Tesla Model S waffling

[ZBB]

I would like to have Autopilot features on my next car -- both TACC and Autosteer. I see it as an upgrade to basic cruise control (and explained that in my review a couple months ago).

As for Tesla's branding as Autopilot, I think its a really good way to describe it -- especially if you keep in mind that in aviation, the human pilot still has command of the aircraft, even with autopilot engaged. Feature wise, its more advanced than basic aircraft autopilots (which hold speed, keep the wings level, and maintain your current course). TACC holds speed, but also keeps distance. Autosteer keeps you in your lane -- even at highway speeds. The auto lane change and auto parking (both parallel and perpendicular) are nice features also. Emergency safety features hep avoid crashes and can steer the car to avoid a collision. These features are a step towards full automation -- but there is still a long way to go. NHTSA's 5-level (from 0 to 4) are helpful -- and Tesla Autopilot is definitely at Level 2, and arguably meets Level 3 (see here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autonomous_car)

Anyway -- apparently C&D did a comparison of the BMW, MB, Infiniti and Tesla implementations a couple months ago. Worth a read: http://www.caranddriver.com/features...finiti-feature

[TD]

Just felt compelled to check the post count by user in this thread. No real surprises here.

ZBB 397 JST 299 lemming 108 clyde 97 bren 80 John V 74 robg 52 TD 47 Plaz 46 Sharp11 40 undefined 34 kognito 27 Rob 24 Jeff_DML 18 equ 15 Josh (PA) 15 zach 12 SARAFIL 9 lip277 8 wdc330i 8 blee 7 Theo 4 SCA 4 3LOU5 3 GimpyMcFarlan 3 rumatt 2 BahnBaum 2 FC 1 lupinsea 1 nate 1 jpgurl 1 Jalopnik RSS 1 AF 1

[ZBB]

I think that TD is saying that JST and I need to go get our own room...

Hey ayn... What was that you were saying about Slack?

[rumatt]

Originally Posted by TD

Just felt compelled to check the post count by user in this thread. No real surprises here.

ZBB 397 JST 299 lemming 108 clyde 97 bren 80 John V 74 robg 52 TD 47 Plaz 46 Sharp11 40 undefined 34 kognito 27 Rob 24 Jeff_DML 18 equ 15 Josh (PA) 15 zach 12 SARAFIL 9 lip277 8 wdc330i 8 blee 7 Theo 4 SCA 4 3LOU5 3 GimpyMcFarlan 3 rumatt 2 BahnBaum 2 FC 1 lupinsea 1 nate 1 jpgurl 1 Jalopnik RSS 1 AF 1

:

[kognito]

Originally Posted by TD

Just felt compelled to check the post count by user in this thread. No real surprises here.

ZBB 397 JST 299 lemming 108 clyde 97 bren 80 John V 74 robg 52 TD 47 Plaz 46 Sharp11 40 undefined 34 kognito 27 Rob 24 Jeff_DML 18 equ 15 Josh (PA) 15 zach 12 SARAFIL 9 lip277 8 wdc330i 8 blee 7 Theo 4 SCA 4 3LOU5 3 GimpyMcFarlan 3 rumatt 2 BahnBaum 2 FC 1 lupinsea 1 nate 1 jpgurl 1 Jalopnik RSS 1 AF 1

Wait , Wut? Jalopnik posted in this thread??

[dan]

Probably a mod moved a jalopnik thread in here ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[TD]

Originally Posted by undefined

Probably a mod moved a jalopnik thread in here ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I vaguely recall such a move.

[dan]

http://forums.carmudgeons.com/showth...338#post441338

[kognito]

Originally Posted by TD

I vaguely recall such a move.

I figured it was a move. I just found it a little amusing

[ZBB]

I had my first repair against the extended warranty done... Literally hours after going over 50k miles in late April, I started having intermittent problems with the driver's side rear door not opening when pulling on the handle (but it would open from inside). Over the last month, it got worse and was not opening the door almost all the time. I had to take the car in for a follow up from the last service anyway (to replace a warped piece of dash trim -- was ordered prior to the original warranty expiration but took a few weeks to come in), so I had them look at the handle also. Oddly, it was working for the tech, so they initially didn't replace it. But they ended up keeping the car overnight on Fri, and my advisor tried it again on Sat morning and it wasn't working, so he had them replace it. Cost was the $200 deductible against the warranty instead of a $125 diagnostic fee + ~$250 for the handle...

I had a S90 with autopilot as a loaner, and took it for a ~30 mile drive to play with AP. The drive was not on the freeway -- and was all on 2 and 4 lane roads out here. Unlike the first time I used it (which was almost all freeway), AP was more jerky at times -- and I observed more of the annoying things about it, although most of the time it worked very well. Some observations:

- It won't let you activate cruise until about 20 mph; autosteer only becomes available after that and once it's established where the lanes are. On a neighborhood street without markings, no autosteer. But once there is a center line painted, it will see the lanes.
- One of the roads I took had undeveloped land off to the right, and there was a half mile stretch with no sidewalk on that side, and some bushes were growing over the curb. The bushes kept setting off the ultrasonic sensors, and the car kept steering towards the center line, then bouncing back to the right before crossing the center. It was not comforting and the car kept over correcting instead of trying to be smooth.
- A little further down that road, it narrowed and no longer had a center stripe. The car kept AP on, but drove down the middle of the road instead (there was no other traffic -- one of the reasons I tested on that road). The road ends with a barrier about half mile past that and as it approached the barrier, I was given warnings to take over control.
- On a different road, I tested keeping my hands off the wheel past the warnings to see what would happen. After the 2nd warning, the car started slowing down, then put the blinkers on and was going to come to a complete stop. At about 20, I took back over.
- On the return, I was heading west in late afternoon on a twisty 2 lane highway. AP crossed the center line and started to establish a lane on the wrong side of the road. There was no oncoming traffic -- but that was a bit scary (I let it cross the line -- had there been traffic, I would have kept it in my lane...). On the same road, it almost crossed the center line 2 other times, although corrected. I'm guessing the angle of the sun caused some glare on the camera.
- Many of the roads near our house just follow the terrain and were not leveled before being built -- so there are little rolling hills that with 5-10 foot elevation changes over 30-40 feet or so. Autosteer has problems with those and bounced around the lane like a drunk driver. Not comfortable...
- I agree with JST's comments that braking happens later and is stronger than when I drive. It can be abrupt when TACC is on and traffic slows ahead -- the car stays at mostly the set speed until the gap ahead gets close to the gap setting, then it brakes hard to reduce speed. In those instances, I would have started slowing down much earlier with a throttle lift / cruise control cancel, then smoothly braked at the end.

Anyway -- it was interesting testing some of the limitations of AP. I still would like the autosteer feature for freeway driving and road trips, but I don't think I would enable autosteer much on surface streets...