Experiences with Auto Lane Change (Safe? Risky?)

[QS01]

So we decided to go ahead and purchase the add-on FSD package for our Model 3 a few days ago and I've been testing out the Auto lane change feature as that feels like the biggest advantage of this package at the moment.

I am curious as to what others have experienced using this feature without confirmation. I tried it for the first time yesterday evening and there was one instance were it wanted to move to the right but there was a car there. On the screen the car was red, but it REALLY felt like AP was about to move over into the lane anyway so I put enough force on the wheel to disengage.

Granted this could have been me just not really knowing what it was going to do, but I'm love to get an understanding of what others have observed. It also currently seems to struggle with wanted to change lanes into a faster lane to close to when your exit is coming up.

 

[TresLA]

Your experience sounds similar to ours back when Navigate on Autopilot (NoA) & auto-lane change was first released to the public. It's been awhile now, but I usually start "testing" with everything on, or just as automated as possible.

Back then especially, NoA auto-lane change would try to move many lanes to the left in traffic when our exit was coming up. It also got annoying/embarrassing each time it would initiate the turn signal even though I wouldn't have because of a car coming up or too close. It wasn't always a safety issue per se, but often just not wanting to scare a driver in the next lane that's slightly back/behind us. We eventually turned the requirement for confirmation back on and haven't changed that since.

Now, it silently (meaning without notifying the cars around you with a turn signal) suggests it wants to change lanes and we just hit the right stalk down one step or use the left turn signal stalk to confirm and let it do its thing. It's still sometimes suggesting at non-ideal moments, but it feels much better as updates have been pushed out. I'm tapping the "cancel auto-lane change" button that appears on-screen less and less it seems.

 

[LowlyOilBurner]

I have a couple on ramps that the car wants to go directly to the left lane, very aggressively when there are cars there. I have to disengage it every time. Also, the “changing lanes to avoid traffic cones” is annoying, and sometimes wants to put you in the shoulder of the road. The speed based lane changes are almost too good. It will want to change lanes when it seems the lane you are in is moving the same speed, but when it puts the blinker on and moves over, sure enough, the lane I was in was moving slower than my set speed. In heavy traffic, this is annoying. I have auto lane changes set to “average”.

 

[Tam]

...it wanted to move to the right but there was a car there. On the screen the car was red, but it REALLY felt like AP was about to move over into the lane anyway so I put enough force on the wheel to disengage...

Yes. That does happen but still, I think it is safe.

Auto Lane Change has become much more aggressive compared with earlier versions.

It acts like an aggressive driver who wants to scare the adjacent car with the signal light and initial maneuver to get close to the lane markings to see what's that car speed reaction would be like. If that car's speed reaction seems not to increase, it would go ahead and complete the Auto Lane Change. It the adjacent car's speed increases, it would yield and cancel and the Auto Lane Change.

 

[QS01]

Appreciate the feedback and responses. Most seem similar. I've messed with it a bit more - another thing that really annoys me is there is virtually no delay between the car activating the blinker and then initiating the move.. This happens when I have it set to change lanes when I signal the blinker as well. Seems a bit inappropriate to me to not give the blinker a couple of seconds to let the cars in back of you know what you plan is.

I'm also not a huge fan of how it's currently performing with stop signs and stop lights.. it races to the light about 50% of the time, then has to slam on the brakes to stop. Again not how I typically drive, I'll be real curious how some of this smooths out as we roll forward.

 

[Tam]

...virtually no delay between the car activating the blinker and then initiating the move...

There's no need to delay because it already knows whether there's a possible yielding adjacent car or not.

...it races to the light about 50% of the time, then has to slam on the brakes to stop..

It is still in its infancy so give it time, it'll smooth out.

 

[madmat]

>Experiences with Auto Lane Change (Safe? Risky?)

During our holidays in the U.S. last autumn we drove a MX with FSD/NoA - and it was a dream.
Back home (Germany) I ordered a M3 LR AWD, FSD and AB.

After 10.000km I can safely say: it depends.

In the U.S. with wide roads, an overall speed limit and free choice of lanes this FSD thingie can shine.
In Germany otoh it's nothing more than an expensive gimmick sorta thing.

Narrow Autobahn - lanes send the AP on a constant ping-pong course bouncing between left and right lane limits.
"Rechtsfahrgebot" means you have to stick to the right lane (semi lane most of the time) whenever possible.
And mostly there are only 2 lanes, sometimes 3.
The speed difference between cars in different lanes when overtaking can be up to 150km/h sometimes, so it will either never overtake at all or alternatively try to kill you.
I refrain from using the auto lane change or lane change on FSD by now.

So, yeah.
Depending on your residency it might be quite useful.

 

[tjkenny15]

I have EAP on HW2.5 - is there any reason to believe that with HW3 this feature will be smoother or more confident?

 

[SilverString]

Until about three weeks ago I would have said it is great and one of the best current FSD features. BUT with 2020.x.x software updates the car seems to refuse to go into the left lane most of the time except when behind a very slow vehicle. If there is a bicycle or stopped car on the right side of the road you could just tap left and the car checked the path and moved over regardless of speed. No more.

Have you checked the lane change settings? They will determine how the car behaves in the situation you describe. My preference is Mad Max, but different models have different settings.

 

[tjkenny15]

I have checked the lane change settings - i don't mind Mad Max in heavy traffic, but on the highway doing about 65-80mph I found Mad Max a bit annoying. Maybe I will just need to toggle between the settings to smooth it out. I wish there was a highway speed setting and a traffic setting.

 

[Soda Popinski]

Auto Lane Change has become much more aggressive compared with earlier versions.

It acts like an aggressive driver who wants to scare the adjacent car with the signal light and initial maneuver to get close to the lane markings to see what's that car speed reaction would be like. If that car's speed reaction seems not to increase, it would go ahead and complete the Auto Lane Change. It the adjacent car's speed increases, it would yield and cancel and the Auto Lane Change.

There's no need to delay because it already knows whether there's a possible yielding adjacent car or not.

I wonder if it's region specific. At some point Auto Lane Change became almost instantaneous, but recently it's gone back to waiting about 2 seconds before moving over. I wonder if that's because California law states you need to signal for 100 feet before changing lanes, and that was incorporated into the newer versions.


With the current 2 second delay, it's become unusable in heavy traffic in Los Angeles again. 50% of the time, after signalling, the gap closes up and the lane change cancels. That said, I got rear ended (mildly) in January just after completing a manual lane change. After my shoulder check, I looked forward while shifting lanes to make sure the car in front of me didn't brake or slow. Meanwhile the dump truck behind me accelerated and hit me just after I got within the lines (but hadn't finished straightening up). I'm pretty sure if I was using Auto Lane Change, it would have cancelled the lane change in the middle of it as the truck behind me accelerated. He tried to claim I was in his "front blind spot" but the dashcam footage showed the driver was quite visible from the rear and repeater camera, so they could definitely see my car if they were paying attention.

 

[Big Dog]

Your experience sounds similar to ours back when Navigate on Autopilot (NoA) & auto-lane change was first released to the public. It's been awhile now, but I usually start "testing" with everything on, or just as automated as possible.

Back then especially, NoA auto-lane change would try to move many lanes to the left in traffic when our exit was coming up. It also got annoying/embarrassing each time it would initiate the turn signal even though I wouldn't have because of a car coming up or too close. It wasn't always a safety issue per se, but often just not wanting to scare a driver in the next lane that's slightly back/behind us. We eventually turned the requirement for confirmation back on and haven't changed that since.

Now, it silently (meaning without notifying the cars around you with a turn signal) suggests it wants to change lanes and we just hit the right stalk down one step or use the left turn signal stalk to confirm and let it do its thing. It's still sometimes suggesting at non-ideal moments, but it feels much better as updates have been pushed out. I'm tapping the "cancel auto-lane change" button that appears on-screen less and less it seems.

NOA is much different than AutoLane Change by itself (manually put on turn signal and car moves over when it is safe). I have had no problem with the latter.