Just took my maiden FSD voyage with a lunchtime trip to Home Depot in the Chicago suburbs. On the outbound trip, did a rolling start on the expressway (e.g. started with AP and let it hand off to FSD at the exit) and then on the inbound trip started in the Home Depot parking lot. Initial impressions:
- Lane changes in both AP and FSD seem much more confident than before. Instead of the 3 blinker flashes before lane change, it will sometimes go immediately. For me, this makes it much more usuable because in traffic 3 blinks can mean the difference between an opening for lane change to no opening
- Otherwise no real changes to AP on expressway, and remains usable enough to relaxing
- FSD on local roads is fun if not unrefined. It feels like a step above the local street AP that was available prior but is definitely something that has room for growth over time
- On the plus side compared to local street AP, FSD does not require a lead car to go through green lights and behaves very similarly to local street AP. On straight line travel, it's not bad and is very doable.
- There is room for improvement turning on intersections. First is that it takes the turns very slowly, so much that I've gotten horns from impatient folks behind me on protected left turn lanes as it went slow enough to get the light to turn yellow. This seems very attainable as the system gets more data and takes turns more comfortably (like the AP lane changes did)
- Also it tends to not make turns as I would, seeming to under or oversteer, getting close to the curb or next lane. I usually end up taking control so I couldn't say if it hits the curb
- It is also difficult to maintain the right amount of torque on the wheel as it turns. As cited upthread, the wheel turns pretty quickly and can disengage itself if you're gripping the wheel to tightly. This will take some practice to feather the grip
- Because of these points, on this maiden voyage I had a success rate of 0% on turns. I'll keep practicing though!
- One thing that my route was unable to test were flashing intersection signs that FSD treated as a yellow light previously. I'll test this on another route I always take over the next few days.
- All said, my opinion is that if you were used to local street AP it seems like a good incremental improvement. Currently it seems to be at the level for single drivers to train themselves how to use FSD on well-known routes, but maybe isn't best to use on unknown routes or with passengers. If I were to compare them, expressway AP is like riding an Uber in that it's trustworthy enough to get me from point to point but might make some decisions that I wouldn't. FSD is more like riding with someone on their learners permit, where I needed to be ready to take over.
Interesting stuff and I'm excited to see how this develops. It wasn't so long ago where AP was less refined and it's since become very usuable. FSD should grow similarly.