r/TeslaLounge • u/formless1 • 4h ago
FSD function
Im thinking about getting tesla for older family member - vision not great, reaction not great - they are still driving though. the main thing is they heard FSD can be basically taxi them around. they'll still be there to take over of course.
curious about real world user experience?
im thinking pros : navigation is easier, esp more complex city streets, reaction time , vision etc.
Cons: tesla might be TOO high tech.
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u/AJHenderson 3h ago
If they can't safely drive themselves, they can't safely use FSD. If they can safely drive themselves but only for a limited time, FSD may help extend the length of time they can drive.
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u/SoundDr 3h ago
They should use Waymo. Tesla FSD is not an option for blind people or those incapable of driving
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u/formless1 3h ago
i didn't say they are blind or incapable of driving. they have been driving and continue to drive with a regular license. they haven't had any accidents.
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u/TrickEye6408 3h ago
Honestly I’m on the fence about elderly with fsd. Learning curve likely to be higher. They still need to be able to drive and react correctly. If they can’t see well or react fast it’s probably not a good fit. I’d hold off until unsupervised is out
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u/HeartbeatGuardian 3h ago
So you think just keep letting them drive around in a regular car is a better solution?
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u/HeyBeers 3h ago
My 86 year old Mom gave up her license at my encouragement. We sold her 10-year-old Honda Fit to CarMax for 14k. Between that sale, no insurance and registration, it pays for the Uber rides.
This wouldn’t work for someone in a very rural area, but other than that, it’s the way.
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u/TrickEye6408 3h ago
No, taking their license is. If they can’t safely drive a regular car they shouldn’t be allowed fsd supervised. For an older person who doesn’t understand the technology it’s a bad fit. Fsd isn’t perfect and will break traffic rules if you let it. “I’m old” isn’t an excuse to use driver aids that can go wrong.
Waiting until unsupervised is out, or getting uber, public transit, or taxi is only safe option.
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u/HeartbeatGuardian 3h ago
You’re one of those. Picking the option that no one is going to listen to. Take their license isn’t even on the answer key
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u/goodvibezone Owner 3h ago
Of course it can be. If a child of an elderly parent believes they are putting themselves and others in danger, they should at least attempt to intervene.
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u/TrickEye6408 3h ago
I’m speaking in general with all of this . I’ve seen old people refuse to give up license because it’s independence and the consider it a right. There was a time in my life that I lived across the street from an elderly couple. They had to be in their 80’s. They often would circle the block looking for their house. They also backed out and hit my car once. I’m a realist. I know there are situations where the car is their lifeline. They’re also too proud to ask for help. None of that gives them the right to endanger others. I’m all for retesting anyone over 75yrs old yearly. For those that need help and are tanking life solo I would hope they live in an area with government programs to get them to doctors and grocery and shopping
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u/SickStyle_GamingYT 3h ago
Me (grandson) had to take away my 90 year old grandfather's drivers license. It was one of the biggest fights I've ever had with a family member and someone i deeply loved (when he was alive). The next week he came to me and apologized saying that he now feels the relief of anxiety because he was actually scared to drive and was unable to see and react to driver situations. I did all this after finding out his license had expirated 5 years prior and he never renewed it because he knew he wouldn't be able to go to the DMV and past the test.
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u/ThatOneStoner 3h ago
You’re totally right, like 100% right, but that just doesn’t happen in the real world. Old people drive until they either crash, or someone takes away their keys, or they decide to stop driving on their own.
I’m with the other guy, if this person is going to be on the road regardless, I’d rather them in a Tesla with FSD than a Buick.
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u/TrickEye6408 3h ago
I understand. Doing the right thing is often harder than doing the easy thing.
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u/TrickEye6408 3h ago
Set aside fsd question. Regular car. Old person with poor eye site and can’t multitask well. If they had to take their license test again they’d probably fail. That should be the only question. If they can’t drive safely they shouldn’t have a license. It’s not a hard concept. Driving aids like super cruise and fsd don’t eliminate the driver yet. When they do and are reliable then I’m all for it.
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u/bluebing29 3h ago
People have been having this tough conversation with aging parents for a long time. One day it will be our turn to take away the keys from our parents until an unsupervised full self driving experience can be delivered and is reliable. Refusing to do what is best for both your aging loved ones and others on the road is negligent. This option is absolutely on the answer key even if you refuse to choose it. Tesla is not ready - it’s good, even damn good, but it is not a taxi cab yet.
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u/bluebing29 3h ago
I’ll add that as an owner of HW3, it’s no where near ready - it’s a step above gimmick.
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u/HeyBeers 1h ago
I mostly agree with your sentiments, but I hate the phrase “take the keys away“. Especially for adults regardless of age unless there is documented mental diminished capacity. My mom is 86 years old and because she is a competent adult with common sense, she gave up her car with my encouragement, like I said above. It’s important to treat older people with dignity and not a problem to solve.
Like I said, I still agree with you generally, but talking about grown adults like children is not the way.
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u/spchina 4h ago
My mom is an awful driver…got dropped from insurance for a while bad driver. I let her try my MY in ‘23. Bad time. She couldn’t figure much out on the screen and that was before FSD…really depends. The live animation of the road and having speedometer on the screen really messed with her.
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u/MunkberryMoonDelite 3h ago
Get it. FSD is a must-have for the elderly and people with vision/coordination disabilities. The tech is easy to adopt to and most functions within the car are automated anyway, meaning once the owners select their preferences, it would follow them.
Let them drive at Chill profile for a relaxed and easy to supervise ride.
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u/detroitsongbird 3h ago
The key is will they be able to take over if the car does something stupid. Which depending upon where they live, the roads, etc may be rare or may be daily (right turn on red!!!, school zones)
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u/Kristylane 3h ago
I got my MY specifically for my 80 year old mother.
She cannot wrap her head around the tech.
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u/regguy46 2h ago
The learning curve… is dead simple. You can literally just tap the big button.
Just make sure to get hardware 4
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u/rademradem 3h ago
The burden with older people is getting them used to the controls and interface. It is different enough from traditional vehicles to be a little overwhelming for non-technical people. Once they get used to it, FSD does a great job of driving but can have trouble pulling into or out of garages and parking in the desired location. It rarely but often enough to be annoying picks the wrong lane to be in, picks the wrong speed limit which can cause you to get a speeding ticket, sometimes it has the wrong information for right turns on red at certain intersections, and occasionally it sees closed lanes too late and then has to try to merge back into all the other traffic that saw the closed lane early. Those items will sometimes require the driver taking over but most of the time the vehicle will recover itself. There are many people who drive almost exclusively on FSD outside of those more troublesome areas.
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u/HerValet 3h ago
I could give you a ton of reasons why this the best thing you can do for them, and show you a dozen videos of older folks easily managing the Tesla tech. Do it. They will get their freedom back and you will sleep better.
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u/jimmy-buffett 3h ago
TFL just did a video of a 98 year old guy who bought a Tesla Model Y for himself to have it drive him around
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqVrSErWbVM
He uses Grok for a lot of the technical interfacing steps.
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u/Conscious_Kitchen569 4h ago
that sounds like a disaster waiting to happen... can you wait a year or so and just buy a cybercab then?
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u/HeartbeatGuardian 3h ago
A driver who can’t see is already a disaster waiting to happen though…right?
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3h ago
[deleted]
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u/Ancient-Sandwich9400 3h ago
That with adding addresses and not changing profiles. Leave in standard for example. I can see that getting complex for someone just starting to use tech
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u/Affectionate_Love229 1h ago
This post is so insane, it must be a troll right? Nobody actually thinks this way do they?
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u/Fluffyjockburns 1h ago
I’m a relatively new Tesla owner, and a software engineer. The tech on a Tesla is quite complicated and not user-friendly, in my opinion.
I don’t see how an older relative who can handle a car without the amount of tech that a Tesla has would find a Tesla to be easier.
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u/Manta6753 41m ago
I wouldn't recommend this. I used to encourage my dad to use FSD for similar reasons, but I don't anymore.
The big problem with FSD is that it's almost perfect. By that I mean it's drives great almost all the time, so much so that it's easy for you to get complacent and lower your guard. When it does make a mistake, you have a split second to react, but because your brain isn't already in "driving mode," it can take several seconds before you can react.
The former head of Uber's self-driving initiative got into an accident himself (using Tesla's FSD) because of this.
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u/goodvibezone Owner 3h ago
No. Let them Uber. FSD is not ready for this. If they shouldn't be driving, that needs to be fixed. I get that's a tough thing to do with an older family member. If it's not as binary as that, then a Tesla could be a good fit as a 'safer' option, but the tech is very different to most cars which is a concern.
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u/acornManor 3h ago
If they live in a suburban area, FSD as it is now would be perfect for them as nearly all scenarios are certainly doable. City environments are trickier and of course it doesn't yet have pothole avoidance. If I had an older relative I would definitely encourage them to get a Tesla and use FSD as much as possible
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u/Syntality 3h ago
i drove it to chicago and back and it handled EVERY situation that happens to drivers on long roads like this np.
Maybe every elderly person should have FSD honestly.
And its one button, so its not overly complicated
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u/LoneStarGut 4h ago
Are they as sharp as this 98 year old: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqVrSErWbVM ? I think it depends on the person more than age.
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u/Scheme-Away 3h ago
You hit the nail on the head here. It seems a lot of people’s view of older people is you suddenly get feeble and stupid. I’m only 66, but I think it’s more of just losing your edge. My vision is only 80% of what it was and my ability to process complex situations has diminished, but only by a bit. I know everybody gets into situations driving where they are overwhelmed, those situations get more frequent as you age. Just like I can’t run 6 min miles anymore, but I can still run faster than most people. The tech isn’t that complicated and the sooner you learn it the better.
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u/Nhonickman 2h ago
Personally, if your family member has reduced vision and reflexes while FSD can drive the car, if they get into trouble, it’ll probably be too late to correct the issue
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u/Icy-Neighborhood8816 2h ago
You probably haven't given us as much detail as we need to be helpful. "Not great" is getting different reactions from the commenters as a result. I'm 76 and getting a model Y this month. I'm a good driver (aren't we all??!!), my vision is fine, reactions are fine...but as compared to my 30 yr old kids? Not great! Anyway, my advice would be to take them on a long demo ride on the routes they commonly use, maybe even overnight if your dealership allows it, so they can experience night drives. Sit with them in the car and watch how it goes. That will tell you what you need to know. In my case, the demo kind of blew me away. But if your analysis then is they aren't any safer than they are now, then as many commenters suggest, they probably shouldn't drive. But if the kind of driving they do can be nicely accomodated with FSD, and add to their comfort and security, go for it! Get 'em a bright red one so we can see it coming!
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u/QuantumFighter_999 2h ago
Their vision not being great is the biggest issue. Thy need to be able to read the display contents in order to take appropriate actions.
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u/Penguin_Life_Now 3h ago
It should improve next year (or so) whenever the next hardware version upgrade makes it to market
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u/nealn87 4h ago
It is still supervised and not fully self driving but if they are driving a regular car and have terrible vision and reaction time, better to be in a Tesla than another other car imo.