2022 MYLR complaints (autopilot)

[Colorado Y]

I took my MYLR on a 2000-mile eclipse-chasing trip, and I had a number of issues / complaints. Any insights?

• Autopilot was a godsend on the endless plains of Kansas, but not so good on twisty Ozark roads. The posted speeds were a bit high for the curves, and AP didn't do a very good job of slowing down. Occasionally it would slow a bit, but usually after it was already going too fast into the corner. Worse, a number of times it committed to the corner at too high a speed, and then GAVE UP. It just dropped the auto-steer (in the middle of the curve!) and basically said "your problem." That's an incredibly dangerous way to handle it.
• I had quite a few forward-collision warnings -- when there was NOTHING on the road.
• I also had a number of anomalous phantom-braking cases. Most not too bad -- but one was "stomp on the brakes, everything on the seats slides off onto the floor" level. It even logged errors (APP_w050 and APP_w073).
• What do you do with your right foot when running on AP? There's a great rest for your left foot, but no place for your right. Too many times I nearly drove into the rear of the car ahead of me because I didn't realize my foot was resting on the accelerator. I can put my foot behind/under the brake, but then I get tangled up in the pedal if I need to brake quickly.
• On one leg I wasn't watching my battery level very closely, and when I got to the Supercharger it was at 0% !?? Normally when it says "you have enough charge to continue your trip" there's enough for you to arrive with 10% or so. Not sure what happened this time. Possibly it sent the "supercharging is almost done" message and I thought it was "all done, time to go" ? There were no warnings about charge level, like the "drive under 70mph to reach your destination" message. I'm lucky I didn't get stranded. I also noticed the Energy app showed a projected range of "minus infinity" for a minute before I started charging.
• When running cruise or AP, it sees speed-limit signs and changes the speed-limit icon, but usually that's all. Once in a while it will respond (change the speed setting when the limit changes) but usually I have to manually set the speed or tap the speed-limit icon. Why doesn't it just adjust the speed?
• It didn't see at least 20-30% of the speed-limit signs in Kansas, so AP set the wrong speed. No idea why. No problem in CO, MO, or AR.

Thanks for any insights!
Gary

 

[Richster64]

Yay! A Fellow eclipse-chaser. I did 1200 miles in 2 days to find clear skies - it was amazing!!! We kept seeing the same people at each successive supercharger, so a funny little 'convoy'. In my case it was West of Toronto to East of Quebec City

As you said, AP was great at making these long journeys easy and long road trips in the Tesla are super easy. I would not have made it in my previous ICE.

I can relate to all your points, but.... and please don't take this as being overly negative - At the current state of AP, these things will happen. Maybe FSD has better speed/curve awareness and things will improve over time. Part of the 'excessive speed in corners' could also be related to the feeling of being out of control - when it feels to me that the car is going to fast round a corner on AP, I disengage and go faster!!! Because I am in control. I guess it's a trust thing and it will get better. I am not sure the warning messages coming from the passenger seat will go away though, those seem to get louder as I go faster ;-)

For my trip - forward collision warnings = 0. Phantom braking = 1 (mild). Speed limit awareness = excellent. State of charge at next stop was interesting - It started around the 10% mark, but actually improved as the charge went down. Maybe I had a tailwind in both directions!

Right foot = yes, this is a problem - I am like a guy with restless leg syndrome most of the time on Road trips. Aside from moving the seat back further I don't know the answer.

Anyway, for me, the road trip was great, the eclipse was great (Well, aside from the traffic afterwards which delayed my homecoming to 5am the next morning!) My next road trip will be in a couple of weeks - Toronto to Florida, yay! Looking forward to that

 

[nate704]

AP is not for twisty non highways. Try FSD and you will like it. Phantom braking is very subjective thing.
You are supposed to watch the battery level at all times very closely. Car shouldn't be blamed for something that you didn't do.

 

[Colorado Y]

@nate704 I accept that AP is a half-way freebie solution, but downright dangerous behavior (dropping autosteer in the middle of a high-speed corner) is a damn poor way to handle it. I'm amazed we don't hear more about fatal crashes caused by AP letting go of the wheel and the car going off a cliff. Personally I just won't use AP on that type of road in future drives. I won't be using FSD because it's not worth $12k to me.

Phantom braking is "subjective" ? When it dumped everything onto the floor and registered two errors in the log? Sorry, when the car unexpectedly slams on the brakes, I cannot see how that is "subjective."

@Richster64 glad you caught a good eclipse! We drove from my friend's house in SW MO to northern AR, so we didn't have terrible traffic -- on much of the 100mile drive to totality there was no traffic at all. We had spectacular perfect blue-sky conditions.

Interesting that you had zero bogus forward-collision warnings. I didn't track it, but I'd guess I had at least 6-7 of them in a 2000-mile drive. And one *severe* phantom-braking event, and probably at least 8-10 milder phantom events.

Still don't understand why sometimes it changes the speed setting for a new speed limit, but usually it doesn't.

 

[Richster64]

Interesting that you had zero bogus forward-collision warnings

Did you see a pattern? Like travelling towards the sun, or with temperature inversions (mirages) going on? My one Phantom braking was in a mirage situation so I guess the car felt I was going to drive off a cliff [ forwards ;-) ]

 

[SO16]

@nate704 I accept that AP is a half-way freebie solution, but downright dangerous behavior (dropping autosteer in the middle of a high-speed corner) is a damn poor way to handle it. I'm amazed we don't hear more about fatal crashes caused by AP letting go of the wheel and the car going off a cliff. Personally I just won't use AP on that type of road in future drives. I won't be using FSD because it's not worth $12k to me.

Phantom braking is "subjective" ? When it dumped everything onto the floor and registered two errors in the log? Sorry, when the car unexpectedly slams on the brakes, I cannot see how that is "subjective."

@Richster64 glad you caught a good eclipse! We drove from my friend's house in SW MO to northern AR, so we didn't have terrible traffic -- on much of the 100mile drive to totality there was no traffic at all. We had spectacular perfect blue-sky conditions.

Interesting that you had zero bogus forward-collision warnings. I didn't track it, but I'd guess I had at least 6-7 of them in a 2000-mile drive. And one *severe* phantom-braking event, and probably at least 8-10 milder phantom events.

Still don't understand why sometimes it changes the speed setting for a new speed limit, but usually it doesn't.

FSD is $99 per month subscription. Easier to swallow than 12k.

I just keep my foot over the accelerator so I can step on it quickly if needed. But I haven’t had to do it very often. I just take extra caution if someone is tailgating me.

 

[Waltjo]

I have been using FSD since April 1, free trial. It works very well on freeways, a fair amount of improvement over EAP. Phantom braking = 0, Lane changing is much better than EAP. Merging in busy traffic is also much better than EAP, but still on the dicy side. The changing speed limits is the same as EAP, it happens when the number or name of the road changes (sometimes this happens even though the highway is not changing but this seems to me to me a navigation issue.) And the visualization is improved and I like it.

In city driving, I think it is still too fussy. In limited testing it worked OK, Some problems were caused when the nav system chose some wrong driveways or longer routes causing me to disengage. But its stop sign behavior is too careful, very safe but not graceful. One error was when a left turn lane was backed up past the end of the lane, the car got confused when the traffic flowed again and it should have moved into the turn lane but instead straddled the line. But nothing dangerous, just overly cautious, and it felt uncertain.

I hope when the FSD trial is over that the EAP will inherit the new logic. But for me the cost of the FSD is to great, I love and use EAP all the time on freeways but the city component is not appealing at all.

 

[Colorado Y]

FSD is $99 per month subscription. Easier to swallow than 12k.

I just keep my foot over the accelerator so I can step on it quickly if needed. But I haven’t had to do it very often. I just take extra caution if someone is tailgating me.

Ah, I guess they cut FSD to $99 just yesterday! Still not cheap but it's a lot more reasonable.

"Foot over the accelerator" is exactly how I nearly rear-ended half a dozen cars last week. Apparently my foot is heavier than yours, and I end up overriding AP's ability to stop. I just suddenly notice the still-decreasing distance and lift my foot -- before I crash, so far. It's strange, because I've done five 2000-mile trips, and I never ran into this (or other cars ) until last week.

 

[SO16]

Ah, I guess they cut FSD to $99 just yesterday! Still not cheap but it's a lot more reasonable.

"Foot over the accelerator" is exactly how I nearly rear-ended half a dozen cars last week. Apparently my foot is heavier than yours, and I end up overriding AP's ability to stop. I just suddenly notice the still-decreasing distance and lift my foot -- before I crash, so far. It's strange, because I've done five 2000-mile trips, and I never ran into this (or other cars ) until last week.

Hm. That is odd it changed so much. I haven’t taken any long road trips recently. I’ll find out in a few weeks.

 

[boulder.dude]

How was the charging situation on the eclipse road trip? Not too congested?

 

[Colorado Y]

Not bad at all. However I did see one extremely crowded site in Springfield MO. I don't think I've ever seen a totally-full charging station before -- but at this site all 10 stalls were busy, AND there were 5 cars waiting in line!

I assume that was due to increased eclipse traffic.

 

[nate704]

@nate704 I accept that AP is a half-way freebie solution, but downright dangerous behavior (dropping autosteer in the middle of a high-speed corner) is a damn poor way to handle it. I'm amazed we don't hear more about fatal crashes caused by AP letting go of the wheel and the car going off a cliff. Personally I just won't use AP on that type of road in future drives. I won't be using FSD because it's not worth $12k to me.

Phantom braking is "subjective" ? When it dumped everything onto the floor and registered two errors in the log? Sorry, when the car unexpectedly slams on the brakes, I cannot see how that is "subjective."

You don't do high speed corner on twisted local roads (25-30 mph is not even close to high speed), and also your hands are supposed to be on the steering wheel at all times. Tesla will warn you before it will stop auto steer and slow down to stop, so no cliff jumping will happen. You are not supposed to and the AP was not designed to be used on the non highways, so blaming the car for the operator's misuse is just silly.

Does the "log" say "Phantom Braking"? I don't think so. it is a term that the "internet people" defined with no measurable metrics for anything from slowing down to hard braking, and that's why it is subjective.

 

[r1200gs4ok]

FSD is $99 per month subscription. Easier to swallow than 12k.

I just keep my foot over the accelerator so I can step on it quickly if needed. But I haven’t had to do it very often. I just take extra caution if someone is tailgating me.

yes, $99 monthly is ~$1,200 annually......it would take 10 years to pay for it at the current $12,000 price tag.....i'll bet you wont keep the car for 10 years....so renting it is a pretty good deal

 

[Ukkanhifi]

Wow! $99 per month for the vacation road trips is so worth it than the $12,000 upfront. This is the way to go.

 

[Colorado Y]

You don't do high speed corner on twisted local roads (25-30 mph is not even close to high speed), and also your hands are supposed to be on the steering wheel at all times. Tesla will warn you before it will stop auto steer and slow down to stop, so no cliff jumping will happen.

The car was trying to go 50mph (the posted speed) on a twisty road. My hands WERE on the wheel, else I believe I would have gone over the edge when the AP let go of the wheel. After a few times of that, I slowed the car well below the posted limit.

And no, it did NOT warn me before it stopped auto steer, nor did it slow down to stop. It just drove at too high a speed into the corner, then jerked the wheel and released control. Not a safe thing to do when you're going too fast on a tight corner with a big drop.

Does the "log" say "Phantom Braking"? I don't think so. it is a term that the "internet people" defined with no measurable metrics

It doesn't use the word "Phantom," no. In one case it DOES say "Automatic Emergency Braking," which is exactly what the "internet people" have been referring to as "phantom braking" -- braking, but without any discernible cause. "Automatic Emergency Braking" would be totally appropriate if it was avoiding a collision. But when there is nothing on the road, the car appears to be braking for phantoms. The "internet people" know what phantom braking is, even if it hasn't been formally defined.

 

[Resist]

I've never had that many issues using Autopilot on the highway. What software version is your car on?

 

[r1200gs4ok]

I find that speed control is not very good.....with FSD engaged on my model y, I adjust the speed to stay at or just below the speed limit.....for example; speed limit is 65mph.....I set it for 60mph....but every time I go by a 65mph sign, it changes and speeds up to 65mph.....in SoCal, speed vary from 55mph to 70mph on certain freeways every mile or two....it to me is very annoying to continuously have to manually change it....

 

[Colorado Y]

@Resist, my car is currently on v.11.1 (2024.8.9), which was released about a week ago.

@r1200gs4ok, can't you set an offset from the posted speed, either fixed or percentage? (Controls > Autopilot > Set Speed > Speed Limit)

But actually I would prefer the behavior you don't like. When TACC is controlling the speed, I want it to change my actual speed to reflect the current posted speed limit +/- my offset. I don't think it's a good idea to drive 65mph on the highway and then enter a town -- and now you're going 30mph over the in-town limit. The car should slow to the posted speed for safety reasons, not to mention avoiding a ticket. And it should resume highway speeds when you leave town. It sees the speed changes, and it should respond appropriately. (And the weird thing is, sometimes it does. But usually not.) I shouldn't have to constantly monitor my speed and the posted speed, and kick the TACC to tell it "drive the speed limit dummy!!!"

 

[r1200gs4ok]

I find that speed control is not very good.....with FSD engaged on my model y, I adjust the speed to stay at or just below the speed limit.....for example; speed limit is 65mph.....I set it for 60mph....but every time I go by a 65mph sign, it changes and speeds up to 65mph.....in SoCal, speed vary from 55mph to 70mph on certain freeways every mile or two....it to me is very annoying to continuously have to manually change it....

@Resist, my car is currently on v.11.1 (2024.8.9), which was released about a week ago.

@r1200gs4ok, can't you set an offset from the posted speed, either fixed or percentage? (Controls > Autopilot > Set Speed > Speed Limit)

But actually I would prefer the behavior you don't like. When TACC is controlling the speed, I want it to change my actual speed to reflect the current posted speed limit +/- my offset. I don't think it's a good idea to drive 65mph on the highway and then enter a town -- and now you're going 30mph over the in-town limit. The car should slow to the posted speed for safety reasons, not to mention avoiding a ticket. And it should resume highway speeds when you leave town. It sees the speed changes, and it should respond appropriately. (And the weird thing is, sometimes it does. But usually not.) I shouldn't have to constantly monitor my speed and the posted speed, and kick the TACC to tell it "drive the speed limit dummy!!!"

understood....but my issues are mostly confined to freeway driving.....but in reality, it should maintain speed not matter what the posted limit is when I set a speed

 

[Colorado Y]

I agree, that's a reasonable desire: "I set it there, leave it alone!" It would be nice if they supported BOTH definitions.