Tesla Chronicles #53 - Full Self Driving (FSD) Fall 2024 Update

Full Self Driving, aka FSD, has really evolved dramatically in the past 7 months. I haven't said much about FSD in my blog and figured it would be a good topic to cover today. For those that have no idea what I am talking about here (FSD), jump down section below with the header "Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS)" to learn more about driver assistance technologies before continuing. For those that are well versed in self driving systems, continue reading.

I have had a subscription to FSD for a year or more and have tried it on and off over the past 3 and a half years. I'll be honest, FSD version 11 and earlier (up until March 2024) was just barely acceptable. It worked great on highways but so does Tesla Autopilot to be honest and paying big money just to get the automatic lane change feature, which really comes in handy, seemed like an excessive luxury at $199/month, but seems more reasonable at $99/month (price dropped a year ago = today's price). There are two settings for lane changes, let the car decide when to change lanes (I don't really like that), or let the driver decide with a flick of the turn signal, the car checks for space and changes lanes on its own. For this reason alone, I decided to keep it because I was doing a ton of traveling. It also worked great on major, well marked, secondary roads as well. Beyond that, it was scary to use at times. Off the highways, it made driving MORE stressful and I just wondered why anyone would submit themselves to this garbage anywhere except on the highway.

Then, in March of 2024, Tesla released Version 12.3 of FSD to the masses. Tesla was so confident that it was going to be a game changer that they gave all Tesla owners a free trial month of the product to try out. They were right as it was a significant improvement over FSD 11.x. The best way to describe it would be to say that it is now drives more like an experienced driver is behind the wheel, and not a 16 year old that just got their learners permit. For example, turning from one road onto another has now become a maneuver the vehicle autonomously executes confidently where before it would hesitate and creep, and hesitate some more before making a move. OK if no one is on the road around you, but quite unacceptable to be used around other drivers. Most of these issues have now been resolved in 12.x.

The other significant issue that I saw with Version 11 that was resolved with Version 12 was its performance on city streets which has cars parked along the sides. Before the vehicle was overly cautious and would slow down to a speed 10 mph under the posted speed limit or slower when cars would approach from the opposite direction. It could navigate the situation, but it would totally piss off anyone that would be following you if you let it continue on its own. I personally wouldn't do that and would just take over.

At the end of September, version 12.5, their next major revision was released with some minor improvements and just this past week, Tesla is rolling out another free month trial to drum up exposure to FSD once again. There are reports that Version 12.6 or 13 might be hitting the streets very soon. I personally haven't seen much change in Autonomous driving performance with the release of Version 12.5, and honestly, I don't think we as drivers will be able to truly notice much difference from version to version from this point forward as it has gotten that good. With the 12.5 Version, Tesla released a few improvements on their Summon capability they now call A.S.S. (Actual Smart Summon). The biggest change I have seen with this feature is that it will actually go up and down my driveway where it used to state the driveway was "too steep" of an incline for it to navigate. This change has nearly zero impact on my life as I rarely use Summon.

My overall impressions of FSD today as of late October 2024 is that it is so close. It can, on its own, get me from the street in front of my house to within 200 feet of my desired destination, work, shopping, friends, etc. It is great on long drives and for $99/month, I actually believe it keeps us safer than when I am driving as long as you as the driver, know when and when not to use it. I highly recommend it in its current form and believe it will get better and better. Will it ever be able to drive between two points or be used as an autonomous taxi? Who knows. I hope. But before it gets to that point, not only will our regulatory organizations have to figure out how to allow this to happen, it also has to address the following issues:

• Single Lane Bridges - we have a several bridges (at least 5) in the area where only one vehicle can (or should) be on the bridge at a time and that traffic should alternate in each direction. I have not seen any evidence that FSD will yield to oncoming traffic appropriately.

• First and Last 200 Feet - FSD currently has no clue how to end a drive in a driveway, mine or others. Sometimes it just stops in front of the house, sometimes it actually tries to park at the curb, sometimes it just keeps on driving past. It also really struggles with the parking lots at work and at shopping areas. I think it would eventually figure it out, but it does some really odd stuff, makes wacky decisions about which direction to turn, etc.

• Rough Lane Changes at Exits - I don't understand this one. It has gotten much better in version 12, but not everywhere. There is an exit off I-81 onto Wertzville road in Harrisburg that it handles very poorly. At 70 mph, it swerves onto the exit so quickly that it is uncomfortable to all the passengers.

If you have 80 minutes to spare, you can watch OOS Dave travel from NYC to Connecticut entirely on FSD 12.5 in his new Tesla Model 3. It did one dumb move at the very end that he easily could have prevented the car from executing but for the video and because no one was coming, he let the car do it.

https://youtu.be/JOsge1MEb9Q?si=S19kZhE5U-vXWmDg

The rest is some background information for you to "enjoy".

Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS)

The modern automobile now has many fantastic driver assistance tools that are designed to reduce driver fatigue and to prevent driver mistakes, the number one cause of accidents. There are dozens of technologies most people probably wouldn't even consider ADAS like driver alertness monitoring, parking sensors, rain sensors, traction control, and more. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_driver-assistance_system for more info. Let's walk through some of the technologies that we typically think about when talking about our path to self driving vehicles.

Adaptive Cruise Control - works just like cruise control, but the vehicle has sensors to monitor the distance to the vehicle ahead and will signal to slow your vehicle down below the set speed to maintain a user set follow distance from the vehicle in front of you. Some ACC systems work all the way down to a full stop enabling its usage in stop and go traffic. Variations of these systems are also employed to slow or stop your vehicle if the system believes your vehicle is headed for a collision.

Lane Departure - Some vehicles can detect when your vehicles is getting close to or has started to cross a lane marker (without a turn signal), and warns the driver. The warning may come in the form of audible signals or a vibration sent through the steering wheel (feels like rumble strips). Some systems have light to mild lane "correction" capabilites that will "bump" the steering in the direction of the middle of the lane.

Lane Centering - think lane departure on steroids. These systems can usually keep the vehicle in the middle of a lane without any driver interaction. Paired with Adaptive Cruise Control, these systems can almost feel like the car is driving itself. Some of these work only on highways or pre-mapped roads, some of these systems will work on any road that is well marked.

Self Driving Systems - the vehicle is capable of handling most of the driving tasks. They can maintain speed, keep the vehicle in the correct lane, change lanes, make turns, etc. Some systems work better than others and under different conditions.

Some companies that offer self-driving systems include:

• BMW: Highway Assistant

• Ford and Lincoln: BlueCruise

• GM: Super Cruise

• Jeep and Ram: Hands-Free Active Driving Assist

• Mercedes-Benz: Drive Pilot

• Nissan and Infiniti: ProPilot Assist 2.X

• Tesla: Autopilot and FSD

• Toyota and Lexus: Teammate 

Tesla Autopilot and FSD

Tesla offers two levels of self-diving systems. Their Autopilot system combines adaptive cruise control with Autosteer (Lane Centering) to essentially have a Tesla vehicle essentially continue to travel on almost any road in the country that is well marked (painted) and might even work on some unmarked roads with varying results (I personally wouldn't trust it on one of these roads). It will not recognize Stop Signs or Red lights so the driver must apply the break and take control of the vehicle, and the vehicle will not navigate a turn off of one road or exit to another road.

Full Self Driving has been promoted for years as eventually having the ability to drive your car, on its own, from point A to point B. A few years ago, it was tagged as "Beta", meaning it needed alot of care in using. Since the release of Version 12 this year, it is now being marketed as "FSD Supervised", implying that it can't be left to do everything on its own all the time, but I am here to tell you it has gotten pretty good.

Autopilot

• PROS

  • FREE and installed on all newer Tesla vehicles (started in about 2015)

• CONS

  • Doesn't stop for traffic lights or stop signs

  • Limited to 5 mph over posted speed on secondary roads (this is a problem in rural areas where the limit is 55 mph, not posted, and the car thinks the limit is 35 or 45 mph because that is the last sign it saw)

  • Limited to 80 mph max speed on limited access highways (not really an issue here in PA, but I imagine other places in the country, this is an issue)

  • Must be turned off to change lanes then must be re-enabled

Full Self Driving (FSD)

• PROS

  • It literally can almost navigate every situation a human driver can handle

  • Can set max speed up to 85 mph

  • It comes with some additional features like Autopark and Summon that are cute parlor tricks, but I won't trust them most of the time or my use case doesn't support being able to use either.

• CONS

  • $100/month or $8000 one time purchase

  • Conservative speeds on secondary roads

    • It seems to picks what it has determined is a safe speed and NOT the speed set by the driver. For example, if I set it to 50 mph for a road that is 45 mph limit, it sometimes struggles to maintain 45 mph. A light tap of the accelerator pedal is needed to force it up to speed, but it often drops back down again.

  • Tesla still hasn't figured out the endpoints yet so it isn't truly a door to door system.

    • It is terrible in a parking lots, so I don't start it up until I get to the street, and it doesn't recognize driveways, so I turn it off when I get close to the house.