yea, Tesla isn't ready for full auto-drive... I find the 'severe braking with no one in my lane" extremely annoying and my wife hates when I use autopilot, even with my hands on the wheel. All it takes is one jerky stop, and she's pissed, so I only use it when she's not in the car.
I concur with your analysis. I just got back from a round trip from Orlando to Chicago. On the way up I used autopilot and on the way back we did not. The trip up was a wrestling match at times with Autopilot. The return trip was smooth and delightful. (My hardware M3LR 2019.12.1.2).
My wife complained every time Autopilot jerked and surged. When you take control it lurches and everyone in the car knows. My wife's comment was; "Turn Autopilot off"!!!
Problems with Autopilot (yes I do understand it is a driver assist package);
Abrupt and jerky disengagement when you take control
Limited situational awareness adjustments (night, rain, traffic, rough payment, weather, puddling, impaired drivers, accidents, detours, road warnings)
When two Interstates spit in a Y while in the rightmost lane on the left split, Autopilot got centered and got confused and went down the center of the Y painted split zone (luckily I was poised to take over, danger!) after this my wife told me to stop using it before it killed us
I responded quicker than autopilot when a semi crossed into my lane
Doesn't see tire pieces and debris on the road
Doesn't see pot holes
Posted speed limit sometimes doesn't agree with the speed limit in navigation
No easy way to correct map speed limits (I tried notifying both Tesla and Google with no results)
It will hang in other driver's blind spots at times
Wanders to stay centered when going past on and off ramps
Because autopilot recenters for on ramps it acts like you're trying to block merging traffic
Doesn't zipper with other cars when lanes merge
Leads to driver lethargy and inattention
I absolutely loved Autopilot when I was stuck for over 2 hours in traffic jams. If I had a stop and go Interstate commute I would be totally on board. Until then, I'm waiting for Level 4 self driving.