UI questions related to Navigate on Autopilot

[Kognos]

First, when you navigate to a destination, what really is the point of the "Navigate on Autopilot" button? It seems as if you still have to press down twice on the stalk to engage autonomy in any scale, but the button seems to have only one function, and that's just to show which parts of the overall route are able to be fully NOA in the turn-by-turn. Why even have the button then ... seems redundant? Does it enable the function when it's already enabled in settings? Or is there something else I'm missing?

Second, if you disable NOA in the settings (Autopilot -> Navigate on Autopilot (Beta) -> Off) does the button go away entirely even when navigating to a destination? Pushing down twice on the stalk should still engage autopilot - if enabled - but remove the button, right?

Also on a slightly related note what happens if you're NOA-ing to a destination and have the single-blue line and press the button for "NOA" .... and don't touch the stalk?

 

[RTPEV]

It sounds like you may not be familiar with the functionality of NOA. NOA adds two things (at the time of this writing anyway) to the standard AP offering: automatic lane changes (to pass slower cars and get out of the passing lane) and automatic highway exits. When in standard Autopilot, the car will "merely" stay in the current lane and adjust speed as necessary according to the car(s) ahead.

Yes, you have to double press the stalk to engage Autopilot (of either flavor), but the behavior/functionality will be different based on whether NOA is active or not. I think the reason that there is also a setting to turn it on/off is because of the beta nature of it. It is a step beyond the regular AP autonomy, so they want to make sure you are acknowledging that the system is in beta and to understand what it is doing. There is another setting (or maybe this is the one that you are referring to), which AUTOMATICALLY enables NOA when you engage AP and you are navigating to a destination.

I am constantly enabling and disengaging NOA on my commute (on a long trip I will basically leave it on all the time). There are two reasons I do this: the first is that on the way to work I prefer to take the exit before the one the car wants to take, so I need to disable NOA, otherwise it would want to change out of the exit-only lane I need to be in. The second is more often on the way home. On this route, I know that the rightmost lane, while initially slightly slower on some days, quickly becomes much faster (it is essentially a really long exit-only lane that I want to be in). I don't want NOA pulling to the left--I prefer to just stay in the right lane. So I disable NOA in this section as well. I initially selected the setting to automatically enable NOA on any trip. I am now reconsidering this as I am having to disable to on my daily commute. It's probably easier to just manually enable it when I need it.

And to answer another question you had, when you have the single-blue line (NOA is enabled) and press the button, basically it beeps (indicating NOA is no longer active) and the display switches back to the double blue lines, indicating it's just "regular" AP.

 

[PurdueGuy]

The blue NoA on the screen will toggle between Autosteer and NoA.

 

[Knightshade]

It sounds like you may not be familiar with the functionality of NOA. NOA adds two things (at the time of this writing anyway) to the standard AP offering: automatic lane changes (to pass slower cars and get out of the passing lane) and automatic highway exits.

There's sort of a second part to the automatic highway exits thing too--

NOA will also entirely navigate most highway interchanges.

So for example if you're exiting one freeway onto another freeway, it'll take the exit, the ramp, and continue onto the new freeway without you needing to take over (as you would at the end of a normal exit)

There's still occasionally unsupported interchanges, but they're fewer and far between over time.

 

[Kognos]

And to answer another question you had, when you have the single-blue line (NOA is enabled) and press the button, basically it beeps (indicating NOA is no longer active) and the display switches back to the double blue lines, indicating it's just "regular" AP.

The blue NoA on the screen will toggle between Autosteer and NoA.

First, thank you both for your experiences. I've been considering FSD and while I understand the mechanics of it my tech-head has been wondering about some of these things.

The only underlying question I have is still - if you disable NOA in settings, does the NOA button still show up while navigating? The settings switch seems to be the general approval of the service and the agreement that you accept its limitations/restrictions, I would bet.

I don't have FSD/NOA right now, just Autopilot. My goal here is to prevent this button from showing up, if possible, if I did get FSD. The goal here is to prevent exposure of the obvious capability to other passengers in the car - I realize I could just prevent navigation also but that's often not possible or practical. Think of this like an Uber-style situation where you don't necessarily want to expose the upgrade to your car or have passengers concerned about it.

 

[RTPEV]

I did verify that when you turn off NoA in the Autopilot menu it does completely remove the button from the NAV window.

I don't quite understand the desire to hide this from your passengers, but I assume you have your reasons, even if I don't get it.

 

[hugh_jassol]

I don't quite understand the desire to hide this from your passengers, but I assume you have your reasons, even if I don't get it.

I think what @Kognos means is that when he lends the car out to others he doesn't want them using NoA for some reason.

But when you have the NoA option enabled in the settings, then that button is there as long as you have a destination set in the nav system. The button is filled-in blue to indicate you will be using NoA when autopilot is engaged. When it is hollow (outline only), that means engaging autopilot will not use NoA - it will just be using regular autopilot (keeps you in the lane and slows for traffic).

There's no way to hide the fact you're using Autopilot or NoA. The best you can do is have the destination in the nav and just not actually engage autopilot.

 

[Kognos]

I think what @Kognos means is that when he lends the car out to others he doesn't want them using NoA for some reason.

But when you have the NoA option enabled in the settings, then that button is there as long as you have a destination set in the nav system. The button is filled-in blue to indicate you will be using NoA when autopilot is engaged. When it is hollow (outline only), that means engaging autopilot will not use NoA - it will just be using regular autopilot (keeps you in the lane and slows for traffic).

There's no way to hide the fact you're using Autopilot or NoA. The best you can do is have the destination in the nav and just not actually engage autopilot.

According to @RTPEV if you disable NOA in settings, the button goes away when navigating. That's all I really wanted... it really just obfuscates the point that NOA is available to the casual observer by the removal of the omnipresent NOA button when navigating.

 

[hugh_jassol]

According to @RTPEV if you disable NOA in settings, the button goes away when navigating. That's all I really wanted... it really just obfuscates the point that NOA is available to the casual observer by the removal of the omnipresent NOA button when navigating.

Oh - I thought you wanted to actually use Autopilot/NoA without anyone else in the car knowing you were using it.

Now I'm with @RTPEV - I don't understand the point. You're in a Tesla. People gonna know it has AP

 

[JulienW]

... it really just obfuscates the point that NOA is available to the casual observer by the removal of the omnipresent NOA button when navigating.

The casual observer wouldn't have any idea what any of it was without a thorough explanation.