Our neighbor has a Model Y that is one generation behind the recently introduced one. He reports having made a 4-hour trip from Gainesville (home of University of Florida, which needs to branch out!) without once touching the steering wheel. I wonder if this supports a “yes” answer to Do self-driving cars work better in states with modern road networks, such as Florida?
A friend who is rich enough to pay $900/month to garage his Tesla X in Manhattan reports regular 3-hour trips to what he refers to as “Long Island” (fake humble; I suspect “the Hamptons” is more accurate) and intervening on average less than once per trip. The FSD feature was one of the reasons he was willing to purchase a second home that is so far away.
This CyberTruck in our neighborhood the other day is beginning to look better with every report like the above that I hear.
In other car news, Waymo is coming to Miami (this does not support my theory that Florida is easy because they say that the intermittent heavy rain in Florida interferes with their self-driving system (LIDAR?), though maybe a vision-based system such as Tesla’s is just as degraded and nobody cares because there is always a backup human available in the “supervised” FSD).
The Breakers hotel in Palm Beach has a fleet of EVs for ferrying guests around. They apparently didn’t want cars with a Nazi affiliation so, instead of Tesla, they’re using Maybach/Mercedes EQS 680s:
Also from The Breakers, a photo showing how much more beautiful cars have become over the years as humanity has advanced in aesthetic capability. In front we see a hideous old car and in the background the beautiful Chevrolet Suburban and the sinuous Mercedes G-Wagen (also Nazi-free):
The jalopy in the photo is, according to ChatGPT, “a 1963–1966 Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud III”.
Reminds me of an other collection of luxurious vehicles.
https://en.chateauversailles.fr/discover/estate/great-stables/gallery-coaches#in-the-heart-of-the-great-stables
Don’t lose your head over a car! Ça ira!
Les aristocrates on les pendra!
Would have to hear it from someone who’s not paying for the Tesla. Even if only the freeway sections were fully automatic, that would be pretty good. Time for Greenspun to nix the Cirrus & go all in on cars.
I already wrote here about a friend in Colorado who sang the praises of FSD in Los Angeles (his sister’s Tesla). So there are positive reports from those who haven’t supported the Nazi Party (Elon).
From a safety perspective, I wouldn’t be surprised if FSD performance already exceeded the average driver today. I see so many people texting while driving now.
On the other hand, FSD is going to make this practice more prevalent, perhaps with some Disney movies thrown in for good measure!
When FSD actually works, there will be a massive increase in long commutes. This will increase traffic significantly around high cost big cities.
G C: In addition to long commutes there will be more people on the road who would otherwise be reluctant to do a long trip, e.g., old people with poor eyesight. Without a working FSD they wouldn’t want to do a trip in the dark, but now they won’t have any qualms about having their self-driving car take them to an evening event and then back home.
Have you tried Deep Seek? My 2 sons say the little whale has surpassed ChatGPT
Mark: not yet. I am a creature of habit so I started w ChatGPT and have stuck with it mostly.
A buddy just got the newest version (with hardware 4) of the model Y with FSD. From the dealership where he picked it up to his house is an hour drive of massively busy freeway traffic, interchanges, complicated exit ramps, etc. He arrived home without touching gas, brake, or steering wheel. He took me on a relatively short trip from the office, and I was quite impressed. Like having a competent uber driver take you around. Pretty nice!
Anon: I feel about the 3 and Y the way that Terry Hoitz felt about Allen Gamble’s Toyota Prius (see
https://youtu.be/MrUYnOFZc2M?si=U_Jx045UL729xp0K
for an excerpt). The CyberTruck might be a contender for our family, though! Somehow I doubt that it could hold anywhere near the amount of stuff that we put into the Honda Odyssey for trips. We had 5/8 seats in our Odyssey occupied for a lunch trip today. That would have been 5/5 seats in the CyberTruck. Admittedly, we need more than 5 seats only for a handful of trips.
Two guys in our tennis klatch rave about their FSD. Les has a 2020 Model 3 with HW3, and Eric has a Y with HW4. After tennis, somehow the conversation always seems to veer towards the Tesla driving experience.
I’ve tried out occasional free months of FSD on my 2023 S, but I’m still not ready to pony up for the $100/month subscription. Gotta admit it’s pretty cool, though.
It is nice to see more positive coverage of Tesla in this blog, fully aligned with the directives of the Dear Orange Leader. I assume soon you will also start following other directives (e.g. stop complaining about inflation or stop looking at stock prices).
On a side note, I am a Tesla owner, but since I live in the undemocratic communist Europe, I wouldn’t dream of switching on FSD, let alone pay for it. Cruise control is good enough for me (only need to use steering wheel occasionally in motorways), but still gets it wrong many times (often brakes strongly after going under an overpass; maybe it thinks we’re crashing into a truck?). Since our productivity is so low, we cannot afford to have nice, clean, and straight roads as in Florida, so road markings are often non-existent or shite, so I doubt that FSD would really know where it is going.
I noticed the same thing — “Dr” Phil has the right-wing media port placed in his brain. Used to hate Tesla/Musk, now told to love it, and does so.
Jakko: I still mostly hate Tesla due to their failure to make a minivan. The things that I hated most about them, e.g., interior noise, they seem to have fixed with the latest gen (acoustic glass as in our Honda Odyssey). I don’t have my own opinion about FSD, but those that I’ve heard have done a 180 since the fall 2024 software updates.
It would be nice to see an evaluation here on the use of comma.ai (https://www.comma.ai/
) or GM SuperCruise. After all MotorTrend trusts SuperCruise! https://www.motortrend.com/news/best-tech-2025-gm-super-cruise-driver-assistance/
Thanks for this. More evidence that I need to get a Chevy Tahoe like climate change alarmist Sen. Mark Kelly.
This appeals to me:
“A couple can make automated lane changes to pass a slower car ahead, as Super Cruise does. But Super Cruise, so far, is the only system that, once the passing is done, returns you to your lane of travel. (Any driver, be it human or electronic, that keeps to the right is right-on with us!)”
I checked the map: https://www.cadillac.com/technology/super-cruise?srsltid=AfmBOorxtl7GGP5QwTZ4G5v4ukFvV49lbq2HNP-VvGkObRChSyS0u5as
Super Cruise wouldn’t work for any of our standard trips. It’s basically just an interstate thing in our area.
The simple truth is that atm Tesla’s FSD is way beyond that anybody else has to offer in the car that you can buy.
Hi Phil,
When do you think we will have Full Self Flying (FSF?) planes, from engine start to engine stop?
Both our cars have HW3 FSD and it drives really really good – basically zero disengagements on many drives. The problem is that HW4 drives even better, and latest software is not available on HW3 anymore! I’m not upgrading though – it looks like HW5 should be out this year, and I’ll jump to HW5 directly.
Philip, it seems that for you best Tesla in seven-seater Model X. It’s basically Tesla’s minivan. My wife loves it and refuses to downsize into Model Y.
SK: I tried the X for a weekend nearly 10 years ago and kept hitting my head on the gullwing doors. I’m probably more clumsy today than I was back then. (see https://philip.greenspun.com/blog/2016/06/27/smug-rich-bastard-for-a-weekend-tesla-x-review/ )
Looking at the X right now…
2.5 seconds 0-60. I would be happy with 10 seconds in a family car.
There is no 2WD version. So now we will pay to lug around an extra motor in case it snows like it did in January 1977. It’s $101k including white paint, FSD, and a six-seat interior. That’s a lot of money for a car that will be obsolete on the day that HW5 comes out!
Why isn’t the CyberTruck as good or better? Because stuff that you want to carry has to be carried in a non-climate-controlled area? It’s only $72.5k plus $8k for FSD (which would be my main reason for getting a Tesla). I like the CyberTruck because my image of who drives a Tesla 3, Y, S, or X was formed in Massachusetts and it is a sanctimonious person indeed!
For me (or mainly my wife) main motivation for Model X vs Cybertruck is seating capacity. If 5 seats is enough for you it’s a great car, if slightly oversized for what it is.
I also have F-150 (the most comfortable car I ever owned), so my trucking needs are covered. Love this King Ranch interior!
I tried it a few months ago and hated FSD, and I love the self-steering. So, I am skeptical. But I will probably want it with HW5.
FSD got much better with latest updates in the last 2-3 months. One thing for sure is that you have to relax and let it do its thing. In particular its lane choice doesn’t match my preferences.
I noticed the same thing — “Dr” Phil has the right-wing media port placed in his brain. Used to hate Tesla/Musk, now told to love it, and does so.
Mike is a weird stalker who seems obsessed with “Dr. Phil”. If I was Phil, I’d be nervous if Mike knew where I lived.
Anon: Thanks for your concern. I think that Mike is like an Evangelical Christian trying to save a homosexual. He hates the sin, but loves the sinner. Mike seems to have known, perhaps just from reading my web site, a version of me from the 1990s that he considers superior to the current version. His goal is to bring me back to my best self, which would recognize the value of open borders, rule by Kamala Harris, expansion of local/state/federal government to 70 percent of GDP, river-to-the-sea rule by Hamas, protesting (mostly peacefully) outside Tesla dealerships, etc.
Mike does seem a little confused about the purported bromance between me and Elon. Our minivan is past its expiration date (3 years was the previous trade-in interval). I have been waiting to see if Honda or Toyota or someone will come up with an improved minivan design (didn’t want to spend $15k+ to trade in our 2021 on a literally identical 2024 or 2025 (unless you count USB-C as a $15k improvement)). Thus, if I loved Elon/Tesla nothing would be simpler than trading in the Honda Odyssey on a CyberTruck or one of the other models (about which https://youtu.be/s2DH8XLL2SU?si=d_uQ8xy8Pd7-Y-Sq expresses my feelings).
Philip also used to be a very vocal anti golf activist but has to keep that on the downlow now that he lives in Florida
not a bad idea. cybertruk still makes chonga panties fly off. fsd means no hot Cheeto dust on the steering yolk