700 winding miles in Oregon, mostly on FSD (v13.2.2)

I've seen a number of threads complaining about FSD in these forums, so I thought I'd take a contrarian approach and report on the excellent experience we just had on a weekend road trip.

Most of the drive was winding two-lane roads, getting to and including the PCH between Lincoln City and Florence on the coast. FSD did great for us, and I'd say it did > 90% of the driving. I did have two interventions that I supposed would be considered critical: One where it was trying to make a left into a parking lot, and mistook the oncoming traffic lane as a turn lane. And a second where I had it driving in a state park, and it wanted to use the entire (unpainted) access road as it's own lane. So, blind corners would have been a problem.

But, like, I just grabbed the wheel and corrected it. I really don't get all the teeth-gnashing. As long as you're paying attention, it's not very hard to correct. FSD is a game changer.

Anyway, some observations:

• My wife gets motion sick. She noted that, with FSD driving, the road trip was much more pleasant for her. I think it's because I can be a somewhat aggressive driver, and FSD (standard mode) is not. So there are fewer abrupt movements, which are more likely to trigger her motion sickness. She also noted that I mutter a lot less when FSD is in charge.
• In general, FSD was incredibly smooth on all of the sweepers and tighter curves. I never felt like it was going to cross the centerline. Stopping and dealing with in-town traffic was super smooth. Passing cars on the highway was generally good, though it would sometimes take longer than it should to move back to the right lane after passing, even though it was signaling to do so.
• Temps were in the low 30s and roads were icy in spots. The CT felt very planted.
• Up until a week or so ago, I rarely got "Pay Attention" warnings. However, on this trip I started getting them fairly frequently. I was often wearing sunglasses, and there seemed to be a correlation between the warnings and going in and out of sunshine. For instance, it would be fine for a while when the sun was out. Then, the sun would go behind clouds and I would suddenly get a 'Pay Attention' warning as if wasn't able to see my eyes any more. I think I also saw this happen in the reverse order. It's like it takes a few seconds to adjust exposure or something.
• Charging was a non-issue, as the stops coincided well with bladder and dog-walking breaks.
• Halfway through the trip I started getting warnings about the front camera being dirty and impacting FSD. The wiper didn't seem to be enough to clean it, so we stopped at Fred Meyer and picked up a 60" collapsible snow brush/squeegee. I sprayed the windshield and then used the squeegee and that seemed to do it. Highly recommend getting one! 60" collapsible squeegee
• Having a powered fridge/cooler (IceCo VL35Pro) in the bed makes road trips much better. Leftovers from a restaurant? Half and Half for morning coffee? Half an opened can of dog food? No problem.
• There don't seem to be many CTs in that part of Oregon. Once we left WA, we never saw another until we got back. We did have multiple groups stop by and ask about the truck (mostly when we were parked in tourist area parking lots), and we gave tours to any who were interested. It's still surprising to me that there are folks who don't know a) it's a truck with a 6' bed, and b) it's a Tesla.

We covered just over 700 miles, most of it was in temps in the mid and low 30's, and we averaged 508 Wh/mi. It's hard to imagine doing a long road trip without FSD now.

Glad to hear good results!

I think most people are looking ahead towards unsupervised FSD, and that’s totally fair as that’s what FSD is ultimately supposed to be. When it does things like drive against traffic, it really hurts any trust people had built up. It simply can’t do that when you aren’t paying attention.

On the flip side, for a system that’s learning under the supervision of humans, it does do remarkably well. CT is getting closer and closer to being as good as the sexy cars. We just need to appreciate it for what it is today, stay alert, and send those voice memos on every intervention and it’ll get there quick.

Also, I’m still getting people questioning why it’s considered a truck too. I open the tonneau and drop the tailgate and they look like they’ve seen a transformer or something. “Woah, it is a truck!” No clue what they were picturing was under there ?‍

Thanks for the report. I’m also a FSD fan as I’m using it everyday to and from work. I also used it a lot on my road trip to and from Bend, OR. 8 hour drive each way. Really enjoyed letting the truck handle the majority of the driving, even in dense fog.

mbrockus said:

Thanks for the report. I’m also a FSD fan as I’m using it everyday to and from work. I also used it a lot on my road trip to and from Bend, OR. 8 hour drive each way. Really enjoyed letting the truck handle the majority of the driving, even in dense fog.

Click to expand...

I think another thing I forgot to note is that the CT is really just a wonderfully comfortable vehicle for long drives. Lots of space, comfy and adjustable seats, expansive cabin around you, plenty of room for 'stuff'. (I've added a couple aftermarket storage options: under screen shelf, underseat bins, tray on the dash behind the screen)

Not to mention all the good tesla stuff like having it already warmed and defrosted when you get in.

Florence is a favorite stop of mine.

Glad you had fun! Those state park roads are often poorly marked.

-Crissa

The iceless bed cooler is game changer for sure.

How accurate was the Tesla Navigation for battery/charging? Like if you were supposed to arrive at your next supercharger at 20% did it actually get there at that or was it way off like 10% battery?

Mal said:

I've seen a number of threads complaining about FSD in these forums, so I thought I'd take a contrarian approach and report on the excellent experience we just had on a weekend road trip.

Most of the drive was winding two-lane roads, getting to and including the PCH between Lincoln City and Florence on the coast. FSD did great for us, and I'd say it did > 90% of the driving. I did have two interventions that I supposed would be considered critical: One where it was trying to make a left into a parking lot, and mistook the oncoming traffic lane as a turn lane. And a second where I had it driving in a state park, and it wanted to use the entire (unpainted) access road as it's own lane. So, blind corners would have been a problem.

But, like, I just grabbed the wheel and corrected it. I really don't get all the teeth-gnashing. As long as you're paying attention, it's not very hard to correct. FSD is a game changer.

Anyway, some observations:

• My wife gets motion sick. She noted that, with FSD driving, the road trip was much more pleasant for her. I think it's because I can be a somewhat aggressive driver, and FSD (standard mode) is not. So there are fewer abrupt movements, which are more likely to trigger her motion sickness. She also noted that I mutter a lot less when FSD is in charge.
• In general, FSD was incredibly smooth on all of the sweepers and tighter curves. I never felt like it was going to cross the centerline. Stopping and dealing with in-town traffic was super smooth. Passing cars on the highway was generally good, though it would sometimes take longer than it should to move back to the right lane after passing, even though it was signaling to do so.
• Temps were in the low 30s and roads were icy in spots. The CT felt very planted.
• Up until a week or so ago, I rarely got "Pay Attention" warnings. However, on this trip I started getting them fairly frequently. I was often wearing sunglasses, and there seemed to be a correlation between the warnings and going in and out of sunshine. For instance, it would be fine for a while when the sun was out. Then, the sun would go behind clouds and I would suddenly get a 'Pay Attention' warning as if wasn't able to see my eyes any more. I think I also saw this happen in the reverse order. It's like it takes a few seconds to adjust exposure or something.
• Charging was a non-issue, as the stops coincided well with bladder and dog-walking breaks.
• Halfway through the trip I started getting warnings about the front camera being dirty and impacting FSD. The wiper didn't seem to be enough to clean it, so we stopped at Fred Meyer and picked up a 60" collapsible snow brush/squeegee. I sprayed the windshield and then used the squeegee and that seemed to do it. Highly recommend getting one! 60" collapsible squeegee
• Having a powered fridge/cooler (IceCo VL35Pro) in the bed makes road trips much better. Leftovers from a restaurant? Half and Half for morning coffee? Half an opened can of dog food? No problem.
• There don't seem to be many CTs in that part of Oregon. Once we left WA, we never saw another until we got back. We did have multiple groups stop by and ask about the truck (mostly when we were parked in tourist area parking lots), and we gave tours to any who were interested. It's still surprising to me that there are folks who don't know a) it's a truck with a 6' bed, and b) it's a Tesla.

We covered just over 700 miles, most of it was in temps in the mid and low 30's, and we averaged 508 Wh/mi. It's hard to imagine doing a long road trip without FSD now.

Click to expand...

Oregon is a beautiful state. Glad i live there lol

stormbreed said:

How accurate was the Tesla Navigation for battery/charging? Like if you were supposed to arrive at your next supercharger at 20% did it actually get there at that or was it way off like 10% battery?

Click to expand...

IIRC, it wasn't ever off enough to actually worry about. Maybe 3 or 4% off the original estimate. FSD probably makes the range predictions a little more accurate, I'd think.

Great write up. I feel that power in the bed will start to become standard equipment on pickups. We don’t have an iceless cooler (yet), but we do have efoils, electric dirt bikes, and electric mountain bikes. All use Li-on batteries so we don’t store them 100pct charged. The CyberTruck bed outlets allow us to load up and charge them on the way. It’s almost priceless to arrive at riding area with all your electric toys 100pct charged. Simply couldn’t do it without the CyberTruck.

stormbreed said:

How accurate was the Tesla Navigation for battery/charging? Like if you were supposed to arrive at your next supercharger at 20% did it actually get there at that or was it way off like 10% battery?

Click to expand...

CT has been the most accurate Tesla for calculating arrival battery. It does route optimistically so if it’s says you’ll arrive with 5% I would make sure there is another option along your route or charge to a higher percent before you leave.

Mal said:

I've seen a number of threads complaining about FSD in these forums, so I thought I'd take a contrarian approach and report on the excellent experience we just had on a weekend road trip.

Most of the drive was winding two-lane roads, getting to and including the PCH between Lincoln City and Florence on the coast. FSD did great for us, and I'd say it did > 90% of the driving. I did have two interventions that I supposed would be considered critical: One where it was trying to make a left into a parking lot, and mistook the oncoming traffic lane as a turn lane. And a second where I had it driving in a state park, and it wanted to use the entire (unpainted) access road as it's own lane. So, blind corners would have been a problem.

But, like, I just grabbed the wheel and corrected it. I really don't get all the teeth-gnashing. As long as you're paying attention, it's not very hard to correct. FSD is a game changer.

Anyway, some observations:

• My wife gets motion sick. She noted that, with FSD driving, the road trip was much more pleasant for her. I think it's because I can be a somewhat aggressive driver, and FSD (standard mode) is not. So there are fewer abrupt movements, which are more likely to trigger her motion sickness. She also noted that I mutter a lot less when FSD is in charge.
• In general, FSD was incredibly smooth on all of the sweepers and tighter curves. I never felt like it was going to cross the centerline. Stopping and dealing with in-town traffic was super smooth. Passing cars on the highway was generally good, though it would sometimes take longer than it should to move back to the right lane after passing, even though it was signaling to do so.
• Temps were in the low 30s and roads were icy in spots. The CT felt very planted.
• Up until a week or so ago, I rarely got "Pay Attention" warnings. However, on this trip I started getting them fairly frequently. I was often wearing sunglasses, and there seemed to be a correlation between the warnings and going in and out of sunshine. For instance, it would be fine for a while when the sun was out. Then, the sun would go behind clouds and I would suddenly get a 'Pay Attention' warning as if wasn't able to see my eyes any more. I think I also saw this happen in the reverse order. It's like it takes a few seconds to adjust exposure or something.
• Charging was a non-issue, as the stops coincided well with bladder and dog-walking breaks.
• Halfway through the trip I started getting warnings about the front camera being dirty and impacting FSD. The wiper didn't seem to be enough to clean it, so we stopped at Fred Meyer and picked up a 60" collapsible snow brush/squeegee. I sprayed the windshield and then used the squeegee and that seemed to do it. Highly recommend getting one! 60" collapsible squeegee
• Having a powered fridge/cooler (IceCo VL35Pro) in the bed makes road trips much better. Leftovers from a restaurant? Half and Half for morning coffee? Half an opened can of dog food? No problem.
• There don't seem to be many CTs in that part of Oregon. Once we left WA, we never saw another until we got back. We did have multiple groups stop by and ask about the truck (mostly when we were parked in tourist area parking lots), and we gave tours to any who were interested. It's still surprising to me that there are folks who don't know a) it's a truck with a 6' bed, and b) it's a Tesla.

We covered just over 700 miles, most of it was in temps in the mid and low 30's, and we averaged 508 Wh/mi. It's hard to imagine doing a long road trip without FSD now.

Click to expand...

Yeah, I too am a fervid FSDS fan. I recently had occasion to travel a few miles on a single lane, zero road markings road that would have dropoffs on either side of the road as we would through some hills. Though the speed limit was 25, the CT maintained a speed of between 12 and 19 mph, depending on the road. It would really slow down for blind corners and I was kind of amazed at how unruffled I was, it did such a great job. I had an oncoming car appear and FSDS handled it flawlessly. A bit further on we got to a dirt road which lasted 3 or 4 miles. Since I was navigating to the ranch address I took it out of FSDS to turn into the parking area. One weird intervention when FSDS decided to swing into a dirt parking area (the blue intention line was firmly on the road) and looked like it was going to turn back the way we had just come. SO I questioned the truck "What are you doing?", took it out of FSDS, got back onto the road and got back into FSDS, no further issues. One interesting thing on the dirt raod was the CT did not like puddles and would usually try to avoid them, but would go through them if no other option was available. On this particular trip I drove out of my driveway, put it in FSDS and repeated the process in reverse at the first stop. A couple of weeks ago I was having the CT park itself and it was being unusually feisty and I had to seize control when it felt like I was going to ram another car. Though in all honesty I am ALWAYS over estimating how far the nose protrudes, perhaps it would not have actually hit the car, but it sure felt like it was going to. So I haven't used parking since. I just got v13.2.4, so I might give it another go. I refer to "my driver who doesn't know how to park.... yet" as CC (Cybertruck Chauffer). I almost NEVER drive myself, except for the first and last couple of hundred feet. I did notice that prior to V13 the truck overly hugged the left side of the lane, and felt resolved mostly in v13.2.2. With 2.4 it feels over-corrected now a little too much to the right, but not worrisome. I guess one of the things that bugs me a little is no pothole or divot avoidance (sometimes drive so close to the edge of a lane it will bounce across a dip with a drainage grate, but with the huge tires I can live with it awhile longer. Patience, grasshopper, patience. I am so relaxed in the CT when it drives. Serene but alert. Looking forward to that day in the future when we can drop the second S in FSDS. Paul

I need to write a longer post but we did a 3200 mile drive (including return) and the Cybertruck only had 2 safety interventions. One was a crazy road many humans would have messed up and one in construction area and wasn't a big deal. It was basically flawless. So great.