FSD free trial. Very impressed. So better than Autopilot

[rjpjnk]

Just a few days ago I received the 30 day free trial of FSD and frankly I am blown away by the performance. I have never used FSD before and have been driving my 2021 MY using autopilot only for 50k miles. I am very familiar with the behavior of TACC and auto steer and know how it responds, which has always been decent enough, but FSD is a whole other animal!

Not the fancy stuff, but the basics. The acceleration, the stopping distance, the following, the lane positioning, is so much improved. Why is this? The car is much more confident and makes a lot more good decisions.

It feels like a completely different software is running and from what I’ve read lately it seems this is exactly what is happening.

My current SW is now 2024.3.10 and I see it says v11.1 with FSD v12.3.3

Does this mean that when I am just using basic features like the equivalent of TACC and auto steer I am now running the v12.3.3 SW and this is responsible for the improvements I am noticing?

When my free trial ends will the regular (free) autopilot performance go back to the inferior level I had before or will I get to keep this improvement in basic skills?

 

[E90alex]

Basic autopilot without EAP/FSD active uses older software stack that hasn’t really been improved for years. It’s just minimally competent at staying centered in the lane and managing speed.

With FSD package, highway driving is using FSD V11 software stack (even with FSD V12). V12 software stack is only for city streets currently and has not expanded to highway driving.

So the benefits you see on the highway is use to the improvements of EAP/NoAP from FSD V11 code that is not used when the car only has Basic Autopilot.

 

[arbitrage000]

You will revert back to the inferior level once the trial ends.

 

[rjpjnk]

Thanks for the info. I figured it would likely revert back to the old level of performance for basic autopilot once the trial ended. Too bad.

I think it was a very smart move by Tesla to offer this free FSD trial because there are probably a lot of people like myself who never knew how much better FSD was at even the most basic driving skills. I always imagined FSD was just the basic autopilot with additional features added. The trial showed me this was wrong. It makes me much more interested in subscribing to it one day.

 

[ev_go123]

Basic autopilot without EAP/FSD active uses older software stack that hasn’t really been improved for years. It’s just minimally competent at staying centered in the lane and managing speed.

With FSD package, highway driving is using FSD V11 software stack (even with FSD V12). V12 software stack is only for city streets currently and has not expanded to highway driving.

So the benefits you see on the highway is use to the improvements of EAP/NoAP from FSD V11 code that is not used when the car only has Basic Autopilot.

When leaving a highway, when does the switch from V11 happen to V12? Is there an obvious tell? I ask because I noticed some jerky movements when pulling up to a light after leaving the highway--I'm wondeirng if that's V11. V11 also makes sense as to why exit ramps feel so mechanical and unhuman-like.

I wonder if they'll ever bring V11 autopilot to the masses, I have to guess no... If you purchase EAP, do you get normal V11 autopilot on highways?

 

[Hiline]

Basic autopilot without EAP/FSD active uses older software stack that hasn’t really been improved for years. It’s just minimally competent at staying centered in the lane and managing speed.

With FSD package, highway driving is using FSD V11 software stack (even with FSD V12). V12 software stack is only for city streets currently and has not expanded to highway driving.

So the benefits you see on the highway is use to the improvements of EAP/NoAP from FSD V11 code that is not used when the car only has Basic Autopilot.

What you said was correct about a year ago. Tesla has since merged these two stacks, so Autopilot is essentially FSD on a highway with no lane change.

 

[E90alex]

What you said was correct about a year ago. Tesla has since merged these two stacks, so Autopilot is essentially FSD on a highway with no lane change.

They merged V11 at some point. V12 diverged again and is only city streets.

You can tell if you have the auto speed offset enabled. The max speed changes from auto to a defined number once you get on the highway.

 

[JB47394]

When leaving a highway, when does the switch from V11 happen to V12? Is there an obvious tell?

It happens at the junction of the ramp and the highway, so the ramp itself is handled by V12. Though I assume that ramps between interstates remain V11 throughout.

If you have Auto Set Speed Offset enabled, then V12 will show "Auto MAX", while V11 will show "80 MAX" (or whatever the current numeric limit is). Folks have also mentioned that the noodle lengths of V11 and V12 are different, but that's a more subtle indication.

I ask because I noticed some jerky movements when pulling up to a light after leaving the highway--I'm wondeirng if that's V11.

It should be V12.

 

[rjpjnk]

What you said was correct about a year ago. Tesla has since merged these two stacks, so Autopilot is essentially FSD on a highway with no lane change.

If this is true then why is FSD performing so much better for me on highways than basic free autopilot was? There is a very noticeable improvement to basic acceleration/deceleration and following distance I am experiencing. Seems more like how a human would drive.

The off-highway improvement is even better of course, but I suppose that is v12 vs v11?

 

[arbitrage000]

What you said was correct about a year ago. Tesla has since merged these two stacks, so Autopilot is essentially FSD on a highway with no lane change.

Are you sure? My understanding was regular (Free) AP is still using the old code. Merging of the stacks was only for FSD.

 

[ewoodrick]

What you said was correct about a year ago. Tesla has since merged these two stacks, so Autopilot is essentially FSD on a highway with no lane change.

Don't really think so.

But there are those that are adamant that FSD on the highway is the old manual code.

I'm not sure if anyone really *knows*

In the beginning, there was FSD and no FSD. That was Tesla's intent. But then market pressures mad them add some feature to the base car and then other pressures created the thing called AutoPilot.

There is very little push for Tesla to do anything to the non-FSD versions. FSD is the stated goal.

 

[dafish]

While I'm impressed, at this time it can't be trusted enough IMO. So far it's:

1) Consistenly come across two lanes of traffic to get to interstate off-ramps
2) Attempted to drive into one Island at a destination.
3) Attempted to drive right into the front door of another
4) Failed to detect pededstrians in a parking lot I personally would have, and think should have been, stopped for.

That said it's pretty impressive in the interstate, and in that role I'm quite impressed. Around town? Meh. It mostly works, but it's likely pissing off people around me too, so...

 

[rjpjnk]

I think if they lowered the price to 100/mo I would keep it. Very impressed.

 

[Hiline]

I think if they lowered the price to 100/mo I would keep it. Very impressed.

Good news. They did! So will you be keeping it?

 

[rjpjnk]

Good news. They did! So will you be keeping it?

Wow! I can’t believe it! What should I wish for next? Now to ask my wife

 

[rjpjnk]

I just subscribed at 99 dollars. Also can confirm the paid subscription does not start until the 30 day trial ends in 3 weeks, for those who are wondering.

I figured I'd get it now before they decide to raise the price back up.

 

[Unclepaul]

At a future date, Tesla could raise the rate back to $199 for new customers. This would essentially lock the bargain $99 rate, for as long as you continued to subscribe.

 

[LadyOnikara]

My mom and I are too old and cowardly to keep FSD. It's really fun to use though. The car forgot there is a 65 speed limit sign on the way from the nearest town to our road. Before the trial activated, it switched to 65 there.

 

[rjpjnk]

The car forgot there is a 65 speed limit sign on the way from the nearest town to our road. Before the trial activated, it switched to 65 there.

I am having the exact same experience! Before the FSD trial my car properly read speed limit signs, but now with FSD it seems to get a lot of these same signs wrong on the same route. It often drops to 15mph for some weird reason near intersections. I assume this is some sort of default when it does not yet see a sign?

 

[ewoodrick]

I am having the exact same experience! Before the FSD trial my car properly read speed limit signs, but now with FSD it seems to get a lot of these same signs wrong on the same route. It often drops to 15mph for some weird reason near intersections. I assume this is some sort of default when it does not yet see a sign?

It's not FSD, it's just this version of software. FSD had read the signs in the past.