2.0.18 - Highway Assist Experiences

th14

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Sounds like a lot of us are finally getting 2.0.18 which includes our first taste of Highway Assist. Starting this thread so people can share their experiences specific to this build. For the general public, this is the only build with HA. I don't know how long we'll be on this version. I know the beta people are already on .19 and .20 so they can tell us how things are different/ better on those versions. But for now, let's discuss the version we've got. Good and Bad.

Here are my thoughts:

I'd give the system a grade of 7 so far. If my Tesla was an 8, this is close but still a little behind.

1. It worked! Tested it out on 3 different roads over about 100 miles today. Got confused twice. Once while passing an entrance ramp and it tried to center to the entrance ramp merge. Once on a turn which was a little scary as it left the lane.

2. It worked on a divided US Highway with traffic lights! I had assumed it was going to be Interstate only but it works on a section of US Highway. It was actually a busy section of highway with multiple lights. But between the lights, it did great. Except for where it tried to turn on me above.

3. Hands on the wheel - For those of you concerned about needing death grip, relax. It's the same as the Tesla system where you just need to nudge the wheel a bit. You could use 1 finger to turn the wheel a tiny bit and that's good enough. Good news here, it requires less force than Tesla. Just a modest movement of the wheel is enough. Yay!

4. The reminder is super annoying. I was trying to figure out why it was so much more annoying than Tesla and I realized, it's the audible alarm. Tesla flashes the screen at you first and if you correct, the flashing stops. Lucid goes straight to audible chime. Wife is not going to be happy napping with the massage on if that thing dings every 3 minutes.

5. Stop and Go traffic - Worked fine for me. I set it as normal and it followed and drove very well. Came to a complete stop several times and it stopped a reasonable distance behind the car. It then started back up without any intervention from me.

6. Not smooth - Probably my biggest complaint. I thought others were exaggerating this effect but no, it's there. There is a pretty steady accelerating and decelerating action going on while the system is engaged. Like a nervous driver pushing the gas and letting up. It's worse if you're within range of of the car in front and going below your set speed. But it's noticeable most of the time. Not so bad that I won't use the system. But boy, I really hope they improve the programming on that in future version.

7. Pretty intuitive - I thought it would be confusing between ACC and HA but it's fine with the push and hold. If you're someone that switches frequently between the systems, you may find it annoying. I prefer the stalk on my Model X. But the buttons are fine.

Overall, so, so happy to have this back as it was the biggest thing I loved about my Tesla and why I would insist on driving the Tesla over other cars on road trips. Even with the frequent charging stops. I think most people will be pretty happy with this start.
 
5. Stop and Go traffic - Worked fine for me. I set it as normal and it followed and drove very well. Came to a complete stop several times and it stopped a reasonable distance behind the car. It then started back up without any intervention from me.
Do you mean it stopped and started on a divided highway with stopped vehicles or are you referring to ACC? Also, what do you mean by "normal". Are you talking about the following distance?
 
#4 - the steering wheel has sensors and you need to experiment with how you hold the wheel. It’s finicky. There are times it alarms too frequently even though on other trips, holding the wheel the same way, it won’t alarm for 20 minutes. There are times I can hold the wheel with 2 fingers and everything is good and other times when I use my entire hand or both hands and and it alarms every few minutes.
 
Do you mean it stopped and started on a divided highway with stopped vehicles or are you referring to ACC? Also, what do you mean by "normal". Are you talking about the following distance?
Not ACC. Highway Assist in stop and go traffic on an interstate. If by divided highway, you mean interstate, then yes. I did not test stop and go on a US highway (divided road with traffic lights). On the interstate, it worked great. Handled the stop and go traffic without issue and even started back up from a completely stop on it's own.

Regarding Normal. I just meant I started up Highway Assist as you normally would. Hit the button for the system and the speed. I have the following distance set to closest. In stop and go traffic, I would probably set it to the 2nd level.
 
#4 - the steering wheel has sensors and you need to experiment with how you hold the wheel. It’s finicky. There are times it alarms too frequently even though on other trips, holding the wheel the same way, it won’t alarm for 20 minutes. There are times I can hold the wheel with 2 fingers and everything is good and other times when I use my entire hand or both hands and and it alarms every few minutes.
I don't think it's based on how you hold the wheel. I think it's based on movement of the wheel. Meaning, there's no grip sensors anywhere on the wheel. So it uses the motion to sense that you're still holding it/ paying attention.

At least that's the way my Tesla worked and from my limited testing, seems to be the case here.

The next time yours alarms, try out what I'm saying and see if that works for you.
 
I have drove with HA two days, over 100 miles now. For some reason it shows HA, but the steering wheel logo is grey, and the road is grey too. Wondering if anything need to do to active lane centering ? Or just calibration of the sensor. But that a very long calibration process. Hope someone can help
 
I have drove with HA two days, over 100 miles now. For some reason it shows HA, but the steering wheel logo is grey, and the road is grey too. Wondering if anything need to do to active lane centering ? Or just calibration of the sensor. But that a very long calibration process. Hope someone can help
Assuming you are on the freeway, when you see the steering wheel logo, did you try a long press on the dream drive button on the steering wheel? If ACC comes on, try another long press to switch from ACC to HA.
 
I did. So it shows highway assist. But steering wheel and road is not yellow. So it function like ACC. If I long press it goes back to ACC
 
I did. So it shows highway assist. But steering wheel and road is not yellow. So it function like ACC. If I long press it goes back to ACC
What freeway did you try it on? HA is geofenced so you may not be on an approved road for it.
 
I did. So it shows highway assist. But steering wheel and road is not yellow. So it function like ACC. If I long press it goes back to ACC
Are you sure your highway is allowed to activate HA? Have you tried a different highway?
 
Thank you for that review. I just got my VIN for my GT and currently drive a 2014 Tesla S -- seemed pointless to go backwards and not have HA. Seems like it is close but not quite there, but hopefully they are actively working on this.
 
Thank you for that review. I just got my VIN for my GT and currently drive a 2014 Tesla S -- seemed pointless to go backwards and not have HA. Seems like it is close but not quite there, but hopefully they are actively working on this.
I wouldn’t rate Teslas AP system as an 8 like OP did. I was in the FSD beta on my 2019 MS and rate it as a 3-4. I never trusted it even on highways and I live in their backyard.
Lucids HA is vastly superior at this stage for me. It has improvements to make, but I actually trust the system. I would recommend setting follow distance further out than 1 car length though, mines at 3 and doesn’t have any issues or weird acceleration issues as described. I’ve been cut off and the car brakes smoothly. You may dislike having to make lane changes yourself, but it’s been an easy system.
Overall I give the HA an 8-9 vs my Tesla.
 
Sounds like a lot of us are finally getting 2.0.18 which includes our first taste of Highway Assist. Starting this thread so people can share their experiences specific to this build. For the general public, this is the only build with HA. I don't know how long we'll be on this version. I know the beta people are already on .19 and .20 so they can tell us how things are different/ better on those versions. But for now, let's discuss the version we've got. Good and Bad.

Here are my thoughts:

I'd give the system a grade of 7 so far. If my Tesla was an 8, this is close but still a little behind.

1. It worked! Tested it out on 3 different roads over about 100 miles today. Got confused twice. Once while passing an entrance ramp and it tried to center to the entrance ramp merge. Once on a turn which was a little scary as it left the lane.

2. It worked on a divided US Highway with traffic lights! I had assumed it was going to be Interstate only but it works on a section of US Highway. It was actually a busy section of highway with multiple lights. But between the lights, it did great. Except for where it tried to turn on me above.

3. Hands on the wheel - For those of you concerned about needing death grip, relax. It's the same as the Tesla system where you just need to nudge the wheel a bit. You could use 1 finger to turn the wheel a tiny bit and that's good enough. Good news here, it requires less force than Tesla. Just a modest movement of the wheel is enough. Yay!

4. The reminder is super annoying. I was trying to figure out why it was so much more annoying than Tesla and I realized, it's the audible alarm. Tesla flashes the screen at you first and if you correct, the flashing stops. Lucid goes straight to audible chime. Wife is not going to be happy napping with the massage on if that thing dings every 3 minutes.

5. Stop and Go traffic - Worked fine for me. I set it as normal and it followed and drove very well. Came to a complete stop several times and it stopped a reasonable distance behind the car. It then started back up without any intervention from me.

6. Not smooth - Probably my biggest complaint. I thought others were exaggerating this effect but no, it's there. There is a pretty steady accelerating and decelerating action going on while the system is engaged. Like a nervous driver pushing the gas and letting up. It's worse if you're within range of of the car in front and going below your set speed. But it's noticeable most of the time. Not so bad that I won't use the system. But boy, I really hope they improve the programming on that in future version.

7. Pretty intuitive - I thought it would be confusing between ACC and HA but it's fine with the push and hold. If you're someone that switches frequently between the systems, you may find it annoying. I prefer the stalk on my Model X. But the buttons are fine.

Overall, so, so happy to have this back as it was the biggest thing I loved about my Tesla and why I would insist on driving the Tesla over other cars on road trips. Even with the frequent charging stops. I think most people will be pretty happy with this start.
The Tesla system on my 2017 S 100D is only looking for a torque on the wheel, if you rest your hand on the wheel spoke, like a weight , your good. Unlike Honda or Mercedes systems that ping pong the car within your lane ( hate this and tiresome on long drives) and look for you to correct its slight misdirections.
Downloading 2.0.18 as I type this, looking forward to tomorrows testing.
 
What freeway did you try it on? HA is geofenced so you may not be on an approved road for it.
i was on 101 north and south between San Francisco and Palo Alto. if it is not allowed Highway, I thought it should not show highway assis, just ACC ?
 
i was on 101 north and south between San Francisco and Palo Alto. if it is not allowed Highway, I thought it should not show highway assis, just ACC ?
Hrm, it won't let you engage HA, but I would've thought that highway would be fine.
 
I did. So it shows highway assist. But steering wheel and road is not yellow. So it function like ACC. If I long press it goes back to ACC
This might sound silly, but HA will not engage unless the wheel is straight (~ +/-5 degrees). Did you try engaging it while going pretty much straight?

I discovered this while changing lanes in the middle of a curved section of the highway. It didn't come back on until the road straightened out (and I wasn't putting any force into the wheel either)
 
i was on 101 north and south between San Francisco and Palo Alto. if it is not allowed Highway, I thought it should not show highway assis, just ACC ?
If you're in Highway Assist Mode, the screen will show Highway Assist even when not activated. If you're on a road that doesn't allow HA, when you activate it, it will tell you it's not available and then will switch to ACC. It's a little confusing b/c you can be driving through an area that doesn't have HA, but if you don't try to turn it on, it will just keep saying HA.

Posting a few pics. The first is what the screen looks like with HA on and working. The 2nd is the warning you get when it's not available.
IMG_0451.jpeg
IMG_0452.jpeg
 
I wouldn’t rate Teslas AP system as an 8 like OP did. I was in the FSD beta on my 2019 MS and rate it as a 3-4. I never trusted it even on highways and I live in their backyard.
Lucids HA is vastly superior at this stage for me. It has improvements to make, but I actually trust the system. I would recommend setting follow distance further out than 1 car length though, mines at 3 and doesn’t have any issues or weird acceleration issues as described. I’ve been cut off and the car brakes smoothly. You may dislike having to make lane changes yourself, but it’s been an easy system.
Overall I give the HA an 8-9 vs my Tesla.
Interesting.

My rating was based on 3 things. ACC, lane centering, and availability. I drove thousands of miles with the Tesla in HA mode and it always did a great job of maintaining speed and distance.

Both systems seem to have trouble on lane centering when passing entrance ramps (thankfully not exit ramps) and want to center across both lanes. I give the Tesla slightly higher marks because it's more gentle. The abrupt jerk of the Lucid system is alarming. I think some room for refinement on Lucid's part.

Finally, the Tesla system is much more widely available as it's not limited to Highways.

If you didn't trust your Tesla system, then I completely understand your rating. I did find the system was smoother on my Model X vs my wife's Model 3.
 
Interesting.

My rating was based on 3 things. ACC, lane centering, and availability. I drove thousands of miles with the Tesla in HA mode and it always did a great job of maintaining speed and distance.

Both systems seem to have trouble on lane centering when passing entrance ramps (thankfully not exit ramps) and want to center across both lanes. I give the Tesla slightly higher marks because it's more gentle. The abrupt jerk of the Lucid system is alarming. I think some room for refinement on Lucid's part.

Finally, the Tesla system is much more widely available as it's not limited to Highways.

If you didn't trust your Tesla system, then I completely understand your rating. I did find the system was smoother on my Model X vs my wife's Model 3.
Absolutely fair! I haven’t experienced the jerkiness on the Air, it’s all seemed smooth to me. I have noticed in certain areas where there is a wide merge, the car will struggle slightly to keep centered, but it did seem to track the car in front of me, so as long as they stayed centered, so did I.
I do not think Teslas system is ready for anything but highway driving, it drives like I did when I was 13 trying to make turns, chooses the wrong lanes for turns, etc. I am impressed with where they are solely using vision, but i still find it too dangerous to use with confidence.
 
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