Also agree that Tesla are missing a few key options in the luxury market, notably surround cam view. But that's the only one I really miss.
What about HUD? I've never driven a car that has one, so no idea if I would like it ... but I think that I might
the car sits to the left of the lane too much. Feel like about 2 feet too far off centre.
I have always thought that with my AP1 car. however, my passengers never mention it, so I wonder if it sitting in the right-driving-seat and the width of the car making one think its closer to the left-of-lane than actually? (Your car, subject to calibration, maybe be way further over than mine of course
)
I find the TACC awfully slow in reacting to something pulling out in front of me
Same. Car has to get a long way into my lane before AP starts to react. I know that AP will react, so I let it be, but it does mean that it often jumps on the brakes whereas lifting-off a bit earlier would be better (and more energy efficient). Again, I get no complaints from passengers (which i find a bit surprising, it unnerves me!)
The ACC that I had on VW was awful by comparison. Even for vehicle-in-lane it would hair up behind the car and leap on the brakes. That was VERY disconcerting for passengers.
best to set the following distance to 5 or above or it will tend to slam on the brakes late
I haven't found that makes enough difference - whatever the follow-distance setting the car fails to "lift off" adequately to accommodate a car pushing in. Might be an AP1 vs AP2 thing, but it surprises me that if I set, say, 7 the car tries to maintain that at all times, rather than using up some, or indeed all, that space when safe to do so. Clearly the car is designed to be "safe" even at Follow-Distance=1, so at 7 there is plenty of margin
Other, related, annoyance is that when approaching, say, an HGV in slow lane the car wants to start slowing down a huge distance before I would actually pull out, and thus I have to indicate to change lanes very early - potential for annoyance / confusion of following traffic. Previous cars' ACC was just the same ...
It feels like I need some sort of notification that the car will reach slow-down-point shortly, so I can signal-to-change-lanes before that happens ... or use that safe-space before slowing down (and perhaps simultaneously give me a notification)
I've not noticed any dual carriageway that AP1 change-lanes doesn't work on, so GPS/map geo-fence might be an AP2 thing
auto lane change seems hit and miss
Mine is sufficiently slow, about [subjectively] 50% of the time, that if I have following traffic I take over so that other drivers not confused by signalling-but-not-moving. Thinking about it, some days it works much more often than others, so might be weather / light dependent maybe.
I don’t expect to have to hold the wheel!
I'm afraid you're going to have to, until it is out of Beta, so you don't wind up dead. I think the biggest snag with AP is when it instils over confidence in the driver. I have never had a scary moment on AP, although I have taken over often if I thought it was going to be "a bit tight". All of those might actually have been fine, I never tested them to see! So after mile-after-mile of faultless driving there is risk that the driver decides its OK to read a quick text ... then reply to one ... then watch a movie ... then nod off / climb into the back seat.
Of all the fatal crashes (on AP) that I am aware of the driver had plenty of time to react, but they neither steered nor braked. So either a medical-emergency (nothing from post-mortem to suggest that) or, sadly, not paying attention.
My experience is that on long journeys AP dramatically reduces fatigue, even thought I always drive one-hand-on-wheel. I had a recurring late-night drive of 1h30m and my comparison of before-Tesla vehicle (which had ACC) and after with AP=On are like night-and-day; the journey was 5 miles to dual carriageway at the start, and 5 miles at the end, light traffic at night, and boring ... and previously I was fighting sleep the last 15 minutes of dual carriageway driving on many occasions, but not once since having AP. I also have a journey I do often from Cambridge to Bristol, not particularly arduous, but I arrive (there, and back home again) noticeably more refreshed than in the Old Days.
Forget to hold the wheel once and it turns the function off for the rest of the journey
It used to be? that you had to ignore the initial indicator of flashing-dashboard-surround for that to happen.
Summon - seriously a huge gimmick to everyone surely. I mean, just find a bigger car park space!
Its less useful in UK because you have to muck about with Phone, rather than Fob. But there are some good use-cases:
- Come back to car and someone has parked tight up against it
- Or it has rained and your car is now in a puddle
- Or you have a tight garage and cannot get out once parked (even more useful if you have HomeLink garage doors)
- maybe even pull-forward so you can open the boot (e.g. if parked against a wall)
Sadly I can't find it, sorry, but there was a great YouTube of a guy getting ready for work. He pressed Summon and the car opened the garage door, drove out, and then closed the door, meantime he was getting his tie, briefcase, blah blah and then man-and-car were ready to leave at the same time
My bottom line is that I don't care if AP, or me, reacts to a problem, but the two of us are going to be better than just me. I have had AP slow down dramatically, for slowing traffic ahead, whilst I was glancing at the instruments and that has convinced me so I use it all the time I am on dual carriageway. My wife OTOH hates it, the "not in control" thing..
