AutoPilot - note to drivers and Consumer Reports

[Red Sage]

I wonder why nobody has requested that we should have access to the data, what percentage of the time am I manually driving my Tesla versus what percentage of the time am I using Auto-Steering?

Also if Tesla Motors were to publish data monthly about how many miles/hours of driving are done under each mode and what percentage of accidents are occurring in each mode. This would go a long way in helping to curb any public anxiety towards more semi-autonomous driving technology.

I think I may have seen a video, don't remember where, that intimated there will come a time when effectively, you never do actually 'drive manually' anymore. Each and every input you give to the car will be checked, double checked, quadruple checked and more by the computer system to determine whether or not it is a safe and proper maneuver, then the car will allow itself to take you to where it believes you want to go in the safest possible manner. It will be completely seamless. Everyone will think they are such a GREAT driver. And, every time they try to drive something else (even a car they used to 'love' for it's 'communication with the road'), it will feel like ancient, sluggish, unresponsive crap in a soggy bag by comparison. Then, when they get back into their electric car it will remind them how much they love to 'drive' it once more. Our electronic overlords will keep us all safe. Honest. You are welcome.

 

[GoTslaGo]

I think I may have seen a video, don't remember where, that intimated there will come a time when effectively, you never do actually 'drive manually' anymore. Each and every input you give to the car will be checked, double checked, quadruple checked and more by the computer system to determine whether or not it is a safe and proper maneuver, then the car will allow itself to take you to where it believes you want to go in the safest possible manner. It will be completely seamless. Everyone will think they are such a GREAT driver. And, every time they try to drive something else (even a car they used to 'love' for it's 'communication with the road'), it will feel like ancient, sluggish, unresponsive crap in a soggy bag by comparison. Then, when they get back into their electric car it will remind them how much they love to 'drive' it once more. Our electronic overlords will keep us all safe. Honest. You are welcome.

There have been posts here where owners have reported that they pulled off maneuvers in their Teslas that they didn't think was possible. To the posters' credit, they swore that the car did it (not that they were such amazing drivers). And in these cases, that I recall, none were using autopilot. You may be a lot closer to the truth than we know.

 

[JGInnovation]

Malcolm Gladwell's podcast covers Toyota's unintended acceleration controversy. If you haven't listened to it, then you can find it here. It talks about Consumer Reports recommendations and how fundamentally dangerous they are. You just can't trust CR when it relates to safety whether its AutoPilot or unintended acceleration. Maybe they are desperate? Incompetent? I don't know.

 

[msnow]

I was at the Tesla 'D' Event and I was floored by a very limited demonstration of Autopilot. It has advanced considerably beyond that since then. I am not convinced that the 'improvements' you attributed to Consumer Reports' criticisms of Autopilot would not have happened anyway.

I'm fairly certain that other than TACC, AutoPilot software didn't come out until a year later (October 2015) so they had nothing to demonstrate.

I am crediting media in general (not just CR) as there were dozens upon dozens of large credible news outlets writing stories critical of AP at the time but more importantly I'm crediting the involvement of the NHTSA and Tesla for working through these issues. If you will recall, Tesla's response at the time was there's nothing wrong with AP (other than Elon's tweet about the false positives of the front camera), it's the drivers responsibility which they agree to every time they turn it on, etc, etc. So media and regulators helped here even if it was just to accelerate change. Win/win.

No one is disputing the name change argument. It's a red herring.

 

[GoCanes]

I just listened to the Gladwell podcast - great insight from him, as always! He accuses CR of malpractice in the unintended acceleration matter. But he does provide cautionary advice about drivers' responsibility for controlling their cars. That advice applies even today in the autopilot era!

 

[Red Sage]

I'm fairly certain that other than TACC, AutoPilot software didn't come out until a year later (October 2015) so they had nothing to demonstrate.

Wait... "...nothing to demonstrate..." Really?

I guess I just imagined the second half of that video, then.

 

[msnow]

Wait... "...nothing to demonstrate..." Really?

I guess I just imagined the second half of that video, then.

Right. So first of all that was a terrible video. If you were trying to show us something, it was blocked by people's heads, shoulders and darkness so whatever your point was is lost in that. So big fail on that illustration although unless you shot it it's not your fault. In the audio everyone's yelling about how awesome it is which seems to be contrary to what you said. In any case the "beta" software came out a year later so I wouldn't expect an alpha proof of concept to blow me away.

 

[bhzmark]

CR now states:

Safety Agency Closes Tesla Investigation Without Ordering Recall

"The agency also analyzed the crash rates in model year 2014-2016 Tesla Model S and 2016 Model X vehicles and found that the crash rate dropped by almost 40 percent after Autosteer was installed.

"But Teslas that have Autosteer also have automatic emergency braking (automatic emergency braking was added in a few months before Autosteer in 2015), which the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety says reduces rear-end crashes by 40 percent. Consumer Reports has follow-up questions into NHTSA about how much of the Tesla crash decline might be attributable to automatic emergency braking."

"The Tesla crash caused safety advocates, including Consumer Reports, to question whether the name Autopilot, as well as the marketing hype of its roll-out, promoted a dangerously premature assumption that the Model S was capable of truly driving on its own. Tesla’s own press release for the system announced “Your Autopilot has arrived” and promised to relieve drivers “of the most tedious and potentially dangerous aspects of road travel.” The release also stated that the driver “is still responsible for, and ultimately in control of, the car.”

"Consumer Reports believes that these two messages—your vehicle can drive itself, but you may need to take over the controls at a moment’s notice—create potential for driver confusion. It also increases the possibility that drivers using Autopilot may not be engaged enough to to react quickly to emergency situations.

"In general, though Consumer Reports supports technology that advances the consumer interest, the independent, nonprofit organization believes in a careful balance of innovation and safety.

"NHTSA’s Thomas said the agency was interested in nurturing new safety technologies, and it wanted to encourage innovation even as different automakers experiment with different methods. Eventually, the industry will settle on best practices. In the meantime, the agency will continue to investigate and take action as necessary, he said."​

The first point is an interesting one. Close readers of the NHTSA report will note that it compared AP1 hardware cars BEFORE Autosteer was enabled with AP1 hardware cars AFTER autosteer was enabled. They report a 40% reduction in accidents in the latter. CR appears to be uncomfortable with this fact -- revealing that their recommendation to disable Autopilot, if followed, would have INCREASED accidents.

So CR posits that the decrease was primarily explained by AEB. I think the timing is off and doesn't support their point. If AEB didn't function until Autosteer was enabled in October 2015, and for cars purchased after that AEB didn't function until the person paid for an enabled autosteer, CR's point would be a good one. But that is not the correct timing.

But I'm pretty sure that the facts are that AEB was functional in AP1 cars well before autosteer was enabled (at least back to March 2015?). And for those cars purchased without Autosteer enabled, AEB was already functional whether they paid for Autopilot/Autosteer or not, and the AEB functionality didn't change when they later enabled AutoPilot.

It looks like CR is just dead wrong and this is just a pathetic attempt to try to explain away the difficult fact that the Autopilot that they were so afraid of and alarmist about, reduced accidents and probably saved lives.

 

[Red Sage]

"The agency also analyzed the crash rates in model year 2014-2016 Tesla Model S and 2016 Model X vehicles and found that the crash rate dropped by almost 40 percent after Autosteer was installed."​

So... that would be a GOOD thing, right?

"But Teslas that have Autosteer also have automatic emergency braking (automatic emergency braking was added in a few months before Autosteer in 2015), which the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety says reduces rear-end crashes by 40 percent. Consumer Reports has follow-up questions into NHTSA about how much of the Tesla crash decline might be attributable to automatic emergency braking."​

Yes, and both Autosteer and automatic emergency braking are inherent aspects of Autopilot, as noted in the initial presentation on October 9, 2014 by Tesla, right?

"The Tesla crash caused safety advocates, including Consumer Reports, to question whether the name Autopilot, as well as the marketing hype of its roll-out, promoted a dangerously premature assumption that the Model S was capable of truly driving on its own. Tesla's own press release for the system announced "Your Autopilot has arrived" and promised to relieve drivers "of the most tedious and potentially dangerous aspects of road travel." The release also stated that the driver "is still responsible for, and ultimately in control of, the car.""​

So, your issue is more one of an English journalism lesson than one of technical expertise then, right?

"Consumer Reports believes that these two messages—your vehicle can drive itself, but you may need to take over the controls at a moment’s notice—create potential for driver confusion. It also increases the possibility that drivers using Autopilot may not be engaged enough to to react quickly to emergency situations."​

Well, to [BLANKETY] [FLOCKING] [HECK] with what you believe! You guys had a knee-jerk reaction and posted your 'beliefs' too early and with substandard practices. You should have waited until... Oh, perhaps... NOW to tell the world what you... 'think'.

"In general, though Consumer Reports supports technology that advances the consumer interest, the independent, nonprofit organization believes in a careful balance of innovation and safety."​

Yeah, well, whatever... Howzabout using some of that 'careful balance' in your reporting in the future?

"NHTSA's Thomas said the agency was interested in nurturing new safety technologies, and it wanted to encourage innovation even as different automakers experiment with different methods. Eventually, the industry will settle on best practices. In the meantime, the agency will continue to investigate and take action as necessary, he said."​

So, basically, they told you guys to shut the [FLOCK] up and mind your own [DURNED] business. Good.

 

[EinSV]

CR now states:

Safety Agency Closes Tesla Investigation Without Ordering Recall

"The agency also analyzed the crash rates in model year 2014-2016 Tesla Model S and 2016 Model X vehicles and found that the crash rate dropped by almost 40 percent after Autosteer was installed.

"But Teslas that have Autosteer also have automatic emergency braking (automatic emergency braking was added in a few months before Autosteer in 2015), which the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety says reduces rear-end crashes by 40 percent. Consumer Reports has follow-up questions into NHTSA about how much of the Tesla crash decline might be attributable to automatic emergency braking."

"The Tesla crash caused safety advocates, including Consumer Reports, to question whether the name Autopilot, as well as the marketing hype of its roll-out, promoted a dangerously premature assumption that the Model S was capable of truly driving on its own. Tesla’s own press release for the system announced “Your Autopilot has arrived” and promised to relieve drivers “of the most tedious and potentially dangerous aspects of road travel.” The release also stated that the driver “is still responsible for, and ultimately in control of, the car.”

"Consumer Reports believes that these two messages—your vehicle can drive itself, but you may need to take over the controls at a moment’s notice—create potential for driver confusion. It also increases the possibility that drivers using Autopilot may not be engaged enough to to react quickly to emergency situations.

"In general, though Consumer Reports supports technology that advances the consumer interest, the independent, nonprofit organization believes in a careful balance of innovation and safety.

"NHTSA’s Thomas said the agency was interested in nurturing new safety technologies, and it wanted to encourage innovation even as different automakers experiment with different methods. Eventually, the industry will settle on best practices. In the meantime, the agency will continue to investigate and take action as necessary, he said."​

The first point is an interesting one. Close readers of the NHTSA report will note that it compared AP1 hardware cars BEFORE Autosteer was enabled with AP1 hardware cars AFTER autosteer was enabled. They report a 40% reduction in accidents in the latter. CR appears to be uncomfortable with this fact -- revealing that their recommendation to disable Autopilot, if followed, would have INCREASED accidents.

So CR posits that the decrease was primarily explained by AEB. I think the timing is off and doesn't support their point. If AEB didn't function until Autosteer was enabled in October 2015, and for cars purchased after that AEB didn't function until the person paid for an enabled autosteer, CR's point would be a good one. But that is not the correct timing.

But I'm pretty sure that the facts are that AEB was functional in AP1 cars well before autosteer was enabled (at least back to March 2015?). And for those cars purchased without Autosteer enabled, AEB was already functional whether they paid for Autopilot/Autosteer or not, and the AEB functionality didn't change when they later enabled AutoPilot.

It looks like CR is just dead wrong and this is just a pathetic attempt to try to explain away the difficult fact that the Autopilot that they were so afraid of and alarmist about, reduced accidents and probably saved lives.

Well, CR has to get some credit for some very slick sleight of hand in the use of statistics.

In addition to the points you mention, the 40% reduction in accidents the IIHS predicts if AEB is adopted industry-wide is only for rear end collisions. In its Autopilot report, the NHTSA bolded, underlined and italicized "rear-end crashes" to make this distinction very clear. And CR has been working on AEB for many years, to it is very well aware that AEB's effectiveness appears to be limited to rear-end collisions.

But rear-end collisions make up only 23-30% of all accidents. Rear-end collision - Wikipedia

So even using the IIHS prediction, and even if you were to assume that all cars w/o AP enabled also did not have AEB (which is incorrect), AEB would only be predicted to decrease total accidents by about 10%, not 40%.

In fact, AEB may be even less effective than this at overall accident avoidance. A recent IIHS study found that AEB plus Forward Collision Warning reduced overall accidents by only 6%, which did not even reach the level of statistical significance. http://orfe.princeton.edu/~alaink/S...s/IIHS-CicchinoEffectivenessOfCWS-Jan2016.pdf (see pages 1 and 15.)

So aside from other problems, the 40% to 40% comparison is deceptive and misleading -- truly apples and oranges. But most casual readers will not pick up on this since the 40% to 40% association CR makes in its statement is so easy for the mind to latch onto.

Disappointing. Unfortunately, not surprising at this point given the hole CR has dug for itself on Autopilot.

CR is promoting AEB and Forward Collision Warning as the "among the most promising safety advances we’ve seen since electronic stability control almost two decades ago.” Virtually All New Cars to Have Standard Automatic Emergency Braking by 2022

Preliminary data suggests that AP may already be far more effective at avoiding accidents than what CR sees as "among the most promising safety advances" in two decades. And it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that AP will only get better with fleet learning and better AP2 hardware.

 

[Lex_MIT]

The OP summary of how Autopilot is ought to be used and why using it is enjoyable is really good. Our work with large scale naturalistic data at MIT confirms a lot of his anecdotal findings.

 

[xkwizit]

Thanks @Lex_MIT for MIT’s scientific research confirming my post.

 

[AutoPilotBuddy]

Can't like yet as I'm new to the forum but what a great discussion.
I think indeed the problem is with AP that there should be possibilities for half a day trainings with the AP offered by Tesla. Remember the older people that were able (and still are) to follow courses on "how to use Word and Excell" in the early days....

I also liked the quote: Interesting that one person's beta (Tesla's) is better than another person's (MB, Hyundai, Infiniti) finished product.
Don't remember who posted that but had a good laugh, thanks for that.

 

[Off Shore]

Can't like yet as I'm new to the forum but what a great discussion.
I think indeed the problem is with AP that there should be possibilities for half a day trainings with the AP offered by Tesla. Remember the older people that were able (and still are) to follow courses on "how to use Word and Excell" in the early days....

I also liked the quote: Interesting that one person's beta (Tesla's) is better than another person's (MB, Hyundai, Infiniti) finished product.
Don't remember who posted that but had a good laugh, thanks for that.

Careful what you say about old people, lad. If you want a great intro to Autopilot read and share this.

Edit: PS, welcome!

 

[Electroman]

The new Mercedes E-Class includes the optional Street Pilot which maintains and changes the lane. I watched a video review and it seems to work great. But I'm not sure if it is offered in the United States at this time. Could be restricted to Germany only. There are also rumors about Over The Air updates for this model.

ya... and...?

 

[AutoPilotBuddy]

Careful what you say about old people, lad. If you want a great intro to Autopilot read and share this.
!

Great Stuff Papafox ! nice to read indeed your great lessons on the AP for novice users. Thanks for sharing

 

[Laurenf00]

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.

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.

 

[IanMcL]

I drive from South to North and back every fortnight. I am now 65 and found myself nodding and having to take a break, sometimes. In some instances, it was a fair distance to the next services. Windows open etc.

I bought my Tesla with safety in mind,as well as the cool thought of zero emissions. Autopilot was a must.

2 months later, I treat the charge stop as a good time to break and do stuff...like eat and drink. I use Autopilot on Mways and Duals and it is brilliant. I feel fine, not tired when I arrive.

The only drawback is the need to keep a grip on the wheel! That is not meaning I wish to drive with no hands. It is that annoying intervention, which tells you to apply pressure. I already have hand(s) on the wheel, but relaxed. Grrr!

Love my Tesla S and supercharger but especially autopilot!

 

[teethdood]

I drive from South to North and back every fortnight. I am now 65 and found myself nodding and having to take a break, sometimes. In some instances, it was a fair distance to the next services. Windows open etc.

I bought my Tesla with safety in mind,as well as the cool thought of zero emissions. Autopilot was a must.

2 months later, I treat the charge stop as a good time to break and do stuff...like eat and drink. I use Autopilot on Mways and Duals and it is brilliant. I feel fine, not tired when I arrive.

The only drawback is the need to keep a grip on the wheel! That is not meaning I wish to drive with no hands. It is that annoying intervention, which tells you to apply pressure. I already have hand(s) on the wheel, but relaxed. Grrr!

Love my Tesla S and supercharger but especially autopilot!

I hear ya. Tesla should make a steering wheel with heart rate monitor pads (like the elliptical machines) to detect whether your hands are on the wheel. Easter egg would be to display your heart rate (of course showing how relaxed we get overtime while on AP). Would be kinda neat.

 

[Dave Mac]

The only drawback is the need to keep a grip on the wheel! That is not meaning I wish to drive with no hands. It is that annoying intervention, which tells you to apply pressure. I already have hand(s) on the wheel, but relaxed. Grrr!

While I look forward to the day that hands-free Autopilot/FSD is safe and effective, I have found that the current limitation is just fine on my Model 3. Knowing that there needs to be some slight torque (rotational force) on the wheel, I can rest two fingers on the bottom right side of the wheel or my left hand/thumb on the wheel with no nags ever.