[ASAP]

Originally Posted by flybigjet

My wife and I went to dinner with my buddy and his wife a few nights ago. The girls sat in the back so my buddy could show off his latest software update on his toy-- A T3.

Aaaaaaaaand, it tried to kill us.

He was demonstrating the Autopilot which (on the surface) is pretty amazing-- the screen started figuring out the middle of the street lanes and the traffic and obstacles around us, and then when it got smart enough, he enabled it.

It seems to be a lot of work though-- keep your hand on the wheel, keep tapping the right control stalk to go through intersections, keep an eye on what it's doing, being ready to brake suddenly-- personally, I thought it was more work than just simply driving.

And then, as we were going through a series of curves, for NO reason-- the thing just decided to aim *DIRECTLY* at a huge curb and drainage grate-- it was a pretty aggressive maneuver.

My buddy had to override it and pull it back onto the road-- it sure as hell got my undivided attention when it did that-- if he hadn't done a "panic intervention", the thing would definitely have taken out the front driver's wheel at a minimum.

On a completely unrelated note (heh)-- I stopped by my auto-body shop today since I had a quick question (they are the BMW, Porsche, Audi & Tesla specialists in Denver)-- they had a TON of Tesla's in the yard-- enough that I asked the tech if they were "flipping" them. His response? "No, people just crash them a LOT."

He also said that parts availability has a much longer delay than for Porsche, BMW & Audi-- a day or two for those makes, weeks or longer for Tesla.

So, neat toy, amazing technology, and you need to watch it like a hawk if you don't want it to commit automotive suicide. The Autopilot might be the bee's knees in Kansas on the interstate, but it sure as hell isn't ready for prime-time in downtown America suburbia.

On the plus side? It provided a LOT of abuse that I (and my wife, and his wife) could heap on my buddy over dinner.

And his wife? HATES his Tesla and doesn't like to ride in it.

R.

I had a chance to test a Model S about 2 years ago in Miami traffic... at the time, it was not full autopilot but it was to the point where in straightline, it could drive itself...

All I will say is that in that iteration, I would NEVER let this thing drive anyone automatically... it kept veering into the lane over and made some abrupt changes when cars next to us would get too close. It was the worse lane management I've ever seen and like you said, I still had to monitor with my hands on the wheels... as far as the car itself, outside of bizarre QC issues and a car that looked like it was put together for $25, the driving experience was actually quite decent.