AP is a tool for certain purposes. You have to use common sense to discern which purposes. Windy two lanes roads or roads with lots of hills or bad lane markings are at the edge of and sometimes past its competency. Those roads probably make up < 20% of miles traveled for most people. Well marked relatively straight or gentle curving roads, or slower heavily trafficed roads make up most driving and that is where driving is most boring and tedious and precisely where AP shines. Use AP for the cases where it is competent.
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AutoPilot trial, well it is a disappointment
- Thread starter trm2
- Start date
AP is a tool for certain purposes. You have to use common sense to discern which purposes. Windy two lanes roads or roads with lots of hills or bad lane markings are at the edge of and sometimes past its competency. Those roads probably make up < 20% of miles traveled for most people. Well marked relatively straight or gentle curving roads, or slower heavily trafficed roads make up most driving and that is where driving is most boring and tedious and precisely where AP shines. Use AP for the cases where it is competent.
I actually wrote in my post that i could see myself using it driving from LA to SF.
However road trips comprise would typically comprise less than 10% of most drivers' miles. So the more relevant question might be how useful it is on a day to day basis and how trustworthy and reliable it is in it's current form.
The fact that both you and the other guy admitted that sometimes you can trust it and sometimes you can't is telling.
And what does that mean for FSD? If autopilot cant handle 20% of roads, how can that be only a few months away?
It doesn't -have- to be LA to SF, or LA to Vegas for EAP to be functional. Anytime you hop on a highway it's great.
It can take you an hour to drive 25 miles from Mission Viejo to Disneyland. EAP is usable and works well the entire time you are in that traffic.
10% is a total arbitrary number for EAP miles that is thrown out there. Could be more, could be less.
I'll also throw out an example of a long road in SoCal where EAP works just fine in - Jamboree. You can almost be 100% on EAP almost as is and traverse that entire local road.
The only reason you can't is it because it can't read red lights. That will be one of the first things FSD will have to do.
FSD is also incremental and iterative, just like EAP. It won't do 100% of its eventual goal but it will start somewhere and go up from there.
Full FSD is worth much more than $3,000 - try $30,000+. So you pay a low price for a lower set of features now.
Lastly, I don't get the "admitting I can trust it, sometimes I can't?". I'm not on trial and Elon is not my relative.
I'm a Tesla driver and user just like you and anyone else I believe? It makes no sense to say EAP is great when it isn't.
The difference between you and I is I look at things objectively. rather than have an emotional "Tesla sucks, I hate everything they do mentality" from the get go.
docbrown
Member
Someone mentioned that Tesla has done these trials in the past. During past trials, were there any reports of Tesla forgiving the $1k penalty of not buying it with the purchase of the car? I've only had my car for a month, and am in the trial period right now. If I do decide I want to buy it, the $1k penalty will stop me from buying just on principle, I won't be able to talk myself into buying something for $6k that I could have got a month ago for $5k.
Not that I heard.
Imagine everyone that paid the higher price to add later crying no fair...
Amp Dup
Member
Amp Dup
Member
I don't understand. A feature that is included on any competitive car should cost extra on a Tesla because the battery is so expensive?
That feature is priced into your (say) $25k car. It is a $20k car with a $2k feature priced at say $25k. Cars themselves are actaully quite cheap to build. We pay extra with higher margins for luxury and tech features on top of the basic platform.
Sorry to say but the Model S is a great looking electrified VW passat or equivalent. Where I live Passat does not come with ACC without paying for a $5k extras pack of some sort of another.
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Buy the Honda Pilot. It sounds like a great deal. It has TACC included for free. Problem solved!
Well I thought I would reply to my own post as I now have the trial and interestingly for me, it occurred half way through my 4000 mile road trip around Europe. I got to travel from Norway to the south of Italy without auto pilot and from there to home with auto pilot. So here are some observations.
I was able to use TACC pretty much all the time and appreciated often. However, auto steer is next to useless on the German autobahn as you are either driving way too fast for auto pilot or you are in roadworks. Italy is pretty dangerous for auto steer because half the drivers straddle two lanes on the freeways which confuses the hell out of it and the rest of Italy is way too bendy. Austria is pretty bendy as well, at least the route I took and for most of the time autopilot wasn't available.
I didn't feel any less tires on the way home than I did on the way there but TACC is great for traffic jams and a sense of well being when dealing with Italian drivers
To sum up, for much of the trip home auto steer was not able to engage at all but was fun occasionally, TACC is the big difference.
It's an expensive TACC.
golfpilot
Member
My model 3 is down for service and the S75 they gave me doesn't have EAP activated. I drive 160-180 miles a day, 2-3 times a week in California freeway traffic, not having Adaptive cruise control is not a good time. Its one of the reasons I bought a Tesla and my attitude is better at the end of the day because of it. I think it might be worth my time to call and ask nicely to put a trial on the car I'm driving...? Anybody tried that?
How do I know if I have the trial? When I picked up my M3 it didn't prompt me for a EAP trial. I accidently discovered it when I was playing around in the menu and saw I can toggle to activate autosteer. I just tried it this morning and it worked! Is there any indicator that I'm in the trial period?
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