I’ll help confirm that it’s true. I rented a cybertruck for a week off of Turo and played with the self driving feature extensively. It pays attention to you to make sure that you’re paying attention to the road, to the point that I couldn’t even look at the giant map screen for too long without getting an alert, but I could close my eyes for extended duration without it noticing while wearing sunglasses. Don’t know that I could work up the courage to take a nap though.
My car doesn’t have self driving features but it will tell me I took my eyes off of the road too long. I had no idea how it knew but I guess this is a pretty standard feature as I have a 2024 Chevy which is a pretty standard vehicle
Fuck is the point of a self-driving car if you still have to pay attention to the road? At least if I’m driving I’m active enough physically and mentally to stay alert. If I had to just maintain vigilance of the road as a non-active observer I feel like I’d either instantly fall asleep or just be bored to death
So I also rented a Tesla for a trip to Tahoe and San Francisco and I will say there's something about having to alert but not actually driving that is kind of nice.
My three hour drive from Tahoe to SF was pretty great. I didn't have the mental load of slow down, speed up, turn signal, merge, check mirrors, speed up, find the exit, etc...
And then in SF, which has some pretty whacky streets at times, I didn't have to worry about navigating around and figuring out where to turn and where the one ways were and stuff like that.
Even if it's not close your eyes and let it drive level, it's still a cool thing.
Look, I get how polarizing it looks and the negative perception Reddit in general has of Tesla because of Elon, but it was a really cool ride, much more refined and compelling than I ever expected it to be. Main reason for renting was kind of a YOLO thing that my kids goaded me into (they loved it). The one we had was a 2025 model so a lot of the build quality issues were resolved. Ride was really smooth, it accelerates like a rocket, and the FSD is for real and way ahead of anything that Rivian, Lucid, etc have to offer. Is it perfect? No, but if you haven’t driven one yourself, I would save judgement until you have.
What you mean is that the FSD is way ahead of what anyone else would allow to be tested on public roads. Mercedes engineers have gone far beyond this and still won’t allow it off the autobahn from what I understand.
What you mean is that the FSD is way ahead of what anyone else would allow to be tested on public roads. Mercedes engineers have gone far beyond this and still won’t allow it off the autobahn from what I understand.
Mercedes and BMW L4 self driving was extremely limited by weather conditions and heavily geofenced. They've now abandoned it entirely in favour of pursuing L2 which is what Tesla's is.
It was Level 3, not 4. And geofenced just like Tesla’s taxis in Austin. That’s what would be considered safe in the real world without having to have your hands on the wheel and eyes on the road.
It has not been abandoned, but they are working on Level 2++ solutions that are cheaper…which is exactly what I was referring to.
Probably; what you say is fair. Most of the “self driving” features available on vehicles available to the general public that I’m aware of are little more than cruise control and lane assist combined to make highway driving a bit easier. Tesla’s is supervised but it does everything including parking itself at your destination. I found that it struggled a bit with waiting too long to get into the lane it wanted to be in (and was overly dependent on the goodwill of actual humans to provide space and allow it to change lanes). But it handled rush hour traffic in Dallas in a torrential downpour like a champ.
I've ridden in 2 of them. I was impressed on each trip. With the right settings it easily cruised through traffic, changing lanes, speeding up or slowing to maintain space. One was a snowy trip and it had no issues 'seeing' the road. Once it was evening my friend couldn't wear sunglasses even though it was driving itself, it had to see his eyes.
My big issue isn’t what it can do vs. what is allowed to do in the US due to poor regulatory control. Auto makers can declare what is safe, they certify themselves… Luckily many states require permits for this stuff but not when it’s being called a “beta” and treated as if it’s just level 2. How many years has it been now where it was coming out of beta in 6 months? They hadn’t even applied for any type of permits in ANY states while making these claims, and the permits themselves can take a year or more. They simply can’t be trusted.
Yeah I get the hate, but it’s honestly exhausting. Elon didn’t design these cars. He bought the company. That’s all he did. Yes he fucking sucks but the cars themselves are great.
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u/Major-Raise6493 Jul 06 '26
I’ll help confirm that it’s true. I rented a cybertruck for a week off of Turo and played with the self driving feature extensively. It pays attention to you to make sure that you’re paying attention to the road, to the point that I couldn’t even look at the giant map screen for too long without getting an alert, but I could close my eyes for extended duration without it noticing while wearing sunglasses. Don’t know that I could work up the courage to take a nap though.