> I don't trust autopilot for anything but long road trips (it's excellent for that), it's tried to kill me too many times - I think the marketing hype is way ahead of actual capabilities.
What about in heavy traffic situations? Is autopilot practical for that? I tried to get the driver assistant package (adaptive cruise and lane keeping) for my bmw x4 3 years ago. It was being marketed as good for stop & go situations. But when I talked to the rep, he strongly recommended against it, saying the tech is all right but most drivers would not bother using it. I guess the same can be said about auto parking.
Tesla AutoPilot is absolutely fantastic in heavy highway traffic.
It’s the difference between stress and elevated heart rate from the stop and go, versus literally peace and relaxation, while you car avoids all the ridiculous crap that goes on around you while everyone else is on their damn phones.
You look out the window and watch the cars around you driving like absolute garbage, and Tesla keeps you in lane and following appropriately behind the car in front.
It’s about 500ms slow to start from a stop, IMO, once the lead car starts moving. I’ve heard from early access v10 drivers that it’s quicker to start moving again in the latest version. I’ll wait to see that for myself, as placebo effect can be strong.
It’s a weird phenomenon. I’m getting home at exactly the same speed, but because I’m not actuating the accelerator, brakes, or steering and just monitoring the higher order situation, suddenly the traffic just doesn’t fucking matter once AutoPilot is turned on.
With more time to focus on the alertness and driving patterns of the people around you (instead of lanekeeping) you do notice just awful, awful driving practices of everyone around you.
The two scenarios AP is great for us stop and go traffic and long road trips with sparse traffic. It takes the edge off the stress and monotony of those situations. Where it is not good is around town and fast moving but congested traffic - in my experience you have to babysit it a lot in those scenarios.
What about in heavy traffic situations? Is autopilot practical for that? I tried to get the driver assistant package (adaptive cruise and lane keeping) for my bmw x4 3 years ago. It was being marketed as good for stop & go situations. But when I talked to the rep, he strongly recommended against it, saying the tech is all right but most drivers would not bother using it. I guess the same can be said about auto parking.