My prior foray into FSD Beta was documented here: Thoughts from a first time FSD Beta User: HW4.
TLDR for that take: Highway drives = Good, "around town" (suburban and rural driving), long way to go. That was version 11.4.4.
I received software update 2024.3.6 (FSD 12.3.2.1) and the free month trial yesterday, I drove around for about 6 hours on mostly suburban roads plus some highway miles. TLDR for this version: I am pretty blown away. All of the talk about "much more human like driving" is accurate IMO. It passed the wife test. Of the few actual disengagements I had, only one was what I would say is not a "corner case". That being said...the one constant (still) issue...the one thing that is not "natural" feeling, is how it handles unprotected turns. To get it to fee "natural" I am constantly pressing the accelerator to push it through and commit sooner than it would otherwise.
On to the details:
I drive a 2023 Model S, HW 4, Non USS. Northern NJ driving. My drives used the "auto speed" mode set in the "normal" position. Note: Elon had made a tweet recently that FSD 12 does not utilize HW4 performance: it runs HW4 in "HW3 emulation mode", which ultimately means that for now, HW4 performance will actually lag that of HW3. This will continue to be the case until Tesla provides specific support for HW4 (whatever that entails....specific training, recompiling, etc.).
I am the kind of person that would roll his eyes every time Whole Mars Blog made another X post about his latest "zero disengagement drive" seemingly every day for the past 2 years. That has just not been anything closely resembling my experience. I don't see a need for FSD myself as I enjoy driving locally. I do appreciate FSD on the highway for long road trips. This is why I purchased Advanced Autopilot on my S, but not FSD. So after my original FSD trial expired this past Dec, I have not used it since. It was potentially more nerve wracking using it than not.
I do have an investment in Tesla, so I keep tabs on FSD progress, and the best way is to try out the new beta for myself as a consumer, and of course the new 30 day free trial provides that opportunity.
Overall impressions: Night and day difference from the past version. No "herky jerky wheel spasm movements." No "what the hell is this car thinking" moments. The best way I could describe it in one sentence: "Imagine if you are a driving instructor, teaching a 30 year old driver who has had a handful of lessons to date." What I mean by that is you have a good level of base confidence in how it's going to drive...the driver may be more tentative in situations where a more experienced driver would not...and while you pay extra attention when you see "novel conditions" on the road, you are more often surprised vs. disappointed at how those situations are handled.
Over my several hours of driving (mostly suburban roads), these were my only disengagements:
1) On a narrow road, car did not see a (I assume fallen) "branch" sticking out of a hedge at about headlight height. If I did not disengage to avoid it, it may have been sticking out into the road enough to hit / scratch the car.
2) On a two way street downtown...a car two ahead of mine stopped to parallel park. The car directly ahead of me stopped to wait. My car stopped for a couple seconds, then appeared to start to want to go around. (In some cases, it may be appropriate to go around...like if a car is double parked, but not this one.)
3) Car was approaching an intersection and deciding "which lane" to go in. It appeared to still be indecisive as it was approaching the car in front. Just as I was about to manually hit the brake to stop, the tesla stopped itself using Emergency Braking. This is actually good to know: that Tesla's emergency safety features are always at work no matter who is driving (you or FSD).
4) Before crossing a one lane bridge, my direction is supposed to yield to on-coming traffic. I did not feel the car was slowing enough to yield to an oncoming car, so I stopped it myself.
I did have one disengagement on the highway. (I believe the highway stack is using FSD 11.x....but someone would need to confirm.) FYI...You can tell for sure when you are diving on the Highway stack vs. FSD 12 stack, because when driving on the highway stack you no longer have "auto speed" indicator, but the original "set speed" options. The highway disengagement was for making a turn onto an exit ramp so aggressively that made me uncomfortable enough to not trust it was going to correct in time.
That's it.
Even the "auto speed" worked fairly well. YEs, there were times when I would have driven a few MPH faster, but overall very good and comfortable. I do know that I tend to drive faster than most.
The one, still consistent, issue on FSD is the unprotected turns. I am constantly...constantly having the push the car through unprotected intersections with the accelerator because I can see that it is clear to go...and the car is just creeping. Mind you, it is steering fine (no freaky wheel spasms)...it's motion is smooth (no stop-start-stop-start)....it really feels like a first time driver that you just need to ensure it "yes...it's really OK to go now...GO!".
I still think that one reason for this is still NHTSA's insistence on certain behavior "at stop signs." The car stops much, much too soon at intersections....then it starts to creep forward. 75% of the time when it comes to the first stop...there is no visibility (for me, and presumably the car).
This is not how people actually drive naturally, and this is behavior that I hope Tesla can lobby NHTSA to relax on.
In sum: I am now very bullish on FSD...where if you asked me 4 months ago I would say "they are a long way away." Other than the stop-sign / unprotected turn behavior, I really feel that they are now legitimately in the "chase the 9s" (address corner case) era. Kudos to the FSD team at Tesla!
For anyone else taking advantage of FSD...I encourage you to:
1) Of course, always stay alert. Don't be complacent.
2) Once you get a feel for how FSD generally behaves, make sure you
a) Always disengage when you are uncomfortable. Don't "try" and "force" zero disengagement drives. The only way to feedback improvements to Tesla is to disengage in these situations where it is appropriate.
b) Likewise, use the accelerator pedal to push though intersections / situations where you would do so if driving manually. DON'T think "I'll just see if it eventually makes it through." Again, the way we will help out training, is to provide feedback that is consistent with how you would actually drive.
"I'm probably not driving" by Edsel L is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.
Admin note: Image added for Blog Feed thumbnail
TLDR for that take: Highway drives = Good, "around town" (suburban and rural driving), long way to go. That was version 11.4.4.
I received software update 2024.3.6 (FSD 12.3.2.1) and the free month trial yesterday, I drove around for about 6 hours on mostly suburban roads plus some highway miles. TLDR for this version: I am pretty blown away. All of the talk about "much more human like driving" is accurate IMO. It passed the wife test. Of the few actual disengagements I had, only one was what I would say is not a "corner case". That being said...the one constant (still) issue...the one thing that is not "natural" feeling, is how it handles unprotected turns. To get it to fee "natural" I am constantly pressing the accelerator to push it through and commit sooner than it would otherwise.
On to the details:
I drive a 2023 Model S, HW 4, Non USS. Northern NJ driving. My drives used the "auto speed" mode set in the "normal" position. Note: Elon had made a tweet recently that FSD 12 does not utilize HW4 performance: it runs HW4 in "HW3 emulation mode", which ultimately means that for now, HW4 performance will actually lag that of HW3. This will continue to be the case until Tesla provides specific support for HW4 (whatever that entails....specific training, recompiling, etc.).
I am the kind of person that would roll his eyes every time Whole Mars Blog made another X post about his latest "zero disengagement drive" seemingly every day for the past 2 years. That has just not been anything closely resembling my experience. I don't see a need for FSD myself as I enjoy driving locally. I do appreciate FSD on the highway for long road trips. This is why I purchased Advanced Autopilot on my S, but not FSD. So after my original FSD trial expired this past Dec, I have not used it since. It was potentially more nerve wracking using it than not.
I do have an investment in Tesla, so I keep tabs on FSD progress, and the best way is to try out the new beta for myself as a consumer, and of course the new 30 day free trial provides that opportunity.
Overall impressions: Night and day difference from the past version. No "herky jerky wheel spasm movements." No "what the hell is this car thinking" moments. The best way I could describe it in one sentence: "Imagine if you are a driving instructor, teaching a 30 year old driver who has had a handful of lessons to date." What I mean by that is you have a good level of base confidence in how it's going to drive...the driver may be more tentative in situations where a more experienced driver would not...and while you pay extra attention when you see "novel conditions" on the road, you are more often surprised vs. disappointed at how those situations are handled.
Over my several hours of driving (mostly suburban roads), these were my only disengagements:
1) On a narrow road, car did not see a (I assume fallen) "branch" sticking out of a hedge at about headlight height. If I did not disengage to avoid it, it may have been sticking out into the road enough to hit / scratch the car.
2) On a two way street downtown...a car two ahead of mine stopped to parallel park. The car directly ahead of me stopped to wait. My car stopped for a couple seconds, then appeared to start to want to go around. (In some cases, it may be appropriate to go around...like if a car is double parked, but not this one.)
3) Car was approaching an intersection and deciding "which lane" to go in. It appeared to still be indecisive as it was approaching the car in front. Just as I was about to manually hit the brake to stop, the tesla stopped itself using Emergency Braking. This is actually good to know: that Tesla's emergency safety features are always at work no matter who is driving (you or FSD).
4) Before crossing a one lane bridge, my direction is supposed to yield to on-coming traffic. I did not feel the car was slowing enough to yield to an oncoming car, so I stopped it myself.
I did have one disengagement on the highway. (I believe the highway stack is using FSD 11.x....but someone would need to confirm.) FYI...You can tell for sure when you are diving on the Highway stack vs. FSD 12 stack, because when driving on the highway stack you no longer have "auto speed" indicator, but the original "set speed" options. The highway disengagement was for making a turn onto an exit ramp so aggressively that made me uncomfortable enough to not trust it was going to correct in time.
That's it.
Even the "auto speed" worked fairly well. YEs, there were times when I would have driven a few MPH faster, but overall very good and comfortable. I do know that I tend to drive faster than most.
The one, still consistent, issue on FSD is the unprotected turns. I am constantly...constantly having the push the car through unprotected intersections with the accelerator because I can see that it is clear to go...and the car is just creeping. Mind you, it is steering fine (no freaky wheel spasms)...it's motion is smooth (no stop-start-stop-start)....it really feels like a first time driver that you just need to ensure it "yes...it's really OK to go now...GO!".
I still think that one reason for this is still NHTSA's insistence on certain behavior "at stop signs." The car stops much, much too soon at intersections....then it starts to creep forward. 75% of the time when it comes to the first stop...there is no visibility (for me, and presumably the car).
This is not how people actually drive naturally, and this is behavior that I hope Tesla can lobby NHTSA to relax on.
In sum: I am now very bullish on FSD...where if you asked me 4 months ago I would say "they are a long way away." Other than the stop-sign / unprotected turn behavior, I really feel that they are now legitimately in the "chase the 9s" (address corner case) era. Kudos to the FSD team at Tesla!
For anyone else taking advantage of FSD...I encourage you to:
1) Of course, always stay alert. Don't be complacent.
2) Once you get a feel for how FSD generally behaves, make sure you
a) Always disengage when you are uncomfortable. Don't "try" and "force" zero disengagement drives. The only way to feedback improvements to Tesla is to disengage in these situations where it is appropriate.
b) Likewise, use the accelerator pedal to push though intersections / situations where you would do so if driving manually. DON'T think "I'll just see if it eventually makes it through." Again, the way we will help out training, is to provide feedback that is consistent with how you would actually drive.
"I'm probably not driving" by Edsel L is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.
Admin note: Image added for Blog Feed thumbnail
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