Differences between AP

[Rojer Lockless]

I've rented a Model 3 with full AP and drove it on a 500 mile round trip and the AP worked wonderfully. It was a RWD LR model. I knew I wanted a Tesla but boy did I enjoy driving that car.

However, I'm really thinking about leaning towards a used 70D with AP1 and I'm wondering when driving what exactly is the differences between the two?

I've looked all over and some just say that AP1 is more predictable but the AP in the model 3 is very different.
Probably just going to rent a S and try it out myself either way but I wanted to ask you guys what you thought if you've driven both and why you like one over the other.

Does the Model S stay in it's lane on the freeway as well as the 3? I was in stop and go traffic and could almost read a book the 3 was doing so well, it started, stopped, stayed in is lane flawlessly even when the freeway merged down to 1 lane.

Thanks guys love this form.

 

[Raechris]

My 12-17 MS75D HW 2.5 does as you describe. The M3 is newer tech esp w HW3. If it were me I would not go AP1 at this point and would push to M3 HW3 for future proofing and better future support.

 

[Tam]

...differences between the two?...

You might want to compare them on the tables at:

Tesla Autopilot - Wikipedia

AP1 production was between 10/2014 to 10/2016

AP2 and greater is between 10/2106 till now.

AP1 was purely intended as Autopilot only so its software and hardware were designed for that purpose. You only need 1 camera because if you need more cameras for a lane change there are extra human eyes to do the job...

AP2 and greater have been designed to not just for Autopilot but also for FSD, so its software and hardware have been geared toward that goal. Why bother with human driver when it can drive on its own in the rain to reach its master sheltered under a canopy within its 150 feet with this coming Enhanced Summon? That even in heavy parking lot traffic. So AP1 with 1 camera won't do, you would need AP2 with 8 cameras. Same with Auto Lane Change 8 cameras trying to imitate the capability of human eyes.

If you don't have the budget for AP2, AP1 should fit your needs just fine.

 

[Captain Crook]

We have two Tesla S's. The wife drives a Q3 2016 TMS75D with AP1 and I drive a Q2 2018 TMS100D with AP2,5. The rather frustrating thing is that her AP still is way better than mine. Mine is slightly better at holding the lanes, but hers is way better on everything else. It reads signs, mine doesn't. If I drive in a tunnel or over a bridge and there is a road with restricted speed limit crossing the motorway, mine jammes on the brakes, her's doesn't care and keeps the correct speed.
Also, the 2019.8.4 and 2019.8.5 updates have made my TMS very squirrely. It brakes down on overhead signs, bridges etc. when coming from uphill or where the road goes downhill under a bridge. The AP1 just doesn't have these problems.
When I bought the TMS100D last year I wanted FSD, but was strongly recommended by Tesla staff not to order it. But I still did.
Long story short - we are ever so happy with our TMS's and the 1978 1. gen Honda Civic 5-door automatic will hopefully soon be gone (our Summer house car).
I believe in Tesla and their FSD, perhaps not as an category 5 in the fairly near future, but that doesn't matter for me. If it can cope with roundabouts, traffic signs and traffic lights, I'd be more than happy. But it should have the possibility of a trailers hook.

 

[Armee_1]

I just traded my AP1 car in and got a new LR M3 AWD with 2019.8.5. I have about 2yrs with AP1 and 3 days with the new AP. Here is my comparison:

Lane Keeping: AP1 does a good, smooth job at this as long as the road is fairly flat. If there are any hills that the camera can’t see over, it will swerve off the road. Ap2 handles lane keeping well with this new version AND it handles hill crests. One thing AP1 does better is tracking a lane when there is only one lane line visible. For instance, on the interstate when an on ramp lane is merging into the lane you are in. With AP2, it treats it like one giant lane and wants to center in the middle (very annoying). AP1 will continue to follow the dotted line perfectly, ignoring the merge “lane”. For me, the win is with AP2 on overall lane keeping behavior, mainly because of the hill crest issue with AP1. But AP1 is still pretty solid.

Cruise control (TACC): AP1 works very well. No phantom breaking. I also didn’t realize how important the speed sign reading was! On my back roads I used AP1 cruise all the time. With AP2 it for some reason sets the base cruise number to 55mph even though it’s a 40mph road. When I engage cruise, it wants to accelerate up to that speed as i quickly try to scroll the number down. Very annoying. I will say Ap2 does a better job of accelerating smoothly with cruise adjustments. AP1 is a little aggressive in changing speeds. Overall TACC win goes to AP1. If AP2 gets speed sign reading and fixes the phantom breaking, it’d be a game changer.

Stop and go traffic: Again, AP1 does fine. I haven’t had a chance to try AP2 yet. Both tend to wait too long to start moving, but I always just manually pressed the accelerator to get it going.

Lane changes: I’m really impressed with AP2 on this. It’s the clear winner and noticeably better. With AP1, it would always carry a bit too much momentum and would end up hugging the opposite side of the new lane. Ap2 has been silky smooth for me. I like that you can leave your turn signal on, it will change lanes and turn off the turn signal automatically. Very nice.

So to me it really depends on how much you are going to use AP. I would generally just use AP1 auto steer on the interstate but used TACC everywhere. With AP2 I find myself using auto steer more often but am a little nervous about the phantom breaking. The good news is, as others have mentioned, AP2 is continuing to improve and I imagine Tesla is aware of its issues. AP1 is for all intensive purposes stuck where it’s at and will never get any better. But it’s still pretty hard to beat when it comes to lane keeping on flat ground. Cheers.

 

[Rojer Lockless]

Thank you

 

[Captain Crook]

I totally agree that the AP2 is way better than the AP1 on lane changes, but reading traffic signs are more important for me. Also - the AP2 has become a lot more skittish after the two last revisions, This might be due to Tesla trying out for FSD, but it is unpleasant for driver & passenger.