TLDR Summary: The FSD Beta Stack (11.4.4) on the highway is much smoother and more comfortable than the current production Navigate on Autopilot. (2023.26.11). Self driving on local roads is legitimately for beta testing and feedback, and not comfortable at intersections. NHTSA is doing a major disservice by forcing 'letter of law' behavior at stop signs.
I've been following FSD Beta since it went public a few years ago. I have seen many you tube videos from the usual suspects (Dirty Tesla, Chuck Cook, etc.). Still, until you experience it, you don't really know what it's like. As someone who has only owned a Tesla for a couple months and just recently had the Beta available (Model S with HW4), I thought I'd try and explain my experience on trying it out for the first time.
Background: I have used the production Navigate on Autopilot on a 2000 mile (round trip) road trip, so I have fair experience using that. Today, I enabled beta and took it for a test drive on a combination of suburban and rural roads and on an interstate.
Highway: Very impressed with the smoothness and comfort level with lane changes compared to the production Navigate on Autopilot stack. I can easily see in the not so distant future this becoming the production Navigate on Autopilot and getting Level 3 automation status to boot. In my 20 miles or so on the highway, it was a noticeable improvement. In fact, once my Free FSD trial is over...if I were to go on another highway road trip, I would subscribe to the beta for a month just to have it for highway driving.
Local Roads: As I anticiapted, I needed to intervene a few times where I was not at all comfortable with what I thought the car was doing. Moreover, there are some things that I thought it would be better at...that it is not. For example, going along a straightaway and needing to make an unprotected left turn....several times even though there were no vehicles in sight, the "smoothness" just was't there. It would slow down too late and too drastically, then "ease" too slowly through the turn, and abruptly speed up. Several times if the road I was on was curving one way (to the left), and there was a separate road intersecting to the right, the car would seemingly "be confused", slow drastically and continue forward.
Stop signs are a mess. I blame this squarely on NHTSA vs. Tesla. Most of you are probably aware that NHTSA had Tesla "recall" the beta to change behavior at stop signs. FSD must come to a full stop *at the stop sign* and then proceed to go through the intersection "safely." The problem is, especially in suburbs, stop signs are commonly well before the driver (or car) is able to actually see if it is clear. So the experience is like this:
1) Stop at the sign. (COMPLETE stop and pause).
2) Proceed slowly (Creep) because you can't see oncoming traffic
3) Then stop again once you can see and determine if it is safe.
You've seen this time and time again on FSD videos...but you don't appreciate how annoying this is until you experience it firsthand.
What NHTSA needs to understand, is that this is not "safe". Nor is it how everyone actually drives. What should happen (IMO), is that the driver / car (recognizing the stop sign) should slow down to a creep (not necessarily stop) "at" the stop sign, but continue to creep until you reach area where you can actually see the cross traffic. If NHTSA insists on a "full stop" (vs. "rolling stop")...that's fine...but THAT is where the stop should occur: where you can determine if cross traffic is clear...not necessarily at the location o the stop sign.
Not only is the current behavior annoying to myself as a driver...but will of course also be annoying to other drivers.
At the end of the day, I enjoy driving myself on suburban and rural roads, so I don't envision ever really using FSD Beta to drive locally. I am confident that if anyone can solve self-driving with a scalable solution, Tesla has the only shot based on their approach. I do hope that regulatory agencies can see the forest though the trees and understand that driving in the real world is not necessarily consistent with the letter of the law, and for good reason.
I'll continue to play with FSD beta over the coming month (until my trial subscription is up), and afterward will either subscribe temporarily for a month to test out any major new advancements...or when going on a highway road trip. Again, the FSD beta stack for highway driving is much improved (IMO) over the current production Navigate on Autopilot.
"Tesla Hardware 2 cameras, Sunnyvale" by mliu92 is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.
Admin note: Image added for Blog Feed Thumbnail
I've been following FSD Beta since it went public a few years ago. I have seen many you tube videos from the usual suspects (Dirty Tesla, Chuck Cook, etc.). Still, until you experience it, you don't really know what it's like. As someone who has only owned a Tesla for a couple months and just recently had the Beta available (Model S with HW4), I thought I'd try and explain my experience on trying it out for the first time.
Background: I have used the production Navigate on Autopilot on a 2000 mile (round trip) road trip, so I have fair experience using that. Today, I enabled beta and took it for a test drive on a combination of suburban and rural roads and on an interstate.
Highway: Very impressed with the smoothness and comfort level with lane changes compared to the production Navigate on Autopilot stack. I can easily see in the not so distant future this becoming the production Navigate on Autopilot and getting Level 3 automation status to boot. In my 20 miles or so on the highway, it was a noticeable improvement. In fact, once my Free FSD trial is over...if I were to go on another highway road trip, I would subscribe to the beta for a month just to have it for highway driving.
Local Roads: As I anticiapted, I needed to intervene a few times where I was not at all comfortable with what I thought the car was doing. Moreover, there are some things that I thought it would be better at...that it is not. For example, going along a straightaway and needing to make an unprotected left turn....several times even though there were no vehicles in sight, the "smoothness" just was't there. It would slow down too late and too drastically, then "ease" too slowly through the turn, and abruptly speed up. Several times if the road I was on was curving one way (to the left), and there was a separate road intersecting to the right, the car would seemingly "be confused", slow drastically and continue forward.
Stop signs are a mess. I blame this squarely on NHTSA vs. Tesla. Most of you are probably aware that NHTSA had Tesla "recall" the beta to change behavior at stop signs. FSD must come to a full stop *at the stop sign* and then proceed to go through the intersection "safely." The problem is, especially in suburbs, stop signs are commonly well before the driver (or car) is able to actually see if it is clear. So the experience is like this:
1) Stop at the sign. (COMPLETE stop and pause).
2) Proceed slowly (Creep) because you can't see oncoming traffic
3) Then stop again once you can see and determine if it is safe.
You've seen this time and time again on FSD videos...but you don't appreciate how annoying this is until you experience it firsthand.
What NHTSA needs to understand, is that this is not "safe". Nor is it how everyone actually drives. What should happen (IMO), is that the driver / car (recognizing the stop sign) should slow down to a creep (not necessarily stop) "at" the stop sign, but continue to creep until you reach area where you can actually see the cross traffic. If NHTSA insists on a "full stop" (vs. "rolling stop")...that's fine...but THAT is where the stop should occur: where you can determine if cross traffic is clear...not necessarily at the location o the stop sign.
Not only is the current behavior annoying to myself as a driver...but will of course also be annoying to other drivers.
At the end of the day, I enjoy driving myself on suburban and rural roads, so I don't envision ever really using FSD Beta to drive locally. I am confident that if anyone can solve self-driving with a scalable solution, Tesla has the only shot based on their approach. I do hope that regulatory agencies can see the forest though the trees and understand that driving in the real world is not necessarily consistent with the letter of the law, and for good reason.
I'll continue to play with FSD beta over the coming month (until my trial subscription is up), and afterward will either subscribe temporarily for a month to test out any major new advancements...or when going on a highway road trip. Again, the FSD beta stack for highway driving is much improved (IMO) over the current production Navigate on Autopilot.
"Tesla Hardware 2 cameras, Sunnyvale" by mliu92 is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.
Admin note: Image added for Blog Feed Thumbnail
