Tesla Model S waffling

[equ]

Originally Posted by JST

Finally tried autopilot in a service loaner. Quick take: it is weird and unpleasant, I don't like it, and I don't see the value proposition. Also get off my lawn.

Slightly more nuanced take:

It's bizarre when you do the double tap on the cruise stalk and feel the car suddenly come "alive."

Lane keeping works pretty well, though the car tends like ping pong gently back and forth within the lane. It was making me a little ill.

Around curves, the car's ability to follow the lane was deeply eerie, but it's also clear the car isn't looking ahead--there's no effort to find the apex, of course, and the car sort of slavishly follows the vehicle ahead (within the lane).

You also have to keep your hands near the wheel--ideally, the car would like you to keep your hands ON the wheel, and it will remind you of that from time to time.

Other areas where it's clear the car isn't looking ahead--in a traffic slowdown where the car ahead changes lanes, autopilot will accelerate back up to speed until it "sees" the slowdown, at which point it will slow down rapidly.

I don't see the value add. I really don't. You have to keep paying attention to take over if the car gets lost. You have to keep your hands and feet on or near the controls. As a result, it's not relaxing; if anything, I found it more tiring sitting "at the ready" but not actually controlling the car.

I suppose we need autopilot on the way to full autonomy, but as currently implement this is a dumb, dumb technology.

Thanks for the review and not surprising at the least. So it's like being passenger in a car with a dumb driver. Great. But hey, if liability is taken care of, why not on the latte or the cocktail?

I work with some top modelers & software devs. These hipster kids, smart as they are, think this is a solved problem, that in a few years, auto-driving will take over.

[JST]

Originally Posted by equ

Thanks for the review and not surprising at the least. So it's like being passenger in a car with a dumb driver. Great. But hey, if liability is taken care of, why not on the latte or the cocktail?

I work with some top modelers & software devs. These hipster kids, smart as they are, think this is a solved problem, that in a few years, auto-driving will take over.

Kind of like being in the car with a 16 year old.

I think fully autonomous driving (at least in good weather) is closer than we think, but I also think it will require A LOT more sensors than Tesla is using on their current cars.

[bren]

You're doing it wrong. You are supposed to grab your phone and latte and ignore your surroundings completely.

[rumatt]

Originally Posted by JST

Also get off my lawn.

Originally Posted by bren

You are supposed to grab your phone and latte and ignore your surroundings completely.

Talk about feeling ill.

[ZBB]

I posted my Autopilot review a couple months ago. No need to get off my lawn...

I agree that it is weird, but I very quickly adjusted to it and like it. I'm looking forward to having it on my next car...

Right now, its just an advanced cruise control. I drive with cruise control most of the time (even on city streets). The newer features (TACC/radar cruise control and AutoSteer) worked well for me. TACC alone would be great -- especially in heavy traffic. AutoSteer would be nice to have for road trips. Its nowhere near being full autonomous, but is another assistant to driving -- an you still need to be the "pilot in control".

[JST]

Originally Posted by ZBB

I posted my Autopilot review a couple months ago. No need to get off my lawn...

I agree that it is weird, but I very quickly adjusted to it and like it. I'm looking forward to having it on my next car...

Right now, its just an advanced cruise control. I drive with cruise control most of the time (even on city streets). The newer features (TACC/radar cruise control and AutoSteer) worked well for me. TACC alone would be great -- especially in heavy traffic. AutoSteer would be nice to have for road trips. Its nowhere near being full autonomous, but is another assistant to driving -- an you still need to be the "pilot in control".

I can't remember the last time I used cruise control prior to this. 1997? Maybe? I don't see the value add of that, either, obviously.

I honestly don't understand the appeal. It's actually more uncomfortable to hold your arms near the wheel than it is to just hold onto the wheel. Same with your feet and the pedals. Unless you are doing what you aren't supposed to (i.e., removing your hands and feet from the vicinity of the controls), how does it help you relax?

Of the suite of new driver aids, the one that I actually like and found helpful is the "brake hold" feature, which works basically like hill start assist but holds the brakes indefinitely until you touch the accelerator. That's pretty nice in city traffic.

I'd be a little more interested in autopilot if it worked at slow speeds, i.e. in stop and go traffic. Might be nice to not have to constantly shuffle back and forth between "gas" and brake. But this is a place Tesla says you shouldn't use it.

[John V]

Originally Posted by JST

I can't remember the last time I used cruise control prior to this. 1997? Maybe? I don't see the value add of that, either, obviously.

You live in (or near) DC. No surprise you never use cruise control.

Using cruise while trying to make time across all the flyover states is the best thing ever.

[ZBB]

When I had the AP loaner, it worked on city streets and low speeds just fine. Stop and go traffic on the freeway was a breeze with it. I also tried it on city streets -- and if I was behind another car, it would come to a stop and start with no pedal interaction (Autosteer was enabled, but Phoenix is a grid, so was only going straight...).

I also had a AP-equipped loaner once before AutoSteer was enabled -- only TACC and it was great. The car followed behind traffic, coming to a stop and then started moving again once traffic started up...

[JST]

Dunno. I don't use it in flyover states, either.

[JST]

This is one reason why I think autopilot is stupid. Whether it "failed" or whether it lulled the driver into a false sense of security or whether the driver simply didn't understand what it can and cannot do,* having a "driver aid" that the driver cannot rely on and does not allow the driver to reduce vigilance at all is...dumb. Really dumb.


https://teslamotorsclub.com/tmc/thre...t-40mph.70273/

EDIT: Meant to include this fn: *The list of what autopilot and emergency braking can and can't do is sort of bewildering, even to me. So much so that I'm not even confident enough to type out a list of where it works and where it doesn't.

EDIT to EDIT:

The other thing that's irritating about all of this is the number of Tesla defenders jumping all over this woman. From my limited go with AP, the one thing I noticed about it is that it brakes later and harder than I would; so if it was a "failure to brake" situation because it didn't see the car ahead, I might not realize it until *after* the point I would otherwise have initiated braking. Factor in the time it takes to a) realize the car isn't going to stop by itself, b) decide to intervene, and c) actually intervene, and I can totally see even an attentive driver getting caught in an accident.