Those of you who've been using TACC these last couple weeks: Do you have a feel for how precisely it mimics the acceleration/deceleration of the car in front of you? Does it vary when set to different distances?
Something today got me thinking about the post I saw the other day where they saw higher energy usage driving with TACC - they thought because it was matching the hard acceleration and late hard braking of typical drivers - and Tesla's programming options here.
With the sophisticated sensor suite they have and the Model S being what it is, Tesla certainly could program a "hard ride" version - set a given distance or time behind and keep to it rigidly, matching every move precisely.
Or they could program something in the same spirit as the "eco cruise" Ford introduced with the C-Max, which allows the speed to vary some in the interests of efficiency - use the following distance to reduce the braking rate and accelerate slower for better efficiency.
Initially I was thinking that letting the driver choose would mean some sort of setting in the background, but on reflection this could be made a part of the following distance choice I think...
As far as I can tell, the only reasons someone would choose short distances are to enable themselves to switch lanes or block other people from cutting in front - both signs that you'd rather go fast and match the preceding car exactly, so on 1 you'd program a hard ride.
By contrast, the main reason someone would choose the longest distance would be to get a more relaxed drive - at least from the standpoint of more time to react. Having the car use the reaction time to reduce braking events and not use much power to accelerate contributes to the relaxed drive as well as being more efficient, so I think it'd make great sense to have 7 be an "eco cruise" setting.
Presumably you'd blend the two tendencies in the middle settings.
Hence the question: Is Tesla already doing this? If not, do you agree with me that they should?
Walter
Something today got me thinking about the post I saw the other day where they saw higher energy usage driving with TACC - they thought because it was matching the hard acceleration and late hard braking of typical drivers - and Tesla's programming options here.
With the sophisticated sensor suite they have and the Model S being what it is, Tesla certainly could program a "hard ride" version - set a given distance or time behind and keep to it rigidly, matching every move precisely.
Or they could program something in the same spirit as the "eco cruise" Ford introduced with the C-Max, which allows the speed to vary some in the interests of efficiency - use the following distance to reduce the braking rate and accelerate slower for better efficiency.
Initially I was thinking that letting the driver choose would mean some sort of setting in the background, but on reflection this could be made a part of the following distance choice I think...
As far as I can tell, the only reasons someone would choose short distances are to enable themselves to switch lanes or block other people from cutting in front - both signs that you'd rather go fast and match the preceding car exactly, so on 1 you'd program a hard ride.
By contrast, the main reason someone would choose the longest distance would be to get a more relaxed drive - at least from the standpoint of more time to react. Having the car use the reaction time to reduce braking events and not use much power to accelerate contributes to the relaxed drive as well as being more efficient, so I think it'd make great sense to have 7 be an "eco cruise" setting.
Presumably you'd blend the two tendencies in the middle settings.
Hence the question: Is Tesla already doing this? If not, do you agree with me that they should?
Walter