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How Best to Use Autopilot

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I've had my Tesla Model 3 for about 2 months now. I've had mixed success with autopilot. It seems to work best when I'm driving on a highway where there is light traffic. If there is stop and go traffic, I find that it can over accelerate or over decelerate as the cars stop and go in front of me. Yesterday I was driving on a local road with 2 way traffic. The speed limit is 35 and a car made a left turn in front of me, Autopilot slowed down alarmingly fast, there was a car behind me and I was worried he might smash into me, but he didn't. The car making a turn had plenty of room, if I were driving without AP I might have slowed down slightly, but certainly not as hard as AP did. When I thought about it afterwards, I think the 6 car lengths space I had maybe was the reason for this. Should I set it to 2 or 3 when I'm driving on a road that is only 35 MPH?
 
I thought Autopilot was only meant for interstate highways, so I wouldn’t expect it to react well in that scenario. It wouldn’t have recognized that the car was turning, just that it was slowing down.

From what I’ve heard, a longer follow distance (eg 6 or 7) is supposed to give you smoother transitions than a shorter follow distance (eg 2 or 3), but I don’t know how that applies at low speeds.

The other option is to try to get used to it. I use the FSD Beta for driving at that speed, and at first it did a ton of things I really disliked. I drive like an old lady in a small town trying to keep a toddler asleep in the backseat (which is mostly true). After a few weeks with the Beta, I’ve become used to how it drives and love it now.
 
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Use your scroll wheel to keep adjusting for practical target speeds. Think of it as your (smart) accelerator/decelerator, replacing use of pedals. That goes a long way in smoothing out the ride. The follow distance can use touch-up in different circumstances. But there are situations where the car accelerates and decelerates differently than you might. Getting used to the system takes a good while.
 
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I think it is TACC that is especially inclined to give excessive care to traffic crossing far in front of me by slowing excessively. I'm a new Y owner as of March 2022, and that was one of my biggest beefs with the car.

The good news is that I've gotten used to seeing situations likely to trigger this behavior in advance, and just make sure I am covering the accelerator, ready, to give a nudge or more to avoid excessive slowing and annoying of people behind me.

I do hope that one day they alter the behavior.
 
Use your scroll wheel to keep adjusting for practical target speeds. Think of it as your (smart) accelerator/decelerator, replacing use of pedals. That goes a long way in smoothing out the ride. The follow distance can use touch-up in different circumstances. But there are situations where the car accelerates and decelerates differently than you might. Getting used to the system takes a good while.
I used the scroll wheel a lot more on my trip today using autopilot. It did help when I anticipated things up ahead like cars turning, slowing down with the scroll wheel avoided any sudden decelerations. Thanks for the tip!