AutoPilot - note to drivers and Consumer Reports

[Chopr147]

One would think it is much easier to fall asleep using Autopilot. But the opposite has occurred in practice. Not only do I not feel sleepy on longer trips but once I get to my destination, I am so much more relaxed.

 

[E-Lectric]

You left out one major benefit of the AP suite of driver assist features: AP reduces road rage. AP makes it easy to maintain a safe steady speed. It discourages aggressive driving behavior. Because of the lack of latency a Tesla is surgical in its precision. This can lead to very aggressive driving. With AP on the driver relaxes more and goes with the flow so to speak.

Totally agree. Much more relaxing to drive when you know there are systems that can dramatically reduce the likelihood that someone in front of you will hit the breaks and cause a collision. Although, much of the is due to adaptive CC, which is separate from AP, right?

 

[aesculus]

Although, much of the is due to adaptive CC, which is separate from AP, right?

No. It's a part of it. Non AP cars just have old fashioned cruise control that does not adjust based on following distance.

 

[ohmman]

No. It's a part of it. Non AP cars just have old fashioned cruise control that does not adjust based on following distance.

It's the only thing I really miss from the X when I'm driving my S. I'm fine without AP but adaptive cruise would be very nice.

 

[aesculus]

It's the only thing I really miss from the X when I'm driving my S. I'm fine without AP but adaptive cruise would be very nice.

I rarely use the lane keeping feature but ACC is a must. Luckily they don't seem to screw this up during updates.

I got a new MS75D as a loaner the other day. Just about ran into someone when on cruise control since it did not have AP. The kicker should have been when I turned the following distance knob and nothing changed on the dash nor did the little speed circle light up in blue.

 

[Electroman]

Old fashioned, dumb cruise control should be banned..

 

[dfwatt]

With the recent allegations by some Tesla drivers on the failure of Autopilot on their cars and the media jumping on those incidents, this is a quick primer for every Tesla driver (including spouses, siblings, sons and daughters) and Laura MacCleery, VP of Consumer Policy and Mobilization for Consumer Reports:

Autopilot by definition is a system that is used to control the trajectory of a vehicle (aircraft, boat, spacecraft, motor vehicle) without constant "hands-on" control by a human operator. The level of control that an autopilot can perform varies even within aircrafts that are capable of using autopilots. However, autopilot should not be confused with autonomous. An autonomous driving vehicle does not need human intervention. It can navigate without human input solely based on sensing its environment.

Tesla's autopilot is a developing suite of features that meets NHTSA's level 2 unlike Google's car that meets the level 3 designation. As Elon Musk has said many times, Tesla's autopilot represents baby steps towards achieving full autonomy.

As of writing this note, Tesla's autopilot allows you to maintain lane, change lanes, and park the car. While you should keep your hands on the steering wheel, when driving on a straight road with minimal traffic, you may take off your hands from time to time to relax your arms. However, when encountering curves, construction zones, roads that don't have clear lane markings, busy traffic, inclement weather such as rain or snow, and even direct bright sun, you should keep your hand on the steering wheel and be ready to take control if needed.

Remember, when you are in an aircraft and if the pilot were to put the aircraft in autopilot mode, what would you expect them to do. I believe you wouldn't want them to be roaming the aisles and talking to passengers leaving the flight control to the computer. It's the same with your car on autopilot.

And definitely DO NOT:
a) Go to sleep
b) Read any kind of literature
c) Play games
d) Watch anything other than the road and the dash/screen on your car
e) Get so engrossed in conversation with other passengers in the car or on the phone that you are not aware of road conditions.

Did you notice that all of the above also apply to driving any vehicle? I hope you get the point - it is NOT AN AUTONOMOUS vehicle so don't act like you are driving one. There is NO autonomous vehicle authorized on public roads at this time in any part of the world. Once again, autopilot is NOT autonomous. Autopilot still requires you - it will assist you but doesn't replace you.

I am sure many of you must be questioning then why have the AutoPilot. After putting over 18,000 miles on my car with autopilot, here are the advantages:
1. It does really well compared to a human driver for keeping the center of the lane.
2. The few minutes you get to relax your arms go a long way in reducing fatigue especially on long road trips.
3. Since you can relax out of a fixed body posture and less fatiguu, it helps the driver to remain more alert and less likely to doze off.
4. The ultrasonic sensors and the radar are quicker than humans to detect if another vehicle is getting into your lane and slow down your car. They also warn you instantly if you need to take over control and avoid a crash.

Ms. MacCleery/Consumer Reports - the Tesla owners who paid for the AP technology are NOT guinea pigs. Guinea pigs don't fork out $2500 to be part of an experiment. When we purchase the AP option and then subsequently enable it (Tesla makes the driver enable it from the Settings), we take responsibility of using this developing technology.

For your four recommendations, the only one I agree is about consumer education. The other three:
a) Disable autosteer till hands on wheel are required - definitely NOT. Not only is it a huge step backwards towards achieving autonomous driving, it defeats the very purpose of reducing driver fatigue. The current version gives just about sufficient time to relax your posture and reduce fatigue.
b) Stop referring to as Autopilot - It meets the current widely used concept of autopilot and changing the name is not going to make it safer. People will still call it AutoPilot no matter what Tesla renames it too.
c) No more beta releases - test within the lab. Do you know of any automotive lab that emulates every single road condition? Is it even possible to create one?? Google has been trying to collect real life data from its own Level 3 cars on public roads. However, that approach has been a slow process, does not collect sufficient data and delays the significant advantages of autonomous driving. The practice of using beta testers from public is prevalent amongst several industries including healthcare. If consumers are willing to pay Tesla or anyone else to pay for emerging technologies, then don't brute force your way and cripple their rights.

My plea to regulatory bodies and insurance companies:
1. Implement laws that support emerging technologies not cripple them.
2. Improve and standardize our roads - make our roads smarter.
3. Provide incentives for drivers and vehicles that use emerging technologies such as Autopilot as they reduce accidents and improve safety.

And to my fellow Tesla drivers - educate other drivers in your household about autopilot and help them use it responsibly. DRIVE RESPONSIBLY AND SAFE WITH AP!!

And finally back to Consumer Reports and other media - STOP MISLEADING THE PUBLIC - REPORT ON FACTS AND DON'T MISUSE STATISTICS TO PROVE A POINT!!!

Disclaimer: I do not own Tesla stock nor do I short/long Tesla stock at the time of writing. I do own Tesla vehicles with AP enabled and my only interest in writing this post is to promote autonomous driving. You have my permission to reproduce the above post outside of this forum in its entirety. However, if you want to publish parts of it, please contact me for permission.

That's a superb summary - you write like a scientist - are you? I also have experienced some increasing concerns about CR objectivity, and specifically, evidence that they buried the user satisfaction statistics they collected on Model 3 vs. other iconic and highly popular brands, discussed here. I believe that any carefully considered review of the evidence shows the that Model 3 is the best car and best sports sedan that you can buy - period - best defined in terms of a balance of virtues and class-leading functionality on multiple fronts, outlined in detail in the above link/blog on TMC.

I believe that CR has put their hands on the scale more than once in relationship to Tesla, and violated their own principles of objectivity, obviating their claims re: lack of conflict of interest funding. One can only wonder why? Lingering suspicions about Tesla as a company? Some kind of misguided loyalty to ICE and/or more legacy technology as some version of tried-and-true? In any case, they worked hard to bury the user satisfaction stats that might have exposed their lukewarm review of the car, even after the ABS code was revised, and brake distances dropped significantly. While there is no alternative to CR, I now treat their reviews a bit more skeptically.

 

[AwlBidnz]

IF we could just reduce the "bong bong" volume ;0)

 

[Jer2017]

With the recent allegations by some Tesla drivers on the failure of Autopilot on their cars and the media jumping on those incidents, this is a quick primer for every Tesla driver (including spouses, siblings, sons and daughters) and Laura MacCleery, VP of Consumer Policy and Mobilization for Consumer Reports:

Autopilot by definition is a system that is used to control the trajectory of a vehicle (aircraft, boat, spacecraft, motor vehicle) without constant "hands-on" control by a human operator. The level of control that an autopilot can perform varies even within aircrafts that are capable of using autopilots. However, autopilot should not be confused with autonomous. An autonomous driving vehicle does not need human intervention. It can navigate without human input solely based on sensing its environment.

Tesla's autopilot is a developing suite of features that meets NHTSA's level 2 unlike Google's car that meets the level 3 designation. As Elon Musk has said many times, Tesla's autopilot represents baby steps towards achieving full autonomy.

As of writing this note, Tesla's autopilot allows you to maintain lane, change lanes, and park the car. While you should keep your hands on the steering wheel, when driving on a straight road with minimal traffic, you may take off your hands from time to time to relax your arms. However, when encountering curves, construction zones, roads that don't have clear lane markings, busy traffic, inclement weather such as rain or snow, and even direct bright sun, you should keep your hand on the steering wheel and be ready to take control if needed.

Remember, when you are in an aircraft and if the pilot were to put the aircraft in autopilot mode, what would you expect them to do. I believe you wouldn't want them to be roaming the aisles and talking to passengers leaving the flight control to the computer. It's the same with your car on autopilot.

And definitely DO NOT:
a) Go to sleep
b) Read any kind of literature
c) Play games
d) Watch anything other than the road and the dash/screen on your car
e) Get so engrossed in conversation with other passengers in the car or on the phone that you are not aware of road conditions.

Did you notice that all of the above also apply to driving any vehicle? I hope you get the point - it is NOT AN AUTONOMOUS vehicle so don't act like you are driving one. There is NO autonomous vehicle authorized on public roads at this time in any part of the world. Once again, autopilot is NOT autonomous. Autopilot still requires you - it will assist you but doesn't replace you.

I am sure many of you must be questioning then why have the AutoPilot. After putting over 18,000 miles on my car with autopilot, here are the advantages:
1. It does really well compared to a human driver for keeping the center of the lane.
2. The few minutes you get to relax your arms go a long way in reducing fatigue especially on long road trips.
3. Since you can relax out of a fixed body posture and less fatiguu, it helps the driver to remain more alert and less likely to doze off.
4. The ultrasonic sensors and the radar are quicker than humans to detect if another vehicle is getting into your lane and slow down your car. They also warn you instantly if you need to take over control and avoid a crash.

Ms. MacCleery/Consumer Reports - the Tesla owners who paid for the AP technology are NOT guinea pigs. Guinea pigs don't fork out $2500 to be part of an experiment. When we purchase the AP option and then subsequently enable it (Tesla makes the driver enable it from the Settings), we take responsibility of using this developing technology.

For your four recommendations, the only one I agree is about consumer education. The other three:
a) Disable autosteer till hands on wheel are required - definitely NOT. Not only is it a huge step backwards towards achieving autonomous driving, it defeats the very purpose of reducing driver fatigue. The current version gives just about sufficient time to relax your posture and reduce fatigue.
b) Stop referring to as Autopilot - It meets the current widely used concept of autopilot and changing the name is not going to make it safer. People will still call it AutoPilot no matter what Tesla renames it too.
c) No more beta releases - test within the lab. Do you know of any automotive lab that emulates every single road condition? Is it even possible to create one?? Google has been trying to collect real life data from its own Level 3 cars on public roads. However, that approach has been a slow process, does not collect sufficient data and delays the significant advantages of autonomous driving. The practice of using beta testers from public is prevalent amongst several industries including healthcare. If consumers are willing to pay Tesla or anyone else to pay for emerging technologies, then don't brute force your way and cripple their rights.

My plea to regulatory bodies and insurance companies:
1. Implement laws that support emerging technologies not cripple them.
2. Improve and standardize our roads - make our roads smarter.
3. Provide incentives for drivers and vehicles that use emerging technologies such as Autopilot as they reduce accidents and improve safety.

And to my fellow Tesla drivers - educate other drivers in your household about autopilot and help them use it responsibly. DRIVE RESPONSIBLY AND SAFE WITH AP!!

And finally back to Consumer Reports and other media - STOP MISLEADING THE PUBLIC - REPORT ON FACTS AND DON'T MISUSE STATISTICS TO PROVE A POINT!!!

2. Improve and standardize our roads - make our roads smarter.The research and data from that research support your suggestion.
3. Providing incentives is a positive suggestion and moves behavior in the right direction.
1. Implementing laws based on solid science will work but many laws are written by legislators that do no have solid science in their background/education. This category needs to be tested and retested in real world conditions. Your piece is well written and thoughtful.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tesla stock nor do I short/long Tesla stock at the time of writing. I do own Tesla vehicles with AP enabled and my only interest in writing this post is to promote autonomous driving. You have my permission to reproduce the above post outside of this forum in its entirety. However, if you want to publish parts of it, please contact me for permission.

 

[AwlBidnz]

If anyone still has an online consumer reports account, comments should be made. Personally, I didn't think the article was that bad. Autopilot is not Autonomous. EAP has improved in several ways since they tested it. Additionally, I don't recall them mentioning how the software improves over time. Will be interesting to see when & what is needed for the FSD upgrade that they are having pricing issues over. I assume a new MCU????

 

[MaryAnning3]

You left out one major benefit of the AP suite of driver assist features: AP reduces road rage. AP makes it easy to maintain a safe steady speed. It discourages aggressive driving behavior. Because of the lack of latency a Tesla is surgical in its precision. This can lead to very aggressive driving. With AP on the driver relaxes more and goes with the flow so to speak.

so true. so well put. Thank you.

 

[gjlian]

They do that but what do you do with NimRods who are not paying attention to the Autopilot warnings it's going to disconnect if the driver does not comply and they are also not aware that the car actually disconnecting. Or worse they take corrective action for what they think is an autopilot error and that causes the car to give them back control when they have not acknowledged or accepted that responsibility.

So to net it out there is a disconnect between expectations with the nut behind the steering wheel and the car.

Using AP represents a fundamental shift in how people drive cars. Maybe as some media preaches, we should not have automatic driving features until we reach full autonomy. Some of the public and media don't seem to understand the difference or accept this interim capability. So we all lose because of it.

With the recent allegations by some Tesla drivers on the failure of Autopilot on their cars and the media jumping on those incidents, this is a quick primer for every Tesla driver (including spouses, siblings, sons and daughters) and Laura MacCleery, VP of Consumer Policy and Mobilization for Consumer Reports:

Autopilot by definition is a system that is used to control the trajectory of a vehicle (aircraft, boat, spacecraft, motor vehicle) without constant "hands-on" control by a human operator. The level of control that an autopilot can perform varies even within aircrafts that are capable of using autopilots. However, autopilot should not be confused with autonomous. An autonomous driving vehicle does not need human intervention. It can navigate without human input solely based on sensing its environment.

Tesla's autopilot is a developing suite of features that meets NHTSA's level 2 unlike Google's car that meets the level 3 designation. As Elon Musk has said many times, Tesla's autopilot represents baby steps towards achieving full autonomy.

As of writing this note, Tesla's autopilot allows you to maintain lane, change lanes, and park the car. While you should keep your hands on the steering wheel, when driving on a straight road with minimal traffic, you may take off your hands from time to time to relax your arms. However, when encountering curves, construction zones, roads that don't have clear lane markings, busy traffic, inclement weather such as rain or snow, and even direct bright sun, you should keep your hand on the steering wheel and be ready to take control if needed.

Remember, when you are in an aircraft and if the pilot were to put the aircraft in autopilot mode, what would you expect them to do. I believe you wouldn't want them to be roaming the aisles and talking to passengers leaving the flight control to the computer. It's the same with your car on autopilot.

And definitely DO NOT:
a) Go to sleep
b) Read any kind of literature
c) Play games
d) Watch anything other than the road and the dash/screen on your car
e) Get so engrossed in conversation with other passengers in the car or on the phone that you are not aware of road conditions.

Did you notice that all of the above also apply to driving any vehicle? I hope you get the point - it is NOT AN AUTONOMOUS vehicle so don't act like you are driving one. There is NO autonomous vehicle authorized on public roads at this time in any part of the world. Once again, autopilot is NOT autonomous. Autopilot still requires you - it will assist you but doesn't replace you.

I am sure many of you must be questioning then why have the AutoPilot. After putting over 18,000 miles on my car with autopilot, here are the advantages:
1. It does really well compared to a human driver for keeping the center of the lane.
2. The few minutes you get to relax your arms go a long way in reducing fatigue especially on long road trips.
3. Since you can relax out of a fixed body posture and less fatiguu, it helps the driver to remain more alert and less likely to doze off.
4. The ultrasonic sensors and the radar are quicker than humans to detect if another vehicle is getting into your lane and slow down your car. They also warn you instantly if you need to take over control and avoid a crash.

Ms. MacCleery/Consumer Reports - the Tesla owners who paid for the AP technology are NOT guinea pigs. Guinea pigs don't fork out $2500 to be part of an experiment. When we purchase the AP option and then subsequently enable it (Tesla makes the driver enable it from the Settings), we take responsibility of using this developing technology.

For your four recommendations, the only one I agree is about consumer education. The other three:
a) Disable autosteer till hands on wheel are required - definitely NOT. Not only is it a huge step backwards towards achieving autonomous driving, it defeats the very purpose of reducing driver fatigue. The current version gives just about sufficient time to relax your posture and reduce fatigue.
b) Stop referring to as Autopilot - It meets the current widely used concept of autopilot and changing the name is not going to make it safer. People will still call it AutoPilot no matter what Tesla renames it too.
c) No more beta releases - test within the lab. Do you know of any automotive lab that emulates every single road condition? Is it even possible to create one?? Google has been trying to collect real life data from its own Level 3 cars on public roads. However, that approach has been a slow process, does not collect sufficient data and delays the significant advantages of autonomous driving. The practice of using beta testers from public is prevalent amongst several industries including healthcare. If consumers are willing to pay Tesla or anyone else to pay for emerging technologies, then don't brute force your way and cripple their rights.

My plea to regulatory bodies and insurance companies:
1. Implement laws that support emerging technologies not cripple them.
2. Improve and standardize our roads - make our roads smarter.
3. Provide incentives for drivers and vehicles that use emerging technologies such as Autopilot as they reduce accidents and improve safety.

And to my fellow Tesla drivers - educate other drivers in your household about autopilot and help them use it responsibly. DRIVE RESPONSIBLY AND SAFE WITH AP!!

And finally back to Consumer Reports and other media - STOP MISLEADING THE PUBLIC - REPORT ON FACTS AND DON'T MISUSE STATISTICS TO PROVE A POINT!!!

Disclaimer: I do not own Tesla stock nor do I short/long Tesla stock at the time of writing. I do own Tesla vehicles with AP enabled and my only interest in writing this post is to promote autonomous driving. You have my permission to reproduce the above post outside of this forum in its entirety. However, if you want to publish parts of it, please contact me for permission.

This is an extremely well written post. The only issue I think that is sometimes left out of this and many discussions on AP is the fact that it "lulls the driver" into a false sense of security. You need to always be vigilant when driving with or w/o AP. As I see it AP works very well 99% of the time but its that 1% that gets people into trouble and can in fact be deadly. I know with myself I have only used it for a couple of (1) week trial periods and was impressed but I will always have my reservations...

 

[Electroman]

I know with myself I have only used it for a couple of (1) week trial periods and was impressed but I will always have my reservations...

One week is not enough to make a judgement on how it will change people's behavior. Talk to someone who has driven for tens of thousands of miles over multiple years.

Start driving in conditions where AP will do very well and stay within speed limits in the beginning. Take time to learn the pluses and minuses of the system. An ounce of common sense is all that is needed: not pushing AP to its limits, driving at a comfortable speed for the conditions, not driving on construction zones, extra watchful or not driving with fuzzy, confusing degraded lane markers, and avoiding scenarios that AP is known to be bad such as widening lanes (lane splits, exits, mergers), and not detecting lane creepers.

You then won't end up writing something like this: "I was in the left lane going at 85 on a 65 road, on a curve when a left exit suddenly popped up, and although the lines were fuzzy it was clear to my eyes and then suddenly... blah blah.. "

 

[dfwatt]

One would think it is much easier to fall asleep using Autopilot. But the opposite has occurred in practice. Not only do I not feel sleepy on longer trips but once I get to my destination, I am so much more relaxed.

Exactly our experience. And it's consistent with research showing that the most neurologically fatiguing aspects of driving have to do with speed matching and Lane centering. Autopilot takes those off your plate and basically instead of those cognitively draining and tiring activities you simply have to supervise the system and intervene periodically when it does some of its less desirable stuff.

I see that less desirable stuff as a function of the system sometimes being too paranoid and other times not paranoid enough. But overall it is a superb system to help the driver on long distance driving. Anyone who has actually worked with it and use it over a period of weeks to months, and who isn't insisting that it do things it can't and isn't certified to do would be loathe to give it up. Is it perfect? Of course not. Is it great? Unquestionably!

 

[Electroman]

Someone in this thread(or another one) said, they were able to watch for deer crossing the road at this time of the year, much more easily with more alertness driving in AP. Because if you are removed of the mundane tasks of working the pedals and steering, you get a second or two more to eyeball your surroundings.

Your situational awareness is increased, because you don't have to worry about the guy in front slowing down or the next curve.

 

[SR22pilot]

Research data as opposed to opinion:
https://hcai.mit.edu/tesla-autopilot-human-side.pdf

 

[EKC4Solar]

Well said!

I agree with what you have put together. My favorite part was your clear explanation of Autopilot vs. Autonomous driving.

I am going to make "Autopilot vs. Autonomous driving" my opening salvo when uninformed people start ragging on Autopilot.

Thanks!

 

[King_M3D]

Completely agreed, I found myself setting Autopilot to 65 mph on my regular 25 miles commute route on an Interstate highway and let the car take over. I would just follow the traffic and slows down as the car in front of me slowing down. Instead of speeding up and trying to weave in and out of traffic which are:

1. Riskier behavior
2. Create more traffic jam

I am doing this because now I do not feel the need to "do something" about the traffic and also want to get better mileage out of the car. We all know that speeding an extra 10-15 mph on on a trip like this will not likely to get you to your destination significantly faster but just make you think you are there sooner. With AP, it completely takes that urge out of me.

And the Sound System is fantastic!