How well does AP work for you?

[svp6]

It's great that it's learning not to take every exit.

Heck, it's great that it's able to learn.

Not sure about learning - or perhaps my car is a D student. It keeps trying to take every possible highway exit. It fails in predictable fashion in same spots of the road.

 

[Discoducky]

So I pushed AP to a new limit (at least for me). I let it follow the car in front of me into a 90 degree left turn with no lane markings.

Camera FOV (Field of View) is not sufficient for 90 degree turns as well as no side view for other obstacles...be careful out there!

 

[Max*]

Camera FOV (Field of View) is not sufficient for 90 degree turns as well as no side view for other obstacles...be careful out there!

It's failed every other time I tried it after that, but I got one left turn in!

 

[LetsGoFast]

Not sure about learning - or perhaps my car is a D student. It keeps trying to take every possible highway exit. It fails in predictable fashion in same spots of the road.

I suspect it is a volume of data problem. I expect to see faster improvement in areas with more Teslas. I too haven't seen much, if any, improvements.

 

[svp6]

I suspect it is a volume of data problem. I expect to see faster improvement in areas with more Teslas. I too haven't seen much, if any, improvements.

I suspect current AP is not using navigation data. I set yesterday the destination 80 miles away, all on a single highway, and it still failed at exit ramps (both left and right). Since Nav should know where you are, and that a ramp is coming up, it should feed this data into AP to avoid ramp confusion. Hopefully in the next iteration.

 

[Cal1]

Anyone use it on snowy roads? Seems like it depends a lot on seeing the lines on either side. My only experience is with a loaner, but overall I was pleased. Not sure if I'd really use it much in it's current iteration. Then again I don't commute, don't spend much time on highways.

 

[Iheartfrenchies]

I noticed this same thing. And the fact that it seems to hug the right a bit, really makes it hard to use here in CA safely with all the lane-splitting. In traffic, I always try to stay to the leftmost of the left lane so the cycles can get through easily. AP makes this difficult. But, I still think that lane-splitting is a very dangerous activity!

The motorcycles lane splitting here make driving on the freeway sketchy. I nearly ran one over a few years ago when I was stopped at a light (I was the first car) and he zipped in front of me and stopped right as the light turned green and I pushed the gas. i had to slam on my brakes to avoid mowing him down.

He he turned around and flipped me off.

 

[Gunner]

My wife and I are both active pilots (small aircraft up through Lear Jets) and we treat the Model S autopilot exactly the same as an aircraft autopilot.
In fact, the S autopilot works almost exactly the same as one of our aircraft autopilots -- almost like the designer of the S autopilot was a pilot.

For example, you need to do something with your hand(s) when the autopilot is in operation (Model S or aircraft - its the same), so just rest your hand on the wheel. It gives immediate tactile feedback as to what the machine is doing, allows you to "nudge" the machine when appropriate and permits you to takeover when needed.

Use of the autopilot doesn't mean the machine is totally autonomous -- it's an aid that allows you to devote a little time to monitoring the other systems; e,g, weather, music, fuel/energy, navigation and your passengers.

The bottom line is that we think the autopilot and, indeed, the whole Tesla experience is fabulous.

Our Model S is second only to the Lear Jet we flew for 20+ years.

 

[Kandiru]

My wife and I are both active pilots (small aircraft up through Lear Jets) and we treat the Model S autopilot exactly the same as an aircraft autopilot.
In fact, the S autopilot works almost exactly the same as one of our aircraft autopilots -- almost like the designer of the S autopilot was a pilot.

For example, you need to do something with your hand(s) when the autopilot is in operation (Model S or aircraft - its the same), so just rest your hand on the wheel. It gives immediate tactile feedback as to what the machine is doing, allows you to "nudge" the machine when appropriate and permits you to takeover when needed.

Use of the autopilot doesn't mean the machine is totally autonomous -- it's an aid that allows you to devote a little time to monitoring the other systems; e,g, weather, music, fuel/energy, navigation and your passengers.

The bottom line is that we think the autopilot and, indeed, the whole Tesla experience is fabulous.

Our Model S is second only to the Lear Jet we flew for 20+ years.

Funny I was using the same analogy to describe it to my inlaws.

Being an RC and PC sim pilot I respect real pilots a lot, landing the Lear on
X-Plane with crosswinds in a valley behind a steep mountain can be a real PIA.

 

[jbcarioca]

My wife and I are both active pilots (small aircraft up through Lear Jets) and we treat the Model S autopilot exactly the same as an aircraft autopilot.
In fact, the S autopilot works almost exactly the same as one of our aircraft autopilots -- almost like the designer of the S autopilot was a pilot.

For example, you need to do something with your hand(s) when the autopilot is in operation (Model S or aircraft - its the same), so just rest your hand on the wheel. It gives immediate tactile feedback as to what the machine is doing, allows you to "nudge" the machine when appropriate and permits you to takeover when needed.

Use of the autopilot doesn't mean the machine is totally autonomous -- it's an aid that allows you to devote a little time to monitoring the other systems; e,g, weather, music, fuel/energy, navigation and your passengers.

The bottom line is that we think the autopilot and, indeed, the whole Tesla experience is fabulous.

Our Model S is second only to the Lear Jet we flew for 20+ years.

Well said. Frankly, as a former owner of a 25D and pilot if a 35's and 31A also, it's perhaps relevant that Lear took numerous iterations spanning decades before finally getting a decent autopilot. Tesla, with the very first publicly released beta version, has something that works and is improving rapidly. During the last few days I took a 1,000 mile trip that was almost all on autopilot. Just as in airplanes when operating alone in a high performance context CE 525S for me) a well functioning autopilot is crucially useful in allowing a broader attention span. The Tesla autopilot is making me a safer driver by allowing me a better field of vision and more attention on potential risks.

Honestly I like my Tesla more than I did any of the aircraft I owned. It works better, customer service and warranty are infinitely superior, and so much more...

 

[TSLA Pilot]

AP can be quite good, very, very good actually, except for when it tries to kill us.

Once or twice it seemed to really want to snuggle up to the semi in the lane next door; that's not good. Oddly, it hates Jersey barriers (that don't move) so much that it'll move the car over toward the moving targets in the lane next door. On another occasion or two it seemed like it was hell bent to drive into an obstacle. Really? I thought AP was supposed to make driving more relaxing?

Then there's the intermittent "ping pong" effect: semi-abrupt left and right shifts in the lane that happens when it's not quite sure where the lane is (not the best lane markings here, at all). I'm awaiting our first pull over for suspected DWI/DUI when a following cop sees our AP "Beta" in action;-)

Otherwise, it works great.

Let's just say it's a Love/Hate thing, but we can't wait for 7.1 hoping it'll clear up some of these interesting issues.

p.s. Does anyone else have the "creaking" in the steering column whenever the steering wheel is turned, especially when cold?