Poll - 14 day EAP trial!

[Blokie]

Had a 250+ mile round trip over the weekend for support bubble duties, and I was very underwhelmed with EAP. The only bit I was particularly interested in was the auto lane change, and it was just way, way too slow to be used on a permanent basis and caused lots of frustration based on the delays and also the apparent randomness of it's suggested decisions.

Sometimes it would want me to randomly move into the middle lane, other times it wanted me to move back when it was clear there was a car I was quickly approaching and it would have had to abort, other times it just pulled up behind the car in front and didn't even suggest moving over when there was no car anywhere in sight in the faster lane, and I also had a couple of random aborts when there was no traffic anywhere is sight.

The only positive at all was the lack of disable/enable AP bongs!

If this was offered as a one-off payment of £500 I might consider it, but it would still not be a certainty I'd buy it even at that price.

 

[Masklin]

If this was offered as a one-off payment of £500 I might consider it, but it would still not be a certainty I'd buy it even at that price.

Based on my limited exposure to it so far Tesla would have to pay me a minimum £500 to get me to use it.

 

[hingus2000]

Any lease customers at all with it?

 

[ElijahEVMan]

Any lease customers with it at all?

Yes mine is leased direct with Tesla

 

[RichieC]

Been trying out the EAP trial for the last few days, and like most people here, i'm not too impressed with it.

Auto lane changes are just way too slow - by the time it decides to move lanes, many times a car is approaching in the target lane which causes it to abort and swerve dangerously back into it's previous lane (even if there is now a car in that lane!!) ... not good!

Also, most of the time when i try it initiate a lane change by turning on the indicator, it shows the lane is going to move into, but then does nothing! Just leaves the indicator on, but doesn't move at all, so i have to then take over and change lanes manually.. not good!

When taking exits on motorways, it does take the exit automatically, but it indicates way too late! (doesn't always seem to work either and sometimes misses an exit completely) .. not good!

Auto Parking - very slow and limited instances where it will work (has to be between 2 parked cars) - it is so slow that it just makes you look like an incompetent learner driver .. not good!

Smart summon just doesn't work at all as far i can see, unless you stay within 6m of the car at all times, what's the point in that?

Basic Summon, to move the car backwards/forward is actually the only feature in EAP that I might actually use, but I certainly wouldn't pay more than maybe £50 for it!

I don't know why anyone would pay £4300 for this "upgrade" - maybe in the USA it works better, but for now in the UK/EU it needs to some serious work to make it worthwhile/less dangerous to use.

Thing is i really wanted to like the EAP features and i really thought i might end up buying it, but given that way that it just doesn't really work properly, it's a definite no from me.

 

[MrBadger]

Having read several posts mention speed of auto lane change, from someone who has done a fair few of them in a variety of conditions, I can say that with practice, it gets better. The key is ensuring that Autopilot has detected the correct pressure is being applied to the wheel at the point that the lane change is initiated. If it gets that feedback, auto lane changes are prompt and assured, even in heavier traffic (although I wouldn't want to do it in nose to tail at speed, but then I wouldn't want to do a manual lane change in the same conditions).

If however it fails to get that feedback, or it detects a potential issue, it will wait until it does and the clock starts ticking and it is easy to misunderstand this situation as a sluggish lane change - unfortunately its not always immediately obvious that the car is in this state. Exceed the timeout and it either makes you look a bit of a fool by indicating and not doing anything, or things can get rather 'exciting' in a not so good kind of way. It can also get 'exciting' when the car detects an issue which is sometimes not obvious. I had a lane change abort on me mid way through when someone 3 cars back decided to floor it into the outside lane and overtake - with the choice of the car violently swerving back from whence it came, or being rammed up the rear, I'll take the former.

Yes, its still possible to get it wrong once in a while and the car not start the manoeuvre until the moment has passed, but the longer you live with the system and get to learn scenarios where its not going to perform quite so well, these moments get few and far between.

For those that do want to suddenly pull out with little or no indicating, then auto lane change will not achieve that for you. And for that, I am thankful.

 

[m3gt2]

Is the lane change just available when on NOA? I've only managed it when in NOA, never when on a dual carriageway etc that doesn't offer NOA. Thanks

 

[MrBadger]

The auto lane change is not dependent on NoA, but NoA availability (ie the single blue line down middle of the lane) does confirm when it is definitely available. It is however sometimes available in other places, where NoA is not triggered. I think it would be fair to say that this will only occur on a (at least) 2 lane dual/divided carriageway, but the reality is that it is much less often than that and, to make matters worse, it does appear to change between releases, so no guarantee that if it works in one place it will work in the same place another time.

Another situation that can affect its availability is visibility of road markings, either by poor weather obscuring view of cameras for being blinded or rain, or simply poor definition of the road markings. It would not surprise me if there were other circumstances that also affected its availability, I've just not noticed.

I wish the car was more (actually any form of indication) helpful in highlighting when the feature was available other than just the single blue line with NoA. Perhaps this could be highlighted on the driver visualisation or the map itself. This would save driving along with indicators going and the car not interested in the slightest about changing lanes.

Hopefully when it eventually arrives, the long overdue Nav map update will widen its operational domain.

 

[Peteski]

Having read several posts mention speed of auto lane change, from someone who has done a fair few of them in a variety of conditions, I can say that with practice, it gets better. The key is ensuring that Autopilot has detected the correct pressure is being applied to the wheel at the point that the lane change is initiated. If it gets that feedback, auto lane changes are prompt and assured, even in heavier traffic (although I wouldn't want to do it in nose to tail at speed, but then I wouldn't want to do a manual lane change in the same conditions).

If however it fails to get that feedback, or it detects a potential issue, it will wait until it does and the clock starts ticking and it is easy to misunderstand this situation as a sluggish lane change - unfortunately its not always immediately obvious that the car is in this state. Exceed the timeout and it either makes you look a bit of a fool by indicating and not doing anything, or things can get rather 'exciting' in a not so good kind of way. It can also get 'exciting' when the car detects an issue which is sometimes not obvious. I had a lane change abort on me mid way through when someone 3 cars back decided to floor it into the outside lane and overtake - with the choice of the car violently swerving back from whence it came, or being rammed up the rear, I'll take the former.

Yes, its still possible to get it wrong once in a while and the car not start the manoeuvre until the moment has passed, but the longer you live with the system and get to learn scenarios where its not going to perform quite so well, these moments get few and far between.

For those that do want to suddenly pull out with little or no indicating, then auto lane change will not achieve that for you. And for that, I am thankful.

After 3 years with EAP I'm still not patient enough to cope with it's pedantic and unpredictable behaviour. Changing lanes has never been such hard work, which totally defeats the point. I honestly thought it would be better in my new Model 3 compared to my early 2018 MX, but it behaves in exactly the same way. I would never recommend this to anyone. It's a shame because the potential is there and AP is actually quite good on motorways/dual carriageways.

 

[Sabs]

Just had a message from Tesla and they have confirmed that at this moment in time the trial is only for cars delivered before the 18th Feb.

 

[Sugei]

Just had a message from Tesla and they have confirmed that at this moment in time the trial is only for cars delivered before the 18th Feb.

Took delivery in December 2020, had no such e-mail/trial. I think it's totally random if you get it before those dates

 

[m3gt2]

The auto lane change is not dependent on NoA, but NoA availability (ie the single blue line down middle of the lane) does confirm when it is definitely available. It is however sometimes available in other places, where NoA is not triggered. I think it would be fair to say that this will only occur on a (at least) 2 lane dual/divided carriageway, but the reality is that it is much less often than that and, to make matters worse, it does appear to change between releases, so no guarantee that if it works in one place it will work in the same place another time.

Another situation that can affect its availability is visibility of road markings, either by poor weather obscuring view of cameras for being blinded or rain, or simply poor definition of the road markings. It would not surprise me if there were other circumstances that also affected its availability, I've just not noticed.

I wish the car was more (actually any form of indication) helpful in highlighting when the feature was available other than just the single blue line with NoA. Perhaps this could be highlighted on the driver visualisation or the map itself. This would save driving along with indicators going and the car not interested in the slightest about changing lanes.

Hopefully when it eventually arrives, the long overdue Nav map update will widen its operational domain.

Thank you, while it doesn't help as such at least I know it's not just my stupidity!

 

[InventEd]

Fairly convinced with the trial that I wouldn't buy this like many of you. The summons is hilarious rubbish. I have to stand 3m from my car for it to move! Why on earth is that a useful feature, even my kids were unimpressed. I appreciate this may be regulations not Tesla.

What I cant get it to do it park. The manual says it will park in both parallel and perpendicular bays? Does it do both types in the UK? I drove into work today (the first day I realised I had the free trial) and it showed no signs of noticing a perpendicular parking space even though a passed 5 different spaces. Anybody managed to get it to park in perpendicular bays?

 

[Tony Hoyle]

The bays have to be quite widely spaced. The typical way we bunch cars up in this country don't create a space large enough for autopark to recognise. And of course between two cars as it doesn't understand white lines.

I had it work once in 18 months.

 

[Gatsojon]

AP is quite good as standard. In the right conditions, I find it helps the journey experience. EAP was just too much hassle and for that reason, I’m out.

 

[s88ats]

AP is quite good as standard. In the right conditions, I find it helps the journey experience. EAP was just too much hassle and for that reason, I’m out.

Agreed - the only slight annoyance with AP is having to deactivate/ reactive when switching lanes.

 

[Gatsojon]

Agreed - the only slight annoyance with AP is having to deactivate/ reactive when switching lanes.

Yes. So on busy motorways that can be a pain. Once north of Preston on the M6, it’s fine.

If EAP had reliably fixed that, I’d at least find something positive to say about it.

 

[m3gt2]

Yes. So on busy motorways that can be a pain. Once north of Preston on the M6, it’s fine.

If EAP had reliably fixed that, I’d at least find something positive to say about it.

I agree but in Tesla's defence it's down to regulation rather than an issue with the software.

 

[Tony Hoyle]

Regulation stops changing lanes automatically. It doesn't cause it to require enough space to fit an aircraft carrier in to do it, nor does it make it drunkenly weave around picking lanes at random based on placement of cones or whether there's an R in the month.

 

[RichOB]

My previous Volvo XC90 retained auto steer while changing lanes, I believe it was when the indicator was active it allowed you to take over without turning it off. Such a simple software change would make such a massive difference, the thing I hate the most is the chime of AP going off and then you putting it back on again!