Don't knock it until you've tried it

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We have a 2023 Model X. Every now and then Tesla gives us a month of free FSD. This time, it’s far more impressive.

We live up in the Santa Cruz Mountains above Silicon Valley, so we have a few miles of narrow, twisty roads without sidewalks or even edge lines to deal with. In the past, FSD would have troubles, ranging from now knowing where the road boundaries were to not realizing these roads were two-way and so not keeping to the right even though there isn’t a center line marked.

Yesterday, FSD 14.2.1 drove me down the mountain onto the freeway, off the freeway, through town, into the parking lot, and then picked a spot and backed into it. All by itself. Granted, it was daytime clear, traffic was light, but it did what it needed to do. I may try a longer drive today.

Now, it may still have issues at night or in fog or with heavy commute traffic, but there has been serious progress since I last tried FSD several months ago. If my drives yesterday are not outliers, then I think most people will come away from an FSD drive with positive thoughts.

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I saw a video of FSD 14.2.1 driving through snow with zero intervention. The author said that none of the previous versions had managed it. He was as impressed as you. During the ride he would say things like, “It needs to think about how slippery it is and slow down to take the turn.” Then add, “It did it perfectly, like I would have done.” He commented that none of the previous versions had managed it.

The Captain

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Yesterday:

  1. In Carmel on a narrow steet, there wasn’t enough room for 4 cars: on each side - a parked and a moving car. FSD started to go, then saw another car coming, so it pulled off to the side before the parked car to let the other car go. The other car, in the meantime, had done the same thing. So, FSD then pulled out and went. We waved at each other - I could have waved with two hands if I wanted.

  2. Heading home up Highway 1 and Highway 17 at night, FSD was just fine. Hwy 17 doesn’t have lights in its twisty parts, but FSD drove well, even slowing down when visibility wasn’t so good.

I’ve had only one true intervention so far.

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In how many miles, would you say?