Peteski
Active Member
I too punted on Autopilot, as for me that was too much money for what I consider a buggy feature. If I must remain alert to catch the mistakes then I must remain alert and therefore i might as well be driving.
I was of that opinion until I actually started using AP. It's true that you have to stay fully alert, but it does still remove a lot of the monotony of mundane driving, especially in traffic or endless motorway cruising. One thing I have noticed more is how poor many drivers are at simply staying centred in their lane. I notice their wandering (as they get distracted) a lot more than I used to. AP2 is now very accurate, at least as good as I was while fully concentrating. What it isn't very good at is reacting to sudden change e.g. a car suddenly coming across your lane or a sudden change in lane width. That's when you have to be prepared to take over. But when cruising on a well marked road with nothing unusual going on, it's totally bombproof and doesn't get distracted or tired like humans have a tendency to do. TACC is also very competent at following a line of traffic moving at variable speed. You just steer the car without all the tedious throttle and brake action. Again you just have to remain wary of the unexpected e.g. a car in front suddenly braking very heavily - helps if you set following distance to 6 or 7. Two months in and I'm probably using TACC and AP for more than 50% of my driving and that percentage is definitely increasing every week. I'm now so glad I paid for it, but it is very expensive for something I've lived without all my life. For me AP is one of the key features that sets Tesla apart from much of its competition and makes the car so interesting to drive.