Navigate on Autopilot - Observations?

[Jmstx79]

My 9.1 update downloaded last night and I’ve driven a few places with Navigate on Autopilot. It’s neat to see it recommending lane changes, but operationally how is this functioning any differently than it did before?

If I know that I’m going to have to take two different interchanges, I previously did the lane changes and it took the ramps. Here, it continues to do so. Anyway, I think it handles merging lanes better, but so far not seeing how this was a huge improvement as long as I have to initiate lane changes. I confess that’s a big part, because I do see how this paves the way for pseudo-autonomy in the future if they make it optional to initiate the changes.

 

[mswlogo]

Baby steps.

I think it's great. Very smooth.

 

[S4WRXTTCS]

I haven't had a chance to try it, but my understanding is drive-on-nav automatically takes the exit. This is assuming it's an exit, and not a case where you have to get in a lane that's the exit itself.

This is important because before when you got close to any exit you didn't know how the car would respond. Would it get tricked by an exit or would it ignore it? This update should make it smart enough not to get tricked by an exit that it's not taking.

I don't expect much other than those two things as the purpose of this version is to validate it long enough for Tesla to enable the unassisted lane change.

I think Tesla is actually buying time to improve the unassisted lane change, but we can make believe that they're doing a "validation" phase.

The unassisted lane change is where things will get interesting.

 

[Glamisduner]

I Reported in the other thread it almost took me into a concrete barrier. I think this was a basic autopilot error where the line disappeared to the right and auto pilot tried to center itself in the lane (it was a freeway off-ramp right before the exit I was supposed to take). But this sorta thing can't be happening if your expecting to actually be able to use freeway onramp to offramp.

 

[torch0395]

I have to say it is pretty awesome. It is just the beginning. The more we use it the more we will get better.

I posted a few videos to my instragram you can check out of nav on auto pilot in action.

Anthony Torchia on Instagram: “Everything shown in the two videos was done by Tesla enchanted auto pilot. I did not touch the wheel, brake or accelerator once. The future…”

 

[Matt L]

I have to say it is pretty awesome. It is just the beginning. The more we use it the more we will get better.

I posted a few videos to my instragram you can check out of nav on auto pilot in action.

Anthony Torchia on Instagram: “Everything shown in the two videos was done by Tesla enchanted auto pilot. I did not touch the wheel, brake or accelerator once. The future…”

So you didn’t touch any controls at that stop sign? How did it handle that?

 

[LM-5]

I’ve been testing on two very different highways. Observations so far:

1. This is definitely Beta. After the update, you have to go into settings to manually enable it. You get terms, which you have to agree to. Then you must manually enable it every time you begin navigation. Covering their bases legally speaking.
2. It is pretty smooth on highways with simple single on/off ramps, free flowing traffic, and longer distances between merges/lane changes
3. It basically cannot deal with highways with double lane on/off ramps, heavy traffic, and situations where multiple maneuvers are required in short order - so 75% of SoCal highways
4. Merging is scary right now. The car behaves like a terrified teen driver getting on the highway for the first time. Drivers in LA aren’t going to leave you a big hole to merge into - you simple have to stick your nose in and take it under the unspoken rules of mutually assured destruction. Until the car can take those kinds of risks, it’s going to continue to panic and do nothing. As Musk has mentioned numerous times, this will be a major challenge to overcome
5. Lane changes in Mad Max mode feel pretty natural and not too aggressive. I think they may have oversold exactly how aggressive it would be by attaching it to Mad Max
6. The car drives pretty slowly on on/off ramps. I get that it’s trying to respect the speed limits, but this is a good way to get run over in California
7. On most off ramps, it tends to put on the signal and keep it on as you drive the ramp. This is kind of strange, as if you forgot to shut off the signal after using it to say that you’re taking the ramp
8. The user interface for suggested lane changes is not very clear or intuitive - probably because the intent is for the car to make these moves automatically without user input
9. It is confusing that you currently have to confirm lane changes, but the car will put the signal on and take the off-ramp automatically. Again, only a problem right now in the validation period
10. Perhaps they should choose a different color/pattern on the map for where Nav on Autopilot will work vs regular EAP. It isn’t all that obvious right now from an interface perspective where it will begin/end Nav on Autopilot
11. Suggested lane changes to faster lanes seems spot on so far. The only issue is that it will take you all the way over to the left lane not that far away from the off ramp, so then you’re crossing several lanes all the way back to the right in short order. Time/data likely solves this as well

I’m really interested to see how things progress going forward.

 

[Glamisduner]

- I noticed the car will suggest lane changes into lanes where a semi is signaling to move over, or to go around the car in front of you when they are signaling to move over. This will need to change if it's going to auto change lanes for you.

- On the 8W to the 15N it would have missed the onramp because it was acting like the teenage driver as described in the post above.

- On the way home I went past the suggested exit (also a highway change) the car regen braked pretty hard which I wasn't expecting. Also not sure why it was even suggesting taking me this way as google does not generally do that. Then when it recalculated it accelerated quickly and exited the next exit. I signaled for the offramp and the signal turned off as normal, but I didn't know it would signal itself?

- vehicle detection warning seems to work better when the other car is slightly in front of you (which is less useful).

- Off topic but, for the first time ever this morning I was able to summon my car out of the garage without sync issues.

 

[torch0395]

So you didn’t touch any controls at that stop sign? How did it handle that?

Believe it or not it seems as if nav on AP knows the next turn you have to make after an exit and will slow down significantly on the ramp if you don’t take control. I obviously stopped it completely but when you get it you will know what I mean. If it is getting you off on a ramp that goes to some kind of hard turn it seems like it knows.

 

[realvvk]

I just tried NoA this morning for the first time. I was pretty impressed. Yes, it works only if your intentions match the navigation routing. Yes, sometimes the suggested lane changes are different from what you would do because of the situation ahead. However, if the traffic is light and there are few cars (I know, a foreign concept for you CA folks) it works way better than I expected. It definitely reduces driver workload. It is so easy to pull that AP lever and the car basically takes over and does everything else on its own. Cannot wait to try it on a long road trip!

I think it is a significant step forward. Nice!

 

[Need]

Here are my observations:

1) Nav on AP does not like you to travel too long in the left most or right most lane. It likes middle lanes. And if there are multiple middle lanes, it likes the right most.

2) When the suggested lane change has a grey lane going from your lane to another lane, you just have to light tap the single once and it will complete the lane change for you. When it is a grey line just in the next lane, you will have to hold on to the signal until the lane change is at least half way complete.

3) It always slow down to about 60 or lower on freeway interchange and then speed back up to your set speed afterward.

4) Once you are in the correct lane going into a freeway interchange, it will signal right (or left) at the fork of the interchange and take the correct path.

5) Since 42.2, the lane change is more aggressive. The car actually over steer a bit and recenter on a lane change.

6) Personally I don't think Nav on AP, in its current state, would help someone on their daily commute. At least for me, I know where I am going and which lane I should be in, the suggest lane changes for route and such feel more like nagging than helping. Maybe if I am on a trip on unfamiliar route, this could help. I was kind of hoping that the car would learn my commute habit (which lane I want to be and which lane to stay in when I change freeway) but it does not. Maybe someday it would do that.

 

[Glamisduner]

Here are my observations:

1) Nav on AP does not like you to travel too long in the left most or right most lane. It likes middle lanes. And if there are multiple middle lanes, it likes the right most.

2) When the suggested lane change has a grey lane going from your lane to another lane, you just have to light tap the single once and it will complete the lane change for you. When it is a grey line just in the next lane, you will have to hold on to the signal until the lane change is at least half way complete.

3) It always slow down to about 60 or lower on freeway interchange and then speed back up to your set speed afterward.

4) Once you are in the correct lane going into a freeway interchange, it will signal right (or left) at the fork of the interchange and take the correct path.

5) Since 42.2, the lane change is more aggressive. The car actually over steer a bit and recenter on a lane change.

6) Personally I don't think Nav on AP, in its current state, would help someone on their daily commute. At least for me, I know where I am going and which lane I should be in, the suggest lane changes for route and such feel more like nagging than helping. Maybe if I am on a trip on unfamiliar route, this could help. I was kind of hoping that the car would learn my commute habit (which lane I want to be and which lane to stay in when I change freeway) but it does not. Maybe someday it would do that.

I don't think I understand #2

 

[Need]

I don't think I understand #2

There are 2 types of lane change suggestion while running Nav on AP. One that gives a chime and when you look at the screen, it shows a grey line curving from your current lane to the next (right or left). When you see that, you just need to tap the signal once and it will complete the lane change for you.

The 2nd type doesn't give a audible chime. It shows on the screen a straight grey line in the next lane. When that happens and you want to do the suggested lane change, you have to do the normal Auto Lane Change which is to hold the signal until the lane change the car cross the line of no return.

 

[Glamisduner]

There are 2 types of lane change suggestion while running Nav on AP. One that gives a chime and when you look at the screen, it shows a grey line curving from your current lane to the next (right or left). When you see that, you just need to tap the signal once and it will complete the lane change for you.

The 2nd type doesn't give a audible chime. It shows on the screen a straight grey line in the next lane. When that happens and you want to do the suggested lane change, you have to do the normal Auto Lane Change which is to hold the signal until the lane change the car cross the line of no return.

gotcha II wa just using the full up / down signal to change lanes, is assume the 1/2 signal and hold will change more aggressively like regular autopilot.

I want aware it would work at all with 1/2 taps

 

[jeffro01]

My biggest complaint, by far, is the stupid autosteer speed restrictions on freeway on/off ramps... I have stopped using the feature because I'm already tired of almost getting rear ended when exiting the freeway at 75 then having a phantom 35mph speed limit magically appear and the car thinking it should be speed restricted to that phantom number which causes rapid deceleration when you least expect it...

To me, and this is just my opinion and my opinion only, this is a completely useless feature and if this is the current state of AP development... Oh boy... FSD is years away at this point...

Tesla needs to do away with the speed restrictions on autosteer completely. The liability language is already there and it's ridiculous to impose these random phantom speed zones... I have several spots on different freeways here in the Bay Area where all of the sudden I can only go 5 over what the car thinks is the posted speed and then 1000 ft later, back to normal...

Jeff

 

[Need]

gotcha II wa just using the full up / down signal to change lanes, is assume the 1/2 signal and hold will change more aggressively like regular autopilot.

I want aware it would work at all with 1/2 taps

I see. Yeah full up/down will work in both cases. I never use full up/down for auto lane change. I tried it once or twice... so it goes to the next lane but then... the blinker does not seem to go off. I waited like 2 to 3 flashes and decided to manually turn it off. I was not sure if it will turn off by itself after a few more blinks... or will it change lane again... or just kept on blinking.

 

[Insight75]

I find it interesting that it suggests a lane change to pass on the right vs left. Also, agree with the comment above about it behaving at times like a scared teen driver. At one point it suggested a lane change and instead of speeding up to pass a car on the right......it slowed down to get over. (car on the right was going same speed) I hope they come out with a NJ Driver mode vs the current Florida Driver mode. Just kidding....maybe.....

 

[Glamisduner]

My biggest complaint, by far, is the stupid autosteer speed restrictions on freeway on/off ramps... I have stopped using the feature because I'm already tired of almost getting rear ended when exiting the freeway at 75 then having a phantom 35mph speed limit magically appear and the car thinking it should be speed restricted to that phantom number which causes rapid deceleration when you least expect it...

To me, and this is just my opinion and my opinion only, this is a completely useless feature and if this is the current state of AP development... Oh boy... FSD is years away at this point...

Tesla needs to do away with the speed restrictions on autosteer completely. The liability language is already there and it's ridiculous to impose these random phantom speed zones... I have several spots on different freeways here in the Bay Area where all of the sudden I can only go 5 over what the car thinks is the posted speed and then 1000 ft later, back to normal...

Jeff

I was bit by this today as well.

I see. Yeah full up/down will work in both cases. I never use full up/down for auto lane change. I tried it once or twice... so it goes to the next lane but then... the blinker does not seem to go off. I waited like 2 to 3 flashes and decided to manually turn it off. I was not sure if it will turn off by itself after a few more blinks... or will it change lane again... or just kept on blinking.

I haven't had that issue but I have only used AP v9.

I thought it was hard signal to change lanes, and hold the soft signal to overtake?

 

[Need]

I thought it was hard signal to change lanes, and hold the soft signal to overtake?

I do soft signal for everything on the freeway autolanechange or not. I really hate pressing it all the way up/down... feel like I am going to break the stalk. I do hard signal when I am on local street making a turn.

 

[favo]

There are 2 types of lane change suggestion while running Nav on AP. One that gives a chime and when you look at the screen, it shows a grey line curving from your current lane to the next (right or left). When you see that, you just need to tap the signal once and it will complete the lane change for you.

The 2nd type doesn't give a audible chime. It shows on the screen a straight grey line in the next lane. When that happens and you want to do the suggested lane change, you have to do the normal Auto Lane Change which is to hold the signal until the lane change the car cross the line of no return.

Doesn't the latter one just say "Upcoming lane change"?