Tesla FSD Supervised older Drivers

[brovane]

This is not the first time I have seen this with older people and Tesla's. As Boomers age, are they going to be embracing Tesla's because of it's advanced Tesla FSD (Supervised) ADAS systems? The latest version of FSD HW4 14.2x is extremely good at end to end driving from garage to parking itself and then back home.

The Tesla FSD (Supervised) feature was a key reason my Dad purchased a Tesla this year at 79. He absolutely loves the feature. At this point, I cannot imagine driving a car that doesn't have just as good or better for a ADAS system.

93 year old finds new freedom with Tesla FSD!
https://youtu.be/xo8TncC6rMM?si=Tu4erowg0AD-1O0j

20251229_105344.jpg

[gtg947h]

This is not the first time I have seen this with older people and Tesla's. As Boomers age, are they going to be embracing Tesla's because of it's advanced Tesla FSD (Supervised) ADAS systems? The latest version of FSD HW4 14.2x is extremely good at end to end driving from garage to parking itself and then back home.

I lnow several people who have purchased them for that reason. It's why my wife wanted one.

14.2 has been ok for me and does an ok job getting me to work well before dawn. But I think 14.1.4 was the best version and it's the only one that ever took me from driveway to parking lot without any intervention.

I don't use it as much in the heavier traffic going home; I suspect it's a combination of not trusting it to not do dumb stuff like get in the wrong lane, and the need for some mental stimulation after 10 hours of working an incredibly dull (should be) full remote job from a cubicle in a windowless office.

[Nathan45]

Its really good, although it always turns on high beams at night inappropriately which drives me nuts

[Johnnie Lyle]

This is not the first time I have seen this with older people and Tesla's. As Boomers age, are they going to be embracing Tesla's because of it's advanced Tesla FSD (Supervised) ADAS systems? The latest version of FSD HW4 14.2x is extremely good at end to end driving from garage to parking itself and then back home.

The Tesla FSD (Supervised) feature was a key reason my Dad purchased a Tesla this year at 79. He absolutely loves the feature. At this point, I cannot imagine driving a car that doesn't have just as good or better for a ADAS system.

93 year old finds new freedom with Tesla FSD!
https://youtu.be/xo8TncC6rMM?si=Tu4erowg0AD-1O0j


20251229_105344.jpg

The fundamental fact of life in the US is that driving is the marker of independence, and independence more than anything is the key to life, or at least a major piece of a life worth living. So I think it’s inevitable that we will see more older individuals (or their families) go for vehicles with assistive devices to sustain that independence.

[brovane]

Its really good, although it always turns on high beams at night inappropriately which drives me nuts

Tesla claims with Adaptive high beams with the Matrix LED headlights, the car can keep high beams on while creating dark zones around other vehicles to prevent blinding them. Not really sure how much I buy that.

I lnow several people who have purchased them for that reason. It's why my wife wanted one.

14.2 has been ok for me and does an ok job getting me to work well before dawn. But I think 14.1.4 was the best version and it's the only one that ever took me from driveway to parking lot without any intervention.

I don't use it as much in the heavier traffic going home; I suspect it's a combination of not trusting it to not do dumb stuff like get in the wrong lane, and the need for some mental stimulation after 10 hours of working an incredibly dull (should be) full remote job from a cubicle in a windowless office.

The current 14.2x for me can take me from garage, through my gate (waiting for gate to open), through about a 1/8 mile of dirt and gravel road , to asphalt and to my destination about 70 miles away and park itself. The biggest issue I have is with navigation, which isn't a FSD issue but a navigation problem. Overall it seems to handle San Diego traffic very well. I just usually leave it on standard for driving profile. Sometimes I have to nudge it to get over to the right hand lane for a exist. Never had it miss a exit yet but I have come closer than I wanted.

[Dagooz]

Tesla claims with Adaptive high beams with the Matrix LED headlights, the car can keep high beams on while creating dark zones around other vehicles to prevent blinding them. Not really sure how much I buy that.

They ought to be able to do that. Other manufacturers has been doing exactly that for years. Even my aging ‘22 EV6 has a rudimentary version of that type of matrix headlamps. It’s one of the few things in this car that has always been funcioning as intended with no hiccups. Cars from German manufacturers are better in this respect though.

[gtg947h]

Tesla claims with Adaptive high beams with the Matrix LED headlights, the car can keep high beams on while creating dark zones around other vehicles to prevent blinding them. Not really sure how much I buy that.

My car has that feature and it seems to work well on the back roads (I can see the dark blocks). It's hard to tell in more well-lit areas though. I do appreciate that feature as there are a lot of deer around here; I don't remember there being this many when I was growing up, but I also wasn't out driving in the pre-dawn hours back then. FSD has actually notched a save or two for me, catching a deer running out while I'm doing 60 and hitting the brakes before I saw it. It also panic stopped in our neighborhood one time for a rabbit running across the road.

Besides the long boring morning commute, I've found it very useful at night in general (I'm 41 and my eyes don't like night driving like they used to at 16*) and especially in unfamiliar areas.

Never had it miss a exit yet but I have come closer than I wanted.

About 50% of the time mine tries to dive out of the exit lane for work at the last second. It may be tied to suboptimal nav data, but it's very annoying. It's also making the same mistakes at the same places consistently.



* I've talked to a few new-ish drivers who say they like driving at night and find it easier than daytime, and on reflection I think I thought the same way back when. I'm guessing it's because at night some of the visual stimulus is reduced and other vehicles are mostly reduced to lights.

[brovane]

Tesla claims with Adaptive high beams with the Matrix LED headlights, the car can keep high beams on while creating dark zones around other vehicles to prevent blinding them. Not really sure how much I buy that.

My car has that feature and it seems to work well on the back roads (I can see the dark blocks). It's hard to tell in more well-lit areas though. I do appreciate that feature as there are a lot of deer around here; I don't remember there being this many when I was growing up, but I also wasn't out driving in the pre-dawn hours back then. FSD has actually notched a save or two for me, catching a deer running out while I'm doing 60 and hitting the brakes before I saw it. It also panic stopped in our neighborhood one time for a rabbit running across the road.

Besides the long boring morning commute, I've found it very useful at night in general (I'm 41 and my eyes don't like night driving like they used to at 16*) and especially in unfamiliar areas.

Never had it miss a exit yet but I have come closer than I wanted.

About 50% of the time mine tries to dive out of the exit lane for work at the last second. It may be tied to suboptimal nav data, but it's very annoying. It's also making the same mistakes at the same places consistently.



* I've talked to a few new-ish drivers who say they like driving at night and find it easier than daytime, and on reflection I think I thought the same way back when. I'm guessing it's because at night some of the visual stimulus is reduced and other vehicles are mostly reduced to lights.

I also love using at night. I have a regular gaming grounp every other weekend about 70 miles from my house. I leave at 9pm at night, get in my car, push home as my saved favorite, txt my wife I am leaving, and then push the button to activate self-driving. The car does the rest. That is great that it has saved you from a couple of deer instances. Mine saved me from having a motorcycle crash into my rear at night. A motorcyclist decided to use the far right hand lane as a high speed passing lane on the Interstate as the car was moving over to the right for my exit. FSD paused while switching lanes and just was I was wondering why it paused a motorcyclist blew past me on the right. Considering the rate of speed and it being at night, I doubt I would have ever seen the motorcyclist until it was to late.

There is a certain freeway interchange near me that the car constantly wants to get into the East bound ramp when I going west bound in the navigation. Really annoying, wife also regularly goes that route and she has the same experience.

Then there is the issue navigating to our local Costco. I have my Tesla Navigation set to automatically re-route if the new route saves 15 minutes or more. I was going to Costco about 20 minutes from my house using FSD and there are two entrances to the Costco. The 1st entrance is more crowded with cars because it goes past the Costco Gas station and a Home Depot. I selected the route that takes me to the other entrance which is right near the location I usually like to park and I verified that I had selected the route that went to the 2nd entrance. The drive time for the routes where all within 1-2 minutes of each other. I get about halfway to the destination and the route updates and has me going to the 1st entrance which is more crowded. I cancel the navigation and reset the route I wanted to the 2nd entrance and within 30 seconds Tesla navigation switches back to the 1st entrance. Very frustrating.

They ought to be able to do that. Other manufacturers has been doing exactly that for years. Even my aging ‘22 EV6 has a rudimentary version of that type of matrix headlamps. It’s one of the few things in this car that has always been funcioning as intended with no hiccups. Cars from German manufacturers are better in this respect though.

Europe had it long before the US because the NHTSA had restricted Matrix headlights in the US until 2022. Once the NHTSA allowed the Matrix headlights, Tesla then enabled the feature in the cars with the appropriate hardware with a OTA update.

[Poohbah]

About 50% of the time mine tries to dive out of the exit lane for work at the last second.

Your car is trying to protect you.

[gtg947h]

About 50% of the time mine tries to dive out of the exit lane for work at the last second.

Your car is trying to protect you.

Even the car knows this job sucks and there's no point in sitting in this [expletive deleted] office to attend Teams meetings and write memos.

Got an interview Friday though...