Enhanced autopilot - worth it?

[Ludalicious]

So worth having. I use mine all the time. Every time I drive my vehicle. Even at lower speeds It has successfully taken me through round abouts. At 25km/hr in a 50 zone. At 30k it will put you into the trees... LOL. I absolutely love the feature. I am constantly pushing my high beams thinking I can enable autopilot like an idiot in my work truck when I am not in the Tesla. It happens more than you think....

Man do you ever miss it when you don't have it. Love Love the feature....

 

[C141medic]

Of course it’s worth it.

 

[smartypnz]

Great replies and info...

I would love to have a 30 'trial' period before purchasing. Very hard to decide via short test drives.

And it's great that other mfg's are offering different versions of AP (or what ever acronym you feel appropriate). Thing is - for the current 2018 models - in 2022, theirs will still be the 2018 version of AP.

 

[Daniellane]

I’m giving a short answer. YES, it’s worth it!
It is a major feature/benefit of owning a Tesla. Not getting it is like buying an expensive Cruise and never getting off the ship at any of the ports.

 

[Raechris]

Yes

 

[ebmcs03]

I'm also banking that tesla will lure us non-EAP folks with incentives in the future to purchase. We already have the hardware. We'll see how it goes.

Hope not. Then why should I pay more now for it? If that happens then no one will ever get it at the beginning and everyone will wait till a sale. Then the whole EAP program will fail.

 

[nvx1977]

I see. As far as driving in blind spots, I do feel like it'd be worth to make a stink about this, so it can be corrected in future versions of EAP.

As far as reacting to things, do you think too short of a following distance may have an impact on the (limited) front view of AP and not provide it an ample time to react?

I have noticed on many occasions where EAP slows me down when the car directly in front of me is still cruising normally, only to realize a second later that two cars in front had braked, and the Tesla anticipated I would need to slow, regardless of what the car in between did. Basically:

1) my 3 brakes somewhat hard
2) I'm like, wtf, why is EAP braking?
3) car in front slams on brakes because s/he wasn't paying attention
4) I'm like, oh the Tesla saw 2 cars ahead and reacted correctly.

I have my follow distance set on 1 (nearest).

 

[Carotene]

Hope not. Then why should I pay more now for it? If that happens then no one will ever get it at the beginning and everyone will wait till a sale. Then the whole EAP program will fail.

Like I said, we'll see. This wouldn't be the first time Tesla reduced the cost of an upgrade...

 

[MistaEV]

Like I said, we'll see. This wouldn't be the first time Tesla reduced the cost of an upgrade...

Did they ever offer anyone who paid full price anything? It'd be nice (but very, very, unlikely to happen) if they gave free supercharging to those that paid full price (or give them an account credit equal to the amount of the discounted EAP). Again, very unlikely.

 

[octoad]

Like I said, we'll see. This wouldn't be the first time Tesla reduced the cost of an upgrade...

Who knows? But there is sufficient room to drop the price without pissing off those who bought EAP at the time of the vehicle purchase.

 

[drewbaumann]

So worth having. I use mine all the time. Every time I drive my vehicle. Even at lower speeds It has successfully taken me through round abouts. At 25km/hr in a 50 zone. At 30k it will put you into the trees... LOL. I absolutely love the feature. I am constantly pushing my high beams thinking I can enable autopilot like an idiot in my work truck when I am not in the Tesla. It happens more than you think....

Man do you ever miss it when you don't have it. Love Love the feature....

I am very curious how it handles round abouts.

 

[ebmcs03]

Like I said, we'll see. This wouldn't be the first time Tesla reduced the cost of an upgrade...

Then it’ll be my last tesla purchase. Or last Tesla with options.

Guess I’m having buyers remorse on EAP.

 

[vinnie97]

Did they ever offer anyone who paid full price anything? It'd be nice (but very, very, unlikely to happen) if they gave free supercharging to those that paid full price (or give them an account credit equal to the amount of the discounted EAP). Again, very unlikely.

Hey, that might just be worth putting up with paint chips and multiple hairline scratches (to say nothing of misaligned panels) on what is being sold as a new vehicle. With all the cash bleeding, I don't see it happening. The current turmoil I'm experiencing is likely due to the market demands (and impossible projections made by Tesla over recent quarters).

 

[Carotene]

Who knows? But there is sufficient room to drop the price without pissing off those who bought EAP at the time of the vehicle purchase.

This isn't me being cheap (well, maybe), but it's more that I refuse to buy something "on spec" without the product being actually ready. There is no EAP today as described on the website and as charged accordingly for value. It's coming. Some day soon. Promise. I love Tesla. I think Elon is a brilliant engineer. Tesla is an engineering-driven company that bucks the norm. All good stuff. They are also eternal optimists both in terms of capability and timeline.

A car is a depreciating asset that sits in my driveway on average 5-8 yrs before I move on. No EAP for me until I see it working. No more loans for tesla, my deposit was enough.

 

[Blue in NC]

This isn't me being cheap (well, maybe), but it's more that I refuse to buy something "on spec" without the product being actually ready. There is no EAP today as described on the website and as charged accordingly for value. It's coming. Some day soon. Promise. I love Tesla. I think Elon is a brilliant engineer. Tesla is an engineering-driven company that bucks the norm. All good stuff. They are also eternal optimists both in terms of capability and timeline.

A car is a depreciating asset that sits in my driveway on average 5-8 yrs before I move on. No EAP for me until I see it working. No more loans for tesla, my deposit was enough.

I get that viewpoint. But you can also state it as "It's a $6K option but we are giving you beta testers a $1K discount if you purchase it upfront." If it ultimately does at it says, it may be worth $6K although reasonable minds can differ.

 

[Daniellane]

I get that viewpoint. But you can also state it as "It's a $6K option but we are giving you beta testers a $1K discount if you purchase it upfront." If it ultimately does at it says, it may be worth $6K although reasonable minds can differ.

I agree. I actually think it’s pretty amazing now. Not perfect. Yes - It continues to evolve. It’s good enough for now. It doesn’t stop at controlled intersections. It will never be 100% perfect. A few careless drivers are already placing too much confidence in it resulting in their not being as engaged in the driving process as they should. But I think as it gets closer to the mid to high 90s(%), more incidents of driver error due to overconfidence are likely to occurr. So, it has to be phased in slowly.

 

[pilotSteve]

I am very curious how it handles round abouts.

Haven't tried the latest version, but 3 months ago my EAP/AP2/S90D totally failed with the roundabouts in Bend Oregon.

 

[Electroman]

Read this review from Medium

Autopilot
I had read quite a bit about Autopilot and watched a few YouTube videos, but even with that preparation, I was blown away by how well it actually works. As a preface, I live on the North shore of Maui, and we don’t have highways to speak of here, just twisty divided roads. Being an engineer, I can’t resist using Autopilot whenever I can engage it (being safe, of course). The performance is really, really good—it’s smooth, neatly follows cars in stop and go traffic, glides to a smooth stop when it needs to, and picks up poorly marked lanes at night and in the rain.

The thing I didn’t realize was that even with hands on the wheel and paying attention to the road, having Autopilot engaged reduced the cognitive load of driving, and made me feel safer. Feeling it making slight adjustments to lane position and to speed for the car ahead is a huge help and I missed it when I was dropping off the poor Leaf for good. The closest I’ve personally come to accidents in the last few years was almost rear-ending the car in front of me, and veering into another lane—both scenarios that Autopilot can greatly help with.

 

[investmentacct]

If you are in high population density, high traffic metro area , it's worth every penny as in traffic , it will save all your headache. It's worth every penny, in remote towns, or suburbs as well since you are letting it drive freely. So , worth in either case.

 

[cella]

If you are in high population density, high traffic metro area , it's worth every penny as in traffic , it will save all your headache. It's worth every penny, in remote towns, or suburbs as well since you are letting it drive freely. So , worth in either case.

Do NOT let Autopilot "drive freely". It cannot be trusted in its current state. See e.g. this new video: