I know the type, because I am one. You have a daily commute that stretches to an hour and most of that is on highways. You know the route every bit that sometimes you get the feeling you even know every lane stripes and every pot hole on the way. You have mentally mapped every section of the highway that you know which lane to latch onto the faster moving traffic. It is not always the left lane. In the evenings, you want to leave office a bit early to get ahead of the bottlenecks, but you can rarely do that. A good portion of your daily planning is consumed on how well to manage the commute. Fridays are different from Mondays. You feel exhausted by the time you reach office, and even more so when you reach home that all you can think of is dinner, getting to bed in time to be prepared for the next days commute. You get a lot of sympathy from your co-workers, but there is nothing they, you or anyone can do to reduce the stress levels.
You often wonder, how nice it will be if there is a commuter train that starts from your home and ends in your office parking lot.
If you are one of those that fit that category, Autopilot is perfect to reduce your stress level and get you as close as you can get to the magical subway/commuter rail that you have been longing.
For the last many years I have been commuting 75 miles roundtrip, of which close to 70 miles is on well marked 3 lane (each way) freeway. One single highway end to end. Anywhere between 45 to 70 minutes each way depending on the time and day of the week. Sections that go at 75 and sections that come to a crawl at 20 and sections that are packed at 50 mph.
Now with Autopilot much of the minutiae and numbing details of driving out of the way, it is a completely different experience. Going down the highway with AP on, I was thinking the other day, 'this is like being on one of those airport trams on the front carriage, watching the tracks in front of you go by, while driver-less tram takes you around'. As simple as that, or almost..
One thing I realize now, is that taking a short test drive with AP does not do any justice at all. Most likely you are going to be extremely nervous for the short 10 minute ride, that you may conclude that it is not worth it all or you may never get comfortable enough to use it. The first few times it is an un-nerving experience and it takes a while to get the confidence and to fully understand which situations you can trust it fully and when you should be extremely watchful.
Gas car driving to EV driving is a big leap, that only if you have done that and lived with it you will understand and appreciate. Similarly manual driving to AP assisted driving is a big leap, and you need to get comfortable with it to appreciate that. After that there is no going back.
If you have long highway commute and if you can afford it, run and get your Model S with AP.
You often wonder, how nice it will be if there is a commuter train that starts from your home and ends in your office parking lot.
If you are one of those that fit that category, Autopilot is perfect to reduce your stress level and get you as close as you can get to the magical subway/commuter rail that you have been longing.
For the last many years I have been commuting 75 miles roundtrip, of which close to 70 miles is on well marked 3 lane (each way) freeway. One single highway end to end. Anywhere between 45 to 70 minutes each way depending on the time and day of the week. Sections that go at 75 and sections that come to a crawl at 20 and sections that are packed at 50 mph.
Now with Autopilot much of the minutiae and numbing details of driving out of the way, it is a completely different experience. Going down the highway with AP on, I was thinking the other day, 'this is like being on one of those airport trams on the front carriage, watching the tracks in front of you go by, while driver-less tram takes you around'. As simple as that, or almost..
One thing I realize now, is that taking a short test drive with AP does not do any justice at all. Most likely you are going to be extremely nervous for the short 10 minute ride, that you may conclude that it is not worth it all or you may never get comfortable enough to use it. The first few times it is an un-nerving experience and it takes a while to get the confidence and to fully understand which situations you can trust it fully and when you should be extremely watchful.
Gas car driving to EV driving is a big leap, that only if you have done that and lived with it you will understand and appreciate. Similarly manual driving to AP assisted driving is a big leap, and you need to get comfortable with it to appreciate that. After that there is no going back.
If you have long highway commute and if you can afford it, run and get your Model S with AP.
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