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First day on the AutoPilot trial.
- Thread starter timk225
- Start date
After 4 days of free trial, including two daily commute to work (30 miles round trip) and one weekend road trip between San Jose and Monterey (150 miles RT), I think I agree with most of the comments on this thread:
1. AP accelerates and brakes too aggressively. It tends to keep at the designated max speed as much as it can, and slows the car down fairly late compared to my own driving habit. It is really not so comfortable.
2. I am impressed by how it keeps in the lane, even at the lane where the lines are not so clear to human's eyes. However, as other people mentioned, it tries to stay at the center of the lane and in many cases it is not so ideal because the car in the neighboring lanes could sometimes lean toward my lane. I wish the AP software can be smarter to adjust the car position in this situation.
3. I find myself being more stressful when enabling autosteering. On the other hand, I find TACC to be great and it does largely reduce the driving fatigue. Probably it is because I still don't have much confidence on SW steering the wheel for me.
4. Summon is great. It kind of like playing a giant radio control car
It is also pretty useful as my garage is not very spacious.
5. Auto lane changing doesn't always work. But when it works, it is very smooth.
Overall, I think EAP is a cool feature and could be useful for those having long highway drive every day. For me, I probably still won't buy it. But I would be very interested if one day Tesla can provide the option for TACC only.
1. AP accelerates and brakes too aggressively. It tends to keep at the designated max speed as much as it can, and slows the car down fairly late compared to my own driving habit. It is really not so comfortable.
2. I am impressed by how it keeps in the lane, even at the lane where the lines are not so clear to human's eyes. However, as other people mentioned, it tries to stay at the center of the lane and in many cases it is not so ideal because the car in the neighboring lanes could sometimes lean toward my lane. I wish the AP software can be smarter to adjust the car position in this situation.
3. I find myself being more stressful when enabling autosteering. On the other hand, I find TACC to be great and it does largely reduce the driving fatigue. Probably it is because I still don't have much confidence on SW steering the wheel for me.
4. Summon is great. It kind of like playing a giant radio control car
It is also pretty useful as my garage is not very spacious.5. Auto lane changing doesn't always work. But when it works, it is very smooth.
Overall, I think EAP is a cool feature and could be useful for those having long highway drive every day. For me, I probably still won't buy it. But I would be very interested if one day Tesla can provide the option for TACC only.
its there for a reason. It isn't taking the "racing line" and hugging the inside, its taking the side with the greatest visibility which is an advanced driving technique.
The so called "racing line" is great when driving a closed circuit etc, but pretty useless for avoiding hidden obstacles
I’m not talking about a race track. I’m talking about regular roads, highways where there is even just a slight gradual curve. The Model 3 gets slightly too close to the other cars on curves at times. I’m simply saying that staying in the dead center of the lane at all times is not the best way to go.
I’ve used it on my commute for two days and am enjoying it overall. It shines in stop and go traffic, though I do keep my right foot hovering over the brake— I’m just not there yet from a trust perspective.
No issues or reasons to worry, just getting used to it.
(Edit: typo)
No issues or reasons to worry, just getting used to it.
(Edit: typo)
Autopilot is one of those things that you need to give it a try for two or three weeks, understand its strengths and weakness, and then come back with an opinion. Don't jump to conclusion after a day or two. You will always start very nervous, and end up turning it on in places where you shouldn't (until you get fully comfortable).
Just like learning to ride a motorcyle, or skiing, it takes a bit of riding on AP to get comfortable with it.
But after that I bet for a majority of the folks there is no coming back. You will LOVE AP and can't drive without it. If you have a long stressful commute, $6K is cheap for the best stress reliever money can buy today.
Just like learning to ride a motorcyle, or skiing, it takes a bit of riding on AP to get comfortable with it.
But after that I bet for a majority of the folks there is no coming back. You will LOVE AP and can't drive without it. If you have a long stressful commute, $6K is cheap for the best stress reliever money can buy today.
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Definitely agree. We have it on our X and did not get it on 3 because commute for 3 is typically short. I miss it though on the 3 and have been enjoying it with the trial. Yes it accelerates and brakes a bit aggressively and doesn’t anticipate other cars merging in so a car in front slowly merges in and then car hits the brake. Still after a few more times of using it and I’ve learned how it works, I wish there was a setting where you could just skip TACC only. One pull to AP stalk and go to AP, instead of 2. I’m either driving myself, or just using AP, and never in between.
Maybe, if a TACC-only option is ever offered, turning it on can be a button on the touch screen?
They only guarantee that it will add up a list of numbers.
Good catch!
This gets better with time. I was very wary of it at first.
You can turn on only the TACC today by flicking the stalk down one time, and if you double flick it then Autosteer is also turned on.
I really don't understand why some people are not comfortable with Autosteer. On places where Tesla recommends to use it, it works flawlessly. Just have to be a bit observant. In fact I use it everywhere there are visible lines, irrespective of highways or back roads and love it.
I do. Trusting a computer with your life takes time to get used to. And as Tesla tells us over and over, it's a beta feature and not ready to be trusted completely. There have been enough incidents of the car making a mistake that there's reason for caution. I've gotten comfortable with it, but I'm hyper-vigilant while using it. It's still WAAAAAAAY more relaxing than doing the driving myself. But getting too comfortable with it would be a mistake.
It has taken me several days to get used to, and even now I still hesitate a bit around certain bends in the road. It's a very odd feeling to give complete control to the car if you've never used AP before.
This! Not so much as beta, but by definition it is L2 which needs driver attention.
I never take my hands off the wheel. Feeling the twitches it makes keeps me attentive and know what it is "thinking". I still watch the road vigilantly. And I find it more relaxing. I don't drift, etc.
I do not use it in construction zones or on small roads or anyplace the marking isn't so hot.
Nobody buys the cow if you get the milk or free or very cheaply.
With more experience, you will get comfortable on how it handles situations. The fatigue reduction with autosteer will be there once it is. You will actually be a safer driver as you are now free to get a bigger macro view of the environment. You can look farther ahead, to the sides and far behind you. Autosteer buys me time to better sense emotions and anticipate what drivers around me are planning.
After being on the AP trial for 5 days and using it at every possible opportunity, I have a little bit different take. It works great - but I'm still not a fan.
I live in the smack middle of nowhere, and work at home, so I have no "commute." In the course of my daily life, I drive on highways exactly never. I sit in stop-and-go traffic almost never, and if I do it's only for a few minutes. It's all twisty back roads, all the time. I've watched about 472 AP videos, know exactly how it works, have test-driven twice with it, and always thought it was cool. I didn't buy it because I didn't expect it to be very useful on my roads, but thought that if I got an extended trial and it surprised me, I would be hard pressed not to pony up the $6k. Turns out I was wrong.
With the exception of the one-lane gravel road that I live on (where AP is not even available,) it handles them all like a champ. Big curves, small curves, steep hills, faded road lines, slow-moving farm vehicles - no problem at all, straight as an arrow. And nags are a non-issue with the way I naturally hold the wheel.
The one and only complaint I have with the functionality is that when a car in front of you slows to move off into a turning lane, it slams on the brakes and does not get moving again until the car in front is COMPLETELY clear of the lane. I almost got rear-ended once because of that. As the car was moving out I kept expecting it to go and it just... didn't. Since then I make sure to push the accelerator when that happens, which it really doesn't seem to like for you to do. Apart from that though, it works fabulously.
BUT... I've found that it adds nothing to my driving experience. I thought having the car drive for me would be great - turns out to be the opposite. It doesn't make it any easier, not because it doesn't work well but because it really isn't difficult to begin with. But what it does do is take all the joy out, and having AP on is sort of like being back in a slow ICE car in the sense that I'm just going through the motions (or, non-motions in this case...) of getting from point A to point B. "Yay I get to drive my Tesla!" is replaced with "Meh." So, I don't believe I'll be paying for it.
That said though, we're taking a 700-mile road trip this weekend that I'm super-excited to have it for. There's no universe where it would be worth anywhere near $6k for road trips alone without day-to-day use, but I still expect it will be awesome.
I live in the smack middle of nowhere, and work at home, so I have no "commute." In the course of my daily life, I drive on highways exactly never. I sit in stop-and-go traffic almost never, and if I do it's only for a few minutes. It's all twisty back roads, all the time. I've watched about 472 AP videos, know exactly how it works, have test-driven twice with it, and always thought it was cool. I didn't buy it because I didn't expect it to be very useful on my roads, but thought that if I got an extended trial and it surprised me, I would be hard pressed not to pony up the $6k. Turns out I was wrong.
With the exception of the one-lane gravel road that I live on (where AP is not even available,) it handles them all like a champ. Big curves, small curves, steep hills, faded road lines, slow-moving farm vehicles - no problem at all, straight as an arrow. And nags are a non-issue with the way I naturally hold the wheel.
The one and only complaint I have with the functionality is that when a car in front of you slows to move off into a turning lane, it slams on the brakes and does not get moving again until the car in front is COMPLETELY clear of the lane. I almost got rear-ended once because of that. As the car was moving out I kept expecting it to go and it just... didn't. Since then I make sure to push the accelerator when that happens, which it really doesn't seem to like for you to do. Apart from that though, it works fabulously.
BUT... I've found that it adds nothing to my driving experience. I thought having the car drive for me would be great - turns out to be the opposite. It doesn't make it any easier, not because it doesn't work well but because it really isn't difficult to begin with. But what it does do is take all the joy out, and having AP on is sort of like being back in a slow ICE car in the sense that I'm just going through the motions (or, non-motions in this case...) of getting from point A to point B. "Yay I get to drive my Tesla!" is replaced with "Meh." So, I don't believe I'll be paying for it.
That said though, we're taking a 700-mile road trip this weekend that I'm super-excited to have it for. There's no universe where it would be worth anywhere near $6k for road trips alone without day-to-day use, but I still expect it will be awesome.
. There's no universe where it would be worth anywhere near $6k for road trips alone without day-to-day use, but I still expect it will be awesome.
Careful on the absolute statements my friend.
It’s only expected to get better as time progresses.Tesla Autopilot appears to 'predict' accident in front of it
Give it a bit more time. The trick is to drive the same roads daily and see where it shines and where you need a bit more attention. Come back and report after 2 or 3 weeks of use.
Spot on. Or in other words, just use some common sense and try to get some rudimentary understanding of how AP works.
Speak for yourself. There are many who enjoy it just exclusively on long distances. I have been on a few 4 or 5 hour drives, and have always been very tired on other gas cars. With AP, you can compare it to riding on a public transport. Night and day difference on how I felt after a long drive.
I was.
3 trips a year on average X 10 years = 30 trips, at $6k that's $200 per trip. That's pretty much a plane ticket, or 2 nights at a decent hotel, just to make the drive easier. Does not compute, for me.
For someone who makes a 3+ hour drive monthly or more often, the value proposition would be considerably different.
