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I don't think Tesla has been offering that for new Model 3 buyers. I think many drive it for the first time after they pay and pick it up.
Well some of them have previous experience with Model S or X autopilot, but they are getting ready to start selling to more non-owners now.
whitex
Well-Known Member
The answer is much simpler. Don't call it AutoPilot. Call it "Enhanced Cruise Control" or "Lane Keep Assist" or anything else that better describes to an average person what it does. Calling it AutoPilot to most people means the car is taking care of everything, because it implies full automatic driving. If and when FSD comes out, call it AutoPilot. Of course, this would completely mess up the hype style marketing Elon uses, so will never happen unless the terms get regulated. Oh, and before a slew of pilots come on explaining how it is analogous to an airplane auto-pilot, the average driver doesn't have a pilot's license and their understanding of AutoPillot is from sci-fy movies where auto-pilot means it doesn't need attention at least until you need to change course.
PS> The problem is further exacerbated by Elon telling everyone how Tesla's will let you sleep on the back of the car while Tesla Auto Pilot drives the car, and the fact that he keeps telling people it's coming soon, and he even post a fake video of it working, so why are you surprised that a year and half later some people thing this is how it works today (hey, soon to most people means different than to Elon).
PS> The problem is further exacerbated by Elon telling everyone how Tesla's will let you sleep on the back of the car while Tesla Auto Pilot drives the car, and the fact that he keeps telling people it's coming soon, and he even post a fake video of it working, so why are you surprised that a year and half later some people thing this is how it works today (hey, soon to most people means different than to Elon).
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+1. Tesla describes the system with multiple redundancies. Any one who blows by them will ignore any new ones that can be thought up. To me, it is ironic that most problems come from the system being too good. I know that I tend to forget to pay attention because the system is practically perfect in everyday freeway driving. I was teaching my daughter how to use it yesterday, and she was blown away with how it handled 80 mph and a 25-30 mph crosswind. Much better than most drivers around us.
Derek Kessler
Active Member
That’s because it can adjust _instantly_ and _precisely_ to the varying push of the wind, whereas our stupid human brains have to notice that the car is drifting off course, correct, and then when the wind inevitably abates notice that we're now overcorrected and re-correct. That's exactly what Autopilot does, but it does it continuously and in the blink of an eye.
Taking this topic further, many times, perhaps the fully trained and aware autoPilot users that may become overconfident of AP abilities (yeh! I know how it works...) after 1000s of successful AP driving miles that they might momentarily lapse in their concentration - and if luck would have it, tragedy might strike. How to keep up with the overconfident drivers? Does Tesla need to? No - because there is enough legal clauses everywhere to protect them. But then, lives should matter more than a few dollars lost in market value.
Perhaps the car builds an AP reward system (that resets with every Drive->Park transition) to monitor driver attentiveness. Yes, driver-facing cameras are now in M3 (no s/w yet), but 100s of thousands of S & X don't have them. The logic could be: when the "hold steering wheel" message appears, a counter starts. If driver doesn't respond to that message in say 5 (or some other #) seconds, car gives a low point to the driver. After a few successive such slow scores, car can decide to turn off autopilot (or auto-steer) until the car has been put back to Park (after a stop). Basically, reward attentive drivers with AP, and take it away from those that are not facing road/screen (& missing the warnings). The car can build on this system and decide if a driver has never missed the 5-second warning, stop this reward system altogether, and those that get low-scores often, should be somehow notified/trained.
That brings up another thought, how can M3 driver-facing camera monitor face/eye movements at night/darkness? Wish they had apple's face-ID camera/IR system? Is Apple going to buy Tesla? hhmmm. another topic for another day.
Perhaps the car builds an AP reward system (that resets with every Drive->Park transition) to monitor driver attentiveness. Yes, driver-facing cameras are now in M3 (no s/w yet), but 100s of thousands of S & X don't have them. The logic could be: when the "hold steering wheel" message appears, a counter starts. If driver doesn't respond to that message in say 5 (or some other #) seconds, car gives a low point to the driver. After a few successive such slow scores, car can decide to turn off autopilot (or auto-steer) until the car has been put back to Park (after a stop). Basically, reward attentive drivers with AP, and take it away from those that are not facing road/screen (& missing the warnings). The car can build on this system and decide if a driver has never missed the 5-second warning, stop this reward system altogether, and those that get low-scores often, should be somehow notified/trained.
That brings up another thought, how can M3 driver-facing camera monitor face/eye movements at night/darkness? Wish they had apple's face-ID camera/IR system? Is Apple going to buy Tesla? hhmmm. another topic for another day.
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