Tesla Full Self-Driving is actually conservative

TO THE EDITOR:

I am the owner of a Tesla Model Y with Full Self-Driving capability. The Dawn Project’s Super Bowl ad showed Teslas doing things that I don’t believe my Model Y would ever do when Full Self-Driving is activated (“Musk rival airs Super Bowl ad calling for ban on Tesla ‘self-driving’ feature,” autonews.com, Feb. 11).

My experience is that the vehicle will not drift across lanes as clearly marked as those in the ad. It senses pedestrians as well. Of course, I’ve never tried to ram a baby stroller, as the ad showed. My Model Y actually slows down unnecessarily when it approaches any marked crosswalk, even when there are no pedestrians in sight.

Tesla owners aren’t allowed access to Full Self-Driving until agreeing to participate in a beta test and affirming that they will not abuse the privilege. The privilege is revoked if abused.

If anything, the capability on my Tesla is overly cautious and nowhere near as aggressive as shown in the ad. It is more likely to slow down or even stop when it shouldn’t, which creates an annoyance to drivers behind you. In my experience, the feature creates a situation in which the driver plays the role of a driver’s ed instructor, always having to watch what it is doing and being ready to intervene and override (usually when it’s being too conservative).

That said, it’s way ahead of the competition and gets better with every update.

Is there any competition?

MIKE MURRAY, Westlake Village, Calif.