I very much appreciate your comments and explanation. I'd add this follow up and to further explicate my critique of FSD vs. EAP as it now exists (June 2024) on a car with FSD:
Everyone has a different driving style. I skew conservative. Others are more spirited or aggressive. On the highway, with FSD disabled, i.e. using EAP, the smart features are predictable and within my control. As an example, the car does not make lane changes unless I invoke same with a turn signal. With FSD, the car will change lanes according to its internal criteria, which appears to include, getting to the destination in the shortest possible time. This may reflect the interests of the majority of drivers, but not me! FSD should include options that allow each driver to customize for their individual styles. Clearly this is possible, because a rough version is available by disabling FSD, but Tesla has chosen not to implement it.
My problem on local roads is more acute. FSD crapped out three times in a row during three complex turns (two lanes of traffic turning). For me, this is not acceptable. I am not prepared to monitor my car's behavior on that granular level. Had I failed to take over rapidly, I (or FSD) would have caused a collision. Some drivers may be willing and able to respond to those situations, but I am not. Easier to skip FSD and drive it myself. I do not have a problem with FSD in general, and I hope that it eventually will meet the hopes and expectations that we all share. But I am willing or able to be a test subject.
Given that EAP is seamless & effective I hope that Tesla doesn't discontinue it and force us to use FSD on the highway, unless they refine the options available.
There are different driving styles available in FSD today. Elon indicated that they are getting renamed.
The basic rules for lane management seems be
- Don't drive in the right lane
- If in a lane and someone comes up behind you, move right to let them pass
- Change lanes if current speed is less than about 5 mph below set speed
My cars have no issues with two turn lanes in either direction.
FSD requires learning, your learning on how it works. It is common for people to override it because it is obviously about to cause an accident. But if you go back and do the same thing again, you often find that the car handles the situation with no issues.
A great example of this is nearly a year ago, I was driving down a road and there was a postal carrier pulled off at a mailbox. What would you do? It's obvious that the car is going to have a collision.
I let the car continue, paying close attention. And guess what, it correctly moved partially into the other lane and passed the mail carrier.
And then a few weeks later, it happened again. Except this time there was a car coming at us. Oh no, it's going to crash.
But I let the car continue on. It slowed down, stopped, waiting for oncoming traffic to pass and then moved partially into the other lane and passed the mail carrier.
In another case, it was coming up on a bicycle in the same direction on extremely curvy roads with limited viewing. It slowed down to the bicycles speed and patiently waited for enough viewing distance before moving partially into the other lane and passing the bike.
It takes time to learn FSD. I've used it since it was born. Previous version couldn't even take a turn if it was too sharp, but that was 4+ years ago. FSD successfully ran the Tail of the Dragon a few years ago, a huge jump in capability.