Last weekend, I drove from the Bay Area to SoCal (Ventura/Oxnard area) and armed with software version 2017.28.c528869 on my (early June delivery) Model S, I did almost the entire trip with AP2. I marveled at how well it did, how smooth it was, and how little I actually drove. I knew I had barely driven the trip but I almost couldn't believe it myself. Rather than have a "seat of my pants" subjective evaluation, I decided that heading back to the Bay Area (same route - US 101), I would do my best to document the specifics. To do this, I mounted my phone in such a way that I could quickly snap the camera and capture my nav and energy screen. I knew additionally that my iPhone would capture full lat/long coordinates so that I could later review the location for more accuracy.
The diary of my return trip will be shown in the next post. But first some disclaimers...
DISCLAIMERS:
The diary of my return trip will be shown in the next post. But first some disclaimers...
DISCLAIMERS:
- If you have read my other posts, you may see that I have had a pretty positive experience with AutoPilot (AP2) even before the "silky smooth" updates. No, it’s not perfect and there have been a handful of head-scratching moments (“What is AutoPilot thinking/doing?!?”) since I’ve owned the car. I know and understand that some people have had very bad experiences. I sympathize and wish there was not as much variability between AP2 users. So if you are reading this and you are one of those persons that thinks “AutoPilot tries to kill me every 3 minutes”…please note that I am not invalidating your experiences. You have your experiences (good, bad, or murderous!) and I have mine. I respect and believe yours. Please do the same for me.
- For those who have AP1 and read this and say, “AP1 can do just as well or better”, I say “Awesome!”. I am not trying to make this an AP1 vs AP2 thread. I have no experience with AP1. I have only even had my Tesla for about 2 months, so AP in any form is all new to me. I have nothing but love for my AP1 brothers and sisters out there! Like above, I only know what I have used (AP2 on my car alone).
- I list the disengagements below on my 320 mile trip. I did NOT count disengagements for a) exiting a highway or b) for a problem I encountered sometimes whereby auto lane change would not work. At first I thought this was random, but I later was able to figure out in advance when it would and when it would not auto-lane change for me. So while I typically used auto-lane change to keep AP2 as in charge as much as possible, there were some times auto lane change did not work and in those cases, I momentarily disengaged, changed lanes and then re-established AP. I don’t count those lane changes as disengagements.