to continue to evolve and continually change for years to come. Tesla is pushing hard towards autonomous driving and it is going to be a bumpy ride with lots of "two steps forward and one step back" for quite some time.

Right. I'm pretty sure this was the video that triggered the change (it was widely reported and viewed):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrwxEX8qOxA

Notice it has nothing that can be interpreted as a divider (median or otherwise). I'm sure the update is mainly to target situations like that.

 

[Jool]

Dang, it's getting heated around here! We all really should wait until this update has actually circulated and been put to use before grabbing our torches and pitchforks.

I recall lots of people getting anxious because a review of the autopilot functionality claimed it had a time-based nag. We can see now that isn't the case. Let's wait and see :wink:

 

[Todd Burch]

Expecting the functionality for which I paid a six-digit sum is now "entitlement"?

#1. You did not pay a 6-digit sum for autopilot.
#2. If you were unaware, any trim level of the Model S is an extraordinary value when compared against other cars in its class.
#3. Tesla never advertised autopilot for use in the situations in which it's limiting it. Yes, it was enabled in 7.0, but they decided the risk wasn't worth it at this time. Doesn't mean it won't come back in the future.

So what functionality are you not receiving that you paid for?

 

[gizmoboy]

#1. You did not pay a 6-digit sum for autopilot.
#2. If you were unaware, any trim level of the Model S is an extraordinary value when compared against other cars in its class.
#3. Tesla never advertised autopilot for use in the situations in which it's limiting it. Yes, it was enabled in 7.0, but they decided the risk wasn't worth it at this time. Doesn't mean it won't come back in the future.

So what functionality are you not receiving that you paid for?

You're not going to win this argument, because it's not rational. It's emotional and, candidly, a bit of a tantrum. You can't reason your way through that.

People have a mental image of what they were promised (factually-based or not), and that it not matching with the evolving reality.

 

[Lex]

Right. I'm pretty sure this was the video that triggered the change (it was widely reported and viewed):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrwxEX8qOxA

Hmmm, this video may be demonstrating the "use case" (or whatever term Elon used in his tweet) to describe that one last issue -- sun's glare over the crest of a hill, on a curve.

The safety concern with this video was not the Autopilot's error, it was the driver using his hands to record video. This is illegal in Ontario, Canada as you cannot use handheld devices while driving. Shame on this person.

Autopilot is not perfect and most likely will not maintain a perfect accident-free record, with or without restrictions applied. Safety needs to always be top priority, and while it's not a perfect driver I'm 100% certain that Autopilot pays more attention to road conditions than I alone ever could.

And just like me, it's not perfect but so far there are probably 2000 km of Autopilot driving under my MS's belt(line), so I'm not speculating here. I've thoroughly tested the system under pretty much every sort of condition.

When the 2 of us are paying attention, it's been always safer so far. Any wild actions from AP -- and there have been a few -- play out similar to a driver spilling a drink or accidentally jerking the wheel. Accidents happen every day with human pilots.

I've lost friends to head-on collisions before AP was even possible.

So ya, Elon suggests true autonomous driving will need to prove itself several times safer than human drivers, but I suggest that having both available whenever possible is better, and that includes the many 2 and 4 lane highways I regularly traverse that don't have a median / barrier.

 

[thegruf]

The reason imho that YT video shows the car jinking to the left is because it has just crested a rise and momentarily loses the lines.
I've seen it do this too, (though not quite sure why the software thinks it needs to steer abruptly) and it's no biggie providing you are holding the steering wheel as instructed.
The AP software is in its first public release, no accidents I've heard of, and for me is not only a fundamental aspect of me purchasing the car but it is an outstanding achievement too.

I use it daily on my commute and will lose over 50% of the opportunity to enjoy it if it is relegated to roads with a physical median.
So yes, I guess I would complain about the loss.


@Tesla - please dont neuter this function.

 

[Cyberax]

#1. You did not pay a 6-digit sum for autopilot.

Yes, I did.

#2. If you were unaware, any trim level of the Model S is an extraordinary value when compared against other cars in its class.

I've just spent about a day opening the dashboard and getting rid of all the rattles and squeaks that my SC couldn't reproduce or fix (several times). Yes, totally extraordinary value...

#3. Tesla never advertised autopilot for use in the situations in which it's limiting it. Yes, it was enabled in 7.0, but they decided the risk wasn't worth it at this time.
So what functionality are you not receiving that you paid for?

Automatic lane changes (car checks for the safety), summoning on private property, better lane-keeping. AP still can't cope completely with freeways, so even "ramp-to-ramp" is not yet implemented.

 

[Caligula]

It's amazing, this is the first automobile forum I've read that reads just like the tech forums I moderate. There can definitely be some parallels drawn here, especially in the hater/fanboy aspects.

 

[SW2Fiddler]

It's amazing, this is the first automobile forum I've read that reads just like the tech forums I moderate. There can definitely be some parallels drawn here, especially in the hater/fanboy aspects.

Ditto for cruise forums. There's not a monetary amount that inoculates one against "sounding entitled." One may actually be entitled by reasonable criteria but there's a tone that's easy to recognize when one complains about how the (cruise, car, software) vendor has abjectly failed them - proportional to the amount of $ they spent. OTOH, those that point out the tone are irrational in their loyalty and labeled with the F word.

Ain't none o' this changin' anytime soon. Carry on!

Please make sure your feedback gets directly to Tesla.

YouTube Comments may be an additional way to do this. There's evidence that they see the video(s) mentioned in this thread. At least make sure you thank the filmmakers for their contribution to the diminished value!

Classic S so my opinion don't count though...

 

[slevit1md]

It will really be some BS if they neuter the autopilot to only work on divided highways. It was advertised for highways, not a specific type of highway. I spend a lot of time driving on long, straight, country roads with speed limits 60 or above and the autopilot works great on them! I occasionally have a long drive to work on one such road and use the autopilot regularly. It would really be a shame to lose that functionality because of a few idiots. Hopefully this never comes to fruition. I wouldn't have an issue with it being limited on city roads, but otherwise they need to just leave it alone. They take forever to release the feature, it's released in beta, is still lacking promised features, and now looks like it may become even less useful after finally being released!

 

[brianman]

Can we keep the tone civil and argue the issues, not attack the people?
Many people paid >$100k for a car that was advertised to have "autopilot'... and to many of the buyers that was a key feature. The fact that a year later this is still in Beta and features that were advertised are being removed is something that is worth talking about. I don't see this as entitlement at all.
I bought a car that had a reasonable IC. I don't want them to take that away, either.

Well put, sir.

- - - Updated - - -

Classic S so my opinion don't count though...

Of course it does.

 

[Patrick W]

Further down the only two other changes I found were a section about the analog clock on the instrument panel and a line added to the Autosteer section reading "Autosteer cannot be activated above 45mph on roads without a center divider or residential roads."

Not sure what to make of this.

I picked out a nearby 2 lane country road with a few turns in it. No center divider, just the usual line painted in the middle. Speed limit was 65 so set the cruise control to 60 and then enabled AutoPilot. The S then proceeded to stay right at 60 and follow the road just fine.

So I'm not sure what the deal is with the 45mph restriction.

 

[_TTT_]

I did the same. In addition, I did a test and can enable autosteer on residential roads with 2.9.40.

 

[Cyberax]

I did the same. In addition, I did a test and can enable autosteer on residential roads with 2.9.40.

It's possible that it's not actually activated yet. 2.9.40 seems to be yet another "beta" release, rather than a full-blown 7.1

 

[malcolm]

Not sure what to make of this.

I picked out a nearby 2 lane country road with a few turns in it. No center divider, just the usual line painted in the middle. Speed limit was 65 so set the cruise control to 60 and then enabled AutoPilot. The S then proceeded to stay right at 60 and follow the road just fine.

So I'm not sure what the deal is with the 45mph restriction.

Thank you for taking the time to test this and report back.

Anyone else getting similar/different results (weather/light levels permitting)?

 

[bhzmark]

I hope the divide restriction is not required outside metropolitan areas. I regularly drive through Park County CO, the speed limit on this road is 65 mph. AP currently works great here.

View attachment 104074

Good point.

 

[Discoducky]

Not sure what to make of this.

I picked out a nearby 2 lane country road with a few turns in it. No center divider, just the usual line painted in the middle. Speed limit was 65 so set the cruise control to 60 and then enabled AutoPilot. The S then proceeded to stay right at 60 and follow the road just fine.

So I'm not sure what the deal is with the 45mph restriction.

Were there cars on the other side of the road while you did your test? The oncoming cars might be a way to tell if the road is undivided.

 

[Whitmarsh]

I did the same. In addition, I did a test and can enable auto-steer on residential roads with 2.9.40.

Do you know how how the car (a) defines a 'residential' road or (b) recognizes one?

 

[S4WRXTTCS]

It's possible that it's not actually activated yet. 2.9.40 seems to be yet another "beta" release, rather than a full-blown 7.1

Something has been pretty suspicious about the V7.0 updates. In the firmware tracker there is what 8 of them? and there is also the unnamed beta which was accidentally released (the one that doesn't follow the 2.X.X nomenclature). The first one (besides the beta) that had release notes was the 2.9.40 version so I assumed that this version would be the first V7.0 update to be released fully. I'm still on the first V7.0 rev.

The first indicator of this 45mph was the unnamed beta, but wasn't this mentioned in the release notes for that beta? I haven't seen the release notes for that version. Everything was pulled, and all I've seen was the one pic showing the 45mph limit in action.

There are two things that lead me to this is simply a documentation error in the 2.9.40 manual.

1.) It wasn't in the release notes, and wouldn't this deserve to be the release notes? It is a major shift in functionality.
2.) There is no indication that this limitation has been extensively tested. This first we knew about it was an accidental beta release, but that was just a few days ago.

So I'm led to believe that this limit isn't in there. We only know about it because someone went through that part in the manual line by line. Not sure why someone was so OCD, but we seem to be an OCD bunch.

As to the V7.1 my understanding is this won't land at least until Jan sometime.