Victory! (For now...) TLDR: I made it to 100 and you can too ... eventually. It's difficult and frustrating; you might not want to deal with this headache.
After several days of imperfect scores, because of not knowing, (98, 97) and because of learning, (96, 98) I figured out how to got 100 scores. It was stressful and it sucked. So I started modifying my driving behavior to make it easier to get perfect scores.
I mounted my phone to the dash and got a G Sensor app so I can practice turning harder (!) to get more "good" turning. I practice breaking earlier and gentler. - I think these two things have made me a safer driver.
My following score is still a bit of a problem. Right now I've taken to following trucks on the highway when I used to constantly seek out the gaps between packs. Also, I follow them closer than what I'd like to get "good" following time. Or I just turn on Autopilot and hope it doesn't mess up too much. I think I can fix this by making my own radar and having it play a gentle noise when I start to get too close or too far. Luckily I got a radar kit in the mail just last week! (Maybe someone else had the same idea?
HackerBox #0071 - Ranger ) - I don't know if this is safer, but I think it does encourage me to be constantly attentive, so that's a thing. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Being between packs of cars on the highway it gets tempting to just look out the window and enjoy the drive. I do miss that.
Getting from 99 to 100 was bonkers! - It just took SO MUCH DRIVING - When I got to 99 I had driven about 900 miles. It took about 1,400 miles to get to a rounded "perfect" overall score. Nine hundred of that was over the last two days! I didn't quite make it by Friday night. I hope I'll get to be in the roll-out when it happens, and I selfishly love that it was delayed, maybe I'll get it too.
Lots of people are asking: Why? This is crazy, why play this stupid game? -- I'll tell you my reasons, but I don't expect you to agree or care. I wrote this part for me. ;-) Your reasons and your choice are yours.
One, I can; and I want to be special. I don't have kids. My wife and I both work hard and live comfortably, but we're not rich. We've moved across country twice in the last 15 years. I don't have friends like I used to, maybe that's part of growing up, but it sucks. I love open source software, technology, and kindness. I volunteer with a First Robotics Team, and try to teach high school students to build robots, but I have a lot to learn myself! I'd LOVE to help get FSD done so everyone can have it. I want to be involved in something this cool, even if it's in a really minor way.
Two, I want to stop being grumpy! I've already put 80,000 miles on my 2018 Model S 100D - They say the battery lasts 200,000 to 400,000 miles depending on how you treat it. I'd like to experience, and use, FSD for as many of those miles as I can. It's absurd that the software license isn't currently transferable. Imagine if FSD takes another two or three years to complete and my car is all worn out and not-cool anymore. Some of you who got 2016 cars with FSD hardware know all too well what I mean, those cars are 5 years old now and they still aren't FSD cars -- if your in those shoes and still in a good mood, I suspect you're deluding your self or your truly fanatical and therefore are not being rational. -- Sorry! -- I was happy to get software updates when I first got my car, I enjoyed participating in this journey. But then (I imagine) the suits and lawyers finally got there way and we stopped getting real updates. It feels like we got pushed out of the process. (Except for 2,000 people!?!?!?) I'll accept a stupid safety score if it means I can get let back in to the party.
Three, I really do want to be a better driver. A friend of my family went his whole life never getting so much as pulled over. No tickets, no accidents, no fender benders, nothing. Compared to him, I'm at best, a mediocre, driver. But it doesn't have to stay that way. I don't enjoy 'gamification" but who does, it's not _really_ a game. Games are fun. This is stressful, and frustrating. It's the results that I'm after.
Finally, autopilot is wonderfully useful; and it still sucks. If I can nudge the Tesla AI team towards fixing the things that drive me crazy day after day, that would be wonderful. And when my car is fully self driving, I'll be able to sleep on my commute, or whatever. Basically my final reason is pure self interest.
So make your own decision. Are you in? Or are you going to wait?
