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Trip Report - Dallas, TX to Flagstaff, AZ and Back

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Supcom

Active Member
Oct 3, 2021
3,103
5,333
Texas
Took a five day round trip from Dallas to Flagstaff. Two days driving each way. The route is pretty simple. Mostly US287 from Decatur, TX to Amarillo, TX, then I-40 all the way to Flagstaff. Lots of supercharging along the way. So, let's look at the good, the bad and the ugly from the trip. Drove almost all on NOA with a smattering of FSD beta near superchargers. Software version is 2022.12.3.20 (FSD beta 10.12.2)

The Good:
  • Mechanically, the car performed flawlessly with no issues. No flat tires or any cause for concern regarding the health of the car.
  • I used NOA on almost the whole trip and, although not without issues, enjoyed having it.
  • Superchargers were fine. Of the 15 charges, only once was a supercharger site busy enough to require sharing max power with another user. Most of the time, there were only one or two other cars at the superchargers.
  • There was a surprising amount of rain on the trip. While that is not good, NOA/AP performed well in the rain. As previously expected, NOA would drop down to AP with just a light rain, but AP hung in well during even heavy rain and managed to keep good track of lane markings and other cars. Curiously, at one point the car complained that it could not make an auto lane change into the left lane because the right pillar camera was blocked. But, it made the lane change anyway. It did not complain about the right pillar camera during lane changes back to the right lane. Go figure!
  • Auto windshield wipers performed flawlessly in all rain events. I've never had complaint about the wipers, though many do. In my case, they worked as expected.
  • Auto high beams worked well. As with wipers, I've never had complaints with the high beams on my car.
  • Battery estimates given by the car were reasonably accurate. The estimates were too optimistic a coule time the first day, leading my to be a bit concerned about reaching the next charge location, but they were close enough. It may be a combination of hot weather and headwinds threw off the estimate. I look forward to the rumoured improvements in this regard.
  • Eye tracking was never an issue. I never got nagged for not looking at the road, either falsely of justified.
The Bad:
  • I have been fortunate to have had almost no PB events this year, including a trip from Dallas to Virginia in January. This trip was quite a difference, with numerous PB events along the way. After a while, I became pretty good at mitigating them by quickly using the accelerator to disable friction braking then pushing the car speed back up. So, PB is not a safety issue for me. But, it's still annoying when it occurs and I was surprised that I had it as much as possible. See, The Ugly section for more on this.
  • NOA lane selection was terrible. While I find lane selection to be quite good around Dallas area, NOA simply could not pick a lane and stay there. When set for no confirmation, NOA would bounce between lanes even when there were no other cars anywhere nearby. I ended up having to disable it for the entire trip and initiate all lane changes manually
  • FSD Beta lane selection continues to be problematic. When crossing small towns along US287, NOA gives way to FSD beta. Invariably, FSD beta would try to jump into a left turn lane at an intersection even though the car is navigating straight. This is, of course, a known issue with FSD beta so was no surprise.
  • The steering wheel nag would refuse to accept any input every couple of hours. Wheel tugging, thumb rollers all ignored. It's a simple matter to just reengage NOA, so more of an annoyance than anything.
The Ugly:
  • US287. Quite simply, this was the worst road I've driven in a Tesla. There is nothing about this road that my Tesla likes. Phantom Braking was horrific on this road to the point that I manually drove from Childress to Amarillo on the first day. At one point, I had three PB event back to back on this road! I would be interested in others' experiences on this road. Is this a common problem? Or, is it just me?
  • I had a lot of Red Wheels of Death on this trip. I had about seven on US 287 alone, and two or three each day on I-40. I haven't had RWOD since I first got bets 10.12.2, so that was a surprise. I did catch a glimpse of the visualization just before one RWOD by luck and saw the planning tentacle veering off to the right, like the car was going to try to make a hard right turn at 80 mph. It didn't turn, but the RWOD popped up right afterward. Curious.
 
Thanks for the write up - glad your trip went well. It’s frustrating that one needs to drive with their foot perched over the accelerator to counter PB events. @WhiteWi says he never has any. Perhaps he can chime in to let us know what his secret is.

I agree with the lame selection issues, too. On a regular basis I’ll have FSDb or NAP want to change out of the lane it needs to be in for an upcoming turn less than a mile ahead. I don’t remember NAV having as much issues before but it’s a known issue with FSDb. I wonder if the issues FSDb has with lane selection is causing some collateral issues with NAV? Either way I know Tesla is aware of the issue so I hope they improve it in coming releases.

At least with NAV it doesn’t actually make the lane change without confirmation.
 
I've driven that route and didn't have any issues with phantom braking, but it was probably two years ago so not really relevant at this point. The headwinds out there can be pretty dramatic, so I hear you on the range estimates. Last time I made the trip was before Henrietta was open too, so I had to really manage my speed from Denton to Childress (over 200 miles).

On recent software (I'm also on FSD beta) my biggest issues with phantom braking are with high-speed, two lane rural roads (one lane each direction).
 
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Do you have the "exit fast lane" option, or whatever it's called, on? It's supposed to cede the fast lane except for passing, in accordance with European practice. It causes something like the frequent lane changes you describe, and it's impractical. Much easier to keep it off, and make your own decisions on that score. Take a look at your options. I had EAP, then FSD and now have FSD Beta, I've never had the poor lane selections you describe.

Also DO use your scroll wheel to select practical target speeds as you travel. If you set it too high, the car will try to comply, causing needless lane changes. I ride the scroll wheel all the time, especially in traffic, and on city streets. Think of it as your accelerator/decelerator. It's also a good way to override so-called Phantom Braking, which is mostly triggered by the system reading lower speed limit signs, or speed limit changes from map data.
 
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I use the "exit passing lane" feature, which usually does not cause issues. However, it doesn't explain why the car switches to the passing lane when there are no other cars in the area.

I don't fiddle with the speed wheel much. I se the car's speed as a percentage of the speed limit and leave it be. Once again, with no other cars in the area, there's nothing to stop th car from attaining the s4et speed, which it does with no issue.
 
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