In case my opinion is helpful, I am not getting AP when the time comes for me to pull the trigger for the following reasons:
- Studies show that humans are terrible at monitoring systems that have high reliability rates (Josh Brown, emergency vehicle rear-endings, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14639220500535301)
- It costs $6600(!!) at time of purchase. That's almost 15% of the cost of the vehicle and I'd rather have the extra AWD or Premium Package hardware.
- It makes mistakes but Tesla is not liable if you ever don't catch the glitch in time. ()
- This technology will over time cause the dumbing-down of your driving skills, similar to how GPS has caused laziness in mental awareness/creative route planning/problem solving (I don't have scientific evidence on this, just my own personal observations).
- An AP vehicle is not courteous. It will not extend a gap to let someone in, it will not speed up if you're passing a vehicle and someone comes up on your tail quickly and you need to get out of the way, it will not see someone shoulder-checking to anticipate that they plan a lane-change... I could go on and on.
- Not recommended, useful or safe in a great percentage of my driving environments (non-divided freeways, residential roads, icy/dangerous conditions, construction, changing traffic patterns).
- I'm not stuck in gridlock on a daily basis, so having the AP isn't as big of a driver. I like to drive. It's not a chore for me. I may as well enjoy the driving experience since I'm getting rid of my manual transmission already. The one thing I wouldn't mind would be TACC, but I would only pay ~$500 for that feature if it was separate.
There are times when I'm driving that I wonder if AP would be nice in that instance. Every time I think that, I come back to "Maybe you shouldn't drive if you're so tired/exhausted" or "You just want AP so you can text/check something on your phone or be distracted by something else, which you shouldn't be doing when on AP anyway!"
All the safety features are there even if you don't buy AP, so you get the best of both worlds by opting out. And frankly, you can react to situations far better and quicker if you're already in manual mode than if you were half-checked out while on AP.
"Every driver is responsible for remaining alert and active when using Autopilot, and must be prepared to take action at
any time." - Tesla