FSD beta, my notes from 3 weeks of using it

I got the FSD (Full self-driving) beta 3 weeks ago and have driven about 500 miles since then with about 90% using FSD. For those that don't know, the FSD beta program started earlier this year with some employees and maybe a few hundred selected people. About 6 or 8 weeks ago Tesla put a "button" on their app that allowed any owner to request FSD. But first you had to have your driving safety monitored by the car and you would only get the beta if you had a score of 99 or 100.

FSD beta goes beyond the normal Auto Pilot in that it drives on city streets, makes turns, lane changes, etc and the driver has to watch the road and keep hands on the steering wheel. There are numerous You Tube videos you can watch.

Sorry, this review is long, but still does not include all my notes.
Executive Summary: FSD does some things well, others not so well. It is really not ready to be called "beta" in my opinion since there are too many simple errors that should have been fixed by now, based on many months of other drivers using it.

These notes are based on my normal daily trips. I did not go out of my way to try stress FSD, like I'm sure I could. This is only a partial list of issues I've found so far. I've made over a dozen bug reports to Tesla with captured videos they get from the car along with other info.

I tried chill, average and assertive modes...not a lot of difference, IMO.

Generally freeway/highway driving works well (this is part of the normal Auto Pilot)
Also, so far, the car is 100% at stopping for red light and stop signs, then proceeding when the green light for a lane turns on. Also it is very good at safely changing lanes and the new visualization highlights cars in the blind spot and/or the one last car it is waiting for to make a lane change or turn safe.

Here are some issues, failures and surprises.
Two easy things that I can't believe don't work better at this point:

1. Turn signals
The distance before a turn that the signal comes on varies from ~75 ft in advance to just 10-15 ft for a 40-50 mph road...even though the Navigation voice is saying turn right in xx feet the signal often stays off till later.
I'm very sensitive to this because I'm watching all the surrounding cars extra carefully.

2. Setting the Speed limit
If you dial back the limit, say, from 35 to 30 mph, then the street now transitions to a 40 mph limit you suddenly accelerate from 30 to 40 mph, not 35.
I'm not sure this is how it should work. Maybe an audible alert should be sounded when this happens.
Following the full speed limit all the time works OK, except that in a few places it sets the limit to 65 mph on freeway on ramps, sometimes, even when there is a sharp turn and merge before actually getting on the freeway.

Courtesy
The car stops with way too much space behind cars waiting for a green light. At least 10 ft too much I think.
This is especially bad when a left turner can't get into their mostly empty lane.
If you touch the accelerator to creep up the brakes slam on when you let up even if you are going just 1-2 mph. (same behavior as before FSD)
I generally take over and fix errors the car is making when any cars are around, but I have gotten honked at and stared at for not moving/turning quickly...people probably think I'm on my cell phone.

Turns.
1. Left turns
The car often makes left turns with squarish corners, rather than rounded arcs. This is a bit scary when there are two left turn lanes in each direction. It appears that you are going to run into the oncoming left turners
Turns are often a bit jerky with the steering wheel rapidly turning one way then the other to line up in the middle of the lane.

2. Right turns
Sometimes smooth, but other times very hesitant, stopping, creeping, stopping before deciding to go.
Numerous times I took over because cars behind would have been annoyed.

The car does not move over to the right to make a right turn like most cars do into the extra wide space in the road. This is a problem because another car or bike could move into this space.
Another failure: A 3-lane each way road near a high school was redone about a year ago (the right hand lane became a right turn only as part of a bike lane remodel)
I was in the right lane and I used the turn signal to get the car to move to the middle lane to avoid this a few blocks in advance.
A while later the car changed back to the right hand lane
There were few cars around so I wanted to see what would happen as the cross street with right turn only approached. The car drove right up to the crosswalk and stopped at the green light
with an error that said I had to take control. So it "saw" the right turn only sign but could not avoid it and move left or anticipate it earlier. I probably would have been rear ended if a car was behind me.
Note that since they put in this accident-attractor remodel, I have seen numerous cars just drive straight through the right turn only lane because the lane continues and buses are allowed to do this.

3. Parking lot navigation
I've tried starting from a parking lot a few times. Sometimes it just gives up or I take over because other cars are around and the car is too hesitant starting/stopping.
FSD is generally very hesitant, creeping out to the street even though visibility is good and no cars are coming.

Speed bumps. Drove right over one, but the next time from the opposite direction I noted that the visualization showed the speed bump and the car slowed down...but 3 ft too early.
It started accelerating before the bump.

4. Roundabouts.
I drove twice through the same one. Signage says yield on entry but the car always stopped, creeped, stopped then proceeded properly.
(4 times now, same results)

U turns.
The navigation once said to make a U turn to get to a store on the other side of the center divider.
The car went to an official left/U-turn turnout, but made a left turn, not a U turn, even though there was plenty of room and no traffic. By coincidence, the left turn went to a cul-de-sac and the car drove to the end, stopped and said I must take over.

Surprises.
1. After an evening workout I was driving home and the windows were fogging up a bit.
FSD turned on the windshield wipers and squirted washer fluid to clear the windshield!
I was about to turn on the defroster when this happened.

2. Efficiency. Often I see some horrendous wh/mile numbers compared to what I usually achieve as the car seems to accelerate hard and regen/brake hard.
But as I monitored it, on average, FSD is getting less than 200 wh/mile while my long term average is about 206. (Horrendous = 300 to 400 wh/mile in the first mile or two of a trip)

3. Construction zones. Right two lanes of a 3 lane road were blocked with cones (filling potholes, maybe). The car was able to merge to the left in heavy traffic without being awkward, then it moved back to the right for an upcoming right turn. However, it wasn't aggressive enough to get all the way to the right turn lane as other cars, infrequently, kept coming. It nosed into the lane then backed off twice yielding to the light traffic. Another time a freeway entrance was totally blocked with cones The car made no attempt to turn, drove right by and the Nav rerouted to another ramp.

Mike

 

There is a trick to this...opt out, then opt back in the next day and your score resets.

Mike

 

I got a new FSD update a couple of days ago.
I've submitted more than a dozen or two bug reports based what I wrote earlier in #1.
Can't tell that any have been fixed/improved, except one thing I don't think I wrote above.
This was a suggestion that when driving next to a bike lane with bicyclists to move left a couple of feet if it is safe (no oncoming traffic)
FSD now does this. The left tires actually hit the road dots. I haven't encountered case with oncoming traffic yet.

But I found a new bug. I have the CA HOV stickers and in the navigation tab you can select to use the HOV lanes or not.
I have always had this enabled. But my stickers expired on Jan 1, so I turned it off.
On a road with HOV lanes on the right side, in preparing for a right turn FSD moves into those lanes way too early, such that if caught I'd get a ticket. In general, FSD moves into the lanes needed for turns long in advance just to be safe.

Mike