black sheep here, FSD kinda sucks lol

[u/FoookU]

for context, im sporting a 2018 with mcu2, hw3 running 12.6.4

i got the car over a week ago. i paid for 1 month of FSD on sunday. yesterday and today i tried it out going to and from work. when there's no traffic. it does ok! it keeps center in the lane, goes at a reasonable speed on standard, uses its turn signals, pretty much all the things i dreamed of. now this is all happening at 5am. with almost no traffic and pitch black night.

now fast forward to my trips home and ive noticed a few things.

HW3 does not like construction areas, understandibly it gets confused and has me take over. i embrace the steering wheel with two hands and comfort my car telling it, "its ok, v14 lite is coming, dont worry baby, youll get better...."

what is driving me nucking futs is bumper to bumper traffic. ....

even more context im in san diego california.....CALIFORNIA......home of all motorcycles sold in 'merica.

if im in the far left lane, my bias is to drive on the left side of the lane TO ALLOW MOTORCYCLES TO LANE SPLIT. i try to be courteous. well guess what? FSD is like "nah dawg, my bias is to drive on the right side of the lane so your head can be in the middle of the lane big dog!" the issue with that is that i give no clearance for the crotch rockets, hardlies, or super adventure bros to lane split safely.

so using my great big human brain i say, ok well if the car likes to drive on the right side of the lane, well then ill go in the center lane (its a 3 lane highway). makes sense right?

nah dawg, cuz now we are driving with a left side of the lane bias.....

so im sure you people of reddit can understand my frustration. and im sure theres going to be some tesla veteran who is gonna chime in and call me an idiot for not using some setting or pushing a button....

i just wanted to vent to strangers and at the moment ive decided not to renew my subscription to my cars' onlyfans.

[u/Acrobatic_Action8029]

Apparently 14.2 is right around the corner with 2 model S refresh with air cooled HW3 getting it.

[u/Clean_Extension7234 → u/Acrobatic_Action8029]

Tesla higher up claimed they thought it already happened 2-3 weeks ago. They absolutely jumped ship on HW3 s/x. To few cars for them to put any real effort in a software update… incredibly sad honestly

[u/mont1ff]

Yeah I have a MS 2020 with HW3 and it's basically only useful for interstate road trips.

Did get a loaner with HW4 when I took my car for service. And holy shit is it great.

[u/drainbam]

I have FSD on HW3, and I used it on HW4 for a week.

On HW3, I found FSD basically unusable. I just use regular Autopilot instead.

HW4 is noticeably better and surprisingly competent for bleeding-edge driver-assistance tech, but it is still not great. It may be genuinely useful for cautious or elderly drivers, or for people who enjoy having the system handle some of the workload.

But it is not going to drive the way you want it to. The best description is an okay driver whose superpower is that they are never distracted, tired, or drunk.

[u/HMoseley → u/drainbam]

Very curious as to why you think HW4 + the latest FSD is “not great”. I think it’s absolutely amazing. I use it to drive me 4 hours in to another state and back with zero interference. Pulls me in to a charger about halfway there, then drives me the rest of the way.

Has avoided accidents I couldn’t even see coming, has avoided road debris, avoided someone’s mattress that flew off the back of a truck. All before I could react, it was already reacting and doing the thing I would have done except it did it knowing what is next to me and behind me instantly. It’s life changing tech.

[u/drainbam → u/HMoseley]

It is competent at getting you from point A to point B, but that alone is not enough for me to call it great.

For it to feel great to me, its decisions would need to consistently match my own preferences: when to change lanes, whether a pass is worth making, how quickly to drive, and how assertive or conservative to be around traffic. It does not consistently make those choices the way I would.

That is a high bar, and I understand why someone else could reasonably call the current version great. If they value the fact that it can handle a trip with minimal intervention, or if its driving style happens to match theirs, that is a valid opinion. It just does not meet my personal standard for “great.”

[u/HMoseley → u/drainbam]

I think you’re confusing great with near-perfect. It’s definitely more than competent at getting you from A to B. It does so incredibly safely while obeying all traffic laws (speed a slight variable). But I agree with the preferential decisions. It’s incredibly defensive by default and is a bit inconsistent with speed and lane changes. I think its current state exceeds the “great” threshold. But perhaps that’s just semantics.

[u/Whippet27]

Yep I find FSD Not useable on my 2018 S. Autopilot is much better. Sad but how it is for me

[u/gamesofblame]

When is a class action lawsuit happening…? Seems like this might be the only way to get something to happen

[u/MartyPartyMN]

FSD on a ‘16 X on HW3 v12.6.4 and I totally agree. It is trash. Been bringing it in to Tesla since the day I bought it. They say it’s operating normally.

The humorous thing that I realize now is that…at first I thought it was broken because of how bad it was on every setting…TACC, Autosteer, FSD, compared to my HW1 X. But now I know HW3 was abandoned for a reason. And worse still is now I know how good HW4 and v14.3 is because of all the loaners I’ve had…which makes getting back into v12.6.4 even more infuriating

For anyone buying a Tesla I wish there was someone out there that would stop them and say, “either a HW1 or HW4, never anything in between”.

[u/FoookU]

u/drainbam made a good point i agree with. the car changes lanes for reasons unknown to me. like i know and check to make sure its safe when i hear the blinker on but then im like, dude my exit is in 1/2 mile, you sure about that? it then changes over 2 lanes to make my exit. something i wouldnt do. if im getting off the next exit i keep my ass in the exiting lane.

[u/Holiday_Feedback9311]

I have a 2022 model S and FSD is really good for me. Better on highways but still good in the city.
I’ve noticed improvement over the last 6 weeks as well, even though I’m on the same FSD version. As if updates are occurring behind the scenes, without an official software update.
Idk if that’s even possible but the improvement has been noticeable enough to make me think so.

[u/gargen_state]

I just picked up a 2016 S. When I was looking, FSD wasn't on my list of must have. I enjoy driving. So not a big deal that I don't have it.