Tuesday March 29, 2022; 2:25 PM EDT
- I took a drive upstate this morning, on the NYS Thruway and on country roads. #
I drove as much as possible with the car self-driving such as it is. It's a lot of fun to see what it can and can't handle. There was one place where the Thruway narrowed to one lane, and it freaked out because it couldn't tell if it was driving off the road or what. So I took over. It's like having a teenage driver helping out, and you just have to be ready to take the wheel to get it through difficult situations. #- Once when a truck was exiting the highway in the same lane I was in, as it switched to the lane to the right, the Tesla slowed from about 50 or so to 25, very quickly. I couldn't figure out what it thought it saw. Just guessing that the software, confused, decided better to be safe. I love it for trying to #savemylife, but it really wasn't necessary. ;-)#
- On the way back, after I told it where I was going, it first looked for charging stations, apparently found none that were on the way. Then after a pause of a second or two, this message appeared. Basically if you stay under 75 you have enough battery to get home without detouring to get a charge. #
- It correctly merged onto the Thruway all on its own. A long curved on-ramp, its max MPH as I instructed it was 70, but it slowed to 30 to handle the curve on the ramp. The speed limit was 25 btw. As as passenger, basically, I was glad it slowed down a little. More time to appreciate how well it was doing. I tend to be a nervous passenger, much prefer to be the driver. That's changing now. #
- Also at one point I was being followed by another Tesla. I imagined they were doing the same thing I was doing. Appreciating the teenage intelligence of the machine. Eventually they passed me. I wondered why. #
- One other thing -- instead of listening to my own music I let Amazon Music choose it for me. Very nice. I don't know how they know I like the bands they gave me to listen to. But they guessed very well. Their best choice was a Dead song I hadn't heard in a long time but had special meaning to me. #
- I got the car in November, it's almost April now, and I'm actually starting to use the car as more than a thrilling ride, beginning to appreciate its finer points. It does take that long to get the feel, and yet it seems I've only begun. This is fundamentally different driving than what I learned when I was 17. Of course my 2020 Subaru ICE is too, but this is another level beyond that. #
