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From Highway Assist to Hands-Free-Assist & Lane change assist - An Air Positive review

chris

chris

Active Member

Verified Owner
Joined
Jan 20, 2022
Messages
362
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249
Location
Mount Prospect, IL
Cars
2023 Lucid Air Pure AWD
Referral Code
KDGO18C2
I'm one of the early adopters so when I 1st got my car in 2023, the Highway assist was still what I would consider in its infancy and very limited. I honestly didn't even use it that much because of how often it would be in areas where it wasn't supported and it became annoying to use (not to mention the 'death grip' one had to keep on the steering wheel to have the system recognize you were actually still touching and gripping the wheel.

Anyway-- let's fast forward to 2026 more than 3 years later! It's nice to see a software update improve things!

So I only just got the 2.10 update and yesterday had the 1st time I got the opportunity to use it AND it happened to be in a very low visibility downpour. Lidar does what it's supposed to because it really helped me in what could have been a super stressful drive! No I didn't take photos because I was still paying 100% attention to the road in case I had to intervene in a hurry BUT I gained confidence as we went along (about 18 miles in my case) but wow the lane change with directional signal is fantastic! The 'hand's free' is a far cry from constantly having the car tell me the system will cancel for me not having my hands on the steering wheel too! What a night and day difference to the system being okay with me either having a light grip or not even touching the steering wheel at all times. I have no problem paying attention to the road as I'm still not 100% convinced I can completely rely on the car to constantly do the right thing on its own but so far I'm pretty darn impressed and pleased! I'm sure there's going to be situations (like construction zones) where the system won't function and that's okay too (and likely safer).

Anyway, not sure how many others have used it yet and/or if you've encountered issues in certain circumstances? I'm sure they exist as I've seen all the problems with FSD but Tesla doesn't have Lidar either!
 
I've been impressed with it too.
BTW in hands-on mode, the wheel responds to torque (gentle steering force), not to grip force. You could keep it happy with one finger.
 
PJW said:
I have a '23 Air Touring with Dream Drive Pro. Hands Free Drive Assist works very well on designated highways. Makes road trips much easier.
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It should be nice to use on our next trip in December driving down to Phoenix from Chicago! Hopefully it'll be working for most of those major highways!
 
Don’t use it in construction zones, to darn many paint lines to figure out which is correct. Pity is many people also have the same issue, just wish they wouldn’t while next to me.
 
Aka-none said:
Don’t use it in construction zones, to darn many paint lines to figure out which is correct. Pity is many people also have the same issue, just wish they wouldn’t while next to me.
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yeah, that makes total sense
 
What I find most fortunate is that you still actively observe and handle situations, as I see many drivers of such high-tech vehicles tending to let their guard down and leave control entirely to the car's system.
 
I've used it a little bit so far and have been pretty impressed. I am a little annoyed at the visual nag though. I should be able to change the "radio station" without getting a nag. It's something I would be doing even if I wasn't using hands free so I'm not sure why it's so strict.
 
Aka-none said:
Don’t use it in construction zones, to darn many paint lines to figure out which is correct. Pity is many people also have the same issue, just wish they wouldn’t while next to me.
Click to expand...

chris said:
yeah, that makes total sense
Click to expand...
Over my 8 months of ownership I have witnessed DDP improve from being super conservative in terms of when and where I can use it to being appropriately cautious. In a recent 1,700 mile roundtrip vacation drive I used DDP extensively. The behavior in construction zones was interesting and confidence inspiring.
  • Approaching the construction zones I would get an alert that hands-free would be disengaging soon.
  • It would switch to Drive Assist while entering the construction zone.
  • If the construction was fairly straight forward (lane closure with barrels, lane shifts) it would give me back hands-free capability and navigate through the construction like a champ.
Pleasant surprise!

The times it didn't give it back were when there was a confusing array of old and new lines on the pavement.
 
martinjlm said:
Over my 8 months of ownership I have witnessed DDP improve from being super conservative in terms of when and where I can use it to being appropriately cautious. In a recent 1,700 mile roundtrip vacation drive I used DDP extensively.
Click to expand...
That's inspiring. I'm planning a 3400 mile road trip for next July, and I intend to use DDP whenever possible.
 
I often drive in the HOV lands but DDP seems to believe the left hand lane is only for passing and won't stay there - is there a way to let it know that the lane is ok to drive in and that's my intention?
 
Bill.gartner said:
I often drive in the HOV lands but DDP seems to believe the left hand lane is only for passing and won't stay there - is there a way to let it know that the lane is ok to drive in and that's my intention?
Click to expand...
You could turn off auto lane change.
 
chris said:
I'm one of the early adopters so when I 1st got my car in 2023, the Highway assist was still what I would consider in its infancy and very limited. I honestly didn't even use it that much because of how often it would be in areas where it wasn't supported and it became annoying to use (not to mention the 'death grip' one had to keep on the steering wheel to have the system recognize you were actually still touching and gripping the wheel.

Anyway-- let's fast forward to 2026 more than 3 years later! It's nice to see a software update improve things!

So I only just got the 2.10 update and yesterday had the 1st time I got the opportunity to use it AND it happened to be in a very low visibility downpour. Lidar does what it's supposed to because it really helped me in what could have been a super stressful drive! No I didn't take photos because I was still paying 100% attention to the road in case I had to intervene in a hurry BUT I gained confidence as we went along (about 18 miles in my case) but wow the lane change with directional signal is fantastic! The 'hand's free' is a far cry from constantly having the car tell me the system will cancel for me not having my hands on the steering wheel too! What a night and day difference to the system being okay with me either having a light grip or not even touching the steering wheel at all times. I have no problem paying attention to the road as I'm still not 100% convinced I can completely rely on the car to constantly do the right thing on its own but so far I'm pretty darn impressed and pleased! I'm sure there's going to be situations (like construction zones) where the system won't function and that's okay too (and likely safer).

Anyway, not sure how many others have used it yet and/or if you've encountered issues in certain circumstances? I'm sure they exist as I've seen all the problems with FSD but Tesla doesn't have Lidar either!
Click to expand...
Our only issue is the lane change speed. The quick change isn’t the best for our daughter’s tendency for motion sickness. Wishing there was an option for a bit smoother lane change.
 
martinjlm said:
Over my 8 months of ownership I have witnessed DDP improve from being super conservative in terms of when and where I can use it to being appropriately cautious. In a recent 1,700 mile roundtrip vacation drive I used DDP extensively. The behavior in construction zones was interesting and confidence inspiring.
  • Approaching the construction zones I would get an alert that hands-free would be disengaging soon.
  • It would switch to Drive Assist while entering the construction zone.
  • If the construction was fairly straight forward (lane closure with barrels, lane shifts) it would give me back hands-free capability and navigate through the construction like a champ.
Pleasant surprise!

The times it didn't give it back were when there was a confusing array of old and new lines on the pavement.
Click to expand...
We have noticed IF road is new & hasn’t been stripped the “post-it notes” the construction puts down to indicate the lanes really puts our ‘25 AGT on the “ping pong” lane identifying routine.
 
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