I have just finished my free, 1-month test of Tesla’s Full Self-Driving Capability in April/May 2024. I bought my first Tesla Model S in 2017 and traded up to a Long-Range Model S late in 2023 when they kept throwing incentives my way. I love driving the Model S both because of the potential environmental impacts, but also because it is a wonderful performance car. I drive on interstates, other 4-lane roads and on city streets, so I do different types of driving and I think that the Model S excels in all modes.
My original Model S had adaptive cruise control, and at the time, I thought that this was the best safety feature ever for driving on interstates, especially in and around cities. It also had Autosteer, although it did not always work that well. Nonetheless, good safety features and I thought that the current version of both adaptive cruise control and Autosteer worked well. The only problem I had with autosteer was on a 4-lane road that had a crown in the middle, so that the mechanism would shut off in the uneven left lane.
I very explicitly used FSD exclusively at times, on all types of roads, with no manual intervention. Overall, driving in FSD with the navigation system set to a specific address was a wonder to behold. The car turns by itself, even onto interstate on/off ramps, accelerates carefully into traffic and adjusts speeds when needed. As it transitions from interstate to city roads, it follows the new speed limits exactly. The parking feature is cool, when needed, and from a lab, proof-of-concept idea, FSD would seem to be a great feature. But,…
Overall, I developed a strong dislike of the system. It most reminded me of being driven by a teen-aged driver, who had just received their learner’s permit and had a parent in the front seat. I used the system for virtually all driving, from crowded city streets to wide-open 4-lane country roads and felt that it wasn’t driving like real people. Getting into traffic from a parking lot or when making routine turns, the car would sit there until no cars or pedestrians were in sight. Sometimes the wait would be excessive, by virtually anyone’s standards, and it was very frustrating. It would accelerate smoothly to the speed limit—it would be a poster child for traffic police, but unnatural in the real world.
Worst of all, it didn’t always work. In driving into a major population area in the Midwest on an interstate, it shut off 3 separate times on a specific road. This road had been improved by replacing degraded surfaces with sections that were separated to allow for expansion and contraction. Very useful for weather in late winter/early spring and the road has remained intact for some years. But FSD didn’t like the bumps between sections and shut down. Keep your hands on the wheel when the car is no longer on auto at 70 mph!
I found driving in FSD mode in the city to be unnatural. It was too perfect and also too methodical—as if performed by a computer! If you live in places like Chicago or Boston, you will not be a “favorite” of other drivers. I concluded that I wouldn’t want to share the road with vehicles with no driver that used the FSD capability, like a robotaxi. If we do allow such vehicles, we will have to build separate lanes or even separate roads to accommodate the different types of driving. Hopefully, some of these faults will improve as AI improves, but it is certainly not ready for prime time at the moment.
Anyone else give the FSD a try? I’d like to read other opinions.
My original Model S had adaptive cruise control, and at the time, I thought that this was the best safety feature ever for driving on interstates, especially in and around cities. It also had Autosteer, although it did not always work that well. Nonetheless, good safety features and I thought that the current version of both adaptive cruise control and Autosteer worked well. The only problem I had with autosteer was on a 4-lane road that had a crown in the middle, so that the mechanism would shut off in the uneven left lane.
I very explicitly used FSD exclusively at times, on all types of roads, with no manual intervention. Overall, driving in FSD with the navigation system set to a specific address was a wonder to behold. The car turns by itself, even onto interstate on/off ramps, accelerates carefully into traffic and adjusts speeds when needed. As it transitions from interstate to city roads, it follows the new speed limits exactly. The parking feature is cool, when needed, and from a lab, proof-of-concept idea, FSD would seem to be a great feature. But,…
Overall, I developed a strong dislike of the system. It most reminded me of being driven by a teen-aged driver, who had just received their learner’s permit and had a parent in the front seat. I used the system for virtually all driving, from crowded city streets to wide-open 4-lane country roads and felt that it wasn’t driving like real people. Getting into traffic from a parking lot or when making routine turns, the car would sit there until no cars or pedestrians were in sight. Sometimes the wait would be excessive, by virtually anyone’s standards, and it was very frustrating. It would accelerate smoothly to the speed limit—it would be a poster child for traffic police, but unnatural in the real world.
Worst of all, it didn’t always work. In driving into a major population area in the Midwest on an interstate, it shut off 3 separate times on a specific road. This road had been improved by replacing degraded surfaces with sections that were separated to allow for expansion and contraction. Very useful for weather in late winter/early spring and the road has remained intact for some years. But FSD didn’t like the bumps between sections and shut down. Keep your hands on the wheel when the car is no longer on auto at 70 mph!
I found driving in FSD mode in the city to be unnatural. It was too perfect and also too methodical—as if performed by a computer! If you live in places like Chicago or Boston, you will not be a “favorite” of other drivers. I concluded that I wouldn’t want to share the road with vehicles with no driver that used the FSD capability, like a robotaxi. If we do allow such vehicles, we will have to build separate lanes or even separate roads to accommodate the different types of driving. Hopefully, some of these faults will improve as AI improves, but it is certainly not ready for prime time at the moment.
Anyone else give the FSD a try? I’d like to read other opinions.
well, that's exactly what it is... were you expecting something else?
