I can’t believe alansubpar actually downvoted an experience post. /s (I totally believe it)
I find your level of retention amazing. Do you drive with a recorder and take notes? I can’t remember the last 10 miles I drove.
No recorder, no notes.
As it happens, I haven't been driving a ton with 12.3.4 and FSDS. Or, on this eclipse trip I took earlier this month, it was on the SO's Model Y and it was +95% on highways.. so not a really good test of streets and city driving. Even if it was a 3000 mile trip. And it was 12.3.3, anyway.
So, on the trip to South Mountain and back, knowing that it wasn't going to be
that easy (we're talking Jersey, during the week, including rush hour, and some pretty blame congested places), I tried to pay serious attention to what the car was doing. Remember, I'm one of the people who were running the 10.x variants a couple of years ago; and I
know just how dangerous it can be to just let the car do its own thing. What's that phrase: "It's amazing how the prospect of immanent death sharpens the mind."
Encountering fun stuff like that yellow gear and random contractors walking back and forth across the street and
letting the car stop for them, with my foot hovering over the brake pedal and a little adrenaline running helps one remember as well.
Heh. So, the SO's MY has had EAP on it since shortly after getting the vehicle. So, when the price of FSDS dropped from 12K to 8K, the price for
us to upgrade from EAP dropped from $6k to $2k. Yeah, yeah: At the $99/month rental price, it's going to be 20 months before buying FSDS for the car is more cost efficient than buying it outright. But $2k is low enough to tempt the eye, so, over several days, we thought about it. I will say that neither of us had reached a solid decision whether to do it or not, but we had a serious debate yesterday, back and forth, and decided to go ahead.
First off: Listened to the earnings call a couple days ago. Didn't precisely take notes, but may as well have. And looked at the stockholder pack as well. Tesla is currently testing candidates for Robotaxi. There are bugs, but the people from the company at the earnings call are convinced that said bugs are fixable. That's a new statement. Further, the shareholder deck included some pictures of the Robotaxi app. There was also some discussion that the app would allow different levels of Who Gets To Ride In The Robotaxi: Near family, family and friends, the general public, and so on. Musk reiterated that, once RT is up and running,
Tesla would be running a fleet of these things, never mind people who've bought the cars. Finally, there was Musk, strongly requesting that investors (and I think we're talking mainly the analysts) to get into a Tesla with FSDS and Take A Drive. Right now.
All of this indicates to me that RT, and by extension, FSDS is about to go seriously mainstream. Yeah, that negates all the naysayers around here who keep on saying anything from "Never" to "Five years from now." But it sure didn't sound aspirational. It sounded like product development.
What this means: Tesla's not shy about shifting prices on things up and down, either to get more product out the door, or handle increased COGS, or to push some behavior they think is appropriate. So.. despite the current lowering of FSDS pricing, I strongly suspect it won't stay that way.
Second: The main reason the SO got EAP after living with Basic Autopilot for a time was EAPs safety features. Want to shift lanes on an interstate? Having EAP means not having to worry about one's blind spots. Either for another car hovering in one or zooming up from the rear or side - the car will see it not move to end up in an accident. What with FSDS's improvements.. it might not be Quite There yet with all those 9's people chatter on about, but if RT is coming,
it will be. Even a minor accident is going to cost a heck of a lot more than $2k.
The one solid reason the SO came up with for
not getting FSDS was an interesting one. She happens to be a Human Factors engineer and has the degrees to prove it. A good portion of HF is Preventing Accidents. At the minimum, we're talking about making sure the dials and controls on aircraft are standardized, so a pilot stuck in an unfamiliar aircraft doesn't auger said aircraft into the ground at the first opportunity. Or that the command discipline in an aircraft cockpit, or a ship, or in an operating room doesn't lead to bad outcomes.
On this last long trip we took, each of us managed to violate the 85 mph limit for Autopilot and had to drive some 30 miles or so sans any of that automation to our next scheduled stops. And both of us.. well, we did it, without scaring anybody, and it's not like we don't have decades of practice driving cars without any kind of cruise control. But, over the past six years we've just gotten
used to driving with the technology. And found it disconcerting and a little awkward to drive at 80 or so, manually. It's kind of like airliner pilots: They spend
nearly all of their time on autopilot, so when it comes time in an emergency to Just Fly The Plane, the reflexes that would normally be present aren't all what they're supposed to be. Especially if one is in Low and Slow, or (paradoxically) High and Fast, at the boundaries that those big guys can fly at. Which is why airline pilots for reputable airlines spend a significant amount of time in simulators.
With FSDS, the problem is that, if it gets good enough, those cutting edge reflexes we all have when driving local streets might get blunted. Which was her point.
So, we both swore that we'd Very Definitely Keep In practice. Discussed the low price some more, then pulled the trigger. Now we've got two cars on paid-for FSDS.