I used my one-month FSD trial for the first time today to navigate the 3/4 mile trip home from Safeway,
On Monday, I punched the accelerator to clear a yellow light at the busy intersection next to the store. My head snapped back and I almost somersaulted into the rear seat. Very exciting.
Today, I engaged the FSD in the Safeway parking lot, but for some reason the FSD didn’t start to operate the vehicle until I turned onto the busy street. The intersection I sped through on Monday has a 2-lane left turn. My Tesla selected that rather than going through the intersection. Once the light changed, FSD accelerated smartly through the left turn, stayed in its lane, and sped down the street to the next block for a right turn to the street I live on. There are a lot of cars and trucks parked on both sides of the street and there is often little clearance when two cars pass each other. FSD handled this well, and may even have been a bit more aggressive driver than I usually am. It did miss the left turn to my condo and looked like it was headed to the second entrance which was about 500 ft further down the block. I jammed on the brakes, and finished the last 300 ft of the trip by myself.
All told, I found it to be very impressive. It’s too bad Musk’s history of outrageous claims is damaging the reputation of what may well be valuable automotive technology.
It was a little confusing but to be fair, Musk didn’t say there would be millions of robotaxis by next year. He said there would be millions of Teslas operating “fully autonomously” by mid next year.
Tesla earnings calls are a bit like a Tony Bennett concert. Tony would always sing “Left My Heart.” Musk always says full autonomy is coming next year. It is a staple of every earnings call.
Yep. I kept the standard setting for the first month or two. Then I switched to “Chill” mode and never switched back. When one of my kids bought a Tesla, I set it to Chill mode before they even began driving it. LOL.
FSD has all sorts of navigation issues. I think they source their maps from google, and sometimes the navigation gets confused. FSD doesn’t always start from parking lots, but sometimes it does. It also doesn’t always enter a parking lot and attempt to park at the destination, but sometimes it does. When it tries that for me, I always take over because there are certain spots that I prefer over the ones that it tends to choose on its own.
I’m also trying to get used to the “regenerative braking”. I need to learn to just slightly ease up on the accelerator pedal rather than just let go of it when I’m slowing down. Apparently, if you switch to the less aggressive regenerative braking mode, it costs you some range.
They also said to occasionally tap the brakes to clean off the rotors. Many people just use one pedal driving and rarely use the brakes, causing the rotors to rust.
I rented a Tesla one time and really liked the one pedal driving. It felt very natural and the way cars should be operated. The brake pedal is just there for emergencies.
They may have the less aggressive regenerative braking mode enabled on rentals, as that would be more similar to the ICE vehicles most people are accustomed to.
Oh yes, this is VERY important. Some family members at first said “the car makes them nauseous”. But after a week or two we all got used to one pedal driving.
This is a different feature than “Chill” mode. Chill mode cuts back the max power you can apply to the motors which reduces acceleration somewhat (though my model 3 is still quicker than 99+% of the cars driving on the road).. There is also a reduced regenerative braking state, I do not use that one (except when it is very cold out and/or the battery is already close to 100%).
Yes, it is advisable to tap the brakes once every week or two to keep the rotors smooth and clean. If you use FSD, I find that it brakes a LOT more often than I do, so it does it by itself.
It’s ironic that Tesla stock apparently ticked up after earnings call discussion that musk would give more attention to Tesla considering that the company might actually operate better if he were to depart altogether from company management.
Yep. Some people are willing to take a pay cut for a grand title.
I remember during one of Ross Perot’s Presidential campaigns he said he was always willing to give a title to a recruit if it meant that much to them, “If you like, I’ll make you the Grand Vizier of Pakistan. But if you ask for a purple robe, we’re not going to do that because it costs money.”
Probably because AI can’t randomly press on the brake while the wheels are moving! Maybe it could press very gently to rub the rotors a bit with the brake pads, but not hard enough to slow the car or cause the brake lights to turn on?
The model 3 I rented had the same regen braking as the car I tested at the local Tesla shop. It was comparable to our Bolt.
We always drive the Bolt with regen braking. Some folks on the Bolt forum have done tests with and without it, and if there is a range benefit is very minor. The advantage is just ease of driving and the fun factor. It’s fun to get it just right so you never touch the brakes. Except to clean the rotors, of course.
My Hyundai has four levels of regen, settable with paddles at the steering wheel. I hate the most severe level, causes sea sickness.
Consensus in the Ioniq forums is use 0 for highway (free rolling, no point in having the regen engaged except rarely) and to use 1 or 2 for city driving.
I’ve found the “plus” effects to be so minor as to be nearly irrelevant. Likewise the mileage effects of the 4 driving “modes”: eco, normal, sport, and snow. If I switch from eco to sport on a full charge, I pick up maybe 6 miles of range. Big whoop. (Definitely makes a difference in performance, tho)
I think regen is a feedback kind of system, but it might be possible. Tesla has a feature where at times when regen isn’t fully functional (if the battery is very cold or close to 100% full), it will apply the brakes automatically to make it “feel like regen”, So perhaps it is possible.