What is your thought about the fact that EAP was advertised as being able to do auto lane changes without any driver input?
Yes, that's what Tesla advertises for Enhanced Autopilot. I just took the screenshot below on the Autopilot page
here. It says
"Automatically change lanes without requiring driver input" under the title "Enhanced Autopilot". They used the exact same phrase in October 2016 when Autopilot 2.0 was first introduced. See my message
here from Oct 2016.
My guess is, this phrase refers to the fact that you don't need to do anything after initiating the lane change. I think you are connecting this phrase to the upcoming Auto Lane Change feature that won't require confirmation. However, Tesla has been using this phrase since Oct 2016 to describe what is available now. Therefore I will separate these two and comment on both:
1. What I think about Tesla using the phrase
"Automatically change lanes without requiring driver input" under the title "Enhanced Autopilot" on the Autopilot page
here since October 2016:
Exaggerating Autopilot capabilities with these kinds of misleading marketing statements is dangerous because people can get rear-ended. The important thing that they were supposed to emphasize is that the car was not using the rear cameras in 2016 or 2017 and drivers were supposed to look back to confirm that the target lane is clear. Even today, I don't think Auto Lane Change can avoid getting rear-ended if there is a car approaching at high speed from behind on the target lane. Based on
my calculation, the rear camera's range needs to be 350 meters instead of the current 100 meters to make sure the lane is clear. However, currently, I don't think Autopilot uses even the existing 100 meters rear visibility to check the target lane. I don't think they use anything else but the ultrasonic sensors that can see 1 or 2 car lengths behind.
2. What I think about Tesla planning to release 'Navigate on Autopilot' with 'Auto Lane Change Without Confirmation' that was mentioned in a blog post
here:
I don't think the car can do Auto Lane Change Without Confirmation if the target lane appears clear because it would require making sure that there is no bullet car approaching from behind. That would require 350 meters rear-visibility. However, Auto Lane Change Without Confirmation is possible if the target lane is already occupied but there is enough gap to change lanes. If there is already a car on the target lane behind you, you don't have to worry about a bullet car because if there was one, it would hit this other car behind you and not you when you change lanes. So, I would expect them to release it this way.
However, I think you are asking about my chart because it shows 'Auto Lane Change Without Confirmation' under FSD and not EAP even though Tesla's
blog post says this feature will be available in future versions of Navigate on Autopilot which was part of Enhanced Autopilot at the time. I decided to do it this way because Elon
has now separated Navigate on Autopilot into two parts: City and Highway. The city version is part of FSD while the highway version will be available to EAP users. To me, it looks like the city version of Navigate on Autopilot will need AP3.0 hardware. Therefore I guess 'Auto Lane Change Without Confirmation' will also require AP3.0. However, I could be wrong.