I tried FSD for the very first time, which happened to be the free one-month 12.3.3 trial delivered over this past weekend. I got mine on Easter Sunday.
Holy smokes, it's so good. After backing out and setting my nav for the nearby pet store, I tipped the stalk down and the car took over decisively, which was so weird for this first-time user. I'd previously watched a whole lot of video about FSD 12.2.x and 12.3.3 from the usual suspects, so I had an idea what I was in for. There I was, heart in my throat, vigilantly ready to intervene in FSD's 'assertive' mode.
FSD got me to the end of the housing tract for the first right turn into traffic. Sometimes this can be challenging with fast traffic coming from the left with a bit of a blind rise, but on Easter it was pretty light traffic. The car executed the turn safely and my confidence was increasing by the minute. FSD got me to the freeway, staying nicely in the lanes without being too far left or right, and without extraneous lane-changes. Braking was smooth and predictable. Acceleration was brisk at times but always felt appropriate, though it was more reserved when there wasn't as much room or need to accelerate. Acceleration on to the freeway was good, strong but reasonable and the car held flow of traffic nicely next to the slow lane. It accelerated on to the freeway much like I would when I'm not trying to feel some Gs for grins.
The change to the exit lane of the freeway was later than I would have done. FSD slotted me into a reasonable gap and then created a nice following distance after that. Overall, the drive was remarkable in how unremarkable it was. It really does feel human, replete with communication that we humans understand; creeping up slightly when it's time to go, letting other cars know that you're taking your turn at a stop, anticipating a pedestrian clearing the path forward, etc. This is also extremely nuanced behavior from FSD that inspires confidence.
On the way back from the pet store, FSD nosed slightly out of the shopping center and made a nice turn on to the surface street. No drama. The car decided to skip the freeway (happy for that) and the drive was so nice, relaxing, unremarkable. No interventions either way. I can see how it would be easy for people to let their guard down during routine driving, which in a way can be more stressful than driving depending on your neurotype. Despite all this, it felt like I'd hired a driver!
I'm extremely impressed, and I will likely subscribe to FSD in the future when I get my own Tesla Model 3 Performance again. I used my girlfriend's Model 3 for this test errand.
Once Wall Street gets wind of this in a few years there's gonna be mayhem!
?
