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I have an assisted driving system in my Jeep. I'm pretty clear on its capabilities and, for example, stay alert to the possibility I have to hit the brakes when

I have an assisted driving system in my Jeep. I'm pretty clear on its capabilities and, for example, stay alert to the possibility I have to hit the brakes when coming up on stopped traffic at freeway speeds because I'm outrunning its detection range for it to do so safely automatically. The problem is Tesla selling a system with similar limitations as "autopilot." It's not. It's an assisted driving system, albeit a very smart one, and they need to make it more clear that's what it is. They're setting incorrect expectations, and the various "I climbed into my passenger seat while it drives!" bits aren't helping. Basically we're living the old urban legend of the dude putting on cruise control and then crawling into his camper for a nap. The cruise control is a little bit smarter nowadays, but it comes down to a gross misunderstanding that Tesla is (inadvertently) encouraging.

alistairSH 10y ago
Does the Jeep system function if you don't provide any inputs? The Subaru system will brake if it has too, but won't actually drive the car for you. Same for lane holding - it'll give some steering input and beep if you start to swerve, but it won't actively steer around a curve.
- geoelectric 10y ago
  Really late response, but it'll gas/brake on its own and will steer back to the center of the lane if you go past a configurable margin. Gas/brake is meant to be "foot off pedals." You set a desired speed, and it'll go the lesser of that or the speed of the car you're following, and follow at a configurable distance otherwise. It's very, very, VERY nice for Bay Area commuting. The only real needs to pay attention are A) if a car cuts you off and then slams brakes, B) the car in front of you locks brakes up or swerves out of the way last minute with something in front of it, or C) you're booking it at freeway speeds and come up on stopped traffic. In all three cases an alarm sounds telling you to brake, but if you don't want to to be an emergency you'll be looking out for at least C) so you can take over the slowing down before that alarm could go off. Hopefully the sensors get longer range in the future. The lane-keeping is meant to only be an assist, though, and would leave you pinballing from one side to the other (or getting stuck on the side that's downhill from the crown) as you hit the margin and it pushes you back center. It'd also get you through a gentle curve the same way. You can go hands free with good alignment and tolerance for looking like you're driving drunk but I wouldn't recommend it. Eventually an alarm will sound if you're fully hands off the wheel. Worth noting Tesla's system isn't much different there, though, aside from that it'll hold center of the lane and won't pinball. You're still expected to keep your hands on the wheel, and it has a similar alarm that goes off if you don't. Don't get me wrong--their system is ultimately more advanced, with speed limit sign reading and a bunch of other cool tricks. But it's still meant to be a hands-on assist and isn't sold that way. Edit: to be clear, I'm just describing adaptive cruise control above, and there's nothing particularly special about that. For all intents and purposes, the only difference with autopilot is the active steering for lane-keeping, even if it is smarter under the hood. It seems to be have the same limitations otherwise judging by their manual disclaimers.

alistairSH 10y ago

Does the Jeep system function if you don't provide any inputs? The Subaru system will brake if it has too, but won't actually drive the car for you. Same for lane holding - it'll give some steering input and beep if you start to swerve, but it won't actively steer around a curve.

geoelectric 10y ago
Really late response, but it'll gas/brake on its own and will steer back to the center of the lane if you go past a configurable margin. Gas/brake is meant to be "foot off pedals." You set a desired speed, and it'll go the lesser of that or the speed of the car you're following, and follow at a configurable distance otherwise. It's very, very, VERY nice for Bay Area commuting. The only real needs to pay attention are A) if a car cuts you off and then slams brakes, B) the car in front of you locks brakes up or swerves out of the way last minute with something in front of it, or C) you're booking it at freeway speeds and come up on stopped traffic. In all three cases an alarm sounds telling you to brake, but if you don't want to to be an emergency you'll be looking out for at least C) so you can take over the slowing down before that alarm could go off. Hopefully the sensors get longer range in the future. The lane-keeping is meant to only be an assist, though, and would leave you pinballing from one side to the other (or getting stuck on the side that's downhill from the crown) as you hit the margin and it pushes you back center. It'd also get you through a gentle curve the same way. You can go hands free with good alignment and tolerance for looking like you're driving drunk but I wouldn't recommend it. Eventually an alarm will sound if you're fully hands off the wheel. Worth noting Tesla's system isn't much different there, though, aside from that it'll hold center of the lane and won't pinball. You're still expected to keep your hands on the wheel, and it has a similar alarm that goes off if you don't. Don't get me wrong--their system is ultimately more advanced, with speed limit sign reading and a bunch of other cool tricks. But it's still meant to be a hands-on assist and isn't sold that way. Edit: to be clear, I'm just describing adaptive cruise control above, and there's nothing particularly special about that. For all intents and purposes, the only difference with autopilot is the active steering for lane-keeping, even if it is smarter under the hood. It seems to be have the same limitations otherwise judging by their manual disclaimers.