Tesla Model 3 Autopilot Experience

What's happening in youtube , Josh Ted are here for six months later and today we'll be taking another look at the Tesla Model three .

More specifically , we'll be taking a look at the auto pilot experience of the Tesla Model three .

We'll look at the overall experience of autopilot , how it works on the three and why I think autopilot is a technology not meant for everyone .

This is six months later , suck on my electrons , diesel .

You crashed your car .

Oh , 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 three and get stopped by people who ask about the car .

They always think that it is so cool that it has auto pilot and the car can drive itself .

Autopilot is just one more part of Tesla's strategy to make their vehicle so cool modern and an overall object of desire 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 three 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 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 three 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 summit .

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 camera man .

That looks good .

Let's go ahead and hop in and experience autopilot .

All right , everyone .

Well , we're here in the model three 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 , auto pilot safety features which come standard on every Tesla including every model three that is currently being made .

These are forward collision , waring side collision , avoidance , automatic emergency braking as well as park assist features .

And then you have what are called auto pilot convenience features these include adaptive cruise control and lane , keep assist , lane , keep assist and 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 is what you get summon , which a lot of people forget about that is included with the autopilot convenience features .

The autopilot hardware for model three and other Teslas currently being made is made up of a few different groups of hardware .

The model three has eight 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 and 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 and 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 three 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 three .

And the second is that there is no dedicated autopilot 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 will 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 will start flashing blue at the top of the screen and eventually play a little thing , do this long enough and the car will actually disengage auto steer and then lock you out of the auto steer functionality of auto pilot 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 is 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 it plus the live traffic visualization on the screen really helps make sitting in traffic a much less stressful experience , high 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 three , there have been instances where it has not performed correctly .

For example , on the highway , I've seen autopilot rapidly slow down my model three 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 five 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 .

$6000 is a lot of money to spend for what autopilot does right now .

And how much use I 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 , the Tesla still splits out enhanced autopilot at $6000 after delivery and as well , full self driving .

If they continue that split for the autopilot product , 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 going to wait a few years , see if that actually happens .

And 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 six grand on it .

Anyways , that's all the time we have today to talk about autopilot .

If you like this video , please be sure to give us a thumbs up and subscribe to the channel to see more Tesla and more Model three videos like this one .

Also .

Be sure to drop a comment below and let me know about your experience with autopilot .

Do you like autopilot or are you just deadly afraid of a car driving itself on the highway ?

You can also follow me on Twitter at , at Josh Teter and you can read reviews like this one on our website at six dash months dash later dot com .

Well , thanks again so much for watching .

I'm Josh Teter for six months later .