What's happening YouTube, Josh Teeder here for 6 Months Later
and today we'll be taking another look at the Tesla Model 3. More specifically,
We'll be taking a look at the Autopilot experience of the Tesla Model 3.
We'll look at the overall experience of Autopilot, how it works on the 3 and why I think
Autopilot is a technology not meant for everyone.
This is 6 Months Later.
Autopilot is a technology
that's become almost synonymous with the word
Tesla at this point.
Every time I'm out and about in my Model 3 and get stopped by people who ask about the car,
They always think that it is so cool that it has Autopilot and the car can drive itself.
Autopilot is just one more part of Tesla's strategy to make their vehicles
So cool modern, and an overall object of desire
People won't even notice that by buying one, they're helping cut carbon and toxic emissions from the air they breathe.
So how is Autopilot? In short, Autopilot is
extremely impressive and
Overall just a fantastic experience. It's like glue.
It just keeps the Model 3 in the center of the lane even on really curvy roads.
It really performs quite well, in fact, this technology performs
So well, that's actually why I think it's a technology that is not meant for everybody.
But we'll get on to that in a little bit, for now
Let's go ahead and hop in the Model 3 and take a look at what autopilot is and how it works
All right. So now let's go ahead and hop in the Tesla and see what autopilot is all about
Let me just go and pull it out further for us. Oh
I almost forgot to mention Summon. This also comes with the Autopilot
convenience features as well, which allows you to
Drive the car forward and backward without anyone in the car. Oh, let me not hit the cameraman. That looks good
Let's go and hop in and experience autopilot. Alright, everyone
Well, we're here in the model 3 and before we get out on the road and start using Autopilot
I want to give you a quick rundown of what Autopilot actually is.
Autopilot itself that term is just an umbrella term for a bunch of different technologies
You have Autopilot safety features, which come standard on every Tesla including every Model 3 that is currently being made.
These are a forward collision warning, side collision avoidance
automatic emergency braking
as well as Park Assist features
And then you have what are called Autopilot convenience features. These include adaptive cruise control and lane keep assist.
Lane keep assist and adaptive cruise control are actually the two technologies most people think of when they hear the term Autopilot.
now you also get
Park assist for parallel parking with autopilot as what you get Summon which a lot of people forget about that is included with the Autopilot
convenience features. The Autopilot
Hardware for Model 3 and other Tesla's currently being made is made up of a few different groups of hardware.
the Model 3 has 8 cameras that give Autopilot a
360 degree view of
Everything going on around the car including three cameras at the front next we have the forward radar and finally 12
Ultrasonic sensors around the car that detect objects at short distances. Now all this data comes into the main Autopilot
computer that is where all the decisions are made
For what Autopilot should do at any given time.
So that's a quick rundown of what Autopilot actually is in the hardware behind it, now
Let's go out and do the fun part and actually use it
While
the technology behind
Autopilot in the Model 3 is exactly the same as what you'll find on a
Comparable Model S or X of the same model year, the actual experience of it is quite different
This is due to two factors
One factor is there is only one screen in the Model 3 and the second is that there is no dedicated
auto pilot stock on the steering column.
So how does one enable Autopilot
You may ask, well simply by pulling down the gear shifter twice. If you pull it down only once that will enable
Traffic aware cruise control. Pulling down twice gives you the traffic aware cruise control plus auto steer. The first time I ever used
Autopilot I was freaked out.
It's it's really hard to describe what
It's like when you realize that you are no longer in control of a vehicle moving 70 miles an hour on the highway.
But what's even crazier is how quickly you adjust to that fact that the car is driving
Itself and how quickly you start to trust in the Autopilot system.
The system is constantly checking whether or not you have your hands on the wheel and if you're paying attention
After a while, it'll ask you to move the wheel just a little bit
So it knows you're still alive and paying attention.
If you fail to do this
it'll start flashing blue at the top of the screen and eventually play a little ding. Do this long enough and the car will actually
disengage auto steer and then lock you out of
the auto steer functionality of autopilot
Overall, I don't find those reminders that annoying and I don't think they come up that frequently though. Do keep in mind
This is coming from someone. Who's a
control freak and I basically have my hands on the wheel the entire time Autopilot is doing its thing.
Adjusting the speed for Autopilot is really intuitive.
You just use the right scroll wheel on the steering wheel and adjust the speed by moving the wheel up and down.
Click the wheel to the left or the right and you'll set the following distance for traffic aware cruise control.
You can also adjust the speed of the car if the speed limit changes by just tapping the speed limit sign on the screen. The
Experience of autopilot is quite enjoyable and I found it very useful on the highways and especially in bumper-to-bumper
traffic. Like a lot of other Tesla owners have said, I think this is one of the best applications
for Autopilot today. The car driving itself plus the live traffic
Visualization on the screen really helps make sitting in traffic a much less stressful experience. My blood pressure
no longer bursts. Now while
Autopilot has performed very well over the two-week trial that I've had Autopilot with my Tesla Model 3
There have been instances where it has not performed correctly.
For example on the highway I've seen Autopilot
Rapidly slow down my Model 3 as it scrambles to figure out whether or not to take an off-ramp on the highway
I've also had the adaptive cruise control
Mistakenly think that parked cars on the side of the road as I'm driving along are not stationary objects
but rather objects that are in motion and that the adaptive cruise control needs to slow down rapidly and
Accordingly because it thinks those objects are moving now.
These are instances that remind us that Autopilot is not a perfect system
This is part of the reason I don't think Autopilot is for everyone
The question around Autopilot should not be whether or not you should trust Autopilot.
The question should be whether or not you trust yourself to be there when Autopilot isn't
Autopilot is not a level 5 system where you don't have to pay attention to what the car is doing.
Until it is, I think there are certain people out there who probably shouldn't be using Autopilot.
We've seen all types of misuse of the autopilot system over the years and unfortunately,
sometimes they can turn deadly. But if you keep your hands on the wheel and pay attention to what Autopilot is doing at all times,
Then you should be fine.
So now that my trial is up, you're probably wondering if I bought Autopilot. I didn't. For me,
$6,000 is a lot of money to spend for what autopilot does right now and
how much use I'd get out of it during the week. Now, don't get me wrong,
I love autopilot, and I'm quite impressed with how well it works.
Now maybe at a future date when the price decreases a little bit if Tesla still
splits out Enhanced Autopilot at six thousand dollars after delivery and as well
full self-driving. If they continue that split for the Autopilot, I
think the Enhanced Autopilot
will, that price will decrease over time when you look at competition coming into the market of other car manufacturers.
Coming out with features very similar to autopilot at lower price points.
So I'm gonna wait a few years see if that actually happens that if not,
I probably will just get Autopilot because don't get me wrong like the technology is
Fantastic, and I really like using it. I just can't justify the cost right now to spend 6 grand on it.
Anyways, that's all the time we have today to talk about Autopilot
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be sure to drop a comment below and let me know about your experience with Autopilot. Do you like Autopilot?
Are you just deadly afraid of a car driving itself on the highway?
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you can read reviews like this one on our website at 6-months-later.com
Well, thanks again so much for watching. I'm Josh Teder for 6 Months Later.