The other day, I posted that I went for the FSD@$2 grand and no buyers remorse. Today, I changed my mind and wish that I had not spent the two grand. I took the 2019 S out in early morning rush hour traffic again to test the features with the autopilot. First, unless you have lines on the road or a curb autopilot will not engage and just cruise control. Second, regenerative braking is two harsh and I have to select the other mode, my wife hates the jerkiness of the braking when riding shotgun. Third, in Dallas traffic it is down right scary with the autopilot engaged. If it says 65, you better count on 85. The system knows the speed limit and when you engage you have to immediately notch it up to 85-90 and sometimes with autosteer it only lets you go the speed limit and you can't bump it up. Several times this morning large trucks can't keep their lane and when they come over into my lane and another vehicle on the other side, the autopilot would klick off and now you got it. The point is the system is not ready for prime time players in my opinion. The system is dangerous, but maybe the new hardware/software will fix these items. I came from a 2018 Mercedes S63 which would slow for the turns and make the turns and do all the stuff the Tesla can do. The Mercedes could never stay in it's lane in turns and it had traffic sign reading which if going 80 and it read 50 it would slow to 50 which causes a good chance of a rear end hit. I tend to believe that automation is further down the road than we think, probably not this year and I doubt if next. My father told me "wise men change their minds, fools never do". I should of waited and just content with EAP.
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I changed my mind
- Thread starter trident
- Start date
That’s like buying a stock and a week later it’s down 10% and you want to bail. You did your diligence (I assume) and you need to look at for the long haul.
You can set your "relative" speed to +15 mph above the speed limit. I have it set to +10. So when I engage autopilot on the freeway (65 mph speed limit) it will auto set at 75 which is about the average speed. But for the same reason you stated, I didn't purchase FSD. I have test Navigate on AP extensively and I don't trust it. EAP is awesome and I use it everyday to help with my 3 hours commute. But I wouldn't trust the car to fully auto drive on the freeway.. there are so many factors. Would I ever trust it driving in local streets in my neighborhood? There are kids, dogs, walking around and cross out to the street.. chasing a ball.... I just know that I would feel really bad if I trust the car and the car hits someone. When FSD came out and people tested it and proven that it is really safe.. then I will get it even if I have to pay a little more (or less you never know how they are going to price it based on history of Tesla's pricing).
Autopilot doesn't actually need the lines to navigate. There are a few roads in my area where the lines go away and autopilot continues to navigate just fine. I think the fact that it won't engage without lines is just for safety. Can't argue with your other points though.
It does take a bit to learn regenerative braking, when you’ve been used to coasting all your driving life. You end up needing to be gentle with releasing the pedal. Once you get used to it though, you end up missing it when you drive a car without it.
Don't get me wrong, I love the car, love driving it and the instant power. Not exactly the comfort of the Mercedes, but pretty darn close and 100 grand less. Question is, will the technology advance as fast as promised? I doubt it. But it will occur. Years ago, I would have never believed that a Boeing 777 could fly on one engine and make an auto landing down to zero zero. Hopefully your right, the HW3 will rectify many of the problems. Looking forward to it.
I don't understand... you already had EAP and knew exactly how it drives. Granted, the latest 2019.5.x release seems to be learning still and has some "jerkiness," but you basically upgraded to FSD and got nothing new except promises of stoplight awareness and city street NOA. Existing EAP owners will retain NOA for highways, Summon and Self-Parking. IMO, no reason to jump on FSD upgrade until it exists and capabilities are proven.
jorobsand
Member
Almost as if this is what they wanted all along. The sale price is definitely enticing for me. Originally, I couldn't justify $5k on features that may or may not ever become available for as long as I owned the car. But $2k? That's an enticing gamble. Yes, gamble.
That may still be the case
. Anyway, the OP is commenting on issues with AP, as the reason he regrets FSD purchase.There will always be another "sale" for the upgrade, and I would rather see it in action. Regardless, my perception is those with EAP will retain most of the great, useful features for highway driving. I'm personally dubious about NOA / Summon on city streets being practical, at least in the next several years. Stoplight / stop sign / object awareness and perhaps emergency braking on city streets without NOA active would be nice.
65 vs 85. Can’t you engage the TACC at the current speed then enable autosteer with the double stalk tap?
I like the regenerative braking but there is a lower setting.
It uses painted lines to see the lanes as far as I can tell. Even on interstates, when in the right lane coming up on the end of an entrance ramp, the car will see the distance between the lines as a wider lane and fade to the right to center itself in what it sees as the wider lane. If there are no painted lines I don’t know what the car should use to determine lanes. I think it does a pretty good job on interstate highways.
That said, there’s an occasional episode of a fairly hard application of the brakes. Once was because a slow truck moved into my lanel, the car braked hard and for a long time. I think it was trying to maintain the 7 car lengths I’d set. The other braking episode was on clear road, long tree shadows crossing the road and an overpass. It slowed 5-10 MPH, fairly aggressively and unexpectedly. Both times there was no one close behind me but either time a tailgater might well have hit me. That’s a worry.
If you are in a center lane, a truck sliding into your lane and the lane on the other side is occupied, the autopilot clearly is out of options. Does it brake or accelerate out of the problem? It sees there’s a problem and gives the car back to you. What should it do? You are driving, it is just helping you on the easy bits. I’m OK with that, I don’t want someone’s beta code doing something unexpected.
You are right, it isn’t ready for “prime time players”. It is beta software. It’s better than it was but it is still beta test software. I understand that so I tend to watch it pretty closely. I use it but I don’t trust it.
You’ll find no end of shortcomings. It should see emergency vehicles and move over if it can. I can’t see potholes so doesn’t avoid them. Those big tire “gators”, I’m not sure what it does, I take over so I don’t find out. It’ll suggest moving into a passing lane within a mile of a desired exit, I don’t think that’s a good idea. When one confirms a lane change, it seems pretty good about watching for cars in that other lane then changing when there’s an opening.
You may be treating it like release software and not beta software. I don’t think you can do that yet. I enjoy using it but I realize it is a work in progress and since it is me in the test vehicle, I do try to constantly mistrust it. Overall it works pretty well, I think. I think it will work better. Not too long ago, it would ping-pong on the road. Lane changes weren’t at all smooth, that’s better. Now there’s navigate on autopilot which suggests lane changes and can do it once one has confirmed agreement with the lane change. So I see constant improvement. It isn’t done yet, though.
And that extra $2000 you spent, I spent it too. I don’t know if the price will go up again or not so there’s no way to tell if I’d have been better off waiting. The way I see it, that money isn’t being spent to buy what we already have, it is spent for what we might have later. Like you, I already had everything possible now. I have a V2 computer. Just the computer upgrade should be worth the $2K.
I don’t regret it, as I sit here I think it was a rational choice. Even if they give FSD away later, it was a rational choice with the information I have available now, so I’ll recognize that and stay satisfied with my decision. I’ve made plenty of worse decisions in the past. We can only use the information available at the time. If I could see the future, I’d be one hell of a poker player.
I like the regenerative braking but there is a lower setting.
It uses painted lines to see the lanes as far as I can tell. Even on interstates, when in the right lane coming up on the end of an entrance ramp, the car will see the distance between the lines as a wider lane and fade to the right to center itself in what it sees as the wider lane. If there are no painted lines I don’t know what the car should use to determine lanes. I think it does a pretty good job on interstate highways.
That said, there’s an occasional episode of a fairly hard application of the brakes. Once was because a slow truck moved into my lanel, the car braked hard and for a long time. I think it was trying to maintain the 7 car lengths I’d set. The other braking episode was on clear road, long tree shadows crossing the road and an overpass. It slowed 5-10 MPH, fairly aggressively and unexpectedly. Both times there was no one close behind me but either time a tailgater might well have hit me. That’s a worry.
If you are in a center lane, a truck sliding into your lane and the lane on the other side is occupied, the autopilot clearly is out of options. Does it brake or accelerate out of the problem? It sees there’s a problem and gives the car back to you. What should it do? You are driving, it is just helping you on the easy bits. I’m OK with that, I don’t want someone’s beta code doing something unexpected.
You are right, it isn’t ready for “prime time players”. It is beta software. It’s better than it was but it is still beta test software. I understand that so I tend to watch it pretty closely. I use it but I don’t trust it.
You’ll find no end of shortcomings. It should see emergency vehicles and move over if it can. I can’t see potholes so doesn’t avoid them. Those big tire “gators”, I’m not sure what it does, I take over so I don’t find out. It’ll suggest moving into a passing lane within a mile of a desired exit, I don’t think that’s a good idea. When one confirms a lane change, it seems pretty good about watching for cars in that other lane then changing when there’s an opening.
You may be treating it like release software and not beta software. I don’t think you can do that yet. I enjoy using it but I realize it is a work in progress and since it is me in the test vehicle, I do try to constantly mistrust it. Overall it works pretty well, I think. I think it will work better. Not too long ago, it would ping-pong on the road. Lane changes weren’t at all smooth, that’s better. Now there’s navigate on autopilot which suggests lane changes and can do it once one has confirmed agreement with the lane change. So I see constant improvement. It isn’t done yet, though.
And that extra $2000 you spent, I spent it too. I don’t know if the price will go up again or not so there’s no way to tell if I’d have been better off waiting. The way I see it, that money isn’t being spent to buy what we already have, it is spent for what we might have later. Like you, I already had everything possible now. I have a V2 computer. Just the computer upgrade should be worth the $2K.
I don’t regret it, as I sit here I think it was a rational choice. Even if they give FSD away later, it was a rational choice with the information I have available now, so I’ll recognize that and stay satisfied with my decision. I’ve made plenty of worse decisions in the past. We can only use the information available at the time. If I could see the future, I’d be one hell of a poker player.
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Tip: Engage autopilot when you’re at your desired speed. I know NoA allows you to engage autopilot at the on ramp, but I like to find a comfortable position for my car before turning it on. Then it’ll engage at desired speed even if that’s 80mph.
Oldschool496
Member
Precisely, get into the flow of traffic, get comfortable, turn it on in stages. Read the tea leaves of the traffic conditions before you. I never use it in congestion and I even flip it off, if I feel things are not going well around me. Too much action before me and frankly behind me as well says I need to take over with my full attention.
When I pass large semi's, I am always at the ready. In fact prior to AP and Tesla, I know I have this habit of creating a wide birth by steering towards the opposite lane until I'm safely out the other side. AP does not allow that, so it will get shutoff many times in those moments. After all its in Beta.
FSD, I agree, a loooooooooooooooong way to go for that product and thats if Tesla is right with the cameras. Mr Musk even said, "I hope I'm right".
He also said one point "I know nothing about building cars". But he has hired many who do, and some tech genius's and we all hope this dream were in works out for the betterment of the planet in the long run.
The electric part is the dream,
the rest is just frosting remember.
FSD is sprinkles.
This is from Tesletter
Tesla dropped FSD and AP for owners but Elon just announced that prices are going back to normal on Monday. This is after a few Tesla owners who already purchased EAP complained about having to pay more for FSD than people who didn't. If you own a Tesla and you want to take advantage of the lower prices for FSD or AP, hurry up and get them before Monday.
So that $2k might have been well spent, probably depending on how long you keep your Tesla and what FSD features come along later.
Tesla dropped FSD and AP for owners but Elon just announced that prices are going back to normal on Monday. This is after a few Tesla owners who already purchased EAP complained about having to pay more for FSD than people who didn't. If you own a Tesla and you want to take advantage of the lower prices for FSD or AP, hurry up and get them before Monday.
So that $2k might have been well spent, probably depending on how long you keep your Tesla and what FSD features come along later.
Pinot.Noir
Member
Not only missing it, but driving without it can be dangerous....I hate not having it as I need to overcompensate on braking.
Oldschool496
Member
I just read yours and its spot on with my feelings. I drive an AP-1 car so I have no complaints really.
I took the warning early on with AP from service advisor after I complained about the car mildly veering towards semi's. She said" One thing you must remember, this system is in Beta". I have never forgotten that.
My car does what I expect with the input I give it. Your right we are the testers and the test dummies I sometimes feel, but this test dummy wants to come out the other side unscathed with family intact as we all do.
I can't leave video too large, that had I not been alerted at 6:14:15 to take the wheel better,
That at 6:15:21 the front of my car starts eating the right shoulder line, until I have had enough of it and take over cancelling AP. Unfortunately you cannot see its clearly marked road, its dark though and some real bright lights are coming at me. No other traffic on the road in front or back.
The bright light is the only thing I can point to here.
Cameras do not like bright light, they cannot see well. The Tesla manual tells us so, Bright Light, The Sun etc. SO the car runs away or runs to papa. Thats me, I'm papa.
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