Why I'm turning Require Lane Change Confirmation back on

[arathald]

I installed the update with no-confirmation lane changes on my Model X it as soon as it was offered. I turned Require Lane Change Confirmation off and went for a drive to try it out. I already knew that automated lane changes worked impressively well even in traffic, finding a gap, matching speed, and committing to the merge when it was clear. Adding no-confirmation navigation to this isn't the full Level 3 automation we're all waiting for someone to finally figure out, but it's a bit of a peek towards it. It felt like I was seeing just a little more of the future.

Though the car has never done anything dangerous while suggesting and executing lane changes, the system has some really obvious limitations. The car will sometimes suggest unnecessary or strange lane changes, like merging into a lane that's ending in half a mile or trying to change into the carpool lane. Tapping the turn signal lever to prevent or cancel a turn signal never felt natural, and the time between the chime and the turn signal can be too short to get a hand safely over to the screen. This has led to a lot of erratic turn signals, which leaves me constantly feeling like I want to apologize to other drivers for my car's behavior. So why have I decided to turn Require Lane Change Confirmation back on? Pride, mostly.

 

[S4WRXTTCS]

So why have I decided to turn Require Lane Change Confirmation back on? Pride, mostly.

Completely legit reason.

I leave it on because I mostly only use NoA when in situations where it works really well like out in the middle of nowhere the car gets over automatically to pass in the left, and then gets back over into the right lane. It tends to be really solid in those situations.

Anywhere else I just use TACC only.

 

[arathald]

Completely legit reason.

I leave it on because I mostly only use NoA when in situations where it works really well like out in the middle of nowhere the car gets over automatically to pass in the left, and then gets back over into the right lane. It tends to be really solid in those situations.

Anywhere else I just use TACC only.

I considered just not using it, but found myself liking a lot of its suggestions, too. As close attention as I have to pay to cancel lane changes I don't want, it's actually less strain on me to have to confirm a lane change, and if I do that, Navigate on Autopilot still works well, increasingly better than when it was originally introduced.

To be fair, I haven't tried it for any real distance, I may try turning it on again for long drives on less confusing roads and see if I like it better there.

 

[cruiserlarry]

I also turned it off for similar reasons. The lane changes themselves are impressive, but it was annoying having NoA constantly suggest useless lane changes, without a way to easily defeat it. It would often suggest changing into the median area to the left of the carpool lane if there was a large gap between the lane and the divider, and no matter how many times I manually cancelled it, it would come back within seconds with the same suggestion. It also seems to try to get me into the left-most lane even if there is no traffic in front of me, or any road changes coming up - sometimes slowing dramatically to fit between cars when staying in the current lane is much safer / faster. It still makes the same suggestions, but since I have to "approve" them, at least the car stays put. I just hope they provide a "Cancel Lane Change" button on the nav screen to make it easier on the driver AND the vehicles following him...

 

[Silicon Desert]

Completely legit reason.

I leave it on because I mostly only use NoA when in situations where it works really well like out in the middle of nowhere the car gets over automatically to pass in the left, and then gets back over into the right lane. It tends to be really solid in those situations.
Anywhere else I just use TACC only.

Same process here S4. Works great out on the interstate on my long trips where I mostly used it. I have noticed when I am in San Diego, the car does some of the same things the OP mentioned, but up here in GigaLand, we don't have (nor need them in my opinion) any carpool lanes, and the X works just fine here too. I'm not surprised by the difference, big cities are a lot more complicated to navigate.

 

[Rockster]

I found that I like the automatic lane changes much better now that I've turned down the intensity. I was at Mad Max and that was just too frenetic, changing lanes for seemingly little or no benefit, only to change back moments later. Then I tried one level down and that was better, but after a while was still too eager to change lanes needlessly. The third level down, though, seems to be great. I occasionally have to gesture for it to change lanes when I think it should but it hasn't done so, but I'd much rather have that occasional need to initiate a lane change myself than endure 10 lane changes that were unnecessary.

 

[Eno Deb]

This has led to a lot of erratic turn signals, which leaves me constantly feeling like I want to apologize to other drivers for my car's behavior. So why have I decided to turn Require Lane Change Confirmation back on? Pride, mostly.

I think it is more than just pride. Using the turn signal properly is part of the communication between drivers. For example, it always makes me nervous when I see someone ahead of me having their blinker on if there is no clear gap, wondering whether they don't see me and will cut into my lane, or perhaps just forgot to turn off the blinker after a previous lane change. As long has we have people driving cars, driver assist and autonomy systems need to act like a human.

Personally I have turned off NoA altogether. It feels more like an annoyance than a help to me (compared to regular Autopilot with lane changes triggered by me). Half the time it makes nonsensical lane change decisions (which I then have to cancel), the other half it doesn't act when I think it should so I have to do it anyway.

 

[S4WRXTTCS]

I think it is more than just pride. Using the turn signal properly is part of the communication between drivers. For example, it always makes me nervous when I see someone ahead of me having their blinker on if there is no clear gap, wondering whether they don't see me and will cut into my lane, or perhaps just forgot to turn off the blinker after a previous lane change. As long has we have people driving cars, driver assist and autonomy systems need to act like a human.

Personally I have turned off NoA altogether. It feels more like an annoyance than a help to me (compared to regular Autopilot with lane changes triggered by me). Half the time it makes nonsensical lane change decisions (which I then have to cancel), the other half it doesn't act when I think it should so I have to do it anyway.

Probably the number one thing that bugs me about NoA is the lack of situational awareness.

If I'm driving I won't put on my turn signal if there is someone next to me unless I'm specifically doing so as a way to ask permission to get over. Where NoA will put the turn signal even when there is ample opportunity to get over without bugging anyone.

If they could fix this, and clearly indicate that they've fixed this then it would improve my usage quite a bit.

I also wish they had more settings to set preference like how early to get over. Where it could be set to 1mi, 2mi, or "optimize for traffic flow".

 

[arathald]

I found that I like the automatic lane changes much better now that I've turned down the intensity. I was at Mad Max and that was just too frenetic, changing lanes for seemingly little or no benefit, only to change back moments later. Then I tried one level down and that was better, but after a while was still too eager to change lanes needlessly. The third level down, though, seems to be great. I occasionally have to gesture for it to change lanes when I think it should but it hasn't done so, but I'd much rather have that occasional need to initiate a lane change myself than endure 10 lane changes that were unnecessary.

By far most of my issues are from the lane changes due to navigation, not the speed-based ones. Unfortunately, there's no way to control its sensitivity/eagerness/bravery for those.