What to do with FSD?

[jplanaux]

I have FSD beta. I jumped through the hoops and have had it for a few months. It's cool; it's a novelty. I use it when I can. I want to use it more; I want to help Tesla get more data feedback ... but at what cost?

My concern is my fellow drivers: If there is someone behind me, should I allow the car to take 2-3 times as long to perform a maneuver? I find I am using it when there is little chance for the FSD to malfunction.

I find I am using it less and less because sometimes it's more trouble than it's worth. Conversely, I want it to get better, and it can't get better without data getting back to Tesla.

How are you using FSD?

 

[JeremyJ]

I try to use it as much as I can now. I usually help give it a push when needed.

 

[bobleland]

I use it as long as the lane markings are clear. Sometimes it will hesitate but will allow driver intervention by gently pressing the accelerator. It is excellent in light traffic but a little erratic in multiple lane intersections. But when the front is clear it takes off like a thoroughbred out of the gate.
I spent 50 years in software development and understand the delays and debugging and user frustration, yet still I am amazed with what has been accomplished.
My frustration however is with both hands on the wheel requirement. Two times I have been called with that violation and the threat of disqualification if it happens again. Both times my hands were on the wheel and it seems to be some sensor failing to register. Now I not only keep my hands on the wheel but very gently rock it.

 

[bobleland]

I use it as long as the lane markings are clear. Sometimes it will hesitate but will allow driver intervention by gently pressing the accelerator. It is excellent in light traffic but a little erratic in multiple lane intersections. But when the front is clear it takes off like a thoroughbred out of the gate.
I spent 50 years in software development and understand the delays and debugging and user frustration, yet still I am amazed with what has been accomplished.
My frustration however is with both hands on the wheel requirement. Two times I have been called with that violation and the threat of disqualification if it happens again. Both times my hands were on the wheel and it seems to be some sensor failing to register. Now I not only keep my hands on the wheel but very gently rock it.

 

[TresLA]

I use it as much as possible. I disengage often though, to avoid dangerous situations and to not bring attention to strange behavior that would affect other drivers.

My concern is my fellow drivers: If there is someone behind me, should I allow the car to take 2-3 times as long to perform a maneuver? I find I am using it when there is little chance for the FSD to malfunction.

At a stop sign or red light right turn onto a street with traffic, I’ll let it do it’s thing and take it’s time (for a limit) if no one is behind me. This should be useful data without causing a dangerous situation or strange behavior that would affect other drivers. I also then press the report button if it took too long or was too jerky and unnatural.

If there are other drivers behind me, I’ll only press accelerator (i.e. - not disengage FSD beta) to get it to hurry up. I then also press the report button to record that as an issue. Whether other drivers are behind me or not shouldn’t affect how FSD beta behaves in that similar situation (the intersection, what’s happening in front & the sides of the car).

 

[Krash]

…My frustration however is with both hands on the wheel requirement…Both times my hands were on the wheel and it seems to be some sensor failing to register. Now I not only keep my hands on the wheel but very gently rock it…

The car can’t sense if your hands are on the wheel. It senses if you have extra resistance on the wheel. That is why if you have two hands on the wheel on a road that isn’t pulling slightly intermittently, if your hands provide the same force left and right, the car can’t tell you are there and will disqualify you. But in the same situation, if you are driving one handed, you are fine. In that sense it rewards bad behavior. I have learned to hold with one hand while I keep the other hand slightly off the wheel to accomplish what you are by rocking the wheel.

 

[EVNow]

My frustration however is with both hands on the wheel requirement. Two times I have been called with that violation and the threat of disqualification if it happens again. Both times my hands were on the wheel and it seems to be some sensor failing to register. Now I not only keep my hands on the wheel but very gently rock it.

Don't rock the wheel. Turn it gently with one hand / finger.

I usually don't bother doing this until the nag appears so that I know what level of force is enough.

 

[Twiglett]

someone on here was convinced that they had to have both hands at the top half of the wheel and that the car could detect hand position ...

 

[sleepydoc]

Yeah, it took me a bit to figure out that the car was actually looking for torque(rotational force), not jiggling or just the weight of your hands. I’ve gotten the red steering wheel of death twice since I started FSD beta several months ago. Both times I was letting the car maneuver and focusing on the road to make sure it would manage ok. One of the times I didn’t even get a warning beep.

As for the OP’s question, I tend not to use FSD in complex heavy traffic situations where I know it will have difficulty and I frequently disengage out of consideration for other drivers. Some people have purchased ‘student robot driver’ stickers to let others know.

 

[BobA9]

I have FSD beta. I jumped through the hoops and have had it for a few months. It's cool; it's a novelty. I use it when I can. I want to use it more; I want to help Tesla get more data feedback ... but at what cost?

My concern is my fellow drivers: If there is someone behind me, should I allow the car to take 2-3 times as long to perform a maneuver? I find I am using it when there is little chance for the FSD to malfunction.

I find I am using it less and less because sometimes it's more trouble than it's worth. Conversely, I want it to get better, and it can't get better without data getting back to Tesla.

How are you using FSD?

I’m not sure how to activate FSD on my X Plaid? With a destination entered , I press the autosteer button on the yoke and one time a autosteer icon appeared on the center screen in the navigation destination area. When selected, FSD engaged? Since then that icon doesn’t show up? How do I engage FSD?

 

[hellobye]

Engaging FSD is the same as engaging autopilot. The primary indication that FSD is engaged when you activate autopilot is the blue line with the FSD beta visualizations. NOA (highways) seems to take precedence over FSD, so the FSD visualizations disappear.

But to make sure FSD is activated on the vehicle reference this:
Post in thread 'How do you activate FSD?' How do you activate FSD?

 

[S4WRXTTCS]

If there is someone behind me

I turn it off

It's slow to do maneuvers (like handling a 4 way stop)
It's unpredictable (like turning on the turn signals during a corner)

I'm also rather self conscious so I don't like looking like an idiot.

 

[BobA9]

Engaging FSD is the same as engaging autopilot. The primary indication that FSD is engaged when you activate autopilot is the blue line with the FSD beta visualizations. NOA (highways) seems to take precedence over FSD, so the FSD visualizations disappear.

But to make sure FSD is activated on the vehicle reference this:
Post in thread 'How do you activate FSD?' How do you activate FSD?

My model X Plaid has FSD, and when I engage autopilot, FSD only activates randomly? Maybe 1 out of 10??? Today on a 38 mile trip, I set the destination at home before I left and the blue autopilot icon showed up on the navigation screen and I was able to engage autopilot with FSD. After reaching my destination I entered my home address for the return trip but the blue autopilot icon did not appear on the navigation screen and I could not activate FSD, only autopilot???

 

[S4WRXTTCS]

My model X Plaid has FSD, and when I engage autopilot, FSD only activates randomly? Maybe 1 out of 10??? Today on a 38 mile trip, I set the destination at home before I left and the blue autopilot icon showed up on the navigation screen and I was able to engage autopilot with FSD. After reaching my destination I entered my home address for the return trip but the blue autopilot icon did not appear on the navigation screen and I could not activate FSD, only autopilot???

Weirdness like that has happened to me where I have to do a two button reboot to fix it. This is with a Model 3 though.

 

[LowlyOilBurner]

The beta is great, if there are no other vehicles around.

 

[PACEMD]

I use FSD-beta when I feel like using it. On the other hand, when I don't feel like using it I don't. To be honest, though there have been times when I felt like using it and I didn't use it. And just today I didn't feel like using it and I did. It's complicated.........

 

[PACEMD]

No seriously, I use it more and more as I retrain my brain on how to use it. Meaning as I learn how to predict what it's going to do in different situations. The things that used to scare me years ago when I started using NOA now seem totally normal, meaning I know exactly what the car will do. And just because city driving using FSD-beta is often scary to me now doesn't necessarily mean it's doing dangerous things, rather I don't yet know how to predict what it will do. I'm getting better at all that though. Don't misunderstand, it still does dangerous things, I'm just better at managing that.

 

[CaptUAL]

Haa… Almost went two miles on FSD today. It tried to go through the first stop sign-disengaged. It tried to go 55mph through the Clearly posted 25mph school zone, then yanked to a stop-disengaged. It went right past a right turn for no reason-disengaged. It tried to slam on the brakes for a simple right turn, got confused -disengaged. I drove the next 20 miles in peace and tranquility on manual. My experience is that is normal FSD behavior. (Weather perfect, daytime, cameras calibrated, clearly marked roads, MSP).

 

[PACEMD]

I drove back and forth through town and heavy traffic a number of times yesterday using FSD-beta and it did nothing wrong or dangerous. It missed a few opportunities of efficiency, things I would have done differently knowing typical traffic patterns, and otherwise drove with the lack of efficiency of typical Montana drivers, but it made no mistakes. There were indeed times I was unsure what it would do in a given situation so I was on the edge of intervention, but I let it ride. It did well. As I said, it's also about retraining the brain, don't forget the human learning.

 

[LowlyOilBurner]

Haa… Almost went two miles on FSD today. It tried to go through the first stop sign-disengaged. It tried to go 55mph through the Clearly posted 25mph school zone, then yanked to a stop-disengaged. It went right past a right turn for no reason-disengaged. It tried to slam on the brakes for a simple right turn, got confused -disengaged. I drove the next 20 miles in peace and tranquility on manual. My experience is that is normal FSD behavior. (Weather perfect, daytime, cameras calibrated, clearly marked roads, MSP).

Yeah, I’ve had a few posted 30mph speed limits mysteriously turn into 55mph posted speed limits since this last update.