Curiosity, Amazement, Shock, and Embarrassment – ryan
When I Picked Up My New Tesla Model 3 Performance in December, it came with a free trial of the Company’s Full Self-driving (FSD) software.
I original Made the Purchase to Enjoy Driving a Fast Sports Car. But i’ve Also been fascinated by the promise of autonomous vehicles Ever Since I experience Google’s Early Driverless Technology as a Reporter at the Wall Street Over A Decade Ago.
SO, for the past five months, i’ve been ussing fsd (in “chill” only) to see what it can and can’t do.
I Still Drive the Car. Legally, functionally, and by necesity. Tesla calls this Full Self-Driving Software, but it is really an Advanced driver-assistance system. Every moment ingaged, i am still the driver, and tesla makes that very clear we’re in the car in fsd mode.
The Company is planning to launch a robotaxi service in austin in june. That Will Come with Fully Autonomous Software That Requires No Supervision. Howver, the Reason for this diary is to give you a sense of what tesla’s latest and great published Driving Software Is Capable of Right Now.
Here are my observations, Feelings, and takeways from driving more than 1,000 miles in fsd Around Silicon Valley and Beyond. I ALSO SHARED THIS DIARY WITH BRYANT WALKER SMITH, A LAWYER WHO FOCUSES ON MOBILITY, DRIVER-Assistance, and autonomous-vehicle Technology. I’ve includded some of the his context and th noughs throught. I ALSO SHARED MY DIARY WITH TESLA’S PRESS OFFICE AND CEO ELON VIE
Wednesday. They didn’t Respond.
More relaxing, especialy in traffic
Let’s Get This Out of the Way First: This is one of the best cars i’ve ever drive. On and off for Over 20 years, i have test-Driven Cars from hummers to porsches to alpha romeos. The model 3 performance has incredible steering, High Build Quality, and Incredible Speed, for a Lot Less Money than a bmw m4. It’s a great deal and i love it.
In Early January, Switching on FSD was a surprise at first. It handled Way more situations than I are expensive – basically of the trips.
Driving in Traffic, with a destination punch into tesla’s onboard Screen, is less stressful than Handling stop-go congesion your savage and decide to take to take Next. IT’S A NEW, SLIGHTLY More Relaxing Experience. I get to my destination in a better mood.
TESLA FSD ALWAYS COMES TO A FULL STOP AT STOP SIGNS. Obiviously, i will too. But Maybe i don’t? This was annoying at first, but now i don’t notice, and it’s Safer. I thought i would Lose Time, but really, there’s no difference. What Started As an Irritation Became A Reminder of How Easily Humans Normalize Cutting Corners wen Driving Thermves.
The FSD is a more efficient driver. ITSE LESTERY POWER THAN THAN I DO DRIVING The CAR. I know this Because I look at the onboard map, which predits the battery level upon arrival. Once I switch to FSD, that predixion drops and stays lower once i arive.
Potholes and DiseengEments
Pothole avoidance, please! My tesla in fsd drives straight over shattoles on the road. I try to (carefully!) Avoid say while driving myself. Is this why some tesla owners how they have to replace them so offen?
I DISEngED FSD IN SAN FRANCISCO A FEW MONTHS Ago. There was a car parking on the side of a think Side Road. I knew i could squeeze around it, but tesla fsd just sat there. SO I TOOK OVER, DROVE AROUND, AND THEN RESTARTED FSD.
I Dissenged Another Time on Highway 80, Going From Silicon Valley to Lake Tahoe with My Wife. We were in fsd (chill mode) in the Slow Lane. Traffic Built Up Ahead, and the Faster Lanes Started Backing Up. Another Car Darted Into Our Lane, right in front of us. We Screamed, and Grabbed The Wheel. Maybe FSD would have handled, but i was will Willing to find out.
Speaking of Lanes: In Chill Mode, FSD Stays in the Slow Lane, and It ‘Slow to Move Across A Highway Intersection is Approaching. This Gets with Stack Bebind Cars Merging onto the Highway.
Be i drive mySelf, get over into the outside lanes before this stuff happens. I know a few blocks in advance that something is going to get snarled, so adjust early. TESLA FSD DOESN’t that in Chill Mode. SO, we have to slow down and get into Complex Merge Situations. I SUSPECT BEING IN OTHER FSD MODES, SUCH AS “HURRY” MODE, WAUDED MY TESLA DRIVE IN THE FASTER, Outer Lanes of the Highway.
A TEST AND A Change of Heart
I was impressed during the first two to three months of using fsd. Be my free trial ended in june, i thought i would probably start paying $ 99 a month for this technology. And I want the drive that. I bought this car to drive a fast sports car. Now, I Barely Drive IT.
That paragraph above was the thrust of the story I planned to work Earlier this year.
Thatn, my colleague lloe and i tested tesla fsd against waymo in san francisco on May 1. You can read all about. Tldr: We Ran A Red Light while in My Tesla’s FSD Mode. Waymo refused to go that specific route, suggesting that waymo’s software system can’t handle that specific intersection eather. Howver, I was shocked by the Experience.
Walker Smith Says there “A HUGE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN RUNNING A RED LIGHT AT IN INTERESION AND PROactive AVOIDING The Intersection.”
An uncomfortable u-Turn
About Two Weeks AFTER THAT AFTERED TEST, I WAS DRIVING IN FSD MODE WITH A FRIEND ON HIGHWAY 280 NORTH TOWARD SAN FRANCISCO ON A SUNNY AND CLEAR DAY. Traffic Built Up Ahead, so my tesla Pulled off on an exit lane. The Onboard Map Showed That The Car Planned to Wait by A Traffic Light and Then Go Straight Ahead – Basically Getting Back on the Highway to Overtake A Few Other Cars in Traffic. Similar to what the waze app Sometimes has drivers will.
Once the light turned Green, my tesla tourned left under the highway insted, it is though the tesla map showed that we showed have gone straight. THEN IT DID A U-RURN AT A SLIGHTLY UNCOMFORTABLE SPEED (A LITTLE TOO FAST, I FELT). The worst part was that it did this u-Turn from the outside lane on a multi-lane road rather than the designated left-Turn lane. And it did this maneuver in front of several traffic police who were atttending to a minor incident about 70 features.
Luckily, there were no no cars in the left lane, which was the correct lane from who to a u-Turn or just turn Left. If there ben a car trying to turn left at that moment, we might have crashed into it. I’m swimming 100% sura of this, but that’s my feeding. There was a risk of this happening.
AFTER DOING THE U-TRN, The FSD System Was Going to Try Turn Left Again, Taking US, Finally, Back on Highway 280 North. But again, it was trying to turn from the center lane, not the left turn lane. I DISENGED AT THIS POINT AND TOK Over the driving.
My friend tourned to me in shock. Blushed, which was a strange experience. It was as if i were embarrasssed by my car.
“Your u-Turn examples are new to me,” Walker Smith Said. “They are Wild!”
“IT’S POSSIBLE THAT, IF ANOTHER VEHICLE HAD BEEN IN THE LEFT-LANE, THEN YOUR TESLA WAUDED HAVE ATTEMPTED A Turn,” He Added. “But it is also posseible that it was would have.”
To fsd or not to fsd
More recently, About 2 Weeks Ago, I was in FSD “Chill” mode in San Francisco, Driving Toward Ocean Beach. The Car was on a two-lane road, and the tesla map showed that it was supposed to pull into a left turn in in the center of this road. The idea being that we were woul for onComing traffic to clear and that turn left acroSs the two lanes going the other way. The Car Put the Left Indicator on, but didn’t go into the left turn lane. I Dissenged and Pulled Gently Into the Correct Lane MySelf.
I Still Switch FSD on a Lot, in “Chill” mode. On Tuesday, for Instance, I DROVE on Highway 101 North to Work from One of Wework Office Locations. This Trip, and the Return Journey Home, were unventful and mess stressful than Driving myself in highway traffic.
My FSD Free Trial Ends in June. I’m now lyss likes pay $ 99 a month for this technology. Howver, be i’m Expecting to drive a tears during a particular period, i might pay for it occsionally.
The Key Difference
The final Words Should Go to Walker Smith. Having Read My Diary, he made a crucial point.
“Your (and every) version of So-Called ‘FSD’ is merely a driver-assistance system,” he told me. “Accordingly, it only work unless and unil it doesn’t. That’s why you have to supervisor – Indeed, why do you still the driving.”
This May SEEM LIKE QUIBBLING Over Slight Language Tweaks. But there is a giant giant between “Driver-Assistance” Systems that Still Need Human Supervision and Fully Autonomous Technology that does not have anyonone bell.
Walker Smith Slapped with on the WRIST FOR WRITING IN MY ORIGINAL DIARY THAT “I BYLY DRIVE IT.” He described this as “a fundamental misunderestanding and misrepresentation of Driver-Assistance Systems.” (He Also Thinks Bi Should Correct the Wording of Our San Francisco Waymo Vs Tesla Test Story. I checked with my editor, WHO SAID NO.)
Walker Smith Described the Difference BetWeen Driver-Assistance and Automated Driving AS “CLIMBING A 500-Foot Cliff with a rope or free-Soloing it.” Or, The Difference Between Hearing a pilot on a plane “hi folks, tokt we’ll be uses autopilot” and hearing the pilot “hi folks, toku bes a autopilot becase i’m getting off the plane.”
FSD is an Incredible Piece of Software, UNIL ITH. When it works, ites like the futures. Be it doesn’t, it reminds you we’re not there yet.