FSD is functionally autonomous. Agree?

[hemiarch]

Was browsing Etsy and found this:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/449501...-ipad-miniiphone?ref=share_ios_native_control

Got me wondering how many people feel that FSD is good enough that “supervised” is really only a formality now.
What do you think? Would you be willing to take your eyes completely off the road as it stands now if liability wasn’t a concern? Would you trust your life and your family’s life to it?

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[clarkjohnson188]

FSD is at a point where I am 100% confident that it is a safer driver than I am manually driving.

Although, I do think I can create even safer situations by initiating a lane change on occasion, and left turns still cut it too tight to the car sitting at the intersection.

I am paying much less attention in recent updates, but I will give it a few more updates/hw5 before I'd feel safe to get a setup like that product link.

 

[ChiTownCT]

No.. Was with family on a major Chicago highway, randomly decides to attempt to take an exit that was not there. Literally 4 lane highway, right turn signal turns on and is attempting to veer off over a solid white line onto the shoulder. Took control after that, but I did rengage FSD, sent report..

So ultimately, not there yet, my eyes will forever be on the road, especially with wife and kids in the car.

 

[TickTock]

FSD is at a point where I am 100% confident that it is a safer driver than I am manually driving.
<snip>

Agree, although it is still safer when we pay attention. I would not feel comfortable, for example, sleeping. But to be fair, I don't feel comfortable sleeping when my wife is driving and wake up in a panic for every lane change no matter how exhausted I am.

Kinda sucks but this is the reality - we are allowed to sleep when a different human is driving but not when a superior AI is.

 

[Galvatron]

99%
I just completed a 1500 mile FSD trip. Loved it!
I don't think it would have killed me but it did a couple of things I would not have, including slowing and attempting to pull over on a two way, county highway for no apparent reason. I took over and reingaged. Not sure what it would have done if I had not.

 

[jimbobb23]

In new places....not sure. On my commute let's just say I am probably going to buy that Etsy thing because I might be basically doing the same without it. FSD has done my commute probably the last 200 times without any intervention and no safety concerns. I watch it closely when we travel but have not had a safety intervention in maybe months (although did curb check for the first time in a. year recently and I reported it as a critical intervention).

 

[SlegMD]

FSD does well in very standard conditions that I trust it. Unfortunately with irregular road markings or construction it’s been lacking. FSD tried driving in a bike lane a couple weeks for me. Typically FSD knows when a freeway is closed, and avoids which is great, however there was an instance where the street after an offramp was closed and the navigation wasn’t accommodating, so I had to intervene.

Nav still does not recognize and consider several HOV exits or correct lane for freeway merger, though the last one has improved since release of v14.

For me FSD needs better navigation choice and smarter lane choice. FSD likes to get into the right lanes at every freeway merger where congestion occurs, when staying left easily suffices when continuing on the freeway. My long term gripe.

Also Mr Mad Max blew past someone on the right, just to pass, using an off-ramp as a passing lane then getting back on the freeway, which neither I or the other driver appreciated or thought necessary.

I do admire the progression over the past year however, looking forward to the future.

 

[Engi_Nerd]

I have several monthly critical disengagements related to FSD diving off the road to make way for emergency vehicles that aren't there, brake checking people to stop for birds or passing school busses, and lately, sporadically giving up during easy left turns.

I will certainly admit that the best releases of FSD can generally do the easiest 80% of driving more consistently than humans and in that sense, it is no doubt adding safety across many miles covered, but these days the bar is pitifully low.

For the hardest / most complex 20% of scenarios, it is still a long, long ways off. I am constantly disengaging for lanes merging, one-way railroad underpasses, huge potholes, road kill and debris, poor nav, very poor speed control, unwillingness to pull out in sizeable gaps, not getting over early enough for exits, passing too close to pedestrians, and on and on.

Personally, if I got into an accident with someone and saw they had a giant Ipad mounted in front of their steering wheel, I would be suing them for everything they're worth. This kind of crap is why Tesla owners get a bad rep.

 

[SamJoe]

17,618 miles of FSD with no safety related interventions inspires a lot of confidence. I absolutely trust it not to crash at this point. I've got issues with speed and lane choice and other maneuvers on occasion, but never a safety issue.

 

[ABILISK]

Absolutely. I’d trust it even now when liability is on me. Unfortunately attention monitoring is a thing.

 

[Jhodgesatmb]

FSD does well in very standard conditions that I trust it. Unfortunately with irregular road markings or construction it’s been lacking. FSD tried driving in a bike lane a couple weeks for me. Typically FSD knows when a freeway is closed, and avoids which is great, however there was an instance where the street after an offramp was closed and the navigation wasn’t accommodating, so I had to intervene.

Nav still does not recognize and consider several HOV exits or correct lane for freeway merger, though the last one has improved since release of v14.

For me FSD needs better navigation choice and smarter lane choice. FSD likes to get into the right lanes at every freeway merger where congestion occurs, when staying left easily suffices when continuing on the freeway. My long term gripe.

Also Mr Mad Max blew past someone on the right, just to pass, using an off-ramp as a passing lane then getting back on the freeway, which neither I or the other driver appreciated or thought necessary.

I do admire the progression over the past year however, looking forward to the future.

“For me FSD needs better navigation choice and smarter lane choice. FSD likes to get into the right lanes at every freeway merger where congestion occurs, when staying left easily suffices when continuing on the freeway.”

I agree with these. I cannot go more than 15-20 miles (and that is because my commute is 15-20 miles) in my local area without an intervention. They are always navigation /lane choice related, and they are NOT edge cases. I use FSD for every drive (so I like it a lot) but for me to trust it enough to take my eyes off the road more than 5 seconds Tesla has to fix these navigation and lane choice issues - and it has to jettison the cowboy driving attitude completely.

 

[AlDente]

I was taught to drive in the mid 1960's by my brother-in-law (7 years older) who forced me to always be alert scanning my surroundings. His father owned a logging company and we drove everything from Peterbilt 18 wheel log haulers to skip loaders and bulldozers. That training never left me and nearly 1M driving miles later, with zero at fault accidents, I consider myself a safe and capable driver.

My first experience with FSD was a 2018 Model X and it was a vehicle I loved to drive but being an old HW 2.5 car, FSD was unreliable and at times, scary and with that damn steering wheel NAG it was so annoying I never used it. I was convinced FSD would never be true self driving.

In Jan 2025 I sold the Model X and bought a Model Y DM that came with an FSD trial subscription (there was no FSD transfer at that time) and so I gave it a try. I picked it up in South San Francisco and it drove me 114 miles to my home just east of Sacramento with perhaps 2 interventions that were NAV related, not safety. I was amazed at the progress of FSD on HW4 cars and I ended up purchasing FSD a year later and then traded in that Model Y with FSD transfer to my current 2026 Cybertruck.

The point of this longish story is that I was a very strong skeptic of FSD up until that Model Y. In the 18 months since that time FSD has driven over 90% of my miles driven. My wife who was also a skeptic due to the Model X FSD came around and now uses FSD daily on her 2024 Juniper Model 3. We use FSD all the time but I will never buy a Robotaxi or Cybercab because there are still times I enjoy driving and want to make all the choices.

As hard as it is for me to admit, FSD is overall, a safer driver than I am. It's 360 degree awareness and amazing reaction times are much better than my 74 Y/O self can do. I've put FSD through some very challenging driving conditions/situations and it has passed every test with flying colors. While a few annoyances still exist (parking and NAV choices) I do trust FSD to keep me and my family safe on the road. The amazing part of this is that FSD will only improve with time and will within my life time make all driving in all conditions much safer than any human driver could be and that means you too.

 

[cyberjeff25]

Just took a 4,800 mile trip from Temecula Calif to Knoxville tn and back. Drove in the cyberbeast 750 miles a day - three days up and three days back-

Used FSD 95% of the time, through rain, fog, night- and not one intervention on any road. We took hwy 40. Charging was easy. The system would have us charge to about a 20% reserve to the next charge station, and our stops were typically 10-25 minutes - and nav would say” you can continue your drive”.

Here are the negatives:

1) pot holes - right into pot holes
2) 70% the truck would pull into a charger depot and back into a charger bay - but 30% it got confused by the parking lot layout around all the chargers. Had to take control not for any safety reasons just because the poor thing was confused- sometimes it would just pull into any parking spot and sulk. Tesla should watch how humans navigate parking lots and keep this data to learn every parking lot layout - particularly when heading to recharge. Eventually it should “know” every parking lot across the country. I thought maybe even a “learn” button - when it is heading to recharge but gives up trying to maneuver to a charger bay and stops driving in frustration- a learn button could hav the car learn from the human than taking control and putting the car into a charger location. After storing this info for this location/ the data could be uploaded and combined with similar data from other Tesla drivers. It could build a database at least on parking lots with charger systems.

I would like this learn button for navigating to my garage which requires going through a gate and up a long long curvy driveway to the garage. It gets confused about 50% of the Time and heads for my neighbors driveway requiring I take the wheel.

3) maybe allow me to set maximum tailgating distance like on adaptive cruise control. I always avoid tailgating and stay way back from a car in front of me - to avoid thrown rocks, and provide time to avoid debris exiting from underneath the car in front of me. Also much safer- I would like to set “ car lengths behind” the car in front. I have heard seven car lengths at over 70 is a good rule but maybe a range from 3 to 10 car lengths could be selected. Has anyone had their truck react to say a large piece of truck tread unexpectedly flying out from under the car ahead? Whs happens if a squirrel is on the road ahead or say a deer - does the truck brake asap but will stay straight and hit the animal or veer off wildly off the road to avoid contact at all costs? The latter gets a lot of drivers in their graves. Violently slamming on the brakes could also get occupants hurt. I would try to avoid hitting an animal but won’t risk driving off the road into a tree etc- just to avoid killing an animal.

4) my truck pulled over twice rather abruptly- but not dangerously and each time this was unexpected - but five seconds later Zi hear the siren from behind. It hear me better than I do. Some mention sudden moves to pull to the right and stop. My bet is it heard a siren like sound from somewhere that the driver does not hear. If the siren noises disappears than it continues.

5) truck stopped dutifully for a school bus heading our way - while the red lights were flashing. And then proceeded cautiously when the school bus red lights stopped flashing. Also I had the truck slow to crawl pass a school zone and than once past continue at normal speed limit. So it does try to react to necessary slow areas.

6) when parking in a spot the truck will not discriminate against handicap spot. I would think it I would be easy to recognize the handicap signs or the blue lines around a handicap spot or the handicap logo on the pavement in front of a handicap spot. Conversely once it can “see” handicap spots, it could prioritize finding these parking spots when this setting is checked in the safety category of selected options.

7) let Grok control more settings and commands - even to taking verbal suggestions like “ following too close” or “clean the windshield” or “no” when heading to a parking spot that is not appropriate, maybe “turn up the temperature” - why not integrate Grok with the fast push of the voice button voice command set so pushing the voice button just gets you a single voice command system - which is Grok alone.

8) on surface streets wherever there are cyber cabs operating why not add a setting “taxi mode” so my truck drives itself just like the cyber cabs are doing? As the cyber cabs operating territory is expanded so would my trucks fully autonomous operating range as well. They did merge the cab and the personal vehicle sfd systems I understand.

9) just a thought- but I assume it is legal now for a person to crawl into the back seat of a self driving vehicle - drunk - and not be liable for drunk driving violation. So once autonomous - one should be able to get into the passenger seat or the back seats of my cybertruck and have it take me home and not be violating any alcohol level legally. Courts could mandate that incorrigible convicted people ONLY use FSD on the road and they must be in the back seat!

Musk is going to be responsible for saving tens of thousands of lives in the very near future-

10) except for parking lots - my 4,800 mile trip - 750 miles a day - proved that theFSD system is really fully autonomous and should be selectable as an option by the end of the year - this will enable owners who don’t see well at night, or know they are too sleepy and worse- have had a few drinks to sit in the back seats or even the passenger front seat and allow the vehicle to navigate home safely- avoiding killing other people and themselves.

11) how about Tesla starts advertising and showing the abilities of FSD so this capability is better known by non- Tesla people so that all my friends and relatives will not think I am a Tesla cult devotee that has lost my mind when I explain verbally the virtues of the FSD system. They mostly nod and feel sorry for me for being some cult fan boy and my liberal friends I just say this stuff because I am a maga supporter. The ads could explain how they calculated that FSD driven cars are eight times safer for the occupants over human driving for example. Musk needs to do some public mass promotion of what FSD actually does.

When I tell others my cyberbeast drive us 4,800 miles flawlessly across hwy 40 - they sympathetically smile and utter “sure it did”. And I “ really it drove 4,800 miles!- really” . I realize this is the same reaction that would follow my proclaiming I saw a ghost last night in my home or that I spotted a flying saucer in the sky….
Help us out Elon- spend some advertising money to educate drivers across the country that the age of self driving cars is really here and that only Tesla has a fully functioning system today for only $99 a month you too can have a fully capable private chauffeur every day and every mile while on the road. Equity! Now every American can have a chauffeur driven car - not only the billionaires!

 

[cyberjeff25]

I have several monthly critical disengagements related to FSD diving off the road to make way for emergency vehicles that aren't there, brake checking people to stop for birds or passing school busses, and lately, sporadically giving up during easy left turns.

I will certainly admit that the best releases of FSD can generally do the easiest 80% of driving more consistently than humans and in that sense, it is no doubt adding safety across many miles covered, but these days the bar is pitifully low.

For the hardest / most complex 20% of scenarios, it is still a long, long ways off. I am constantly disengaging for lanes merging, one-way railroad underpasses, huge potholes, road kill and debris, poor nav, very poor speed control, unwillingness to pull out in sizeable gaps, not getting over early enough for exits, passing too close to pedestrians, and on and on.

Personally, if I got into an accident with someone and saw they had a giant Ipad mounted in front of their steering wheel, I would be suing them for everything they're worth. This kind of crap is why Tesla owners get a bad rep.

Your deluded and these statements you make are made by someone who has not upgraded to the latest FSD version/ or likely does not even own a Tesla with FSD- your statements are simply not accurate.

 

[Engi_Nerd]

Your deluded and these statements you make are made by someone who has not upgraded to the latest FSD version/ or likely does not even own a Tesla with FSD- your statements are simply not accurate.

You caught me. I spend my time posting highly-specific criticisms of FSD 14.3 because (checks notes) I do not own a Tesla and am simply overcome with jealousy.

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