FSD Beta 10.3.1 on the freeway

[buyleonard]

I was lucky enough to get FSD Beta 10.3.1 (SS of 99) and I was most excited to try it on the freeway to see if there were any improvements since that is where I mostly want to use it. I haven't been able to use it much so far, but it seems to do the following much better:

1) Not act like a drunken sailor when the lane widens on a merge and then shrinks. Much more comfortable since it stays in its lane instead of just centering.
2) Only one case so far, but on a merge with two cars coming in, the car didn't panic and slam on the brakes like it used to, instead it slowed down to let the first car ahead of it, with the second car behind my car. Much better.

Any body else tried it on the freeway yet?

 

[EVRider-FL]

It’s been reported that FSD Beta uses regular NoA on the highway, so I’m surprised to hear that you’re seeing a difference. Maybe they changed something in 10.3.1?

 

[JulienW]

Yea, highway is the "old" AP stack. Just look at the display and you can clearly see when it switches from FSD Beta stack to the standard AP stack.

Elon said Highway is coming soon (hopefully in 10.4 or 5) to the FSD Beta stack but right now you are experiencing some placebo effect.

We did get perpendicular parking added to the FSD Beta stack in 10.3.x.

 

[buyleonard]

I'm pretty sure its not a placebo effect, but haven't tried it enough to be positive. I've certainly never had it slow down to fit between two cars that are merging in before, It always panicked and slammed on the breaks at the last second. And it stayed in its lane instead of centering for about 3 merges, though it is possible that those were caused by faint lines from the blacktop being laid at different times (which I've had happen before).

 

[Joleary]

You are now relying on vision only for highway, right?

 

[aronth5]

I have found it does a much better job exiting on tight exit ramps.

 

[Maaz]

I think it is better. As 10.3 release notes confirm the disabling of the radar. This is pure vision and that might be the reasoning behind this.

 

[nvx1977]

I've only tested highways on 10.2, which was the first time relying on vision-only (I have an ancient Model 3 w radar). I had no phantom braking events, which surprised me. Many of the old beta testers were saying vision-only was nowhere as good as the old radar AP. Maybe I got lucky. But my commute from Southern NH to Boston is quite varied. Speeds always range from max highway speeds to bumper-bumper traffic. Plenty of overpasses that historically are hit/miss with phantom braking. Lots of speed variation from other drivers, lots of drivers switching lanes to try to optimize their commute. For now, I remain impressed with vision-only. I assume there's no difference between 10.2 and 10.3 since highway is just old AP/NOA on vision. Next highway test for me this Thursday. WIll report back.

 

[GlmnAlyAirCar]

I think it is better. As 10.3 release notes confirm the disabling of the radar. This is pure vision and that might be the reasoning behind this.

Vision only NOA absolutely has improvements over radar NOA. I suspect once Tesla decided to go vision only they orphaned the radar based NOA.

One example of an improvement is that NOA with vision will do toll booths. Radar based would turn off NOA; vision based gives a message indicating “limited functionality” or something similar, but will slow, select a toll booth, and go right through.

 

[arnolddeleon]

I think it is better. As 10.3 release notes confirm the disabling of the radar. This is pure vision and that might be the reasoning behind this.

I've only done one drive on the freeway (roughly 20 miles total). I see it possibly being a little more stable but I wasn't sure. I do agree, likely difference is from being vision only.

 

[Ruffles]

I think its better as well. People probably assume there is no change because its the "old" visuals but it is smoother for me on the freeway and slows much more naturally when approaching slower cars. The cars on the screen also show the brake lights so there must be at lease some changes under the hood. There is a highway near me that I drive often that has some yellow traffic lights that prior to getting an FSD build, the car would always slow down for. Both 10.2 and 10.3.1 don't have this issue.

 

[JulienW]

 

[mark95476]

My freeway commutes are short (<15 miles each way) and I didn't notice any difference.

1) That merge centering never really happened to me. I tried testing it by purposely switching lanes into wide merge lane, as well.
2) I never got any panic (phantom) braking on freeways, but I do notice that it'll slow-down slightly when it sees a car merging. I blip the throttle so I'm ahead or out of the way.

I was lucky enough to get FSD Beta 10.3.1 (SS of 99) and I was most excited to try it on the freeway to see if there were any improvements since that is where I mostly want to use it. I haven't been able to use it much so far, but it seems to do the following much better:

1) Not act like a drunken sailor when the lane widens on a merge and then shrinks. Much more comfortable since it stays in its lane instead of just centering.
2) Only one case so far, but on a merge with two cars coming in, the car didn't panic and slam on the brakes like it used to, instead it slowed down to let the first car ahead of it, with the second car behind my car. Much better.

Any body else tried it on the freeway yet?

 

[DaveG_NJ]

Wide merge lane centering is still happening for me, though intermittently, on 10.3.1. One day I think they fixed it and another the steering wheel jerks hard right confusing surrounding drivers.

My sense of vision only is that the car drives like an angry 90 year old who left his glasses at home. So many late, jerky adjustments and, dare I say, “hard braking”.

 

[Ramphex]

Did a 500 mile drive yesterday and did not see any highway improvements over regular FSD NoA

 

[Acisplat]

I'm on 10.3.1 and my car keeps centered much more often, before it would hug the right. Might be the same improvement on the latest stable non-FSD release too though.

 

[dsnows]

Wide merge lane centering is still happening for me, though intermittently, on 10.3.1. One day I think they fixed it and another the steering wheel jerks hard right confusing surrounding drivers.

My sense of vision only is that the car drives like an angry 90 year old who left his glasses at home. So many late, jerky adjustments and, dare I say, “hard braking”.

That is a good description of what my experience has been so far on 10.3.1. Abrupt sharp turns, fast breaking and acceleration, sometimes unsure of which maneuver to make. At least once, got in the left turn lane when car needed to go straight. Car then went straight from the left turn lane even though the graphic showed a left turn. Weird.

 

[buyleonard]

You are now relying on vision only for highway, right?

Yes, but since mine was a June 2021 Model Y, it was already using Vision only