Enhanced Autopilot (EAP)

[atti]

I have a 200+ miles journey coming up this weekend, so I am thinking of 'trying' EAP so see if it is worth the money. Can I call up Tesla to enable it for 15 days trial before I buy? Do they do it? Alternatively I can purchase it from the app if 15 days return policy applies on the transaction.

Any recommendation folks?

 

[atti]

Also how much time does it take activate after making a purchase?

 

[Drew57]

@atti There is no current EAP trial so your only option is to purchase via the app with 24 hours to cancel for a refund. However in march there was an unannounced trial pushed out to many users. For £3400 this was considered very poor value for money.

 

[Dilly]

As someone who has FSD, I’d sit tight and bide your time. The software is very unpredictable in the UK. Summon and auto park are very hit and miss. cruise control gets mixed messages from radar & vision and slows or brakes after non-existent events and autopilot has the potential for phantom braking events for much the same reason. Though I’ve never had a serious event I alway hover my foot over the throttle just in case the car brakes.
If vision only sensing is the breakthrough that it appears to be, that mat be the time to come on board. For the moment, I’d be inclined to enjoy a great car that doesn’t suffer from skittish moments.
All that said, on clear roads and with a bit of forethought, FSD does give a carefree ride. M25 at rush hour - forget it!

 

[GRiLLA]

As someone who has FSD, I wouldn't want to drive a long journey without it. In fact I drove all of the motorway segments of the 1200 mile trip I did last week without disengaging Autopilot. Once you have the hang of auto-lane change (most people get to understand the timing you need to operate) your motorway cruises are simple and relaxing. Of course you already have AutoPilot, so not sure why people are also offering their opinions on that capability

 

[atti]

I spoke to Tesla support today and they said 15 days refund policy is occasional offer which is not available now, all I can do is take 48 hours offer online.

 

[atti]

I drove over 700 miles over the weekend I had the EAP. It's good to have it, but I won't pay so much for it. So got a refund. Main concerns:

1) The constant nudge required to the steering wheel and its penalty. I understand keeping hand of the steering, but nudge? Why?! Perhaps they can take idea from some later BMW's which comes with the ACC radar sensor, they have some sort of capacitive sensor on the steering, I think.
2) No regard for others joining the motorway.
3) Didn't adjust speed in the roadworks zone, neither it slowed down on low speed section of the motorway most of the time. At times when it did, it was on the A road and was done much later when the speed limit changed.
4) No action taken for motorway change, no lane change prompt or any suggestion for the upcoming exit.
5) As others have said, auto lane change is pointless.
6) I found it too buggy at times where it wasn't detecting car in front up until quite late.
7) That unnerving feeling of someone else controlling the steering, added with the resistance when overriding as if you are snatching it off someone.
8) Didn't get chance to try summon, however I was prompted to do auto park once in a reverse bay parking and it was impressive.

Overall I won't be comfortable letting it drive on it's own. The slight effort of driving taken off by AP is shifted to constant worry of checking if EAP is doing the job correctly for you. Must add the TACC is good but all complication is introduced by auto-steering. I would say it is good but not worth the money I need to pay to have it. Having said that, next time I buy another model I would ensure I get with the car and not required to pay so much extra for it.

 

[gangzoom]

4) No action taken for motorway change, no lane change prompt or any suggestion for the upcoming exit.
5) As others have said, auto lane change is pointless.
6) I found it too buggy at times where it wasn't

Did you have 'Navigate on Autopilot' on?

My recent experiences with Navigate on Autopilot is the phantom braking episodes have really reduced for some reason. So much so in over 1000+ miles of Mway driving I only experienced it once.

Navigate on Autopilot does all of the above, and I tend to let Autopilot do most lane changes these days as it checks the blind spot better than me. Recently once I indicated and waited for Autopilot to change lane, it wouldn't do it, I was about to manually take over but when I checked the blind spot there was car right in it!

The speed limit detection does have issues though, but I suspect when Highway Autopilot codes transitions to the same code stack as FSD beta we'll see some much better performance, especially in heavy traffic.

Its really interesting to see until now the Autopilot codes doesn't really have any 'memory' of surrounding traffic or road signs, and doesn't really try to predict the action of other road users on the fly. Instead any current 'predictive' behaviour is manually coded based on certain criteria so hence sometimes Autopilot goes nuts.

I just hope government legislation doesn't hinder Tesla deploying the FSD beta code into the wider fleet....

 

[MrBadger]

1) The constant nudge required to the steering wheel and its penalty. I understand keeping hand of the steering, but nudge? Why?! Perhaps they can take idea from some later BMW's which comes with the ACC radar sensor, they have some sort of capacitive sensor on the steering, I think.

The nudge is not needed if the wheel is held in a way that the car has detected the slight torque/resistance from having hands on the wheel. The nudge is just a workaround when the car is giving its final warning that it hasn't detected the normal steering input - it is most certainly not the normal method of satisfying the required driver input conditions. Finding a method to satisfy the steering input conditions may need some practice.

Yes, there are better ways of performing the same task - Tesla are using the internal camera on some cars but it is yet to roll out more widely. Its been included in the most recent software updates, but just not enabled for most vehicles.

 

[OttoR]

Although I have my gripes with EAP/NoA and it is not perfect, I must say with the latest software it is quite stable.

Having just done a 3400 km road trip from The Netherlands to France and back, it really showed its value and would not want to go without it. I did have the feeling that it performed better in France/Belgium than it does in the Netherlands and lane changes definitely work better at speeds >120 km/h. (In NL during the day a 100 km/h limit is in effect and then it rather swarves during a Lane change)

Merge onto a highway is not something I would trust NoA on. In France moving off the highway went fine; although to my taste it pre-sorts way to early, so typically I rather do it myself.

If you want/need to drive a more dynamic style; e.g. Périphérique during rush hour and French' driving style you better take over, although for some parts I have had it engaged.

48 hours is certainly not enough to get used to when EAP intervenes or does not want to move. But after some learning curve you kind of get the hang of it and it surprises you less and less.
Wether it is worth the money, that I can't judge for you.

Summon and Autopark are useless. More often than not it doesn't work or breaks off. Summon was useful one time in a parking garage with very small spaces; but usually in parking garages it fails to connect as it is relying on a cellular network. Rather silly if you ask me, as both the car and phone could connect over wifi or Bluetooth just fine.

 

[GeorgeSymonds]

When looking at EAP and its value it would be good if more people focused on the extra features EAP offers over regular AP.

For instance, nudges, holding the wheel, lane keeping, distance control etc are all characteristics of regular AP. I guess if you're struggling with even basic AP then EAP really isn't going to improve things.

I've stopped using navigate on autopilot, I find its a waste of time and the recommended lane changes are a gimmick. The lane change under EAP is a slight convenience over regular AP where you have to disengage and re-engage but I don't think its £3,400 worth. It also depends how often you like to change lanes I guess. Which leaves not a lot for your money to be honest. Parking I've not tried lately, summon saves squeezing into the car if someone is parked too close to you, I've maybe used it 3 times in 6 years.

I've done a couple of long drives over the last couple of days for the first time in ages, and I hardly felt the need to use AP. If I didn't have it, I wouldn't pay for it, not at over £3k.