So, just curious, for people who have autopilot features, would you give up autosteer if TACC came standard on the car? i.e., is autosteer something you would pay extra for by itself? I really want TACC, but have zero interest in autosteer. Can't justify $2500 for TACC alone, but I guess I'll have to talk myself into it.
-
Want to remove ads? Register an account and login to see fewer ads, and become a Supporting Member to remove almost all ads.
dirkhh
Middle-aged Member
I have zero interest in auto steer. TACC is definitely nice and a useful convenience feature. Lane departure warning is useless - way too many false positives.
If I were to buy a Model X (and I doubt I will), I'd order without the AP package.
If I were to buy a Model X (and I doubt I will), I'd order without the AP package.
dirkhh
Middle-aged Member
except for the 25% where it gets it wrong and blinds oncoming traffic
except for the 10% of the time where it gets it wrong and tells you the speed limit is 20mph higher (quite frequently happens to me on Hwy26) or 15mph lower (happens to me consistently on a road I drive every day) than it actually is. So instead of being helpful it is a distraction because now you wonder if you misread the sign...
jgs
Active Member
I'll echo the "<thing> is awesome" comments and add autosteer to the list. After my road trip over Thanksgiving when I finally got to give autosteer a serious workout for its intended job of highway driving (both cruising and bumper-to-bumper), I can say that not only would I pay the $2500 for it, but I won't consider a new car without it. I suppose if enough people feel as I do, that might impact resale value, for those who think about such things.
They aren't perfect, but I have not found a single auto<thing> feature on my MS that I have wanted to disable, yet.
They aren't perfect, but I have not found a single auto<thing> feature on my MS that I have wanted to disable, yet.
Super_Popular
Well-Known Member
I used TACC to drive me to Vegas and back and it was amazing. It should be standard on a car at this price point.
I think TACC would eliminate a lot of stress driving on the highway and especially in stop and go commuting (which I do). However, even if autosteer is reliable 99% of the time, the stories about the 1% of the time where it abruptly and inexplicably steers into the adjacent lane are enough to make me not trust it. Also, often on the forum, people post very smug replies about using it the way it was intended, i.e., holding the wheel. Anyone who has been paying attention since the beginning will know that the holding the wheel thing came about very recently. That was not the intent when autopilot was announced and it was never Elon's intention when he talked about AP before. That is obvious liability language. I'm a big fan of Tesla and have been for a long time. If they can't get AP 1.0 to really work like they wanted, I'm not going to pitch a fit. They are obviously working very hard on bringing about autonomous (or semi-autonomous) driving and it's a difficult challenge. I applaud them for their efforts. But if I can't take my hands off the wheel and chill, I'll never use autosteer. I'm just wondering if they will ever offer TACC as a less costly standalone option. I'm guessing probably not.
I've been watching this from the beginning and I never read anything from Tesla Motors stating autopilot would be completely hands-free. It was only depicted that way by users. Elon did say the intent for future autonomy would mean hands-free.
I don't even have my car yet but after driving with autopilot (70D) for 2 days and without (P85 loaner) on Houston rush hour highways, I wouldn't pay this much for a car without it.
jgs
Active Member
Have you tried it? I might very well have made this same statement prior to using it. Having used it a fair amount now, I (for my own part, I acknowledge it's a personal preference thing) don't agree at all. For me, it was actually the most natural thing in the world to leave a hand on the wheel almost all the time I was driving with AP on. I've done a little driving fully hands-off and mostly, it feels funny.
At some point there will be fully hands-off system, and I look forward to it. Until then, AP as it stands is incredibly valuable already. I encourage people not to dismiss it without driving a few hundred (or a few thousand) miles with the system.
That's fair. I have used it, but only on test drives. I found that leaving my hands on the wheel caused the system to kick off. It required additional effort (maybe mostly mental) to keep my hands on the wheel, but not exert any force such that the system remained active. I'm sure I will end up enabling it at some point just for TACC, which I agree is awesome. That's the biggest source of stress for me on the highway... constantly having to compensate for people who can't maintain speed. TACC overcomes that nuisance.
You're not supposed to trust it for those 1% cases (actually, it's more like .01% on the highway and 5% on city streets). It's not an autonomous system: it's a driver assist feature, and it works even better than I expected. Sure, you've got to maintain situational awareness; that's to be expected, because you are the "driver-in-command", fully responsible for the safe operation of the vehicle.
I've logged over 3000 miles with Autosteer engaged, from wide-open rural interstates to clogged city streets, and I am never going back. It makes stop-and-go commuting an almost serene experience, it makes those rural interstate miles melt away, and it drives as well or better than I can nearly all the time. When it falls short, I take over. I've learned its foibles well enough, it's now to the point that I find myself reaching for the steering wheel just before Autosteer starts to go off the rails.
"On rails" is a good analogy, now that I think about it.
I only have a few hours experience with AP but agree with your assessment.
To the OP: pay for the AP option and remember it is only going to get better over the next year!
Screwbal
Member
I don't have my car yet but to one of the items the OP mentioned, Speed limit signs/warnings aren't connected to AP being enabled (correct me if I'm wrong). So long as your car has the AP hardware that as a feature just works.
Similar threads
