Autopilot is getting worse, not better.

[Fursty Ferret]

I agree that the jerkiness in stop-start traffic stinks. But in general for me it’s much better than radar cruise, particularly because it can pick out slow and stationary traffic from a huge distance.

Lane changes near HGVs on radar cruise used to be a nightmare on both the Tesla and my Volvo.

Only thing I still have a problem with is that it struggles if a car is sitting on your bumper or weaving to and fro. Not much you can do if you’re in a line of traffic but that seems to be the trigger for phantom braking at the most inopportune time.

On the bright side a few executive car drivers have learned not to tailgate a Model 3 on Autopilot.

 

[Ferret]

For me things are better since the switch to vision.

Only issues:
I have to check the windscreen over the camera is clean or it will endlessly try to clean the dirt/bugs.
It still likes to exit A roads all by itself. (These are not officially supported).
Stop start traffic is a little more jerky than radar, although better now than a few months back.


Note I set follow to 4. I have EAP and let it change lanes all the time with no issue. No phantom breaking.

 

[ACarneiro]

For me things are better since the switch to vision.

Only issues:
I have to check the windscreen over the camera is clean or it will endlessly try to clean the dirt/bugs.
It still likes to exit A roads all by itself. (These are not officially supported).
Stop start traffic is a little more jerky than radar, although better now than a few months back.


Note I set follow to 4. I have EAP and let it change lanes all the time with no issue. No phantom breaking.

Aaargh! It’s this inconsistency that drives me nuts!
My experience is pretty poor, some are far worse, some say it’s perfect!
Buying a Tesla is such a lottery that it really puts me off trying my luck again…

 

[Pagemakers]

I wonder if vision only factory produced cars perform better than cars that have had an OTA update to disable bits and make them vision only.

 

[Devils son]

Tesla vision is indeed horrible. Especially the fact that wipers need to be on auto. Because unless your windscreen is perfectly washed and the sun is at an ok angle, it will just act like a moron.

 

[GlynG]

The wipers annoy me more than pretty much anything else, my screen is always clean, never put the car in the garage without cleaning it and its in the garage every night - the car really never gets dirty - but I'm retired and rarely go out in bad weather.
Auto pilot is a bit of fun but the compulsory wipers and AHB pee me off, I've got my fingers crossed they do fix it or the very least not make it compulsory on engaging AP.
I'm so annoyed with it that if this is going to be a long term feature I may as well interrupt the power to the wiper motor with a switch in the car - so i can turn them off, I will only need to get a couple of electrical connectors and put a bypass circuit in place - and if they fix it it can be just taken out and retuned to stock.

 

[Pagemakers]

I agree that the jerkiness in stop-start traffic stinks. But in general for me it’s much better than radar cruise, particularly because it can pick out slow and stationary traffic from a huge distance.

I’m sure before vision only the car used both anyway. I’m not seeing an increase in distance. However, even if the distance ahead is increased I don’t think vision only can detect the closing rate of range well enough. That can be seen by the car slamming on the brakes at a late stage instead of a gradual deceleration from a further distance.

Same can be said about acceleration. When leaving a 50 zone the car ahead has accelerated away at a normal pace while my Tesla behind accelerates so slowly you get undetaken as the car trundles back to 70.

 

[boogle]

I'm so annoyed with it that if this is going to be a long term feature I may as well interrupt the power to the wiper motor with a switch in the car - so i can turn them off, I will only need to get a couple of electrical connectors and put a bypass circuit in place - and if they fix it it can be just taken out and retuned to stock.

The S3XY buttons can also perform this function. I'd have done this already, but I'm paranoid about Tesla using it as an excuse to avoid warranty work. Or worse get involved in an accident and the insurers claim I 'disabled an essential safety system' since Tesla is claiming the wipers / high-beam are critical for the cameras for safety now since there's no radar.

 

[ACarneiro]

The S3XY buttons can also perform this function. I'd have done this already, but I'm paranoid about Tesla using it as an excuse to avoid warranty work. Or worse get involved in an accident and the insurers claim I 'disabled an essential safety system' since Tesla is claiming the wipers / high-beam are critical for the cameras for safety now since there's no radar.

I don’t think the S3XY buttons can override the Autowipers when AP is enabled…

 

[speedyranger74]

I don’t think the S3XY buttons can override the Autowipers when AP is enabled…

Yes, it's possible

 

[Type2]

I agree that the jerkiness in stop-start traffic stinks.

For me the point is that AP doesn’t drive like a human driver. It’s jerky and uncomfortable and feels as if a learner on their second lesson is behind the wheel. I’ll barely use it when I’m by myself in the car, and regular passengers ask me not to use it at all.

Not a good advert for the supposed class leader, though all but the most blinkered know there are better systems than Tesla out there.

 

[speedyranger74]

It’s not possible to have the wipers off with AP engaged. You have have speeds 1-4 or Auto.

You have S3XY buttons?
I have and will do what I said.

 

[Pagemakers]

Ah sorry. Thank you Google

 

[Drew57]

Aaargh! It’s this inconsistency that drives me nuts!
My experience is pretty poor, some are far worse, some say it’s perfect!
Buying a Tesla is such a lottery that it really puts me off trying my luck again…

I'm probably wrong (wife says always so) but these responses make me think that the settings we all choose may have a bearing on this.

I've owned two Teslas and (using my cloud profile) driven another extensively. I tend to have all settings set to warn only rather than react and none of these cars have caused any particular drama even though I frequently have on-screen warnings, sometimes accompanied by klaxons (the only time my profile choices cause a physical steering wheel reaction is if I stray over the nearside white line or a pedestrian is actually walking in the road itself, both while manually driving the car rather than Autopilot)

In 2020 I did have a few sudden & severe decelerations on the new section of the A14 around Cambridge as well as the point where the M6 joins/crosses the Toll road towards Coventry but since then the worst I have ever experienced in the same places and others is a gentle slowing, instantly and easily corrected even when the on-screen display shows a speed symbol of 60, 50 or sometimes even 40 on a 70 section.

On our 700+ mile road trip last week I explained to my Sister-in Law that using Autopilot in traffic jams was too jerky to bother with but she and her partner insisted I demonstrate (follow distance 4 on my car) & yes on the third occasion we moved as the gap widened it did accelerate up fast and then slow as a consequence. Nevertheless, they both said they would trust it and use it because in the other instances, as we crept along more slowly it did follow the other vehicles quite smoothly.

Maybe I'm just lucky with these cars or it's something to do with not using anything more sophisticated than basic Autopilot but I definitely class myself in a category of 'I'm happy with it'* even though it's still nowhere near perfect.

*wipers & lights attached to Autopilot or the randomness of Tesla vision have no association with the content of those two apostrophes.

 

[Pagemakers]

I drive exactly the same 70 mile route, several times a week and my car behaves differently all of the time with the same settings. Sometimes autopilot is great and others it’s horrendous.

 

[GRiLLA]

I drove the full length of the M6/M74 yesterday with AutoPilot, not a single issue with the braking. By the end the screen was a bit dirty and the wipers were slow to stop after a bit of drizzle, but not too bad.

The cone behaviour is annoying, not the end of the world but clearly unnecessary. I don't really pay much attention to NoA suggesting lane changes, so can't say it bothered me.

Tebay was heaving in the car park and in the services, but I got straight onto a supercharger, so the expansion clearly was coping, I was only there about 20 mins before heading north for a similar short charge at Ionity Polmadie before heading west on ferries.

@Pagemakers is this worse since your last post about you feeling it was getting worse, or just a repeat?

 

[Pagemakers]

Today’s drive Manchester to Birmingham in the rain this morning was ok. Better than average. The return journey in drizzle was good. Let’s see what tomorrow brings.

This is the issue for me - like a few of the comments on here, sometimes I get home and think, they finally fixed it. Then on the next drive it’s absolute garbage. What the car doesn‘t deliver is consistency.

 

[kpanda17]

Don’t forget to mention the code ver
I’m running 26.1 with good AP/Wiper results

 

[Pagemakers]

I’m on 20.9, the one before. Wipers as pants as they‘ve ever been.

 

[SalisburySam]

Wipers as pants…

Does that idiom mean bad? Asking for a friend.