Tesla Full Self-Driving is getting extra harmful because it get higher

I simply got here again from driving about 200 miles (350 km) utilizing Tesla’s (Supervised) Full Self-Driving, and the system is getting higher, however it’s additionally getting extra harmful because it will get higher.

The danger of complacency is frightening.

Final weekend, I went on a highway journey that lined about 200 miles from Shawinigan to Quebec Metropolis and again, and I used Tesla’s (Supervised) Full Self-Driving (FSD), v12.5.4.1 to be exact, on nearly your entire journey.

Right here’s the great and the dangerous, and the truth that the previous is melting into the latter.

The Good

The system is more and more beginning to really feel extra pure. The way in which it handles merging, lane adjustments, and intersections feels much less robotic and extra like a human driver.

The brand new camera-based driver monitoring system is a large improve from the steering wheel torque sensor that Tesla has used for years. I solely had one situation with it the place it saved giving me alerts to concentrate to the highway although I used to be doing simply that, and it will definitely shut FSD down for the drive due to it.

However this occurred solely as soon as within the few weeks since I’ve used the newest replace.

For the primary time, I can get good chunks of metropolis driving with none intervention or disengagement. It’s nonetheless removed from excellent, however there’s a notable enchancment.

It stopped to let pedestrians cross the road, it dealt with roundabouts pretty properly, and it drives at extra pure speeds on nation roads (more often than not).

The system is getting good to the purpose that it will probably induce some harmful complacency. Extra on that later.

As I’ve been saying for years, if Tesla was creating this know-how in a vacuum and never promoting it to the general public as “about to turn out to be unsupervised self-driving”, most individuals can be impressed by it.

The Dangerous

Over these ~200 miles, I had 5 disengagements, together with a couple of that have been getting really harmful. It was seemingly about to run a purple mild as soon as and a cease one other time.

I say seemingly as a result of it’s getting onerous to inform typically as a result of FSD usually approaching intersections with stops and purple site visitors lights extra aggressively.

It used to drive nearer to how I’ve been driving my EVs without end, which consists of slowly decelerating utilizing regenerative braking when approaching a cease. However this newest FSD replace usually maintains a better pace, stepping into these intersections and brakes extra aggressively, usually utilizing mechanical brakes.

This can be a unusual habits that I don’t like, however I began no less than getting the sensation of it, which makes me considerably assured that FSD would blow that purple mild and cease signal on these two events.

One other disengagement seemed to be as a result of solar glare within the entrance cameras. I get extra of that this time of 12 months as I drive extra usually throughout the sunsets, which occur earlier within the day.

It seems to be an actual downside with Tesla’s present FSD configuration.

On high of the disengagement, I had an incalculable variety of interventions. Interventions are when the motive force has to enter a command, however it’s not sufficient to disengage FSD. That’s primarily as a result of the truth that I hold having to activate my flip sign to inform the system to return into the precise lane after passing.

FSD solely goes again into the precise lane after passing if there’s a automotive coming shut behind you within the left lane.

I’ve shared this discovering on X, and I used to be dissatisfied by the response I bought. I suspected that this could possibly be as a result of American drivers being an essential a part of the coaching knowledge, and no offense as this is a matter in all places, however American drivers have a tendency to not respect the rules (and legislation in some locations) of the left lane being just for passing on common.

I really feel like this could possibly be a straightforward repair or on the very least, an possibility so as to add to the system for individuals who need to be good drivers even when FSD is lively.

I additionally had an intervention the place I needed to press the accelerator pedal to inform FSD to show left on a flashing inexperienced mild, which it was hesitating to do as I used to be holding up site visitors behind me.

Electrek’s Take

The scariest half for me is that FSD is getting good. If I take somebody with no expertise with FSD and take them on a brief 10-15 mile drive, there’s a superb likelihood I get no intervention, they usually come out actually impressed.

It’s the identical with an everyday Tesla driver who persistently will get good FSD experiences.

This will construct complacency with the drivers and lead to paying much less consideration.

Thankfully, the brand new driver monitoring system can enormously assist with that because it tracks driver consideration, in contrast to Tesla’s earlier system. Nonetheless, it solely takes a second of not being attentive to get into an accident, and the system permits you that second of inattention.

Moreover, the system is getting so good at dealing with intersections that even in case you are paying consideration, you would possibly find yourself blowing via a purple mild or cease signal, as I’ve talked about above. You would possibly really feel assured that FSD goes to cease, however with its extra aggressive method to the intersection, you let it go although it doesn’t begin braking as quickly as you want to it to, after which earlier than you understand it, it doesn’t brake in any respect.

There’s a four-way cease close to my place on the south shore of Montreal that I’ve pushed via many instances with FSD with out situation and but, FSD v12.5.4 was seemingly about to blow proper previous it the opposite day.

Once more, it’s doable that it was simply braking late, however it was method too late for me to really feel comfy.

Additionally, whereas it’s getting higher, and higher at a extra noticeable tempo these days, the crowdsource knowledge, which is the one knowledge out there as Tesla refuses to launch any, factors to FSD being nonetheless years away from being able to unsupervised self-driving:

Tesla would wish a few 1,000x enchancment in miles between disengagement.

I’ve misplaced lots of religion in Tesla getting there as a result of issues like the corporate’s latest declare that it accomplished its September targets for FSD, which included a “3x enchancment in miles between important disengagement” with none proof that this occurred.

In truth, the crowdsource knowledge exhibits a regression on that entrance between v12.3 and v12.5.

I worry that Elon Musk’s angle and repeated declare that FSD is unbelievable, mixed with the truth that it truly getting higher and his minions are raving about it, may result in harmful complacency.

Let’s be sincere. Accidents with FSD are inevitable, however I feel Tesla may do extra to scale back the chance – primarily by being extra life like about what it’s undertaking right here.

It’s creating a extremely spectacular vision-based ADAS system, however it’s nowhere close to on the verge of changing into unsupervised self-driving.