Enhanced autopilot UK

[Kansalis]

Basically I'm no longer thinking about lanes, it is, my job is to keep myself safe by looking around. I find I'm far more aware in general of what's happening on the road as my eyes aren't working to figure out driving details.

A bit off topic, but this is the best advantage of AP for me, without a doubt. I have a regular ~160 mile round trip in all kinds of traffic on the M25 I've been doing for many years. I was always exhausted after the trip, until I got the M3 & could start using regular AP. The difference it makes even above regular "intelligent" cruise I had in previous cars, is huge. To not have to worry about speed or steering for almost the whole trip is a game changer.

As some others have said, EAP probably isn't worth the cost at the moment. Changing lanes with regular AP isn't a big deal. If the car could do it automatically without intervention with EAP I would probably buy it myself, but for now it seems a bit pointless and very overpriced.

I have a slightly related question regarding all variations of Auto-Pilot - Does the so called phantom braking only occur when AP or EAP is activated?

"Phantom braking" is a bit of a misnomer, I think. In the vast majority of cases, it's more like the car lifts off the accelerator for a split second. It can make you jump if it happens, but it generally feels a lot worse than it is because you're not controlling the speed yourself. Somewhat like being a passenger when someone else is driving & they lift off the gas for a second.

Over the past 12 months I've never had any true "phantom"-type braking or slow-downs. Any time my car has slowed like that I've been able to understand why it did it. eg, the car in front to my left wandering over the line or changing lane unexpectedly. Even then, if someone pulls out in front of me on the motorway I have full confidence my car will deal with it appropriately & I won't have to intervene.

 

[WllXM]

Yup that for the lane change procedure, but it will also suggest when you should change lanes using the Navigate on AutoPilot feature, so it's more like

1. The car suggests a lane change, I check that I'm comfortable with it's suggestion.
2. I hit the indicators to confirm and make sure I'm giving the wheel enough of a touch that it will know I'm there
3. The car moves to the new lane and accelerates to it's set speed/distance from the car in front.
4. Car suggest when I should move left again and proceedure repeats.

Basically I'm no longer thinking about lanes, it is, my job is to keep myself safe by looking around. I find I'm far more aware in general of what's happening on the road as my eyes aren't working to figure out driving details.

Without EAP the car will stay in lane and a safe distance from the car in front, basically a middle lane hogger. To change lanes you take over the steering until you can reenable back in the other lane.

The wheel nudge action is the biggest problem for me. As you had to indicate, this should be enough to show that you’re not sleeping at the wheel. Needing to do both, especially applying a turning force at the right time (otherwise the lane change risks timing out) is extremely annoying to me.

Also, the lane change is way too cautious and often show red lines where there is a car behind on the lane I want to merge in, even if it’s at a good distance. More often than not the driver behind wonders why I’m indicating but not changing lane… sometimes leading to a honk or flashing beams. So I have to either do a manual override or hit the gas pedal to increase the distance.
Still not perfect from my experience

 

[EV1980]

You turn it on by pushing the right stalk down twice. More or less all the primary driving controls are either on the wheel, stalks or are automatic, it's very rare I touch the screen while driving.

Wheel controls
Left Button - Media - push to silence, scroll for volume, nudge left/right to skip tracks
Right Button - push for voice commands, scroll to change AP/TACC speed, nudge left/right to change AP/TACC follow distance

Stalks
Left Stalk - Pull to flash lights, push to toggle highbeam/lowbeam/autohighbeam, up/down indicate, button wipe screen, deep push button squirt windscreen
Right stalk - From park - down for Forward Gear, Up for reverse, push button for park. Once driving - Single down TACC, double down AP, push up to cancel AP/TACC.

Automatic
Lights
Wipers
(if you don't like the auto settings then you use the screen, for manual adjustment, as long as you aren't using AP).

That's a really useful summary of the functions - Thanks!

p.s - Hope i've not poked the bear by asking the controversial question!

 

[GRiLLA]

The wheel nudge action is the biggest problem for me. As you had to indicate, this should be enough to show that you’re not sleeping at the wheel. Needing to do both, especially applying a turning force at the right time (otherwise the lane change risks timing out) is extremely annoying to me.

Also, the lane change is way too cautious and often show red lines where there is a car behind on the lane I want to merge in, even if it’s at a good distance. More often than not the driver behind wonders why I’m indicating but not changing lane… sometimes leading to a honk or flashing beams. So I have to either do a manual override or hit the gas pedal to increase the distance.
Still not perfect from my experience

The distances etc are defined by vehicle regulations, and I agree they are overly cautious. I find I've become used to judging so very rarely start to indicate unless it's very likely to succeed. Same with the apply of pressure to the wheel, it's now largely second nature to apply some torque at the point at which if's looking to prove I'm alert.

I agree I'm adapting to it rather that it being natural.

 

[Sparkeur]

The wheel nudge action is the biggest problem for me. As you had to indicate, this should be enough to show that you’re not sleeping at the wheel. Needing to do both, especially applying a turning force at the right time (otherwise the lane change risks timing out) is extremely annoying to me.

Also, the lane change is way too cautious and often show red lines where there is a car behind on the lane I want to merge in, even if it’s at a good distance. More often than not the driver behind wonders why I’m indicating but not changing lane… sometimes leading to a honk or flashing beams. So I have to either do a manual override or hit the gas pedal to increase the distance.

Fully agree with all of that. Lurching in and out of EAP because it's too slow or refuses to comply because of some distance problem or, worst of all, cancels the manoeuvre because the indicator times out half-way.

 

[Sparkeur]

What version @Sparkeur ? I've seen other reports of this. Sounds like from some responses that you have bought the wrong car!

If you mean software, 2023.2.12

 

[GeorgeSymonds]

When I had EAP I never really had a problem with automatic lane changes, the trick is doing what I was taught to do when I learnt to drive.. look signal manoeuvre - you look, if it’s safe and ok to change lanes, you signal, and the car will then manoeuvre. If you signal to effectively request a lane change or hope others make a bit of space etc, or the gap is a little tight, any of which means the car can’t start changing lanes straight away, it doesn’t work successfully

 

[WllXM]

When I had EAP I never really had a problem with automatic lane changes, the trick is doing what I was taught to do when I learnt to drive.. look signal manoeuvre - you look, if it’s safe and ok to change lanes, you signal, and the car will then manoeuvre. If you signal to effectively request a lane change or hope others make a bit of space etc, or the gap is a little tight, any of which means the car can’t start changing lanes straight away, it doesn’t work successfully

Well as @GRiLLA said, I’ve found that I had to adapt to a new driving habit with EAP, rather than having EAP taking cues from me.

If you are to follow EAP in anything more than very light motorway traffic, it’s almost impossible to merge into the right lane approaching a busy junction, it's looking for perfect conditions which do not exist. First because there will be a delay between your own 'look-signal-manoeuvre' and EAP following suit, so cars behind will have progressed in the meantime. And also because you have to be assertive. If I had to wait for people to be courteous or let me through, I'd miss probably a handful of junction exits a day!
People joke that in heavy traffic you should always merge in front of a Tesla, because AP will always brake to let you through. I wonder if this caught-on, because there's definitely more people trying to cut in front of me when I'm driving my MY than any other car.

 

[CWT3LR]

"Phantom braking" is a bit of a misnomer, I think. In the vast majority of cases, it's more like the car lifts off the accelerator for a split second. It can make you jump if it happens, but it generally feels a lot worse than it is because you're not controlling the speed yourself. Somewhat like being a passenger when someone else is driving & they lift off the gas for a second.

I get the same effect now. You learn to cope with it, and it doesn't seem to be any danger to vehicles behind especially as it can be easily overridden if you are quick enough

But 12 months ago - don't recall the software variant - it was true, hard brakes on / emergency stop type braking. Usually when approaching an overpass, especially if there was a lorry on the inside. It made it so that I could not trust TACC for months, and I am still not allowed to use it if the wife is in the car.