BertL
Active Member
ABSOLUTELY AGREE.
I owned a number of vehicles with "Radar Cruise Control" for years before my MS, paying extraordinary extra amounts for options that most people didn't buy in those early years. I rapidly learned to understand each of of my vehicle's limitations, especially on some of the high curve increasing-height interchanges here in SoCal where those vehicles, including my MS when I first took ownership, actually sped up when it was "seeing nothing above the concrete barrier ahead". Talk about a scary experience several stories above the ground at 55+mph! Since my non-Tesla vehicles didn't get constant tweaks to their firmware, that was both good and bad, but I was able to anticipate what my vehicle would and would not do -- especially in emergency situations where every moment counts -- and could turn off the enhanced driver assist mode as I was entering a potentially problematic situation. I still do the same with TACC and full AP1 as I approach curvy areas at higher speeds, construction zones with narrow lanes as we sometimes have for miles on end here on our SoCal freeway system, and when there are too many big rigs in the area around me because of too many past instances of truck lust that practically gave me a heart attack with only seconds for me to have taken manual control. Those problems have truly reduced my desire to use AP except in shorter periods of time when I'm paying even more attention that normal, because I just don't trust what Tesla's code may or may not do from release-to-release and with its fleet learning that may or may not be getting to my vehicle based on connectivity and how busy my CID is doing all it has to manage including playing my USB music...
OTOH, I still love TACC in my MS, and understand Tesla is pushing the envelope with TACC/AP beta code... but IMHO both Tesla and I need TACC to be CONSISTENT how it operates, so it is as safe of a driver assistance tool as it can be in the heat of the moment. Having unexpected changes how TACC operates, where Tesla continues to not highlight important logic changes via release notes and/or owner's manual, is problematic -- at least for me. Call me a Scardy-Cat if you want. So be it. I read this forum and attempt to keep up with what others are seeing as potential changes -- but IMHO there is no way "the increasing masses" owning a Tesla will do the same as time progresses. I suggest Tesla and most of us as owners, need to have TACC remain more of a consistent assist tool (like the other brands) that those of us that want to remain in control of driving our vehicles can use and truly grow to know what it will and won't do just like our brake pedal, whereas AP continues its push toward automous driving. At least for me, Tesla continuing to blur how TACC operates as it relates to AP, has more issues for the future than keeping TACC more as a sophisticated radar cruise control variant that will still engage the most important safety systems like emergency braking if it needs to. ...I could go on a lot longer, but I know some take exception with my all-too-long dissertations, so hopefully, I've conveyed my basic thoughts.
