Tried an Model 3 with Autopilot. Autopilot, Seriously?

[Big Toys]

I had the opportunity to try out a 2019 Model 3 recently, and it was an enlightening experience. It made me appreciate the "relative" simplicity of a 2015 MS. Boy, those door handles are just awful and awkward, and a singular screen that does everything, what a pain. Did I mention the glare from the right windows?

My biggest surprise disappointment is with "Autopilot". Unless I'm doing it wrong, it only works on the highway, and won't go on local roads or even larger 2-3 lane roads?? It will change lanes if I let it, gets me off the ramp, then stops. Seems easy enough to do myself.

Oh, late last night while drive on a 3 lane major US route (not interstate highway), the "Autosteer" came to a full stop under 3 green lights. I mean, full stop. No one on the road ahead or behind me, fortunately. It did it a number of times, even though the green light indicator clearly showed 3 green lights.

Not for nothing, but this some fanboi delusion?

(Sorry for the double post, I don't see how to delete the other one.)

 

[Tiger]

RTFM

 

[JD M3]

It's clear that you don't actually understand autopilot or how it works, especially based on the green light comment. As noted above you should read the manual before complaining about the car and certainly before driving it. It's quite dangerous to operate a car that you don't understand.

 

[Big Toys]

You are right. I had hoped it would be as intuitive as selecting the "Full Self Driving" button, pulling on the selector to engage and then know it's FSD when the bright blue line is down the middle of my car and the nav tells me "NAVIGATE ON AUTOPILOT" . Since I won't have time to RTFM, I had hoped to know from experienced uses if I had done something wrong. I appears that I did nothing wrong, thanks. BTW, the green light incident occurred with cruise control and "autosteer" activated on a non-"nav on autopilot" road, and "it is clear" you didn't read my post.

Did I miss anything?

 

[EVRider-FL]

Since I won't have time to RTFM, I had hoped to know from experienced uses if I had done something wrong.

Make time to RTFM. It's worth it, and necessary for using AP.

Your initial post didn't say whether you have basic AP or FSD. I'm still not sure from your most recent post - is your reference to Navigate on Autopilot just your expectation or your actual experience?

 

[Big Toys]

Make time to RTFM. It's worth it, and necessary for using AP.

Your initial post didn't say whether you have basic AP or FSD. I'm still not sure from your most recent post - is your reference to Navigate on Autopilot just your expectation or your actual experience?

It's a loaner and I'm doing other stuff this weekend, and I kinda figured it out. Perhaps I didn't use the correct terminology.

The Software says "Full Self Driving" is included with the car. When navigating on the highway, the Nav indicates "Navigate on Autopilot" in its blue box, and the blue line thru the car comes on telling me that it is operational. It did appropriate lane changes and got me to the exit ramps. This is correct operation of "Navigate on Autopilot", correct? Assuming this is correct, I expected an FSD car to be FSD, not just on the highway to the exit ramps.

The issue at the green light occured on "Autopilot", which Tesla defines as

Autopilot​

• Traffic-Aware Cruise Control: Matches the speed of your car to that of the surrounding traffic
• Autosteer: Assists in steering within a clearly marked lane, and uses traffic-aware cruise control

The car came to a stop at the 3 green lights. I might have been using the navigation (to my work) but the "Nav on Autopilot" was not functioning. Before the stop, the pop up told me it was approaching "traffic control".

Thanks for the response.

 

[EVRider-FL]

Navigate on Autopilot does not function on local roads, unless you're one of the relatively few FSD City Streets beta testers, which you're not. The current implementation of the traffic light control feature will stop at green lights unless you're following another car, so working correctly.

It's possible to use TACC and Autosteer on local roads, though Autosteer isn't recommended for those roads.

 

[JD M3]

You are right. I had hoped it would be as intuitive as selecting the "Full Self Driving" button, pulling on the selector to engage and then know it's FSD when the bright blue line is down the middle of my car and the nav tells me "NAVIGATE ON AUTOPILOT" . Since I won't have time to RTFM, I had hoped to know from experienced uses if I had done something wrong. I appears that I did nothing wrong, thanks. BTW, the green light incident occurred with cruise control and "autosteer" activated on a non-"nav on autopilot" road, and "it is clear" you didn't read my post.

Did I miss anything?

First of all just to manage expectations here a bit, "Full Self Driving" is not available to the public yet and thus was not available on the Tesla that you drove. The features that you were using are an incremental step towards full self driving. These features work best on highways but will also work on local roads where certain conditions are met, such as lane markers present and vehicle speed. From what I can decipher in your posts, you seem to be getting the terms Full Self Driving, Navigate on Autopilot, and Autopilot/Autosteer confused. They are clearly explained in the manual. Navigate on autopilot is only available in certain areas and is intended to work exactly as you describe. Also, as explained in the manual, it is set to require confirmation for all lane changes. There is an option to change the setting to automatic lane changes, as described in the manual. Autosteer can be used in many situation, but the roads have to meet certain conditions. This is all in the manual as well

Autosteer is temporarily unavailable if you attempted to engage Autosteer when driving at a speed that is not within the speed required for Autosteer to operate. Autosteer may also be unavailable if it is not receiving adequate data from the camera(s) or sensors.

By the way, the "green light incident" again showed the car working exactly as it's supposed to which is why I said in my initial post that you clearly didn't know how to operate the car. The car had "Traffic Light and Stop Sign Control" activated. This means that if the car detects a stoplight or stopsign it will automatically stop unless you confirm that you intend to go through the intersection by pressing down on the stalk or on the accelerator. And yes, this is engaged for the very mode that you said you were in when this happened - "autosteer". This is literally ALL in the manual. Do you see a theme here?

Traffic Light and Stop Sign Control is designed to recognize and respond to traffic lights and stop signs, slowing Model 3 to a stop when using Traffic-Aware cruise control or Autosteer.

As Model 3 approaches an intersection, the touchscreen displays a notification indicating the intention to slow down. You must confirm that you want to continue or Model 3 stops at the red line displayed on the touchscreen's driving visualization.

As it approaches the stop location, even at an intersection where the traffic light is green, Model 3 slows down and displays a red line to indicate where the vehicle will come to a complete stop. To continue through the intersection—even if the traffic light is green —you must press down on the drive stalk or briefly press the accelerator pedal to give the vehicle permission to proceed. When you've confirmed that you want to proceed, the red stop line turns grey and Model 3 continues through the intersection and resumes your set cruising speed.

So yes, you missed quite a bit. Which is why everyone is telling you to read the manual. These cars have a lot of features that are different from other cars and so it really would be to your benefit to look through the manual to understand how they work. It only takes a few minutes to go through this section and will help you understand/enjoy the car a lot more. You should also take some time to go through the settings to see what the different options are, that helps explain a lot as well.

 

[whitex]

RTFM

Exactly. Don't listen to anything Elon says about Tesla products, those are just overhyped wet dreams of a billionaire. Read the actual manual and all fine print, then interpret in the most minimalistic functionality possible. Perhaps include in what you believe what Tesla legal is telling governments, such as when they recently told CA government that Autopilot will remain a Level 2 feature for the foreseeable future, if not forever for cars currently on the roads.

Elon saying the car will drive all by itself is like a beer company commercial which show a guy opening a can and a bunch of girls in bikinis appear out of thin air to party with him. Expecting either to happen when you buy the product is on about the same level of naivety.

 

[whitex]

It's clear that you don't actually understand autopilot or how it works, especially based on the green light comment. As noted above you should read the manual before complaining about the car and certainly before driving it. It's quite dangerous to operate a car that you don't understand.

Yep, and don't forget to re-read the full manual for each update your car receives. This is after all a test fleet testing a beta product, so things can change without advanced notice.

 

[Big Toys]

First of all just to manage expectations here a bit, "Full Self Driving" is not available to the public yet and thus was not available on the Tesla that you drove. The features that you were using are an incremental step towards full self driving. These features work best on highways but will also work on local roads where certain conditions are met, such as lane markers present and vehicle speed. From what I can decipher in your posts, you seem to be getting the terms Full Self Driving, Navigate on Autopilot, and Autopilot/Autosteer confused. They are clearly explained in the manual. Navigate on autopilot is only available in certain areas and is intended to work exactly as you describe. Also, as explained in the manual, it is set to require confirmation for all lane changes. There is an option to change the setting to automatic lane changes, as described in the manual. Autosteer can be used in many situation, but the roads have to meet certain conditions. This is all in the manual as well

Autosteer is temporarily unavailable if you attempted to engage Autosteer when driving at a speed that is not within the speed required for Autosteer to operate. Autosteer may also be unavailable if it is not receiving adequate data from the camera(s) or sensors.

By the way, the "green light incident" again showed the car working exactly as it's supposed to which is why I said in my initial post that you clearly didn't know how to operate the car. The car had "Traffic Light and Stop Sign Control" activated. This means that if the car detects a stoplight or stopsign it will automatically stop unless you confirm that you intend to go through the intersection by pressing down on the stalk or on the accelerator. And yes, this is engaged for the very mode that you said you were in when this happened - "autosteer". This is literally ALL in the manual. Do you see a theme here?

Traffic Light and Stop Sign Control is designed to recognize and respond to traffic lights and stop signs, slowing Model 3 to a stop when using Traffic-Aware cruise control or Autosteer.

As Model 3 approaches an intersection, the touchscreen displays a notification indicating the intention to slow down. You must confirm that you want to continue or Model 3 stops at the red line displayed on the touchscreen's driving visualization.

As it approaches the stop location, even at an intersection where the traffic light is green, Model 3 slows down and displays a red line to indicate where the vehicle will come to a complete stop. To continue through the intersection—even if the traffic light is green —you must press down on the drive stalk or briefly press the accelerator pedal to give the vehicle permission to proceed. When you've confirmed that you want to proceed, the red stop line turns grey and Model 3 continues through the intersection and resumes your set cruising speed.

So yes, you missed quite a bit. Which is why everyone is telling you to read the manual. These cars have a lot of features that are different from other cars and so it really would be to your benefit to look through the manual to understand how they work. It only takes a few minutes to go through this section and will help you understand/enjoy the car a lot more. You should also take some time to go through the settings to see what the different options are, that helps explain a lot as well.

Thanks for the explanations. The only thing I missed was that the car needs confirmation to proceed thru the intersection, which I can see as a safety precaution and to confirm you are actually paying attention. The rest of it I had experienced during the drives or correctly figured out. It was only the light stop that had me perplexed. Thanks for clearing it up.

So, as I was saying, I was expecting FSD to be something more than highway driving and exit ramps. I now realize first-hand what many have been saying, that you pay good $$ upfront for a feature that is incomplete or not yet available. It is possible to never see a functioning version of the feature during ownership of the car.

 

[JD M3]

Thanks for the explanations. The only thing I missed was that the car needs confirmation to proceed thru the intersection, which I can see as a safety precaution and to confirm you are actually paying attention. The rest of it I had experienced during the drives or correctly figured out. It was only the light stop that had me perplexed. Thanks for clearing it up.

So, as I was saying, I was expecting FSD to be something more than highway driving and exit ramps. I now realize first-hand what many have been saying, that you pay good $$ upfront for a feature that is incomplete or not yet available. It is possible to never see a functioning version of the feature during ownership of the car.

Yes, it's not full self driving by any means at this point but over the years the automation has clearly gotten better. They're supposedly going to release the first widespread public beta of FSD in a few weeks so that will give us a better look at how close/far we actually are to FSD.

 

[dannycamps]

Thanks for the explanations. The only thing I missed was that the car needs confirmation to proceed thru the intersection, which I can see as a safety precaution and to confirm you are actually paying attention. The rest of it I had experienced during the drives or correctly figured out. It was only the light stop that had me perplexed. Thanks for clearing it up.

To add to this, the car will need confirmation for a green light if no one is in front of you. If you are following a car and you approach a green light, the car will go through the intersection without requiring a prompt as you would expect. This is by design according to the documentation. When the traffic light functionality was first released, it would stop at every intersection in all cases and it was a major nuisance (and a little dangerous).

Note that (according to what I have heard). the new FSD beta rewrite does handle green lights at intersections as you would expect it to regardless of whether there is a car in front of you or not..

 

[Wol747]

>>Elon saying the car will drive all by itself is like a beer company commercial which show a guy opening a can and a bunch of girls in bikinis appear out of thin air to party with him. Expecting either to happen when you buy the product is on about the same level of naivety.<<

B****r!
Anyone want 23 cans of beer?

 

[Big Toys]

To add to this, the car will need confirmation for a green light if no one is in front of you. If you are following a car and you approach a green light, the car will go through the intersection without requiring a prompt as you would expect. This is by design according to the documentation. When the traffic light functionality was first released, it would stop at every intersection in all cases and it was a major nuisance (and a little dangerous).

Note that (according to what I have heard). the new FSD beta rewrite does handle green lights at intersections as you would expect it to regardless of whether there is a car in front of you or not..

Yes, I read about "follow the leader" up above, thanks. Interesting. I'd be curious to know if it will follow a car that has passed a yellow light, or a yellow into a red (IOW passed the red light)...I assume someone has experienced this? I'm gonna go experiment a little today before I have to give it back.

 

[EVRider-FL]

Your car won't follow the lead car if the light turns red before you reach the intersection. Not sure what happens if it turns yellow.

 

[Big Toys]

Yep, it went thru the yellow....