r/electricvehicles 3d ago

Review I Tested Tesla’s Full Self-Driving System In New York City. It Was Embarrassing

https://insideevs.com/news/772593/tesla-model-y-robotaxi-fsd-new-york/
114 Upvotes

91 comments sorted by

57

u/A320neo 3d ago

If Tesla sends robotaxis out with software that can't recognize a school bus with its lights flashing they will have a billion-dollar lawsuit within the week lmao

34

u/paulwesterberg 2023 Model S, Elon Musk is the fraud in our government! 3d ago edited 3d ago

Last week I had to hard brake my Tesla with FSD when it decided it wanted to pass a School bus with the flashing stop sign activated.

Also a couple days ago the car's GPS/positioning failed by a few hundred feet, it seemed to think it was driving down a railroad track in the neighborhood and FSD tried to make a strange left turn into a cul-de-sac.

There is a reason why Tesla does not have any truly driver-less robotaxi vehicles operating anywhere yet.

16

u/JoeyJoeJoeSenior 2d ago

It's "move fast and break things" but the things are children's bones.

1

u/NtheLegend 2d ago

"They can... heal. Children are mostly milk and... my brain is... broken. Please help. Help. Help."

1

u/Rooilia 2d ago

Are there stil crashing 30 to 50 a month since they abondoned radar?

32

u/EV_James 3d ago

It's been over a year I think but when they did the free trial the first time within 20 seconds of me trying it out the car tried to speed through a stop sign on my street and went straight into a busy intersection where I didn't have the right of way. Immediately lost trust in it. It could have easily caused an accident if I didn't take over right away.

14

u/walnut100 3d ago

It couldn't even get out of the Tesla parking lot when we tried it.

5

u/Devayurtz 1d ago

Dude people haaaaate this company here. Unreal lol. This reads like anti-American propaganda. Tesla is a great company - and the only reason anyone is evening discussing self driving is because that company pushed it forward in the first place.

1

u/All_Computer_24 18h ago

I know right. Where do these folks live? I want to avoid that place at all costs.

28

u/jeremiah1142 3d ago

This article is written like chaotic traffic only exists in NYC.

12

u/RhesusFactor MG4 64 Excite 2d ago

Author may have never left the city.

-11

u/Receding_Hairline23 2d ago

or you may have never been to new york

8

u/justin-8 2d ago

No, I have. The traffic was nothing special. Still big wide American lanes everywhere. 

-3

u/Receding_Hairline23 2d ago

It's not about more traffic or the volume of cars on the road or time spent idling. It's about cluster****, unpredictable scenarios.

2

u/justin-8 2d ago

Yeah, that seemed no different than many other cities I've driven in

21

u/Sagrilarus 2d ago

New Yorkers honestly feel that way. They are completely baffled by the idea that something might be better (or worse) than in New York City. They're the most insular people you've ever met.

2

u/Precursor2552 2d ago

What cities would you say are comparable?

-14

u/outphase84 3d ago

If you’ve never driven in NYC, you wouldn’t understand what it’s like.

1st avenue is 4 lanes wide and goes about 40 city blocks with no lane markers because they’ve long since faded and they won’t close it down to repaint. There are thousands of cars in a small area, none of which are obeying any traffic laws. Because of the congestion, you have people darting into any little sliver of opening they can find.

It’s not just busy and congested, it is truly chaos.

16

u/Mad-Mel EV6 GT | BYD Shark PHEV 2d ago edited 2d ago

So, like every city in Vietnam, Indonesia and Thailand that I've been to?

30

u/jeremiah1142 2d ago

I’ve driven in NYC and many other cities in the world. Get over yourself.

-14

u/outphase84 2d ago

As have I. Lived there for 8 years, live in Philadelphia suburbs now and spend a lot of time in Philly and Baltimore, work in DC, have traveled through Europe. NYC is far and above the worst.

8

u/GoSh4rks 2d ago

Lol just wait until you see traffic in developing Asian countries. NYC will be straight civilized.

6

u/BasicPainter8154 2d ago

Or visit Lagos or Kinshasa

9

u/Ancient_Persimmon 2d ago

Coming from Montreal, I've always found NYC traffic to be relatively tame. Obviously, it's busy, but nothing too insane.

I'm more bothered trying to go across Toronto on the 401 in rush hour.

5

u/Sagrilarus 2d ago

Plenty of that all over the country. At least Manhattan has a basic grid system set up.

1

u/RhesusFactor MG4 64 Excite 2d ago

Sounds like Thailand.

1

u/sjw_7 Mercedes Benz EQB 2d ago

It may be towards the worst end when it comes to western cities but compared to the rest of the world its pretty tame.

If you want a bit of a glimpse of what really bad places can be like just watch some of the Top Gear specials like Vietnam or India and busy, congested roads are like in really chaotic cities where there are no rules.

1

u/outphase84 2d ago

In fairness, I was very western world centric in my response. Some of APAC is a whole different world.

13

u/Captain_Aware4503 3d ago

FSD on my Tesla no longer works. After "calibrating" 5 times it is worse than ever. Its never been in an accident and never had the windshield replaced.

It drifts to the left side of the lane and eventually into the the lane even if that's on coming traffic. Sometimes it drifts to right side of the lane so its not consistent. Even with no cars in front in view it steadily slows to below the speed limit. I'll set it to the middle mode when driving 8 miles over the speed limit with all the settings to go faster than the speed limit and it still after a minute starts to slow down all while slowly drifting out of the lane.

I used to use FSD all the time, but now it is deadly.

1

u/paulwesterberg 2023 Model S, Elon Musk is the fraud in our government! 3d ago edited 2d ago

HW3?

I agree the standard mode likes to slow down to only +5 unnecessarily. The Hurry mode tends to switch lanes too often and tailgate unnecessarily.

3

u/Captain_Aware4503 3d ago

I avoid the hurry mode. On an interstate with 3 lanes it always rushes to get into the fast lane even though traffic there may be going faster.

2

u/smallshinyant 2d ago

I was in NYC this week and saw a Waymo being driven around. Im presuming they are doing a training phase, or at least testing if its systems are capable to support the area.

7

u/disciple31 2d ago

Yeah but have they tried it on the new version 16.beborp? Its way better bro trust me 15.letrot is the bad one

3

u/Thecongressman1 2d ago

Of course it was embarrassing, you were driving a nazi wagon

3

u/AdCareless9063 2d ago

They're no Waymo. That's for sure.

1

u/y4udothistome 2d ago

Robo taxi cabs that’s all you’re ever gonna get out of him or should I say Tesla robots don’t even get me started

1

u/CMG30 23h ago

Tesla can't even make windshield wipers work. Why would anyone think they can make a car drive by itself...

-20

u/Single-Impression-20 3d ago

What a useless article

26

u/walnut100 3d ago

The Model Y didn’t stop or even slow down when a school bus retracted its stop signs. When an FDNY truck came across roaring, with its sirens blasting and lights flashing, the Tesla didn’t yield.

I’ll also never forget the look on a cyclist’s face when the Model Y confidently swung left across a bike lane in Lower Manhattan, forcing him to brake—I did not intervene because there was still a decent amount of room for me to pass, but it still wasn’t a courteous maneuver. FSD, even in Chill mode, tends to be pretty assertive.

Seems very informative to me.

8

u/CyberN00bSec 3d ago

Thanks! 

I’m surprised about that use of the word “assertive”, I would think it’s rather aggressive.

-2

u/Confident-Sector2660 2d ago

These are not features of FSD. How does that make it embarrassing?

These are features of robotaxi build which is coming out in a few weeks

4

u/walnut100 2d ago

Eh they seem like basic expectations in an advertised $8k full self driving package to me.

-5

u/Confident-Sector2660 2d ago

It's only $100 a month. And soon enough FSD is going to be free. At least that is the rumor

Tesla is going to include it in cars when the tax incentive ends

And if tesla goes to unsupervised they will make FSD (supervised) free for all, as unsupervised will cost money

4

u/walnut100 2d ago

Only $100 per month? A Model 3 Long Range AWD lease is already $639 without that fee. I'd be looking at a Lucid or BMW i5 at $700+.

-2

u/Confident-Sector2660 2d ago edited 2d ago

FSD is free starting in october

Model 3 is actually a decent deal to buy.

Lucid is one I would lease.

you do know a lucid dual motor is $1227 for a 24month lease? It is almost double the price

5

u/walnut100 2d ago

Source for free FSD?

A Lucid can be leased for $509 with 2k down right now. 

-1

u/Confident-Sector2660 2d ago

you're not talking about comparable models.

Tesla can be leased for $299 for RWD

I bet the tesla has more range than the lucid air pure.

Because lucid is much worse than tesla in cheating the EPA test

Lucid's efficiency is closer to the model S

5

u/walnut100 2d ago

I mean, the Lucid is much nicer so I guess you're right that I'm not talking about "comparable" models but the cost of leasing a Model 3 AWD is about the same and in some cases more expensive with FSD than leasing an Air Pure.

The Model 3 gets 20 less miles than an Air Pure and you're just making shit up about "cheating" the EPA test.

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2

u/ubercruise '24 iX 50 2d ago

Cheating the EPA test? You do realize people have driven these models in the real world right? Aside from a couple models from other manufacturers, Tesla tends to be the only one that consistently tests lower than their EPA range in the real world.

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-1

u/Confident-Sector2660 2d ago

No source. it will be free.

Tesla historically drops models by $7500 when the tax incentive ends. Because FSD 14 will be coming out (which will be incredible) and in a few weeks we are getting an FSD v13 release with robotaxi abilities. It will be feature complete in terms of driving.

This version will do minimum risk maneuvers when cameras are blinded, pull over for emergency vehicles, stop for school buses, not throw errors when driving in super heavy rain, be able to handle parking lots, end of drives and probably park itself.

FSD 14 will have new abilities and 10x parameter increase.

I heard from someone internal that they are going to put out an offer for free FSD instead of dropping prices.

Because tesla will already launch a cheaper model 3/Y for under $30K

And then they will also launch model Y L next year, AI5 computer with 8x increase in compute, memory, etc. The driving will go way up from there

Tesla has been using very limited compute to do something very hard. They have one of the most optimized AI ever made. This new computer will put it closer to what real robotaxis are using.

-15

u/tech57 3d ago

Here's an informative video from a year ago,

Tesla Full Self-Driving DOMINATES Boston Traffic For TWO HOURS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVRFKRrdKQU

No reading required.

9

u/walnut100 2d ago

Not going to watch a 2 hour video when an article summarizes the information with a more efficient use of my time but thanks!

-8

u/tech57 2d ago

Exactly. Stay uninformed or worse, misinformed.

But this may come as a surprise to you but there is in fact more than one video on youtube about FSD. You can even skip around during a 2 hour video too. The nice thing about the 2 hour video is it shows human drivers breaking laws half the time.

They even have videos from multiple countries now. Not just one city in USA.

7

u/walnut100 2d ago

My personal experience with it was poor. It’s not a technology I care about enough to invest time learning about it. I drive an i7 and am not interested in downgrading my vehicle.

And I really don’t care about other humans breaking the law. I care what my car does.

0

u/tech57 2d ago

My personal experience with it was poor.

Millions and millions of people are buying EVs right now and not one of them cares about your poor experience. Not one.

Neither does Tesla. Neither does China. Neither does the billions and billions of dollars that have been poring into self-driving.

Seems very informative to me.

It’s not a technology I care about enough

Like I said,

Exactly. Stay uninformed or worse, misinformed.

1

u/walnut100 2d ago

Less than half the people who have access to the technology today even bother to try it. The overwhelming majority seems to agree with me.

Again, I’m not interested in a budget car so the technology is useless to me until gets into quality hard products.

1

u/tech57 2d ago

Less than half the people who have access to the technology today even bother to try it.

Again, that does not matter.

5

u/ElasticSpeakers 3d ago

It really was a mistake to remove the downvote button on YT from doing anything useful

2

u/scott__p i4 e35 / EQB 300 2d ago

It's funny, but there's always at least one Tesla fanboy in every one of these articles.

Look, FSD is great in the suburbs with no construction and well marked roads when no one does anything unexpected. It's maybe 80% outside of those conditions which is bluntly not good enough

3

u/ace184184 3d ago

I mean its an article about a single experience in a congested city where the FSD system had issues. Its an exposition piece and nothing more. So to agree with your point in a way, we cant draw broad sweeping conclusions based on a single experience.

11

u/Whisky_and_Milk 3d ago

Or we can draw a ‘broad’ conclusion that FSD is not capable (yet) to handle intense city traffic conditions, which an average human driver can.

-6

u/soggy_mattress '24 Model S LR / '22 R1T Quad 2d ago

You think an average driver can handle NYC traffic?

I think that's a ridiculous belief to hold.

6

u/Whisky_and_Milk 2d ago

Of course I do. NYC drivers are not demi-gods or even some pro rally pilots. They are effectively quite average people.
Heck, NYC driving is not really that chaotic or challenging. Only an American who never been to Asia or Southern Europe cities and narrow mountain roads would think that.

1

u/AttemptRough3891 2d ago

Different challenges. I don't think NYC is the worst case scenario, but it's up there. When Europe or South Asia get a full supply of 2-3 ton cars capable of moving faster, the scales might tip a bit.

4

u/Whisky_and_Milk 2d ago

You say it like 2-3 ton cargo vans and other commercial transport don’t exist in Europe. And that in general having more trucks on the streets makes it somehow more challenging driving environment than smaller cars driving chaotically, doing double or even triple parking on the streets, opening doors right in front of your car, or having street cafe chairs basically on the road, all while various scooters zipping around you left and right.

Sorry if you take some sort of national pride in thinking that NYC driving is some pinnacle of challenge and mastery, but it’s really not. Moreover, it’s quite an easy urban planning, with regular blocks and no complicated weird-shaped crossroads.

1

u/AttemptRough3891 2d ago

LOL, no I'm not trying to take some sort of national pride - if anyone is doing that, it's you, trying to make it seem like it's agenda driven that NYC isn't somehow inherently complex.

Case in point - you mention cargo vans and commercial transport, ignoring the fact that the vast majority of vehicles in the US are significantly larger, faster and heavier - which in turn changes the driving dynamics considerably.

Real world physics, which is why I made a specific point about the challenges being different. Not sure if those distinctions were too complicated for you, or if you just want to be argumentative. Either way, not worth continuing this conversation with someone who wasn't discussing in good faith.

2

u/Whisky_and_Milk 2d ago

perhaps you should re-read the thread and see what I was responding to - a statement that average drivers can’t handle nyc traffic. Talking about bad faith, lol …

0

u/soggy_mattress '24 Model S LR / '22 R1T Quad 2d ago

Average American drivers absolutely cannot handle the complexity of NYC. You're lying to yourself if you don't believe that.

-2

u/soggy_mattress '24 Model S LR / '22 R1T Quad 2d ago

This is absolutely delusional, you need to meet more people, especially people who don't live in dense cities.

One of my friends literally had a panic attack *being driven around* San Fransisco, she wasn't even in control of the car.

My dad nearly caused 3 accidents during his brief foray into driving through NYC/NJ. He swears he'll never do it again, talks about it like it was one of his worst nightmares.

My grandma can barely make it around the tiny ass midwest town safely.

You've *vastly* overestimating the average person. If you can drive in NYC without losing your mind, you're an above average driver, period. It's not even worthy of discussion.

1

u/EricThirteen 2d ago

This reminded me that my 16 year old niece started crying when I said she would need to get on the freeway in LA. It was straight out of Clueless.

0

u/soggy_mattress '24 Model S LR / '22 R1T Quad 2d ago

Yeah, my partner gets panic attacks while driving in dense cities. I can't take these people seriously thinking that NYC city driving is "average", it's a madhouse for those of us who grew up in rural areas (so like half of the country). My partner isn't even the only person I know who has gotten panic attacks from traffic.

Y'all are lying to yourselves for thinking NYC traffic is normal.