Tesla Autopilot vs 25MPH, Well Marked, Curvy Road

Intro

This video takes place in Bear Creek Lake Park out in Lakewood, Colorado. This is my first in a series of Tesla Model 3 posts. Today we’re going to be doing a test of Tesla’s autopilot. This road is a little windy, it’s well marked, and the top speed is 25mph (40km/h). This is really where autopilot struggles - on sharp turns where it needs to brake below the speed limit.

In this ride we’ll do two attempts in both directions for four total attempts. Each direction is tested twice for repeatability.

My Tesla Model 3 is running autopilot (not FSD) v10.2 (2021.24.12).

This is not a complaint or anything against autopilot. Autopilot is a great piece of software. I am just doing this for documentation’s sake and to repeat this test to see how much better the software (does or doesn’t) get over time.

TL;DR

Attempts:

1. Eastbound:
   • The turn is too sharp and autopilot does not turn sharp enough
   • Autopilot finds itself happily driving in the wrong lane and, if there were traffic, into oncoming traffic.
2. Westbound:
   • Comes into turns too fast, slows down as the turn is happening
   • Manages to mostly stay in lane, maybe a bit over the line
3. Eastbound:
   • Oncoming vehicle forced me to take over in the beginning part of the test as a precaution
   • Goes over the line during sharp turn, but not fully into the other lane (likely because autopilot was only activated halfway into the test)
   • Happily drives while over the double yellow line, eventually getting fully back into its own lane.
4. Westbound:
   • Same as #2, not shown in video

Outro

All right boys and girls, I think that’s a wrap, thanks for watching/reading. Moral of the story, don’t fall asleep while your Tesla is driving… yet. In the future, I plan on making many more Tesla related posts, you can find them here.

Lastly, there’s about 10 days left until the big jolly man comes (🎅), hope you’re all on the nice list!

Merry early Christmas to all, and to all, goodnight.