Autopilot capability

[Epico]

Hi,

So I have not stumped up the best part of £6k for FSD was wondering from people who have also just gone for the "basic" autopilot what capability it has exactly.

From what i can see so far it has a basic summon feature (so basically back and forward)
Adaptive cruise and lane keeping on the motorways, how about on smaller roads/dual carriageways?

I assume this adaptive cruise also works in traffic and will in effect queue for you (does it steer still at these lower speeds?)

I test drove a model s with ap1 a while back and that had the Lance change on indicator feature, does the basic autopilot do this as well? I knoe it won't change lane without you requesting it as this only works on NOA right?

Parking...nothing as that's part of the fsd package.

Am I right in these assumptions, can anyone confirm and also if I have missed anything?

 

[zayn]

no auto summon on basic autopilot, correct has adaptive cruise and steer to keep in lane. That is it really

 

[MrBadger]

Auto pilot basically covers TACC (traffic aware cruise control aka adaptive cruise control) and single lane LKA (lane keep assist). A few other safety features such as emergency brake assist but these are no longer technically classified as autopilot.

No summon, no stopping unless something stops in front of you, no changing lanes.

And autopilot will not stop you using it when/where it is not appropriate to use.

 

[Krazymuthafuka]

How well does the basic autopilot work in stop and go traffic on a motorway?

 

[Ryder35]

How well does the basic autopilot work in stop and go traffic on a motorway?

Has been perfect on the motorway/dual roads for me.

 

[Epico]

Has been perfect on the motorway/dual roads for me.

How about on smaller a roads? Does the lane keep assist work at low speeds? Or do I actually have to make effort and steer?

 

[Ryder35]

How about on smaller a roads? Does the lane keep assist work at low speeds? Or do I actually have to make effort and steer?

Don't know, I quite like driving so have not tried it on those roads Also it is brand new and I don't want to put it in a ditch before I get used to it!

 

[Tony Hoyle]

I'm not sure it's going to be much use on smaller roads as it gets upset at cars parked on the side of the road (apparently they don't do that in the US so it was never built to handle it). It's not designed for it.. if you want the easy life stick to motorways.

 

[Ryder35]

Also look up Tesla Driver on youtube. He drives around various cities on AP with entertaining results!

 

[MrBadger]

Also look up Tesla Driver on youtube. He drives around various cities on AP with entertaining results!

And now a dinked 20" wheel...

...please someone let us know if they find out the story behind that. It better be a good story though as the fridge incident was a bit of an anticlimax...

 

[Ryder35]

And now a dinked 20" wheel...

Oh really, I have not watched that one!

 

[MrBadger]

Oh really, I have not watched that one!

He has not come clean about it yet so do not know the story. Pretty sure he lurks here so if he is not aware of it, he is now...

 

[LukeT]

Worth noting that the limitations of it not knowing how to deal with parked cars, along with a number of other reasons not to use it on single carriageway roads, and summon being (currently at least) useless, I'm sure are also there on the expensive FOMO package...

 

[LukeT]

He has not come clean about it yet so do not know the story. Pretty sure he lurks here so if he is not aware of it, he is now...

It would be very very easy to curb a wheel on AP. I think I touched a curb earlier but tyre only, no scratch. My hypothesis is that in absence of a road side line the lane, in the car's eyes, is exactly and fully from curb to middle of road line. In the human's eyes, it starts a bit off the curb. We'd pretty much never deliberately drive closer than X distance to curb. Equally, the (assuming dashed) centre line is not always uncrossable in human judgement. They need to alter the parameters to reflect at least a curb offset and to take in data from further ahead in deciding both the line and speed to take through a corner. This may be amplified by differences between UK vs US road marking convention.

Another thing I've noticed is that it only responds to a reduction in speed limit at the point the limit changes. They definitely have the data and capability to improve this and it makes AP's speed illegal in these instances.

Plus in the UK speed limit does not define sensible driving speed in many cases; rather we expect the driver to judge appropriate speed and make them responsible for it, subject to the limit as a cap. In the US, this is different IME.

These aren't the only reasons it's only good on DCs, and obviously I've been messing about with it on SC roads which technically I shouldn't, but like his videos it's interesting to test the technology in controlled situations and, hopefully, see it improve.

 

[bhanorthy]

I find in London traffic autopilot works well in stop go traffic. It’s quite conservative with the gap it leaves though even on the closest setting.

I can see people behind getting frustrated I’m not hugging the bumper of the car in front.

 

[Krazymuthafuka]

And it will still auto steer in stop and go?

Let them get frustrated, you just sit back and let the car do its thing!

 

[Ryder35]

And it will still auto steer in stop and go?

Let them get frustrated, you just sit back and let the car do its thing!

It will, unless it comes up against something it does not like or you let go of the wheel.

 

[ME_UK]

I've only taken the test drive in the M3 - still waiting for my SR+, but I would say that the autopilot is fantastic compared to many of the others I've tried. It's simply more fluid in it's driving approach, less jerky, quicker to 'go' when the speed limit changes and less 'wibbly' when it comes to decision making.

My Wife told me that it drives better than I do. Not sure how I feel about that!

 

[Roy W.]

My Wife told me that it drives better than I do. Not sure how I feel about that!

So what’s your view of autopilot versus how your wife drives?

 

[ME_UK]

So what’s your view of autopilot versus how your wife drives?

Honestly, I'm scared she'll put her foot down too hard in the Tesla and start doing donuts. The other car is a Discovery, so quite the difference.....