I would have to ask you WHEN you last experienced FSD. I have for a couple years been one of the loudest critics of FSD on the Tesla site. Probably because on at least two occasions it has flat out tried to kill me. NOT hyperbole. Since then it has improved to the point where I can actually trust it.
INCIDENT 1: Coming home from a trail biking session. In the middle lane doing low 70s behind a pickup. FSD decided that wasn't fast enough and signaled a lane change into the left lane. I checked my mirror and I could see a Michigan State Police trooper, lights flashing, approaching at about 100 mph. So I yanked it back into the center lane.
INCIDENT 2: On my way to a group biking event. Merging from a state highway onto an interstate. FSD had me doing 40 on the on ramp with a line of cars behind me, so I overrode the system to get up to highway speed and re-engaged. It sped up to 83 (in a 55 mph area) and rode with the drivers side tires on the white lane line. I passed a big-ass bro-truck close enough that I could have wiped the dirt off his mirror. After passing the truck it then made a 3-lane lane change and wound up with the drivers side tires on the left shoulder rumple strips. Obviously I turned off FSD and left it off.
Since then I recorded a video which I will place below that demonstrates how the system misbehaved. To cut to the chase, the common thread between the two incidents listed above and the video...I was driving with a bike on a hitch mounted bike rack. Apparently, that set-up confused the rear cameras. Had them thinking that the vehicle was being tailgated, thus the random lane changes and erratic speed. My problem with that is, any other car I have that has the cameras blocked by a bike rack or other obstacle TELLS ME THAT. The Tesla didn't (it does now after several OTA updates).
Fast forward about a year. For giggles and grins and since my wife has reported to me that it is operating perfectly, I put the rack on it and tried to engage FSD. It gave me a message that FSD was unavailable due to compromised camera. It should've done that Day 1.
So at the end of the day...two years ago FSD sucked horribly. Today, v14.2.2.4 is pretty freakin' awesome. If I can trust the system after these incidents it is testament that the system has improved that much with the latest updates.
Tesla FSD fail
I appreciate you sharing those incidents. That context matters, and I’m genuinely glad the system has improved for you. I’m not here to argue with you; your experiences are your experiences and you’re entitled to your opinions.
That said, we’re actually reinforcing the same core point: trust is earned through consistency, not capability.
I’ve been a Tesla software engineer in the past, a similar role that I head with GM in the 2010s and Google. I currently have AI4 FSD in the household, and I also live with Super Cruise, BlueCruise, and DDP. I also moderate some of the larger Tesla communities globally, so I’ve seen thousands of user reports across hardware and software versions. So when you ask “when” have I last experienced the technology, I would answer more frequently than 99% of FSD drivers simply based on how much time I spend on the road. My perspective isn’t coming from a single snapshot in time.
Has FSD improved dramatically over the last two years? Absolutely. No argument there.
But for me, the threshold is different. When a system has demonstrated behavior that can escalate into high-risk situations, it raises the bar for regaining trust. Improvements are welcome, but the underlying architectural philosophy still prioritizes broad capability in mixed environments, which inherently introduces more edge cases.
Systems like Super Cruise and BlueCruise take a more constrained operational design domain approach. They do less, but they are highly predictable within their lane-mapped environments. Full Self-Driving attempts much more, and with that comes more variability.
That trade-off is where reasonable people can differ.
If someone values feature breadth, urban handling, autonomous lane changes, light recognition, etc., FSD v14 may feel transformative. If someone values deterministic behavior and bounded operation above all else, other systems may rank higher.
Neither perspective is wrong. They’re weighted differently.
My position isn’t that FSD hasn’t improved. It clearly has. My position is that capability expansion and trust calibration are two separate curves, and they don’t always move in lockstep.
With that being said, this is the last time I’ll reply to these types of messages in a thread that they don’t belong. It distracts from the feedback OP was trying to receive.
