Navigate on Auto-Pilot= Boston/Eastern Mass

[aronth5]

I know there are too many NoA threads already so why another one? I thought it would be interesting for drivers to share how NoA is working for not working for them on the common highways many New England forum use like 95, 93, RT 3 and 495 among others.

For example, tonight I drove home from Logan Airport on my way to Rt 3 North. So headed north on I93 with navigation routing me to take 95S towards Burlington. Seemed straight forwards but I was pretty surprised when it started to exit on 95N towards Reading. It definitely was not a case were it was just going to veer somewhat towards the exit, it was definitely leaving 93N one exit too early. After getting on I95 towards Burlington it did well on the exit by the Burlington Mall but it would have completely missed the RT 3 north exit if I didn't intervene.

Going to the airport on Monday on 95N it correctly started to take the 93S exit towards Boston which is a very narrow lane. When it started taking me towards the guard rail I had to bail and take over.

This is not the first time I've had similar situations. Forget trying to take the Lowell Connector exit off of 495 during traffic and I've disabled the lane change speed settings altogether after repeatedly getting lane change messages at inappropriate times.

Wondering how well NoA has been working for others on these exits?
On 42.4 and had my car in for service last week where they checked out my cameras. Ended up replacing one and also replacing a repeater.

thanks

 

[eml2]

I also notice that when it is trying to take the off-ramp on Route 3, it always goes towards the guard rail. It seems that it is trying to follow the shoulder line on the right side.

Regarding the lane change suggestion, you can just ignore it, or on my MX, I can push my AP stalk up or down to cancel the message.

 

[Driver Dave]

Going to the airport on Monday on 95N it correctly started to take the 93S exit towards Boston which is a very narrow lane. When it started taking me towards the guard rail I had to bail and take over

Going from 95 to 93 exits, now that is some serious beta testing.

I've noticed it does sometimes go a little too close to guardrails on exits. Or maybe it goes okay for machine, but a little too close for humans.

I've seen it work pretty well in general though.

Remember it is beta, so keep an eye on it.

And as with all autopilot features, they always get better as the months and years go on, which is fun to watch.

I have found that AP2 is now loads better than AP1. Which has been pretty cool to see.

 

[Tdreamer]

I've done one round-trip with NoA so far from Bedford to Mansfield (128-->I95 and back) and I was fairly impressed. It took the off ramp from 128 to 95S fairly well, but when it came to merging out of the right most onramp lane as it came to an end, I felt compelled to take over as it tried to split the difference as the lanes merged. On the reverse, 95N merging into 128N, it did better - I let it negotiate the ramp at it's own pace (definitely much slower than I would have if I were in control). Overall, not bad for a first beta release. I look forward to using it and gaining more experience Thanksgiving week on a trip down to Richmond and back.

 

[colinrego]

I use it regularly daily on 90, 95, and 495. My commute generally takes me between Worcester area to the Burlington area. I have thoroughly enjoyed Autopilot for my commute (80-100mi round trip) since getting my Model 3 back in June (10,000mi driven so far). I am not that impressed or happy with the Navigate on Autopilot feature. Since getting the V9 update, I have tried to use this feature on each commute to and from work. I also try to take _most_ of its lane change suggestions, engaging the turn signal when it requests me to do so (I have it on the Normal setting). It is iffy at best when negotiating lane changes during commuting traffic. Often times I find myself manually engaging the accelerator pedal to _encourage_ it to move forward into a gap when changing lanes rather than slowing down. Other times, I take over the lane change altogether.

Another gripe, thus far, is that it wil often suggest I make my way into the outermost/passing lane to reduce travel time. But, waits until very close to an upcoming highway exit, to try to start navigating back to the exit lane.

Again, I am thrilled with Autopilot in general and hate the fact that I am without my Model 3 for at least 3 weeks while it gets repaired (was rear-ended on my commute) and do not have the low-stress commute that Autopilot affords me in my Nissan Altima rental car. But, Navigate on Autopilot still has a ways to go. Once I get my Model 3 back, I will continue to use it and hopefully some of the data collected during my commutes can help improve it in future upgrades.

 

[djplong]

I was going from US-3 South to I-495 South (just outside of Lowell) at night and it handled the C/D lane pretty well but, when the actual exit came up, it started to swerve right - like it wanted to go into the guard rail and sound barrier.

Fortunately, as instructed, I *did* have my hands on the wheel!

 

[EdA]

@ModelS1079 care to comment on your recent excitement?

PS: Gonna change your handle?

 

[intenost]

I've done one round-trip with NoA so far from Bedford to Mansfield (128-->I95 and back) and I was fairly impressed. It took the off ramp from 128 to 95S fairly well, but when it came to merging out of the right most onramp lane as it came to an end, I felt compelled to take over as it tried to split the difference as the lanes merged. On the reverse, 95N merging into 128N, it did better - I let it negotiate the ramp at it's own pace (definitely much slower than I would have if I were in control). Overall, not bad for a first beta release. I look forward to using it and gaining more experience Thanksgiving week on a trip down to Richmond and back.

Hi, just came across your post and wondering if you did the Richmond trip. We're looking to take a drive down in our new mid-range in the next few weeks -- this will be our first road trip (had the car 3 days and put about 40 miles on it so far!) so I'm curious how you made out super-charging along the way, and if needed while in the Richmond area. Thx!

 

[Tdreamer]

Hi, just came across your post and wondering if you did the Richmond trip. We're looking to take a drive down in our new mid-range in the next few weeks -- this will be our first road trip (had the car 3 days and put about 40 miles on it so far!) so I'm curious how you made out super-charging along the way, and if needed while in the Richmond area. Thx!

First of all - congratulations on you're model 3! I remember our first long distance trip in our model X, the uncertainty about supercharging and wondering how I would handle charging during the week in Richmond. By the time we arrived, I had realized how little there was to worry about. In that trip starting with a full charge from home, we stopped three times on the way down in our X100D - once in New York (Tarrytown 19%-->91%), once in Maryland (Aberdeen 21%-->97%) and finally outside Richmond Virginia (Glen Allen 34%-->77%). We could have stopped at many other superchargers along the way - this was just what I did that trip. This was a weekday overnight drive to avoid the traffic in NY/DC which has become our normal thanksgiving Richmond trip routine. We returned to Glen Allen to charge a few times during the stay in Richmond - none of them necessary, most to demonstrate supercharging to family. I had tried to use the UMC to charge at my sisters house but abandoned the idea due to an electrical issue in the available outside outlet and the fact that Glen Allen was so close. The return trip, we stopped five times to charge on the way home - taking a few more breaks along the way, not charging as long at each.

This year's trip included 8 charging stops on the way south and 9 charging stops on the return trip north. I was intentionally doing lots of short charges along the way at a pre-planned list of superchargers I had not yet visited before in each direction. There are a number of owners afflicted with an odd behavior which urges them to tally unique supercharging stops... More info in the Superchargers Visited thread. The statistics above came from TeslaFi which I use to log driving/charging/efficiency data on my car. If this is of interest, feel free to give it a try - I've been using it for over a year. PM me for a referral code if interested (extends free 2 week eval to 1 month).

Oh yes, regarding Navigation on Autopilot which this thread is about - I used Autopilot for probably 95% of the trip, and NoA for probably 50% of that. As we were driving overnight there wasn't much traffic to deal with in the early morning hours. I was content to stay in the current lane and not worry about short-term gains in speed given the 10+ hour trip overall. I used it more as a helpful reminder to exit as needed each charging stop.

Supercharging along the northeast I-95 corridor is easy. And the Richmond area has three superchargers north, east and south of downtown giving you lots of options for local charging.

Enjoy the trip, and your model 3!

 

[ModelNforNerd]

We're making the North Central MA to South Central VA (Farmville area) run late Friday/early Saturday morning.

I'll report back on NoA usage outside the area.

FYI, went to Maine last weekend....when the car took the ramp to the Kennebunk southbound SC, NoA cut out as I expected, but less than 10 feet later, I got the Red Hands, too.

 

[PeterK]

@ModelS1079 care to comment on your recent excitement?

PS: Gonna change your handle?

I wouldn't - it gives him TMC "street cred" as one of the earliest Model S owners!

What was the recent excitement? A near-miss?

 

[intenost]

Supercharging along the northeast I-95 corridor is easy. And the Richmond area has three superchargers north, east and south of downtown giving you lots of options for local charging.

Enjoy the trip, and your model 3!

Thanks for your comments! I'm impressed with the density of superchargers in the Northeast/Mid-Atlantic I see on the map -- and it's great to know in the "real world" long distance travel is very doable. Once I get to Richmond, Glen Allen is pretty close to where I'm going so it should be easy to top off if needed while in the area and charge up for the return trip.

The M3 has been great so far, just done some limited driving in MA and NH, and it's been more efficient than I expected this time of year (wh/mi = 223) although traffic has keep the speed down.

Haven't visited a supercharger yet, look forward to making some of my own contributions to the superchargers visited thread once I start road-tripping.

 

[shadownddust]

I've tried using NOA on my commute from Lowell to Cambridge and it's...a work in progress.

Southbound:
From the Lowell connector south to 495N, it took that exit fairly well, though a bit slow, however it didn't merge on to 495 without intervention. 495N to 93S exit it does well, but the first time I did it, I had to intervene as it approached the guard rail a little too close for comfort. On the entry to 93S, it actually stayed in the breakdown lane instead of moving over, but since it was the morning commute, that was technically legal and it may have just been following the car ahead. For the other route south, from the connector to Rte 3 is fine, but rte 3 to 95N is always iffy even with EAP unless you're in the leftmost lane and then the two-lane merge is just too tricky for EAP so I always take over there. 95N to 93S in Woburn didn't work well, but I couldn't blame it since the lines were pretty faded.

Northbound:
I actually got a message that the 93N to 95S interchange was unsupported and I needed to take over. Given that it's hard for most drivers to handle that area well, I wasn't really thrilled to let it try in the first place. 95N to Rte 3N was weird because it wanted to get me in the lane that exits towards the Burlington mall, but then it wanted me to jump back in the lane to left to head north. In theory that makes sense, but it's obviously not desired when traffic doesn't expect you to jump back in. From Rte 3 to the connector works just fine.

It's very much a beta function, and frankly I think I like driving too much to get the value out of it, since where it shines is where driving is easiest: highway speeds with minimal traffic. With the standard stop and go traffic, I don't find it to be anymore useful than regular EAP and it adds a layer of unknowns that aren't great. I'm still going to keep trying it out to help with data collection, but it is a bit more stressful to keep an eye on everything than to just drive myself in most situations.

 

[Driver Dave]

I've tried using NOA on my commute from Lowell to Cambridge and it's...a work in progress.

Southbound:
From the Lowell connector south to 495N, it took that exit fairly well, though a bit slow, however it didn't merge on to 495 without intervention. 495N to 93S exit it does well, but the first time I did it, I had to intervene as it approached the guard rail a little too close for comfort. On the entry to 93S, it actually stayed in the breakdown lane instead of moving over, but since it was the morning commute, that was technically legal and it may have just been following the car ahead. For the other route south, from the connector to Rte 3 is fine, but rte 3 to 95N is always iffy even with EAP unless you're in the leftmost lane and then the two-lane merge is just too tricky for EAP so I always take over there. 95N to 93S in Woburn didn't work well, but I couldn't blame it since the lines were pretty faded.

Northbound:
I actually got a message that the 93N to 95S interchange was unsupported and I needed to take over. Given that it's hard for most drivers to handle that area well, I wasn't really thrilled to let it try in the first place. 95N to Rte 3N was weird because it wanted to get me in the lane that exits towards the Burlington mall, but then it wanted me to jump back in the lane to left to head north. In theory that makes sense, but it's obviously not desired when traffic doesn't expect you to jump back in. From Rte 3 to the connector works just fine.

It's very much a beta function, and frankly I think I like driving too much to get the value out of it, since where it shines is where driving is easiest: highway speeds with minimal traffic. With the standard stop and go traffic, I don't find it to be anymore useful than regular EAP and it adds a layer of unknowns that aren't great. I'm still going to keep trying it out to help with data collection, but it is a bit more stressful to keep an eye on everything than to just drive myself in most situations.

Driving in those areas, especially the 93N to 95S interchange, is like level 11 in driving difficulty for humans and AI.

I find the Navigate On Autopilot works great on long trips on 95. The exiting is a little white knuckle sometimes, as the AI currently is a little more comfortable with hugging the sides than I am, but I'm able to use it fine on many exits. Still realize it is beta, so am more in a "I am testing this" than in a sit back and let it work mode.

Auto-pilot in general has come a long ways since original Mobile-eye chip, and works in far more places than previously.

I find I use it more and more.

Also, the more you use it, the more you become good at using it. I can kind of know what is good or bad for it, and it is pretty consistent.

Almost like you learn how to auto-pilot eventually.

So sometimes, people may say, I turned it on and it messed up, so I turned it off. That is sort of like saying, I started driving, and didn't know to let go of the wheel after I turned, so I decided to stop driving. You really got a spend some time learning it and learning how to drive with it.

Driving on auto-pilot, navigate on auto-pilot is definitely not just set and forget, but a skill to be learned. Like piloting a boat on autopilot. You learn how to not just drive, but to be in command.

 

[ModelNforNerd]

I always wonder about the people that call it "95"....

(for those of us from here and of a certain age, it will always be 128)

 

[shadownddust]

I always wonder about the people that call it "95"....

(for those of us from here and of a certain age, it will always be 128)

Haha, yea after moving here and working in Beverly I was quite confused as to why some called it one over the other. I was a die-hard "128" when I was working there, and then became a "95" when I worked in Burlington.

 

[shadownddust]

Driving in those areas, especially the 93N to 95S interchange, is like level 11 in driving difficulty for humans and AI.

I find the Navigate On Autopilot works great on long trips on 95. The exiting is a little white knuckle sometimes, as the AI currently is a little more comfortable with hugging the sides than I am, but I'm able to use it fine on many exits. Still realize it is beta, so am more in a "I am testing this" than in a sit back and let it work mode.

Auto-pilot in general has come a long ways since original Mobile-eye chip, and works in far more places than previously.

I find I use it more and more.

Also, the more you use it, the more you become good at using it. I can kind of know what is good or bad for it, and it is pretty consistent.

Almost like you learn how to auto-pilot eventually.

So sometimes, people may say, I turned it on and it messed up, so I turned it off. That is sort of like saying, I started driving, and didn't know to let go of the wheel after I turned, so I decided to stop driving. You really got a spend some time learning it and learning how to drive with it.

Driving on auto-pilot, navigate on auto-pilot is definitely not just set and forget, but a skill to be learned. Like piloting a boat on autopilot. You learn how to not just drive, but to be in command.

Very true, I'm trying to get comfortable with it and learn where to trust it and where I'll need to take over. I'm excited to see it get better and look forward to helping out where I can. Nothing gets people more motivated to try beta products out than to know that their efforts directly impact the success of the feature.

 

[Driver Dave]

Driving in those areas, especially the 93N to 95S interchange, is like level 11 in driving difficulty for humans and AI.

I find the Navigate On Autopilot works great on long trips on 95. The exiting is a little white knuckle sometimes, as the AI currently is a little more comfortable with hugging the sides than I am, but I'm able to use it fine on many exits. Still realize it is beta, so am more in a "I am testing this" than in a sit back and let it work mode.

Auto-pilot in general has come a long ways since original Mobile-eye chip, and works in far more places than previously.

I find I use it more and more.

Also, the more you use it, the more you become good at using it. I can kind of know what is good or bad for it, and it is pretty consistent.

Almost like you learn how to auto-pilot eventually.

So sometimes, people may say, I turned it on and it messed up, so I turned it off. That is sort of like saying, I started driving, and didn't know to let go of the wheel after I turned, so I decided to stop driving. You really got a spend some time learning it and learning how to drive with it.

Driving on auto-pilot, navigate on auto-pilot is definitely not just set and forget, but a skill to be learned. Like piloting a boat on autopilot. You learn how to not just drive, but to be in command.

Update: Latest update just made exiting much less white knuckle, less close to the barrier when turning in.
Worked pretty darn well my last two exits...

 

[DrDabbles]

I can actually add something valuable to this thread instead of just lurk. I drove down 495, 290, and 84 last week. I figured 495 would be a breeze for NoA, and it totally was. No issues at all, all the way to 290. Unfortunately there was a major collision at the 495/290 intersection, so I turned off NoA.

On 290, NoA worked fine all the way into Worcester right up until the crazy sharp turn just before/after the mall. Even at just over the speed limit, NoA slowed down way too much and the person behind me was really caught off guard by it. Down by Rotman's where the highway has some more curves, NoA did it again and slowed down way too much. Both times I had to hit the accelerator myself to speed up to a safe speed.

On 84 going through the city, NoA/EAP is effectively useless. Traffic is merging and exiting too often, the curves are too sharp for it to confidently take at traffic speed, and traffic is moving too fast. Also, the car is so timid speeding back up that cars just pile into the lane in front of you, or pass you on the right to get in front of you. Changing lanes is the same- NoA/EAP is just too timid, it waits for too much room to be available, and it pisses everyone around you off.

The big win, though, was setting NoA to a speed that wouldn't get me pulled over and passing all the cars that were getting Connecticut priced tickets. I found myself not needing to speed, because NoA had the driving pretty much under control outside of the situations above. On my trip from NH to NYC, I'd say NoA was driving probably 90% of the time and doing fine.

 

[ModelNforNerd]

I can actually add something valuable to this thread instead of just lurk. I drove down 495, 290, and 84 last week. I figured 495 would be a breeze for NoA, and it totally was. No issues at all, all the way to 290. Unfortunately there was a major collision at the 495/290 intersection, so I turned off NoA.

On 290, NoA worked fine all the way into Worcester right up until the crazy sharp turn just before/after the mall. Even at just over the speed limit, NoA slowed down way too much and the person behind me was really caught off guard by it. Down by Rotman's where the highway has some more curves, NoA did it again and slowed down way too much. Both times I had to hit the accelerator myself to speed up to a safe speed.

On 84 going through the city, NoA/EAP is effectively useless. Traffic is merging and exiting too often, the curves are too sharp for it to confidently take at traffic speed, and traffic is moving too fast. Also, the car is so timid speeding back up that cars just pile into the lane in front of you, or pass you on the right to get in front of you. Changing lanes is the same- NoA/EAP is just too timid, it waits for too much room to be available, and it pisses everyone around you off.

The big win, though, was setting NoA to a speed that wouldn't get me pulled over and passing all the cars that were getting Connecticut priced tickets. I found myself not needing to speed, because NoA had the driving pretty much under control outside of the situations above. On my trip from NH to NYC, I'd say NoA was driving probably 90% of the time and doing fine.

On my commute yesterday, I've found that 48.12.1 is a little better about the space in front of you, and slightly better at accelerating in stop and go traffic.