AP1/AP2 comparison

[RLC3]

I've owned an AP2 Model S since May of 2017, and have experienced the evolution of AP2 from drunk teen aged driver to better than I am on the highway, as long as nothing unusual happens. A week ago my car was in the shop for several days and I was given an AP1 P90D loaner (lovely car). So I got to use AP1 for the first time, and here are my impressions.

Curves (freeway):
Both versions are quite competent lane followers, and each has a flaw the other does not. On sharp curves at speed, AP2 does a noticeably better job of following the lane. Adjustments made during the curve are small, relatively infrequent, and smooth enough as to be almost unnoticeable. AP1 will typically make a few quite noticeable steering adjustments during the curve. These are minor, but much more evident than the AP2 adjustments which seem smaller. Edge to AP2.

Merging on ramps:
With AP2 in the rightmost lane and passing a merging on ramp, the car seems to think the lane has gotten wider and wobbles to the right and back again as the on ramp marking moves left to be come the rightmost lane marking again. AP1 does not do this at all. Edge to AP1.

Vehicle display in adjacent lanes:
AP2 shows all vehicles as cars, where AP1 distinguishes between cars and trucks. I've heard motorcycles are also displayed although I never saw that. Both AP1 and AP2 have issues here though. With AP1 I saw cases where the icon would pop back and forth several times per second between car and truck. I think how much one cares about this is pretty subjective. I rate them about equal. And really, none of what is currently displayed in adjacent lanes by either version matters too much to me. But if you gave me views of vehicles to the side or behind that I can't see without turning my head, then I would definitely care.

So my subjective evaluation is that AP1 and AP2 are about equal, but I prefer the current AP2 implementation mostly because lane following on curves is so good now.

I recently drove I-5 through southern Oregon where it is quite curvy, using AP2, and for the first time felt comfortable letting the car drive the whole way at the speed limit. Always previously there have been places where I was on high alert. So I think there have been some unannounced improvements being made to AP in some of the recent releases.

 

[chillaban]

Really feels like AP2 > AP1 to me

Likewise. AP2 definitely has its quirks but most of them can be laughed off as a robot driving a car.

But in terms of overall capability, on curves and hill crests, AP2 has a definite advantage when it comes to keeping within the lane. I find AP2 a ton better at stopping for stopped cars too at high speed differentials.

AP1 definitely feels smoother though and makes fewer unnecessary steering adjustments.

 

[RLC3]

Really feels like AP2 > AP1 to me

Likewise. AP2 definitely has its quirks but most of them can be laughed off as a robot driving a car.

But in terms of overall capability, on curves and hill crests, AP2 has a definite advantage when it comes to keeping within the lane. I find AP2 a ton better at stopping for stopped cars too at high speed differentials.

AP1 definitely feels smoother though and makes fewer unnecessary steering adjustments.

Thanks for the link to your EXCELLENT article. I agree with everything you say that I have experience with. I'm really looking forward to version 9!

 

[bradhs]

I've driven 40K on AP1 and within the next month or two will get AP2. Sound like perfect timing.

 

[TaoJones]

The biggest improvement for AP2 this year has been the ability to react at all, and to react earlier and more consistently, to vehicles stopped ahead.

Where AP2 still most noticeably lags AP1 are in two of a handful of cases:

1. Phantom braking. No longer limited to underpasses, this potentially dangerous phenomenon is no better today than it was at the advent of AP2 almost 2 years ago. It seems particularly pernicious when there is traffic to the right. Stopped cars backed up at an exit or parked cars along a divided boulevard or grade-separated highway, for example.

2. Speed limit sign reaction. AP1’s single camera does this flawlessly unless in the rare occasion that there’s a big truck in the way of the sign. AP2 not only doesn’t use any of the 7 cameras at its disposal to read speed limit signs, but it relies upon an error-riddled database for that speed limit info and those errors can be high or low. This of course makes Autosteer (AS) problematic when you’re either forced to drive too slowly in the flow of traffic, or worse, too fast past a school zone, freeway construction zone, or other locale in which the local constabulary is known to lurk.

Where both AP1 and AP2 remain feeble, with the feebleness edge given to AP2: approaching non-flat or flat intersections with medians.

Here too, AP2 recently improved - now, instead of making a beeline for the center median with the car swerving left in an I’ll-advised attempt so that the median is in fact centered, now at least when it starts to do that, the Red Hands of Death appear, with all of the attendant bells and whistles. This, believe it or not, is an improvement.

So while AP2 has improved so far this year, and while one would think, were it not for the staged video from 12/2016, that MobilEye’s
AP1 has pretty much maxed out, those leaked screenshots from the Semi last month do make one wonder. If those are the software features *now*, then AP3 next year with Tesla’s own SoC and *gasp* full camera utilization should be, finally, the long-awaited advance that we’ve been waiting for since at least the halcyon days of 2014 when they said AP would react to stop signs. Aka a huge step forward rather than baby steps and parlor tricks.

Wishful thinking aside about AP2 or AP1 getting any better prior to the new SoC, when AP3 *does* presumably deliver that stop sign reaction as seen in the staged video from almost 2 years ago, it will be a Good Day indeed.

 

[Pale_Rider]

The biggest improvement for AP2 this year has been the ability to react at all, and to react earlier and more consistently, to vehicles stopped ahead.

Where AP2 still most noticeably lags AP1 are in two of a handful of cases:

1. Phantom braking. No longer limited to underpasses, this potentially dangerous phenomenon is no better today than it was at the advent of AP2 almost 2 years ago. It seems particularly pernicious when there is traffic to the right. Stopped cars backed up at an exit or parked cars along a divided boulevard or grade-separated highway, for example.

2. Speed limit sign reaction. AP1’s single camera does this flawlessly unless in the rare occasion that there’s a big truck in the way of the sign. AP2 not only doesn’t use any of the 7 cameras at its disposal to read speed limit signs, but it relies upon an error-riddled database for that speed limit info and those errors can be high or low. This of course makes Autosteer (AS) problematic when you’re either forced to drive too slowly in the flow of traffic, or worse, too fast past a school zone, freeway construction zone, or other locale in which the local constabulary is known to lurk.

Where both AP1 and AP2 remain feeble, with the feebleness edge given to AP2: approaching non-flat or flat intersections with medians.

Here too, AP2 recently improved - now, instead of making a beeline for the center median with the car swerving left in an I’ll-advised attempt so that the median is in fact centered, now at least when it starts to do that, the Red Hands of Death appear, with all of the attendant bells and whistles. This, believe it or not, is an improvement.

So while AP2 has improved so far this year, and while one would think, were it not for the staged video from 12/2016, that MobilEye’s
AP1 has pretty much maxed out, those leaked screenshots from the Semi last month do make one wonder. If those are the software features *now*, then AP3 next year with Tesla’s own SoC and *gasp* full camera utilization should be, finally, the long-awaited advance that we’ve been waiting for since at least the halcyon days of 2014 when they said AP would react to stop signs. Aka a huge step forward rather than baby steps and parlor tricks.

Wishful thinking aside about AP2 or AP1 getting any better prior to the new SoC, when AP3 *does* presumably deliver that stop sign reaction as seen in the staged video from almost 2 years ago, it will be a Good Day indeed.

What leaked Semi photos? I must have somehow missed that... Thanks!

 

[TaoJones]

What leaked Semi photos? I must have somehow missed that... Thanks!

Here ya go - just scroll down to the screenshot of the screen(s). Interesting stuff. No absolute guarantee that we'll see the same functionality in non-Semi variants, but one would think the probability is greater than 50%. Some might even say likely .