ALL CAPS MEANS BUSINESS

Anyway apparently you don't know what a demo means.

 

45 mile drive including city streets, no autopilot disengagement, and you can buy this Tesla today.

 

I did something similar last November on our first little roadtrip from Sacramento to Bakersfield. I honestly didn't feel the need for Autopilot back then since I enjoy the act of driving, but I tried it out anyways during a 50-mile stretch of I-5 and was very impressed. Of course I was still paying attention but the system did a phenomenal job safely changing lanes, navigating turns, maintaining distance, and staying in the lane. I was surprised the difference it made in driving comfort and fatigue.

I don't really care for Smart Summon, that's too gimmicky, but the team behind Autopilot has done some.amazing work.

 

The example with tesla incorrectly reading the sign is a great example why I strongly believe full autonomous driving is never going to be viable. Look, we had text recognition software for nearly five decades and its still not 100% even when it comes to clear typed text and things get worse when it comes to formatting. When it comes to hand writing recognition it can only work in very limited fields - such as reading bank check amounts, addresses on envelopes, etc. Otherwise, it is not very useful.

Similar situation with speech recognition. It was easy for them to get the low hanging fruit and get to a certain point, but it gets exponentially harder to improve and at some point it is basically impossible to improve any further. I havent noticed any improvement in speech recognition in the last five or so years, and speech recognition doesn’t even take punctuation and slangs into account.

The same will happen with autonomous driving tech. It will reach a certain point and stall out.

 

That's a valid point and I agree that tech reaches a point of diminishing returns, but I'm still glad we have sufficiently good speech recognition, transcribed voicemails, and text-to-speech navigation. It is hard to attain perfection but not everything has to reach that level to be usable. Google Translate is plenty good enough for travel considering it has to deal with various pronunciations and people's different accents. I've been reading and writing English for almost 40 years but even I still struggle to decipher my wife's handwriting sometimes. If I have difficulty with all my years of practice then I'll give tech a passing grade.

 

Check this out:

In the Florida crash, Banner turned on the Autopilot function of his Model 3 sedan 10 seconds before the crash, then took his hands off the steering wheel, NTSB documents said. The car then drove underneath a tractor-trailer that was crossing in front of it, sheering off the car’s roof and killing Banner.

https://www.latimes.com/business/sto...opilot-crashes

 

This is very sad to hear. The sequence of events does show some drivers living on the edge and being dangerous with technology. No one should recklessly die in this manner for the purpose of 'testing' if the car can evade the tractor-trailer situation. 10 seconds is more than enough time to slow down or react to surroundings and its disheartening there was loss of life here. It's not worth it. No matter how safe a car is, crazy **** still happens. People still do distracted things... text and drive, or eat in the car and drive, or change the radio station and drive, or answer the phone and drive, or reach for something in back seat or front of seat and drive. Some drivers do not freaking care about their own life, attempt excessive DUI, or dangerously tempt suicidal situations that you cannot recover from. Any company with some form of Autopilot capabilities will have to endure situations like this to get better. It's a harsh reality to learn from when fatalities are involved.

 

So is there any end goal? The autopilot seems to be something so people can NOT be focused. If you are impaired, or want to use you cell phone etc etc...just enable autopilot and distract yourself away.

 

You can fully customize how much power you want to dial up for the front and rear motors...you can turn the car into a RWD drift machine with no nannies or FWD daily commuter with all nannies. its crazy how much customization you can do in an EV!

Tesla Model 3 Track Mode V2 explained

Every Model 3 Performance owner will receive the free upgrade packed with new features.
Soon, Tesla Model 3 Performance owners who selected the Performance Upgrade option will have yet another way to outfit their cars for more speed in a Track Package. However, Tesla also has something coming for every Model 3 Performance owner free of charge.

Tesla confirmed to Roadshow on Tuesday that Track Mode V2 has begun to roll out as a free over-the-air update. Owners do not need to purchase the new Track Package kit (a $5,500 after-purchase accessory pack) to get in on everything the updated Track Mode has to offer.

After launching in 2018, Track Mode supplied owners of the highest-performing Model 3 EVs with tweaked software to squeeze more performance from the dual-motor setup. The software shuttles torque between the front and rear wheels more effectively and dials up the dynamic capability.

So, what does the latest update actually do? To start with, owners will have numerous new options: Real-time data for the Model 3's motors, brakes, battery and tires will all be available. Further, the update adds a G-meter and an accelerometer in the Cards area of the touchscreen.
The neatest part of the update is the new Lap Timer function, though. Owners can drop a pin to create a start/finish line, and once the owner crosses the line, Track Mode V2 will provide an official lap time. Those looking to set new personal bests can compare current times with a previous lap and previous best times during a particular session, too. It sounds particularly great for those practicing their autocross skills.But, for those who actually want to track their Model 3, Tesla's done one better. Track Mode V2 includes 20 customizable slots for drivers to save track preferences. Say a driver wants the car to provide more regenerative braking on a course with more corners, or stability assist off on a different track. It's all customizable and saved for when drivers arrive at their track of choice.

For those looking for some extra bragging rights, plug in a USB. Track Mode V2 will automatically save lap sessions to the USB after the driver enables the record function. Additional data such as vehicle position, speed and acceleration will also make their way to the USB in a separate final for those who want to dive deeper.

Combined with the new Track Package, the Model 3 will certainly be an interesting machine to tackle road courses in. We can't wait to see how the latest gear and updates translate.


Drivers can set some custom driving modes with customizable levels of handling balance, stability assists, and regen.

They can even record video of their performance on the track using the new Track Mode.

It also appears to feature an accurate satellite and interactive view of the map and tracking of the laps.



The new software update should be available to all Model 3 Performance vehicles regardless of the Track hardware package, but it’s not clear when it’s going to be pushed.

Source:
https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/review...rmance-review/

 

https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/review...rmance-review/

It was CNET. There are probably better info now too out there

I find it interesting that Tesla isn't charging more for this. In theory, this is why their stock price is so high...so they can charge for features like this like an app model.

Here is a YouTube video that explains Track Mode better.

 

The OTA software enhancements is one of the great perks of owning a Tesla, which you tend to appreciate only once you experience it through ownership. This upcoming update to fully customize your M3P's performance parameters is no exception!

EZZ, post your impressions once available.

 

Tesla is awesome in this regard and this goes back to their superiority in IT development.

To think that GM or Ford can compete with them is laughable.

 

as supposed to... BMW offering free upgrades?

 

What upgrade does BMW offer?

 

at the same time its disturbing how much control a company has over your car