How good is autopilot ?

[Jarrodbarr]

I’ve orders my rwd and awaiting delivery date super pumped.
I’ve been driving a hire care recently that offered adaptive cruise control and lane keeping assist.
A have found that on highway crusing at 70-110 it works quite well but when it comes up to a stopped car it gets quite sketchy, almost to a point where I have to slam on brakes. (Some times I have had to do it.

I want to know how much better is autopilot in stop and go traffic, highway driving, sudden stopped traffic etc?
Thanks in advance.

 

[Maximillan]

I only use Autopilot consistently in the following two scenarios:

1. Freeways with light to medium traffic
2. Bumper to bumper traffic with TACC set to 40km/h

I don't like how fast it approaches stopped traffic from 60km/h and then slams on the brakes at the last minute, however I understand that this has been addressed in a recent software update.

I won't use autopilot on any winding road, I find that it's less tiring if I have the controls in that situation.

 

[Hairyman]

I only use Autopilot consistently in the following two scenarios:

1. Freeways with light to medium traffic
2. Bumper to bumper traffic with TACC set to 40km/h

I don't like how fast it approaches stopped traffic from 60km/h and then slams on the brakes at the last minute, however I understand that this has been addressed in a recent software update.

I won't use autopilot on any winding road, I find that it's less tiring if I have the controls in that situation.

Agree. I find driving in those circumstances much less tiring with the Autopilot on.

It is not up to managing (in Australia at least) heavy traffic or non-highway roads.

It does definitely have a learning curve while you get to understand its behaviours.

It is a topic that will bring forth a range of strong, but sincerely held, views.

It is getting steadily more smooth as time goes on. I have it set to maximum following distance.

 

[paulp]

I wish tesla stayed with mobileye. That was a genuinely decent robust system.

 

[SilverString]

Beta 10.10.2 is quite good from a driver assist standpoint, but it is certainly not FSD. All the other issues surrounding it not withstanding, it is quite impressive and I use it on most all drives to varying degrees. I would definitely miss it if it were gone or reverted back to the production release.

That said, I understand many are disappointed with price increases, delayed promises, and lack of communication from Tesla - I get it. But from a purely functional standpoint no other company that I know of is offering anything close to the current production release, and are years behind the beta.

 

[Nobody Famous]

Beta 10.10.2

Welcome to Australia. - FSD Beta desert

 

[SilverString]

Welcome to Australia. - FSD Beta desert

Yea sorry that does stink. Hopefully Australia will be after Canada. I am wondering if the beta supports supports left side of the road driving yet?

 

[atj777]

How good is autopilot

Sorry, I heard that in ScoMo's voice.

As others have said. It works great on freeways and nearly straight roads. It sucks for roundabouts. I wouldn't use it on winding roads.

I don't like Autosteer as I fee it puts the car to close to the vehicles to the left.

 

[GrimRe]

I only use Autopilot consistently in the following two scenarios:

1. Freeways with light to medium traffic
2. Bumper to bumper traffic with TACC set to 40km/h

I don't like how fast it approaches stopped traffic from 60km/h and then slams on the brakes at the last minute, however I understand that this has been addressed in a recent software update.

I won't use autopilot on any winding road, I find that it's less tiring if I have the controls in that situation.

The slow down behaviour is now much improved.

Previously, the "horizon" was quite close to the ego vehicle. So much so that the car would be maintain its set speed and brake much later than a human using the friction brakes quite heavily. Now the car uses the regenerative braking very naturally and slows down much at much the same rate as human.

Stop-and-go traffic is also much improved. Rather than the jerky acceleration and harsh braking, the car rolls quite comfortably.

 

[Nobody Famous]

It sucks for roundabouts.

I think you are expecting too much of a quite capable lane keep assist/autosteer function

 

[atj777]

I think you are expecting too much of a quite capable lane keep assist/autosteer function

I wasn't talking about autosteer. I was talking about TACC. I never use Autosteer as it puts the car too far to the left. I thought I said that.

 

[dyde]

I don't like Autosteer as I fee it puts the car to close to the vehicles to the left.

Agreed, makes me feel pretty nervous when going past large trucks

 

[Maximillan]

This guy does a good test in Australian conditions, it'll give you a sense of where the capabilities are (and how much you should trust it).

 

[meloccom]

Moderators note:
I have added a question mark to the title to reduce the impression that it is a Scomo quote.
if it were a Scomo quote I believe it would need an exclamation mark.

 

[RareEarth]

Autopilot is great for long highway drives, on our trip to Adelaide and back over 'summer' it would have driven most of the way. Overtaking being an obvious exception, not sure I would trust any robotic system to correctly assess safe overtaking opportunities.

Another route where it does most of the driving is Canberra - Cooma - South Coast, except for Brown Mountain. I tried it once going down, set max speed to 50kph (no cars behind me). It did fairly well but freaked out on two sharp bends, less stress to do it yourself and re-engage autopilot at the bottom.

 

[PC__LoadLetter]

When you see stopped traffic on a curve, autopilot won't, and it'll drop the anchors far too late for comfort. I believe it's because the front centre telephoto camera points straight ahead (so it won't see the stopped traffic). And the front centre fisheye camera, and the relevant side camera, aren't paying enough attention to traffic or lane lines, or don't have enough resolution to work with, or their input just isn't being treated as enough of a priority.

When you see stopped traffic straight ahead, on higher speed urban roads,. autopilot's telephoto camera will see the stopped traffic, but it still slows down a tiny bit later than I'd like.

But on moderate speed urban roads with relatively straight clear views ahead, I am quite happy to let it do its thing when I have an uber rider in the car.

 

[Wol747]

I'm happy to use it when alone, but Mrs won't let me when she's in the screaming seat. Which is most of the time.
It keeps to the lanes OK but occasionally makes a lunge to an unwanted exit on freeways. It's sometimes reluctant to change into a faster lane but relatively often will refuse to go back into the slower one and far too often will get halfway there and suddenly abort and swerve back into the overtaking lane.
Not yet up to the standard of a learner driver.

 

[EFB055]

... it puts the car too far to the left...

Agreed, such a bizarre feeling. Looking out the side mirrors it appears to be exactly centered but as a driver, if you're in the right lane passing cars on your left on a divided road, it's much more comfortable when the car is positioned 3/4 to the right.

 

[evpaddie]

don't like Autosteer as I fee it puts the car to close to the vehicles to the left.

Agree, neither my wife or I drive with Autosteer. It permanently set to OFF in the Car Control menu. That way we don't inadvertently turn it on, when in TACC and we need to pull down on the right stalk for a couple of seconds to set the speed to the speed sign it often fails to recognise. We drive predominantly on country roads and I use TACC most of the time, as much as anything to avoid speeding fines. I trust it on winding roads where I know the car will handle the bends at its set cruising speeds without slowing down. On tighter bending roads, I turn it off.

 

[Ozdw]

I've only three weeks experience with our Model 3 but have tried autopilot for roughly 15 hours. On the M1 to and from Melbourne (about 2 hours each way), it performed well. I was always paying attention, but found it took the edge off just a bit and I wasn't as tired afterward. This is, of course, subjective and I guess I could be seeing a placebo effect.

I even use it on some curvy roads through the Otways, but feel much less comfortable. It feels like a teenager driving-- probably all is well but makes me very nervous. I haven't seen it put me in danger yet.

I'll continue to use autopilot but really as a minor assist. I really love the TACC, even on curvy roads, as it adjusts speed for upcoming curves really well. I often use TACC without autopilot for that reason.