Regarding xxx17.37 update, we drove from downtown Portland up to Timberline Lodge and back today and used AP for most of the trip.
AP/TACC differentiates between divided and undivided highways. It caps speed at 5mph over the posted speed limit when on undivided highways and roads. It appears that it will cap the speed at 10 mph on divided highways.
On highways at, for example, 65 mph, clear ahead for 1/4 to 1/2 mile, the car will pickup stopped traffic/car in its lane, and pull down to a stop without any issues. This is with a follow setting of 6. The stop is pretty smooth. Slowing is initiated by the Regen shift which some might consider a harder transition than usual manual braking. I'm pretty sure the brakes are not applied until the last few dozen yards. The transition is pretty soft.
AP still has trouble keep its lane when cresting a knob hill. It is easy to understand why. The car's camera's view is so close to the road that it does not take much of dip for it to loose sight of the road. Following a car over a crest might help but haven't had the opportunity to test that well.
AP/TACC can and does lock onto a motorcycle at speed on a highway. An image shows on the instrument panel.
On major highways where the speed limit for autos is posted above the speed limit for trucks, AP picks up the auto speed limit and ignores the truck limit. It is not reacting to highway and road id numbers.
Either I am getting more comfortable with AP lane changing or it is improving. Today I was careful to hold the lane change stalk down (or up) until I was pretty sure both front wheels were in the new lane. Initiating the lane change seems gentler than in the past.
In town in heavy traffic, AP continues to work well. I keep a follow setting around 4 or 5 which gives me about a full car length between cars. The acceleration and braking (/regen) is not aggressive feeling. I believe this gives the systems some room for adjusting to traffic jerky movements.
At speed in turns on bridges with high barriers, the car stays in its lane with perhaps a small amount of drift. Some of this drift maybe due to how the AP sees the curve. It does not anticipate the curve whereas we, as drivers, are able to see the clues for a curve much in advance not to mention we may know that that curve is there so we set up for it much sooner that AP does. A very gentle curve is easy for AP but I think tighter curves result in a less smooth reaction due to the time it takes for AP to note and initiate the curve. Further, AP probably does not know whether the extent of the curve, 20, 30, 45 or even a 180 degree curve, not to mention the curve may tighten. How does AP adjust speed to it all especially when no following another car?
Has anyone gone for a drive and seen a message on their iPhone stating how far they just drove and how long you can expect to take to drive back once they are out of the car? I do not know by what route that gets to my phone, the Tesla App, Teslarata or ?. but I have not noticed this message before installing this last update.
What a really neat system Tesla is putting together. It is a work in progress, especially visible in AP. Stay awake while using it.