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How to use FSD/autosteer

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I was wondering if someone could explain when they are finding autosteer useful. Do you just hope it works or you find it easier to drive with FSD engaged?

I've manually steered all my life since the old days of Ford Escort all the way to classic manual Model S. Not until I got my 2017 FSD and I've been enjoyed it ever since. I've used AutoSteer whenever it allows me to do even though the official use is only for Freeways. I've used it in small streets, city streets, anywhere I could.

That means I've found it very useful.
 
I've manually steered all my life since the old days of Ford Escort all the way to classic manual Model S. Not until I got my 2017 FSD and I've been enjoyed it ever since. I've used AutoSteer whenever it allows me to do even though the official use is only for Freeways. I've used it in small streets, city streets, anywhere I could.

That means I've found it very useful.
So, when you use it you 100% rely on it or you still in control? I figured if I have to hold the steering wheel then I might as well drive the car.
 
One limitation of autosteer seems to me the basically unability to determine at what speed a car should be driving through a curve.
Not all the freeways are just straights lines, in some areas freeways and highwyas can be very curvy.

Basically the car is designed to drive exactly in the center of a lane and at the posted speed limit.
In the reality, you always reduce your speed before approaching a curve and accelerate when exiting a curve.
Also you put your car more in the inside of a curve to compensate the centrifugal force pushing the car outside of the curve.

Autosteer drives more like a beginner driver who doesn't look too much ahead to anticipate actions resulting in a smooth driving.
As a result, when using autosteer, I am constantly adjusting the speed when approaching a curve, and I often needs to take over
the steering wheel when there are walls or guards rails close to the lane's side or when there are cars coming in the opposite direction.

Something to be very cautious about is that the car is really focus on staying in middle of a lane, even when passing a truck who,
because of its size, occupy the full width of its lane. You would naturally move a little bit on the opposite side of your lane in this situation,
but autosteer is not able to detect how close you might be when passing a truck, so sometime you might be few inches from a truck side.
 
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So, when you use it you 100% rely on it or you still in control? I figured if I have to hold the steering wheel then I might as well drive the car.

I quickly learned with my 200-mile drive home from Fremont delivery in 2017 that Tesla handsfree Autosteer has been a bad idea!

That's because Tesla Autosteer can steer very wrongly and if I don't monitor the robot's steering torque, I could have been toast for the past 4 years.

Look how doing 25 MPH handsfree AutoSteer would get you to kiss the big boulders in Yosemite. That was reliably repeated 5 times in just 1 month:

655n3pqxo8f71.png



Because I monitor the torque, I can feel how right or how wrong the AutoSteer is and I can correct it very seamlessly and easily. The above boulder accident would not happen to me because my hands would already be on the steering wheel and my hands would already feel the torque trying to leave the road in order to kiss the boulder. In that case, I just need to stiffen my hands upon the steering wheel, the AutoSteer would be overridden/disabled while the car goes straight without skipping a heartbeat.

For the first 200 miles that I drove my car from Fremont factory to my home, I was tense to figure out how to work with Autosteer. After that, it has been a very relaxing experience for me.
 
One limitation of autosteer seems to me the basically unability to determine at what speed a car should be driving through a curve.
Not all the freeways are just straights lines, in some areas freeways and highwyas can be very curvy.

Basically the car is designed to drive exactly in the center of a lane and at the posted speed limit.
In the reality, you always reduce your speed before approaching a curve and accelerate when exiting a curve.
Also you put your car more in the inside of a curve to compensate the centrifugal force pushing the car outside of the curve.

Autosteer drives more like a beginner driver who doesn't look too much ahead to anticipate actions resulting in a smooth driving.
As a result, when using autosteer, I am constantly adjusting the speed when approaching a curve, and I often needs to take over
the steering wheel when there are walls or guards rails close to the lane's side or when there are cars coming in the opposite direction.

Something to be very cautious about is that the car is really focus on staying in middle of a lane, even when passing a truck who,
because of its size, occupy the full width of its lane. You would naturally move a little bit on the opposite side of your lane in this situation,
but autosteer is not able to detect how close you might be when passing a truck, so sometime you might be few inches from a truck side.
Interesting points but here's my question:
Do you feel like it's more work overseeing FSD than regular driving?
 
I quickly learned with my 200-mile drive home from Fremont delivery in 2017 that Tesla handsfree Autosteer has been a bad idea!

That's because Tesla Autosteer can steer very wrongly and if I don't monitor the robot's steering torque, I could have been toast for the past 4 years.

Look how doing 25 MPH handsfree AutoSteer would get you to kiss the big boulders in Yosemite. That was reliably repeated 5 times in just 1 month:

655n3pqxo8f71.png



Because I monitor the torque, I can feel how right or how wrong the AutoSteer is and I can correct it very seamlessly and easily. The above boulder accident would not happen to me because my hands would already be on the steering wheel and my hands would already feel the torque trying to leave the road in order to kiss the boulder. In that case, I just need to stiffen my hands upon the steering wheel, the AutoSteer would be overridden/disabled while the car goes straight without skipping a heartbeat.

For the first 200 miles that I drove my car from Fremont factory to my home, I was tense to figure out how to work with Autosteer. After that, it has been a very relaxing experience for me.
So, I understand that you've learned how to use FSD to be safe. My question to you is if you think it's a more relaxing way to drive or a different way to drive? Do you use it when you are tired?
 
Interesting points but here's my question:
Do you feel like it's more work overseeing FSD than regular driving?
My personal opinion is that for relatively open rural interstate highways it makes it much more relaxing to make long drives. If you use it on crowded freeways in cities or on city streets then it causes that same level of anxiety as having a brand new teenage driver behind the wheel and you are the instructor watching them. So, no, not relaxing at all. It's interesting, but not relaxing.
 
Do you use it when you are tired?

Yes. I was tired of manual steering all my life and that's why I bought and use AutoSteer since 2017 almost all the time except where it refuses to cooperate like a small residential street without lane lines.

So, I understand that you've learned how to use FSD to be safe.
Exactly! I've learned what it wants and I feed it!

My question to you is if you think it's a more relaxing way to drive
Definitely. The only time I was tense was the first miles when I drove home from Fremont Factory. Once I got home after 200 miles. It has definitely a much more relaxing way to drive.

That doesn't mean AutoSteer is perfect. I am relaxed because I learn and memorize which stretches of the roads work best, which "curves of death" the AutoSteer can take and which not. Whenever I encounter an unknown "curve of death" I would assume AutoSteer would not be able to make it and I would be extra cautious.
 
My personal opinion is that for relatively open rural interstate highways it makes it much more relaxing to make long drives. If you use it on crowded freeways in cities or on city streets then it causes that same level of anxiety as having a brand new teenage driver behind the wheel and you are the instructor watching them. So, no, not relaxing at all. It's interesting, but not relaxing.
I continue to be amazed by people using AutoSteer on city streets where it is never designed for.
 
I continue to be amazed by people using AutoSteer on city streets where it is never designed for.

An example of using AutoSteer when it's not designed for is when I override the autosteer (that's going straight) in order to steer into the left/right turn lane, I would then immediately turn it back on because that's much more relaxing while driving toward the front of the left/right traffic light and wait for it. If it's a green light, I still let the autoSteer do its job until it's time to turn left/right and I would override the AutoSteer and turn it manually.
 
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I am very comfortable using autosteer, FSD. I use it 95% of the time. You have to use it and learn it’s limitations. I don’t trust it in all situations but I find it less stressful most of the time.

I have learned to keep just the right amount of pressure on the steering wheel to avoid the nag and am comfortable with the lane centering aspects of its operation. I am a little uncomfortable with the systems timing for braking for stop signs, traffic lights and stopped vehicles. There are numerous times I would brake before the system does.

I have become so used to keeping the tension on the wheel that I do so even stopped at traffic signals. I believe I pay more attention to the road and “driving” when in FSD than I do when I am driving.
 
Interesting points but here's my question:
Do you feel like it's more work overseeing FSD than regular driving?
I like to use FSD as much as possible, especially in a long journey, this is very relaxing to have but you need to look ahead
to see potential situations where you know how you will be driving and be ready taking some actions if you feel the car will
be driving too fast in a curve or too close to a rail guard or others vehicles.

The only option that I don't use is the automatic lane change, because most of the time this is not really what you want to do.
For example, when your car is going slower than the posted speed, the automatic lane change try to use a faster lane,
but as soon as you change lane often there will be another car in front of you.

However, when using FSD I like to indicate my intention to change lane, to pass a vehicle or to go back into my lane thereafter,
and let the car deciding when it's safe to change lane. This is a great feature especially because the rear visibility is not great,
and I prefer keeping my eyes looking in front of me than constantly checking the mirrors or the central display rear view cameras.
 
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I continue to be amazed by people using AutoSteer on city streets where it is never designed for.
Alex, sure people do. People also make phone calls, text while driving etc.
I'm a construction contractor and do a lot of city driving. It's wrong but I also call and text all the time. It's unsafe and I'm wondering if FSD would make it a little safer.
 
Alex, sure people do. People also make phone calls, text while driving etc.
I'm a construction contractor and do a lot of city driving. It's wrong but I also call and text all the time. It's unsafe and I'm wondering if FSD would make it a little safer.

AutoSteer/Autopilot/FSD certainly have made my driving safer because without it I could have collided with a car in front when I would take my eyes off in a second or I would hit a car next lane when I would try to input an address on the navigation system or selecting a radio station, a song...
 
I wrote this recently (while on our last road-tri):

“We are currently on our second road trip. My wife originally was afraid of the auto-pilot because of some phantom brakings. Now she wants me to engage it as soon as possible since auto-pilot drives better than I do, especially on curves when the car pretty much stays in the middle of the lane all the time.

I can’t imagine buying anything other than a Tesla now since no other car has even close self-driving capabilities”.

Now that we are back, there were some instances that I was not able to use auto-steer when it did not allow me to drive faster than +5 mph over the speed limit and I was constantly being in the way of traffic flow (I had to use TACC instead). It’s weird because sometimes it does allow more than +5 mph over, and sometimes not. Does anyone understand the logic here?
 
I wrote this recently (while on our last road-tri):

“We are currently on our second road trip. My wife originally was afraid of the auto-pilot because of some phantom brakings. Now she wants me to engage it as soon as possible since auto-pilot drives better than I do, especially on curves when the car pretty much stays in the middle of the lane all the time.

I can’t imagine buying anything other than a Tesla now since no other car has even close self-driving capabilities”.

Now that we are back, there were some instances that I was not able to use auto-steer when it did not allow me to drive faster than +5 mph over the speed limit and I was constantly being in the way of traffic flow (I had to use TACC instead). It’s weird because sometimes it does allow more than +5 mph over, and sometimes not. Does anyone understand the logic here?
I've noticed that too. I haven't done any detailed checking to confirm but it seems to do it only a higher speeds - not sure what the cutoff may be. It also seems to allow it when you're at a higher speed and then engage.
 
Interesting points but here's my question:
Do you feel like it's more work overseeing FSD than regular driving?
I find monitoring FSD a little exhausting at times and not at all relaxing. I liken it to driving with a teenager on the highway for the first time. I drive a lot (over one million miles in 40 years) and I enjoy driving - especially the Tesla. Being driven by it, not so much, but the technology interests me.
 
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I agree with the need to monitor FSD Auto steer for the most satisfying and safe experience, but only use it when moving at a fairly steady rate. When used in stop & go traffic it quickly becomes an anxiety ridden situation for me, but the same goes for adaptive cruise control with self steering.
 
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