Finally got Nav on AP... Some initial thoughts

[diplomat33]

So I did not get Nav on AP on the previous update, probably because I did not have updated maps yet (I don't connect my car to wifi very often). I got 2018.44.2 a few days ago, still no Nav on AP. I connected my car to wifi last night and Nav on AP finally showed up in my settings. I got a chance to test it this morning.

Good
- The additional notifications like when Nav on AP will revert back to regular EAP or when inclement weather will reduce EAP are good. I take it as a good sign that EAP is getting smarter about it can and cannot do.
- Lane suggestions are nice. While not essential, I feel they can be helpful to assist the driver with navigating complex interstate changes.
- Auto Steer and TACC are very smooth now.
- Auto lane change is very smooth.

Bad
- Exit taking. While the car did successfully take both exits on its own, it was not smooth. The car took the exits kinda abruptly. My car just veered at the last minute into the exit at 65 mph and then auto corrected steering. A bit scary since it was my first time. It felt like when someone almost misses their exit and has to veer into the exit quickly. The worse was a short exit. It was a bit better on a long exit, where the lane continues a few hundred feet before becoming an exit, but still too abrupt for my liking.

Verdict
Nav on AP definitely needs some adjustments which is not surprising since it is a relatively new feature. AP used to be very rough but is now very smooth. I am confident that as Nav on AP gets refined that it will eventually get really good.

 

[suwaneedad]

I used NoA for the first time today. It felt to me like early versions of EAP, but since I've experienced EAP improving this year I have confidence that NoA will improve rapidly as well.

- interface on the screen is great. The blue line moving from the sides of my lane to a center line like I'm driving the 1970s cars at DisneyWorld is a cool UX decision. When you deactivate NoA, the blue center line deftly breaks in two and returns to the lane lines of the car.
- i don't understand what clicking NoA on the navigation directions listing does for me, vs activating EAP on the stalk. I activated in both places but that seems clunky and presumably will be worked out over time.
- confirming the lane changes: not clear to me what the on-screen instructions meant when giving me several options to do so. I just activated my turn signal as has been the method for Auto Lane Change for months.
- confirming the lane changes: the car needs to get smarter before this confirmation step can be removed. Several times today the car asked me to approve a lane change across a double-white line (HOV to non-HOV), which is of course illegal.
- of course my first step was to select Mad Max. Despite that setting, NoA waited until within one mile of my exit to begin migrating across five lanes of Atlanta Friday traffic. That's comically late. I had to deactivate to make my exit.
- when I entered the highway and the acceleration lane was about to end, NoA got more confused than prior versions of EAP did when the lane marking disappeared and for a moment there is "one really wide" lane as the formerly two marked lanes taper to one. This is an example of a jerky response by the car (which quickly seeks the center of the brief, really wide, lane) that will need to improve before I use NoA with any passengers in the car.

Overall, cool update and eager to watch it get better in the weeks and months to come.