Today I spent about an hour driving my fathers mid-2015 car on V8.0 using Autopilot and noticed some striking differences compared to the several hours of AP driving I have done in his car with V7.1. All my driving in his car using AP has been done on Orange County, California, freeways in moderate to heavy traffic.
My experience was that V8.0 AP is greatly improved in these areas:
-- TACC decel and accel is much smoother and happens earlier in response to cars ahead of you moving in and out of your lane.
-- Lane centering is improved, including on curves.
-- I had two instances of the car automatically biasing to the far edge of the lane when passing a truck (and the drivers display accurately indicated I was next to a truck, not a passenger car). That said, it did not do that every time I passed a truck, and it didn't always accurately detect a truck next to me by showing the truck incon on the display, it showed the passenger car icon (even a big tanker truck).
-- Yes, the car does request the driver put their hands on the wheel every few minutes if they are not touching the wheel. I found that all I had to do to dismiss that message was very slightly tug on the wheel (not enough to effect the steering or turn off AP) with one hand and then let go. I do not consider that annoying. I could also rest my hands very lightly on the wheel and occasionally tug on it to avoid the alert. To me the increased frequency of alerts is a non issue.
There was one time where I disengaged AP in a curve because it was too close to the lane line. I was on the car pool single lane overpass from the 405 south to the 55 north. It is not a smooth curve and at one point the curve radius changes and AP had the car towards the outside lane marker, closer than I would do and to close to the concrete barrier for my comfort. I think AP 7.1 had the same issue on that overpass.
My experience was that V8.0 AP is greatly improved in these areas:
-- TACC decel and accel is much smoother and happens earlier in response to cars ahead of you moving in and out of your lane.
-- Lane centering is improved, including on curves.
-- I had two instances of the car automatically biasing to the far edge of the lane when passing a truck (and the drivers display accurately indicated I was next to a truck, not a passenger car). That said, it did not do that every time I passed a truck, and it didn't always accurately detect a truck next to me by showing the truck incon on the display, it showed the passenger car icon (even a big tanker truck).
-- Yes, the car does request the driver put their hands on the wheel every few minutes if they are not touching the wheel. I found that all I had to do to dismiss that message was very slightly tug on the wheel (not enough to effect the steering or turn off AP) with one hand and then let go. I do not consider that annoying. I could also rest my hands very lightly on the wheel and occasionally tug on it to avoid the alert. To me the increased frequency of alerts is a non issue.
There was one time where I disengaged AP in a curve because it was too close to the lane line. I was on the car pool single lane overpass from the 405 south to the 55 north. It is not a smooth curve and at one point the curve radius changes and AP had the car towards the outside lane marker, closer than I would do and to close to the concrete barrier for my comfort. I think AP 7.1 had the same issue on that overpass.
