I’m actually afraid to drive behind a Tesla and either keep extra distance or change lanes if possible. I still have more faith in humans to not randomly brake them in beta FSD.
It’s one thing to put your own life in the hands of this beta model, and it’s another to endanger the life and property of others.
1) A car gets impatient at some traffic turning right on a green light in a construction zone, and comes into my lane meaning into oncoming traffic. We have to swerve out of the way and slam on the brakes to avoid them.
2) A guy gets impatient behind me slowing down over a speedbump, tailgates me a few inches behind and then passes me by cutting into oncoming traffic in a no passing zone, then cuts me off, again with a few inches to spare, and speeds through the neighborhood where we eventually meet at the stoplight at the end of the road.
3) Every single day people run red lights. Almost every light where there are people turning left at a green there are 4-5 cars that go through the red light after it turns.
My safety score on my tesla is 99. I am an extremely safe driver. I wish FSD was more common because so many people are terrible drivers.
https://www.tesla.com/support/safety-score#version-1.2
And looking at the rest of the criteria, they're ok, but hardly comprehensive. This is like, the bare minimum. It doesn't measure what I would call "doing stupid shit". Like crossing several lanes of traffic to get in a turn lane. Forcibly merging where you shouldn't. Nearly stopping in the middle of traffic before merging into a turn lane at the last minute. Straddling lanes because you're not sure if you really want to change lanes or not. Making a left turn from a major artery onto a side street at a place that is not protected by a light. Coming to a near complete stop for every speed bump, then rushing ahead to the next.
And a host of other things that demonstrates the person does not consider other people on the road at all.
Here's an entire article about how to game the safety score:
https://cleantechnica.com/2021/10/14/three-quick-tips-for-a-...
One of the tips is to "drive around the neighborhood when traffic is light".
And the car doesn't ding autopilot for behaviors it would knock a human for. Because the assumption is that the car would know better I guess. But then why isn't the safety score simply a deviation from what autopilot would do in a situation? If autopilot would brake hard to avoid a collision, shouldn't you?
So maybe it's to stroke my ego? But they're also putting their proverbial money where their mouth is.
Irrespective of the Teslas or FSD:
If you're afraid of an accident due to the vehicle in front of you braking regardless of the circumstances, then you're following too closely. It doesn't matter if the braking event is anticipated or unexpected. If you're not confident in your ability to avoid an accident if the vehicle in front of you slams on their brakes then you are following to closely.
I know what you're saying, but that is not what I'd meant. Also, I don't follow too closely.
The difference here is that almost always a driver will brake depending on the happenings in front of them. So, if you pay attention to not only the car in front, but in front of them and in the neighboring lanes and so on, you can sense and also detect patterns in how a particular driver is driving. There are many skittish drivers who brake every 1 second and some don't, and so on. Basically based on your driving experience you can predict a little.
The problem here is that this stupid POC FSD will brake randomly or change lane randomly or whatever, so there is no way you can predict, and hence my concern and issue with it. I just prefer to change the lane, but that's not always an option.
Yes, we all do that AND you're using that predictability to take liberties in safety such as following too closely. FSD's unpredictability exposes the vulnerability in your driving process and makes you feel uneasy.
You (and everyone else) can follow too closely AND FSD can be an unsafe steaming pile of crap. It's not an either or situation.
