Yorba Linda Vacationers First To Go Coast To Coast Mostly by Autosteer

[slyastro]

WOW great story!

Here's a 40 minutes video of a roadtrip from Miami to California and back. The video quality is AWESOME ... play it on a big screen with good speakers!

http://blog.evandmore.com/video-a-tesla-model-s-owner-travels-from-florida-to-california-and-back/

P.S.: Thanks for your comment on the blog ... I will let the «travelers» know!

 

[Electroman]

There is one too many http// infront of the URL. You need to fix that (as in the link below)

http://http//blog.evandmore.com/video-a-tesla-model-s-owner-travels-from-florida-to-california-and-back/

The correct link is: VIDEO: A Tesla Model S owner travels from Florida to California AND back! | EV And More

 

[slyastro]

There is one too many http// infront of the URL. You need to fix that (as in the link below)

http://http//blog.evandmore.com/vid...-travels-from-florida-to-california-and-back/

The correct link is: VIDEO: A Tesla Model S owner travels from Florida to California AND back! | EV And More

Fixed!

Thanks for spotting the error!

 

[Ed Hart]

Someone suggested I post the outcome of the "motor/drive unit whine" repair. Well, it was no big deal. Called service center. Agreed on date. Took a loaner, and picked up car next day. All is well. Our local service folks are very good, and make the visit a pleasure.

 

[Ed Hart]

And....in Tesla's 7.1 update there is now a very important update, one that will be very helpful if anyone encounters a headwind problem like the one I detailed in the story. When we got the "Drive slowly to reach your destination" warning, my wife said, "How slowly does that mean?" No answer of course. BUT in 7.1, the warning comes with a recommended speed!
A fabulous development team, one that listens to the customer, combined with over-the-air updates is a fantastic development. I feel like my Tesla investment will remain current for many years!

 

[LetsGoFast]

I do enjoy Cafe DuMond's beignets, but not quite THAT much. Nice trip report!

 

[andrewket]

And....in Tesla's 7.1 update there is now a very important update, one that will be very helpful if anyone encounters a headwind problem like the one I detailed in the story. When we got the "Drive slowly to reach your destination" warning, my wife said, "How slowly does that mean?" No answer of course. BUT in 7.1, the warning comes with a recommended speed!
A fabulous development team, one that listens to the customer, combined with over-the-air updates is a fantastic development. I feel like my Tesla investment will remain current for many years!

In my experience the system is overly conservative in its speed recommendations. This week driving between Chicago and DC, between a supercharger jump (I don't recall which), while traveling at 70mph and with the graph showing I would arrive with ~5% left, trip planner started telling me to slow down. First 65, then 60, and then 55. I stayed at 70mph, and made it with 7 rated miles left.

 

[Ed Hart]

In my experience the system is overly conservative in its speed recommendations. This week driving between Chicago and DC, between a supercharger jump (I don't recall which), while traveling at 70mph and with the graph showing I would arrive with ~5% left, started telling me to slow down. First 65, then 60, and then 55. I stayed at 70mph, and made it with 7 rated miles left.

Well...."better safe than sorry," I suppose. I suspect the safety margin will decline as they gain experience. I am also hoping that they will soon be able to include a wind factor in their calculation.

 

[Ed Hart]

I do enjoy Cafe DuMond's beignets, but not quite THAT much. Nice trip report!

AH.....but the beignets were great and once the thought entered our minds, there was no turning back. The place was packed as usual, but the beignets were warm and sweet and good....and I can taste them now! Thanks for the comment.

 

[Ed Hart]

Another Update

Another update from the author of this thread:

Several people who had read our report from last Fall asked if AutoSteer had improved since then. Well, it sure has! There were still issues at the time of the trip, as noted, but in the weeks since that drive, the improvements have come quickly. Over-the-air software downloads every few weeks, plus DAILY improvements in how the car handles the routes I drive regularly seem to confirm that Tesla is VERY active in improving the entire AutoPilot experience. I do not understand how Tesla is doing this, but it is very impressive.

The best example is that the car now glides unflinchingly past highway exits where it once jinked madly in an attempt to exit.

In another example, after an update a couple of months ago, the road that I drive daily to my home was suddenly restricted to 45 mph even though the speed limit is 50 mph. (see photo). About a week later, that was cleared up, and no longer a problem. The over-the-air ability to upgrade both the car and the "learning" mapping system that feed the car are key to making AutoSteer a much more complete tool. Unless others copy this approach, it seems they will fall further behind.

These Tesla guys and gals are amazing!

 

[John Stuckey]

Ed:
Thanks for the "charge remaining at destination" tip. We tried it out with a short (140 mi round trip) trip to a SC this afternoon. The console percentage was within 1% of what we experienced. Looking forward to our 3000 mi trip at the end of this month in our new MS.

 

[Ed Hart]

Ed:
Thanks for the "charge remaining at destination" tip. We tried it out with a short (140 mi round trip) trip to a SC this afternoon. The console percentage was within 1% of what we experienced. Looking forward to our 3000 mi trip at the end of this month in our new MS.

My guess is that the reason the accuracy is so high is that Tesla is constantly getting feedback from the fleet to "tune up" the estimator. Cool!

 

[Ed Hart]

Well....someone sent this and suggested we were a bit late!! Hard to argue.