Wiki MASTER THREAD: Actual FSD Beta downloads and experiences

[Phlier]

I definitely believe there is something to the California advantage. The videos from Whole Mars Catalog certainly were much better then what I experienced today.

I'm a firm believer in the California advantage, too. In fact, I think there's at least some advantage to anywhere that has had a decent population of FSD Beta testers since Beta 8 was released.

I have literally watched hundreds of FSD Beta videos now. And after spending the entire day with FSD Beta yesterday (500 miles logged), some observations...

• I'm not getting anywhere close to the experience in my local area that I'm seeing on FSD YouTube channels where there have been testers operating for a while. Not even close. FSD Beta in Las Vegas operates at least ten times better than it does in my little home town of St. George, Utah. I drove over 100 miles through Vegas yesterday, and FSD Beta was like a completely different animal than it was in St. George; so much better in Vegas I thought I was testing different software.
• This release has some interesting bugs. While manually driving (not even using cruise control) down I-15 yesterday, the car decided to flash the left turn signal four times without me doing anything. Hand wasn't even anywhere near the stalk. It also decided that I'd like military time format, and that various other settings needed to randomly change to different values. It also fired off it's various warning sounds at random times in random places with no other cars around while manually driving. Yes, I've done "two finger salute" reset many times, as well as using the Power Off command. All these bugs remain.
• The navigation will sometimes have moments. This one actually requires an entire post (if not thread), so I'm going to leave it at that for now.
• The AP to navigation interface sometimes won't "mesh;" the navigation will say "in 500 feet, turn right" but the car just keeps on going straight.

I'm completely convinced that I'm the only beta tester here in St. George, and that little to none of my little town has been covered in the past by beta testers. Seriously, here in St. George my car doesn't drive EVEN CLOSE to the way the FSD vids on YouTube drive.

Most of the YouTube videos show the car performing at least as well as a new Driver's Ed student. Here in St. George, it performs like someone trying to drive who has never actually ridden in a car before. Yet move it 130 miles south to Vegas, and it goes back to being a Driver's Ed student.

If anyone happens to be driving through St. George, could you do a guy a solid? Take a few minutes to drive around St. George for a bit before you continue on your Interstate 15 journey. The neural net and myself offer our deepest thanks. Plus, it's worth it just to compare the difference of how it performs here vs. places where testers have been driving for a year already.

So Phlier, how bad is it really? It's sooooooooo bad, that I'm going to have to go out beta testing in the wee hours of the a.m., as it's just not ready to be around other drivers yet, from both a safety and "don't piss off other drivers" stand point.

An interesting comparison is the YouTube channel DirtyTesla. He gets amazing FSD performance on the many miles of DIRT roads he drives on a daily basis. yet where I'm at, I'd be thrilled to get that level of competence on our PAVED roads.

And with that, I'm off to Starbucks. I'll probably end up buying coffee for a lot of pissed off drivers.

 

[FSDtester#1]

@dcesq06 As the creator/OP of this thread, I say it’s fine. I’m largely done whining about this issue anyway. The refreshed model S population is so small, no one gives a shite anyway; especially at Tesla. “Cater to the masses (3/Y),” must be their mantra.
@Venom @MarcG @Ryan27

Jeb.... as figured, no beta last night either. Telsa FI numbers are same as yesterday, only a couple of X and S's got it yesterday. None overnight.

 

[Phlier]

We won’t either! HW>3 needed.

At least until the end of 2019, every Tesla sold was sold under the premise that every car had the hardware in it necessary to utilize FSD to its fullest potential, and that any needed hardware improvements would be added on Tesla's dime. Tesla even made good on this with the HW 2.5 to 3.0 upgrade.

I believe they have since removed that promise, so I guess newer buyers are out of luck.

But as long as I own my current Model 3, I'll be holding them to their word.

 

[jebinc]

I'm a firm believer in the California advantage, too. In fact, I think there's at least some advantage to anywhere that has had a decent population of FSD Beta testers since Beta 8 was released.

I have literally watched hundreds of FSD Beta videos now. And after spending the entire day with FSD Beta yesterday (500 miles logged), some observations...

• I'm not getting anywhere close to the experience in my local area that I'm seeing on FSD YouTube channels where there have been testers operating for a while. Not even close. FSD Beta in Las Vegas operates at least ten times better than it does in my little home town of St. George, Utah. I drove over 100 miles through Vegas yesterday, and FSD Beta was like a completely different animal than it was in St. George; so much better in Vegas I thought I was testing different software.
• This release has some interesting bugs. While manually driving (not even using cruise control) down I-15 yesterday, the car decided to flash the left turn signal four times without me doing anything. Hand wasn't even anywhere near the stalk. It also decided that I'd like military time format, and that various other settings needed to randomly change to different values. It also fired off it's various warning sounds at random times in random places with no other cars around while manually driving. Yes, I've done "two finger salute" reset many times, as well as using the Power Off command. All these bugs remain.
• The navigation will sometimes have moments. This one actually requires an entire post (if not thread), so I'm going to leave it at that for now.
• The AP to navigation interface sometimes won't "mesh;" the navigation will say "in 500 feet, turn right" but the car just keeps on going straight.

I'm completely convinced that I'm the only beta tester here in St. George, and that little to none of my little town has been covered in the past by beta testers. Seriously, here in St. George my car doesn't drive EVEN CLOSE to the way the FSD vids on YouTube drive.

Most of the YouTube videos show the car performing at least as well as a new Driver's Ed student. Here in St. George, it performs like someone trying to drive who has never actually ridden in a car before. Yet move it 130 miles south to Vegas, and it goes back to being a Driver's Ed student.

If anyone happens to be driving through St. George, could you do a guy a solid? Take a few minutes to drive around St. George for a bit before you continue on your Interstate 15 journey. The neural net and myself offer our deepest thanks. Plus, it's worth it just to compare the difference to how it performs here vs. places where testers have been driving for a year already.

So Phlier, how bad is it really? It's sooooooooo bad, that I'm going to have to go out beta testing in the wee hours of the a.m., as it's just not ready to be around other drivers yet, from both a safety and "don't piss off other drivers" stand point.

An interesting comparison is the YouTube channel DirtyTesla. He gets amazing FSD performance on the many miles of DIRT roads he drives on a daily basis. yet where I'm at, I'd be thrilled to get that level of competence on our PAVED roads.

And with that, I'm off to Starbucks. I'll probably end up buying coffee for a lot of pissed off drivers.

@Phlier Think about this way, you are sole person responsible for training the NN in your town/area at this very moment! And, be thankful you received the download and were not blocked from getting it, due to your car's breed (a new form of discrimination)!

 

[jebinc]

Jeb.... as figured, no beta last night either. Telsa FI numbers are same as yesterday, only a couple of X and S's got it yesterday. None overnight.

@Ryan27 - Yes, but ZERO refreshed MS LRs or Plaids.

 

[Venom]

@Ryan27 - Yes, but ZERO refreshed MS LRs or Plaids.

I wonder why they haven’t addressed this on Twitter yet

 

[jebinc]

I wonder why they haven’t addressed this on Twitter yet

@Venom As mentioned earlier, the population is so small they can successfully just ignore it (..|..). No publisher or influencer will pick up the story for this reason. So, in short, the "yoke" population is not squeaky enough!

 

[Phlier]

@Phlier Think about this way, you are sole person responsible for training the NN in your town/area at this very moment! And, be thankful you received the download and were not blocked from getting it, due to your car's breed (a new form of discrimination)!

Yes, that is some consolation, to be sure, but…

If I had the chance to go back in time and choose between getting FSD Beta or the white/cream/walnut Plaid I turned down, I’d take the Plaid.

The Vegas Tesla store has two Plaids right now on the showroom floor. A blue/cream/cf and a red/black/walnut.

SA’s said they are demo models and not for sale until EOQ.

I didn’t bother to ask if they had something they could match me with as I didn’t want to do something stupid.

 

[jebinc]

Yes, that is some consolation, to be sure, but…

If I had the chance to go back in time and choose between getting FSD Beta or the white/cream/walnut Plaid I turned down, I’d take the Plaid.

The Vegas Tesla store has two Plaids right now on the showroom floor. A blue/cream/cf and a red/black/walnut.

SA’s said they are demo models and not for sale until EOQ.

I didn’t bother to ask if they had something they could match me with as I didn’t want to do something stupid.

@Phlier For what it's worth, I think you made the right choice not to take that earlier build Plaid. Mine has since developed a driveline vibration issue (and a few others reported in the issues thread), for which "Engineering" has no solution for (as reported by others). So, you will likely be a happier Plaid owner if you take delivery as currently scheduled! Enjoy!

 

[jebinc]

@Phlier For what it's worth, I think you made the right choice not to take that earlier build Plaid. Mine has since developed a driveline vibration issue (and a few others reported in the issues thread), for which "Engineering" has no solution for (as reported by others). So, you will likely be a happier Plaid owner if you take delivery as currently scheduled! Enjoy!

@Phlier P.S. You might also get a 2022 VIN, and perhaps new headlights that actually illuminate the road ahead of you! You may not, however, get FSD Beta or yoke improvement updates (2021.36) - only the privilege of pushing the "button" to allow Tesla to collect all sorts of data about your driving habits (likely for their upcoming expanding Insurance product offering)!

 

[HighZ]

I will say this, if I were to of used this beta to get a 100% safety score. I'd never be granted it. The amount of high speed turns and hard braking is pretty intense.

I often say 'whoa' out loud when it decides to accelerate for a turn. I think this morning, my wheels spun just a bit. Braking hasn't been too bad.

 

[jrichey]

Guys in attempt to get 100 miles I am going to drive through a bunch of LA tomorrow via city streets.

Is it true if FSD (non beta) is engaged that you don't get penalized no matter what?

My plan is to drive in the middle lane and keep FSD engaged as much as possible, with longest follow distance possible in settings. That way if anyone quick breaks or if a light changes last minute I'm safe.

A little nervous to be honest. Driving in the city here usually requires breaking the 0.3 g-force rule quite a lot. But I need to get my miles up!

Yes I did a couple of longer trips prior to last Friday with Autopilot on and there were some instances of hard braking. I didn't get dinged at all. I saw somebody else mention that Elon said you wouldn't be penalized if under autopilot. So in my experience that has held true. Thus when I was trying my hardest to get my score to 100 (which I did) I used AP as much as I could so I wouldn't get screwed if somebody cut me off and forced hard braking. Hope this helps...

 

[EVNow]

I'm completely convinced that I'm the only beta tester here in St. George, and that little to none of my little town has been covered in the past by beta testers. Seriously, here in St. George my car doesn't drive EVEN CLOSE to the way the FSD vids on YouTube drive.

Why do you think in your place it drives so much worse ? Is the map quite defective or the roads very peculiar compared to other parts of US ?

 

[impastu]

I'm a firm believer in the California advantage, too. In fact, I think there's at least some advantage to anywhere that has had a decent population of FSD Beta testers since Beta 8 was released.

I have literally watched hundreds of FSD Beta videos now. And after spending the entire day with FSD Beta yesterday (500 miles logged), some observations...

• I'm not getting anywhere close to the experience in my local area that I'm seeing on FSD YouTube channels where there have been testers operating for a while. Not even close. FSD Beta in Las Vegas operates at least ten times better than it does in my little home town of St. George, Utah. I drove over 100 miles through Vegas yesterday, and FSD Beta was like a completely different animal than it was in St. George; so much better in Vegas I thought I was testing different software.
• This release has some interesting bugs. While manually driving (not even using cruise control) down I-15 yesterday, the car decided to flash the left turn signal four times without me doing anything. Hand wasn't even anywhere near the stalk. It also decided that I'd like military time format, and that various other settings needed to randomly change to different values. It also fired off it's various warning sounds at random times in random places with no other cars around while manually driving. Yes, I've done "two finger salute" reset many times, as well as using the Power Off command. All these bugs remain.
• The navigation will sometimes have moments. This one actually requires an entire post (if not thread), so I'm going to leave it at that for now.
• The AP to navigation interface sometimes won't "mesh;" the navigation will say "in 500 feet, turn right" but the car just keeps on going straight.

I'm completely convinced that I'm the only beta tester here in St. George, and that little to none of my little town has been covered in the past by beta testers. Seriously, here in St. George my car doesn't drive EVEN CLOSE to the way the FSD vids on YouTube drive.

Most of the YouTube videos show the car performing at least as well as a new Driver's Ed student. Here in St. George, it performs like someone trying to drive who has never actually ridden in a car before. Yet move it 130 miles south to Vegas, and it goes back to being a Driver's Ed student.

If anyone happens to be driving through St. George, could you do a guy a solid? Take a few minutes to drive around St. George for a bit before you continue on your Interstate 15 journey. The neural net and myself offer our deepest thanks. Plus, it's worth it just to compare the difference of how it performs here vs. places where testers have been driving for a year already.

So Phlier, how bad is it really? It's sooooooooo bad, that I'm going to have to go out beta testing in the wee hours of the a.m., as it's just not ready to be around other drivers yet, from both a safety and "don't piss off other drivers" stand point.

An interesting comparison is the YouTube channel DirtyTesla. He gets amazing FSD performance on the many miles of DIRT roads he drives on a daily basis. yet where I'm at, I'd be thrilled to get that level of competence on our PAVED roads.

And with that, I'm off to Starbucks. I'll probably end up buying coffee for a lot of pissed off drivers.

may lend credence to the assertions of dojo AI neural network blah blah learning as it goes...maybe just a bunch of FSD monkeys keying in fixes for disengagements

 

[CharleyBC]

While I languish with my 98 score, I have a curiosity question for those of you with the FSD beta release. If you choose not to engage FSD on a trip, is the driving experience--especially maybe the UI--significantly different from other recent software? I ask because I'm a beta kind of guy, and happy to deal with some new or even weird things. But my wife would rather just have a safe, reliable, familiar driving experience. So if she doesn't engage it, will she see the newer visualizations or otherwise notice a changed experience? Thanks!

 

[spokey]

Didn't go out yesterday so today was my first beta drive. Mirrors most of what has already been said. I just went to the grocery store and back so I can't say whether the stupid navigation is the same or changed. I have three basic choices to get home. 2 are pretty similar and I choose depending on what day/time it is as one is a little faster but the light is slower off hours/weekends. The third which was chosen is the same as one of the others but bypasses the light in favor of about 3/4 of a mile down a 1 1/2 lane, sometimes 15 mph pothole road. The only time I choose that is if I'm caught in rush hour as it can save 15 minutes of stop and go.

I had a couple turn incidents which were both speed (or lack of). Two were lefts. The first stopped and waited for opposing traffic just fine. But when clear, slowly started then stopped abruptly. Had to give it the pedal instead of waiting longer as there were cars behind me. The second was at the top of a hill where there is no stop but the car stopped. I pressed forward. A third was a right at a stop. The car came almost to a stop about 50 feet from the stop sign and crept up to it. Stopped appropriately. Then crept forward at about 2 mph. I gave it gas.

The other negative was lane changing. It started to move left when there was clearly no safe room. It did kill that idea but I killed it and accelerated ahead to a nice open spot. The other was just silly. It wanted to be in the left lane about 2 miles before wanting to turn left on to the pothole road.

Like others reported, it's parking lot capabilities are around a D

 

[sdmack]

I'm completely convinced that I'm the only beta tester here in St. George, and that little to none of my little town has been covered in the past by beta testers. Seriously, here in St. George my car doesn't drive EVEN CLOSE to the way the FSD vids on YouTube drive.

Totally agree, St G needs more beta testers. I never used to see roundabouts when I lived in California, I myself had to learn how to drive them when I moved here. C’mon, Tesla, I’ve got a 99 score, drop the download on me, happy to help

 

[sdmack]

Why do you think in your place it drives so much worse ? Is the map quite defective or the roads very peculiar compared to other parts of US ?

definitely there are a lot of map defects, particularly when it comes to speed limit zones. Plus, many roads which are narrow with no curbs or center lines.

 

[hamoneaster]

So I'm still kind of unsure how NN "training" is working. Is it recording footage anytime a beta car is driving and uploading that so that it gets better in the future? or is it only recording disengagements? Or only when we press the record button?

 

[qdeathstar]

I wonder why they haven’t addressed this on Twitter yet

What’s in it for them?