Tesla Self Driving
 

Tesla will launch its driverless robotaxi service in Austin, TX, in June and unsupervised FSD, where cars drive without human input, is expected to roll out to all compatible Tesla vehicles in Texas and California in 2025, with the rest of the U.S. soon after. A Tesla Club member recently asked how many use self-driving frequently... 3/4 of the members raised their hands (over 100 in attendance). That means a lot of the Teslas you see on the road are driving themselves. I know this will open a can of worms, but what do you think?

I can't say if self-driving cars is the answer, but why cars?
Why not start with slower moving vehicles like garden tractors. :shrug:

Less likely to kill or hurt someone unless it malfunctions after it would take a
out a complete neighborhood of flower gardens, vegetable gardens
or some fences. :cus:

Boy, would I pay to see that. :pepper2:

Thanks, I forget about those little lawn rats.

Waymo is already in operation in several cities though there are concerns.

To me, Tesla is undesirable from a company perspective and from cost. Some might want to own a Tesla as a feature-rich EV but it's overkill as a taxi.

Does the current Tesla FSD work from start to finish? Will it back out of the driveway, complete the route to a destination, then find a parking place near the door? Will it look for an opportunity to pass a slower vehicle or switch lanes when driving past a vehicle on the side of the road with flashers on? I might some day be interested in a FSD capability that truly is F.

I purchased my new Tesla 2024 model 3 in October of last year for $34,000. I drive under FSD about 85% of the time as I enjoy using it even though it doesn't always drive (made the same choices) as I would. Every new update to the software is an improvement plus sometimes adding new features.

As the Villages is not for everyone, riding in a Tesla is a unique experience that I am enjoying but others may not. Someday, FSD may become unsupervised but not yet in my opinion as I am not ready to give up total control. I do believe riding under FSD (supervised) is safer than not using it in my Tesla.

Bad topic to ask for comments. So many have ZERO idea re the topic. And some may read media which is the same - potentially scaring the public with little to any facts. And may I add Tesla/Elon hate.

I was at that same meeting. My hand did not go up. Do not have the need for FSD. But I do have and review the latest news from Tesla and substantiated facts and real tests. It is amazing. And the goal is to surpass. The human behind a wheel and have it 10x better than a human with out frailties behind the wheel.
They will succeed.
Tesla’s are simply amazing vehicles.

There are different self driving systems currently being used. After watching this video I'm not too impressed with Tesla's system. The beginning of the video explains the different systems and the testing starts about a half way in.

https://youtu.be/IQJL3htsDyQ?si=b7KQd0HKxhLxT8un

I bet it's capable of driving the speed limit, unlike thousands here.

Think of it this way if we had automated highways we would get there in a quicker and more efficient way not having to sit behind left lane parker’s on the toll pike, sit in traffic because the same human caused an auto accident creating the long backup waiting for the cleanup, etc, etc. Sounds like a plan to me.

EM is full of dung! He's been promising this and other similar bells and whistles for over 10 years, and nothing really has happened successfully, He's a narcissistic sociopath, and I know when he is lying 'cause his lips are moving

Economics….
A Waymo costs $100,000 to 180,000
You can get a Tesla for 30,000

Tesla’s will be the airBNB of taxis. Someone can pout their Tesla into the taxi rotation while they are eating dinner. A student can put their tesla into the taxi rotation while they are in class.

So I won’t have one in my driveway but what does that have to do with the fact that autonomous taxis are in the road today and the best Tesla can do is try to catch up?

Like someone said, we don't understand completely on driverless cars, but some were
in our past history, somebody stated, "Automobile's will never take the place of a horse.":crap2:

Who will be held responsible when these things get into horrific accidents causing bodily injury and/or death?

How many BlackBerrys are around - all the IPhone had to do was catch up.

All streaming had to do was catch up to Blockbuster.

I dont know if Tesla will win - the winner will have a better customer experience and a better economic model.

Does it use the turn signals? Does it turn into the correct lane? Does it come to something near a complete stop? If so, everybody please get one and use this feature. I mean I am not going to, but y’all should.

Autonomous farm equipment and grass cutters have existed for over 10 years in the US.

In Asia, self-driving cars are already widely used in many areas. Lots of self-driving taxis in LA and SF as well.

Do you use it while going 75 mph on a busy interstate highway?

Who is the responsible party should an accident occur? Statistically it may be safer than having a human driving, but it may take awhile for people to trust a machine over a human in these situations.

There’s a company called Waymo that offers self driven taxis. They’re in Phoenix/Scottsdale right now. I rode in one and it was a neat experience.

Fsd
 

This is my first Tesla, and I have a 2025 Tesla Model Y.

I use Full Self Driving 80 % of the time. Both here in The Villages and when we go out of town.

A question was raised of point to point. FSD is not a finished product but it gets updates all the time. From my driveway, it now has no issues with departing the gates, round de rounds, and all the other features of driving here in The Villages. When Tesla enters a parking lot, it displays suitable parking sports, and you have to pick which one Tesla will park in.

NOTE: you do have to drive the Tesla yourself inside the parking lot to find a parking spot.

When you leave a restaurant after having a wonderful meal, my Tesla will come and pick us up at the door.. But you do have to hold your finger on the button, while it is FSD it's way to you.

The hardest part of owning a Tesla is learning the technology, then learning to trust it.

Have more questions? Come to our Villages Tesla meeting.

We rode in a Jaguar driverless taxi in San Francisco in February and felt extremely safe.

What's especially exciting is that the self-driving taxis won't need brakes or a steering wheel. Two less components to attach robotically in the factory.

About 12 years ago, I got a new boss whose previous job had been working for the autonomous driving industry (don't remember exactly where). I remarked that MADD must love that concept and he replied that MADD was firmly against self-driving cars for some reason. I never did find out why.

Yeah, he is such a fraud. In fact the most successful fraud in history. He is now the richest man on earth worth over 386 billion dollars.
The Top 10 Richest People In The World (May 2025)

And that dramatic rescue of the astronaughts on the ISS was just as fake as the moon landing.
Stranded astronauts Butch Wilmore, Suni Williams safely return to Earth

The insurance rates are what will tell the story of self-driving cars.
If the insurance rates are lower, it will be a great success.
If the insurance rates are higher, it is not ready for widespread use.

I don’t own a Tesla and have been in a Tesla several times for shorter trips until this month. Three weeks ago, I rode with my friend in his Tesla for a 800 mile trip in one day. Much of the trip was on interstate highways at 70 mph+. He mostly used FSD (full self driving). I was never in the driver’s seat.

With that experience, I now believe driving this way on a longer trip on the highways is safer than with a traditional human driver. From experience, I know that human drivers in ordinary cars on long trips sometimes get sleepy, distracted from the road, and so on. The FSD technology makes those things almost irrelevant. On that trip I observed the technology using turn signals, changing lanes when cars and semi trucks around were going 70 mph+, braking when needed including when other vehicles changed lanes suddenly. At first on that trip, I was somewhat nervous at higher speeds because of doubting the technology’s safety. Then I got more confidence in the technology as I observed what it actually did.

I now believe using FSD on longer trips at highways speeds is safer than the average driver on the highways.

By the way, the current FSD technology in the ordinary Teslas you see on the road now is called Supervised FSD, meaning the car’s interior cameras are watching the eyes/head and hands of the person behind the steering wheel. The car makes a sound when their eyes/head and a hand is not in a position to take over control from FSD within a certain time. If the ‘driver’ does this too often, the car disengages FSD until the car is stopped again. It’s like punishing the driver by disengaging FSD.

OP’s post refers to Tesla’s new technology being rolled out called Unsupervised FSD that does not require a person behind the wheel ready to take over control or even a driver for robotaxies.

Loved Tesla FSD
 

Tesla gave everyone free trial FSD for about 6 weeks last October/November. It is terrific (I can't judge it against Waymo since I've not been in a Waymo equipped car). Only reason I did not purchase is the price: $8000 (license belongs to you, you can transfer it to your next Tesla). Or $99 per month.

Anyone who has lived, worked or driven through Austin in the last decade or so will probably agree that no intelligent life-form has been driving vehicles in that area in decades. All Tesla has done is automate the process.

So who is ready to climb aboard an airliner with no pilots? The technology is certainly there. I'll start...not me.

I would. By the time such a plane is approved I would have complete confidence with its safety.

There will never be a pilotless passenger plane in our lifetimes. But I do expect that the capabilites of the auto pilot will be significantly expanded.

I could not agree more - it is so much fun. And much safer than me driving. I view it as Tesla primary, I'm back up. 2 sets of eyes on the road. And I blush to say this, but I have been known to drive after 2 glasses of chardonnay, and it is so wonderful to have Tesla as primary driver.

I would think it would be the owner of the vehicle. The owner is responsible for properly maintaining the vehicle and using it in a safe manner. If Waymo or Uber buy a fleet of cars then they would be the responsible party. If Joe Student allows his FSD vehicle to be used as an autonomous taxi then Joe Student should be responsible for the vehicle. Don't want to take the risk that your vehicle could cause an incident? Simple, keep control of your vehicle.

Of course, the owner could later sue the manufacturer for an inherent defect in the vehicle.

Assumption that you are in the group of MILLIONS who, when Tesla led the EV technology years ago, LOVED HIM and all the green tech. But now that Elon personally has changed his views - the extreme HATE arises. So he puts on a red hat and they turn to spewing personal HATE with threats and destruction. Even to those who purchased one of these wonderful EVs, simply because of his views. Crazies out there.

And all the other companies that Musk created and developed to improve humanity, and funds many thousands of jobs in the world. Especially in this wonderful country. Every Tesla sold in our country was built and assembled right here in the USA.

Elon Musk is associated with several companies, including Tesla, SpaceX, Neuralink, The Boring Company, X Corp. (formerly Twitter), and xAI. He has founded and played significant roles in these companies, which span various industries such as automotive, aerospace, artificial intelligence, and tunneling.

....Yes, for sure - he's really full of dung -... right.

Yes to all your questions
 

Yes, it always uses directionals. Yes it uses correct lane. Yes it comes to complete stop, and waits a couple seconds. Tesla FSD is a better driver than me.

On I-95 fantastic
 

Drove from Hilton Head to Charlottesville, VA on I95. Start in right lane, pick your speed (I set it to 78 mph), when the car approaches a slower vehicle, it puts on its left directional, pulls into the left lane when safe, moves past the slower car, and when clear of the slower car puts on its right directional, moves back to the right lane when clear, and turns off the directional. It is absolutely wonderful on I95.

No, he really doesn't. He works whoever he can trick into giving him money. He doesn't care which "side" it comes from. That is the only thing he's actually any good at.

He's not an inventor, he's a corporate raider, nothing more or less.

As for the topic itself - I don't trust other people behind the wheel, I'm certainly not going to trust a machine behind the wheel. My current car has sensors that automatically slow down when a car 100 feet ahead of me slows down, and it freaks me out so I've disabled it. I can't disable it when I have cruise control on, so when I see that I'm approaching traffic WAY up ahead, I turn the cruise control off. AI isn't always correct. I'd rather take responsibility for my own mistakes, than hand that responsibility to a machine when it comes to life and limb at 70mph on Florida's Turnpike, or in a traffic jam on 441.

Driverless car
 

Have to love that ultra smart and inventive Elon Musk!!