I have only driven my Model 3 with the FSD package for a couple of weeks, but I think this might be helpful to those considering it because I still remember what it was like to not have any features.
At the moment, its a different way of driving. Conceptually, its the same as cruise control. With cruise control, you know that at some point you have to disable it, because, well, I don't believe there is a cruise control which could handle an entire trip, including stop signs and turns.
Autopilot, and Navigate on Autopilot, are like cruise control in the same sense, that only far, far more advanced.
On a highway trip, autopilot is likely to be fully sufficient unless there is some sort of construction which results in the actual lanes going from well marked to not well marked or not marked at all. That is where it is as of today. Lane changes seem pretty advanced in terms of waiting for an opening and then making the change. Keeping distance from the car in front is just as good as a human would do.
The only thing it does not do well at the moment is shown on many Youtube videos, where the lane all of a sudden gets wider (like an on or off ramp, and you know its not "really wider" but the car thinks it is so it drifts into the center of the new, wider lane. Not an unsafe move but obviously incorrect.
Autopilot also handles well marked streets at the moment, even though it is not "meant" to be used on them. In my area there is street with about three lanes in each direction, all stop lights, for a good 10 miles. Forty to 45 speed limit. If you are behind another car, it handles this perfectly, slowing when the other car slows for a light, all the way to a stop, then speeding up away from the light.
I have not yet seen what it does when it would approach a stoplight with no car to key off of, it will probably either shut itself off, or, obviously, I would shut it off.
The Navigate on Autopilot "knows" when it leaves a highway. It turns of and goes back to autopilot based on GPS.
I am happy to have purchased it, because for my $6k I get to be part of the testing group to experience all the incremental improvements along the way.
But, it also makes perfect sense to wait until the entire FSD is functional and buy it then. I would not call this a "counter argument" but its the same with any new technology, at some point you know if you wait a year you will get either the same thing for less or a better product. But in this case there is actual fun in using it now, plus, unlike, say, a computer, this product updates itself.
I don't think its going to need any other sensors, and, if they figure out they need a camera up front I imagine they will simply add it. Cameras are not expensive and all you need to do is have a small hole in the bumper.
My advice? If you think the $6K or $7K really matters, don't get it. Especially if you are focused, like some posters, and what it does not do at the moment. I would not add it to a leased car.
Also keep in mind that this enjoyment comes at the COST of the lives of almost 40,000 people a year in the US alone. If everyone switched to FSD today that figure would probably be cut by at least ½ and would be very low in just a few years.
