Lane Assist Only Works with Autopilot

[FV1375]

I have a new Model 3 RWD without enhanced Autopilot or FSD (just TACC). This is my first Tesla. Lane Assist only works when the car is in Autopilot. Should it not also work when Autopilot is disengaged? I drive on a lot curvy, hilly streets where Autopilot is not practical, but Lane Assist is often needed.

 

[smogne41]

Lane Departure Avoidance and Emergency Lane Departure Avoidance will still work (if you have them engaged) but this is not lane keeping, these are just corrective aids for your manual driving. Basic Autopilot is the lane keeping+adaptive cruise feature.

 

[Kimmi]

All lane departure does is jiggle the steering wheel.

 

[RTPEV]

All lane departure does is jiggle the steering wheel.

It does now gently pull you back into the lane (this may be a setting).

But back to the OP's original question, which is a bit confusing.

You (OP) say that lane assist is "needed", yet "autopilot is impractical". I am very confused by this, since it seems like the function you are asking for (keeping the car in the lane) is precisely what autopilot does (well, that, and the fact that it's "needed" is a bit questionable as well--obviously it is possible to actually drive the car manually on those roads).

It sounds like the function you are asking for is what Tesla calls "autosteer". "Autopilot" is "Autosteer" + "TACC", so yes, technically Autopilot is more than just simple lane keeping. So I am inferring that the reason you feel that Autopilot is inappropriate on your hilly, curvy roads is that you don't feel comfortable with the speed that it's taking those curves at (although it will slow down if it feels like it needs to, so maybe your tolerance to its speed is a bit low).

If that's the case, then here's the solution. Go ahead and engage Autopilot, but set the speed to a really low value. This will require you to use the accelerator pedal to maintain the speed you are comfortable with, but that's what you wanted anyway. Voila: you have autosteer without it taking turns at too high a speed.

 

[freeAgent]

If you want to manually control speed while using lane-keep assistance (Autopilot), you can do so by setting the Autopilot speed to something below the slowest speed of traffic you will likely encounter. Then just use the accelerator to actually control your speed above that set point. What you end up with is lane-keeping without cruise control factoring into the equation.

That said, I've found that Autopilot does a terrible job at lanekeeping in curvy, hilly scenarios. In those situations, you're better off just driving your car fully manually IMO.