zzdcar
Home
/
Reviews
/
Tech
/
Tesla's Navigate Is Worse Than Human Driving: Consumer Reports
Tesla's Navigate Is Worse Than Human Driving: Consumer Reports-August 2024
2024-02-19 EST 22:10:34

Image for article titled Tesla's Navigate Is Worse Than Human Driving: Consumer Reports

Car buyers have shown that they’re ready to —but are automakers actually equipped to meet that demand? A new Consumer Reports article evaluating the viability of Tesla’s Autopilot software says that we’re... not quite there yet.

Tesla recently updated its Autopilot software to include , an optional program that uses the car’s software to calculate lane changes on the highway without any driver input. As the , to use Navigate, a driver must turn it on and effectively give it permission to make its own lane changes.

It is an important step forward in the development of full autonomy, except it doesn’t work quite the way Tesla had planned.

The magazine was really not impressed. From the :

In practice, we found that Navigate on Autopilot lagged far behind a human driver’s skill set: The feature cut off cars without leaving enough space and even passed other cars in ways that violate state laws, according to several law enforcement representatives CR interviewed for this report. As a result, the driver often had to prevent the system from making poor decisions.

“The system’s role should be to help the driver, but the way this technology is deployed, it’s the other way around,” says Jake Fisher, Consumer Reports’ senior director of auto testing. “It’s incredibly nearsighted. It doesn’t appear to react to brake lights or turn signals, it can’t anticipate what other drivers will do, and as a result, you constantly have to be one step ahead of it.”

Drivers at CR who tested Navigate found that their Tesla was prone to making unsafe lane change maneuvers that a human would likely avoid—the car would pass on the right, for example, or cut in front of a car traveling at a much higher speed.

The system functions fine when it comes to the very basic principles of changing lanes, but it lacks the advanced situational awareness that humans have when it comes to making decisions based on, say, state laws or road etiquette, CR found.

The , but if you want the quick and dirty verdict, here’s a quote from David Friedman, vice president of advocacy at Consumer Reports:

Tesla is showing what not to do on the path toward self-driving cars: release increasingly automated driving systems that aren’t vetted properly. Before selling these systems, automakers should be required to give the public validated evidence of that system’s safety—backed by rigorous simulations, track testing, and the use of safety drivers in real-world conditions.

And from Fisher:

This isn’t a convenience at all. Monitoring the system is much harder than just changing lanes yourself. Using the system is like monitoring a kid behind the wheel for the very first time. As any parent knows, it’s far more convenient and less stressful to simply drive yourself.

The who are ready for autonomy are likely expecting the car to do all the work while they sit back and relax, possibly unaware that autonomy is measured in —and that the auto industry still hasn’t provided us with anything that could actually enable full autonomy.

Autonomous cars are coming, and while it may sometimes feel like they’re already here, they’re…

People want level 4 or 5—where the car can completely drive itself with little to no human intervention—but Tesla’s Autopilot feature is Level 2, with the human behind the wheel still needing to be fully alert and ready to take over at any time. That’s nowhere near the robot-controlled travel that is often associated with the word “autonomy.”

Tesla CEO Elon Musk hasn’t really helped in this regard, making some pretty big claims about the future of its Autopilot mode. Musk has Level 5 autonomy by 2020, but given the current state of Navigate, CR’s report suggests that Musk is far off the mark with that prediction. For now, Teslas may be partially autonomous, but they are by no means self-driving.

I reached out to Tesla for a statement and will update this blog when we hear back.

This story has been updated to clarify that Navigate is an optional feature that must be turned on by the driver.

Comments
Welcome to zzdcar comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
Tech
Truck Fans Would Rather Wait For A Toyota Tacoma EV Than Buy A F-150 Lightning Or Cybertruck
Truck Fans Would Rather Wait For A Toyota Tacoma EV Than Buy A F-150 Lightning Or Cybertruck
fans are already cooling on despite more options on the market and news of upcoming models from the likes of Chevy and Ram. The and have yet to be released, while the has recently joined the and for sale in the U.S. And, yet, all of these current and...
Aug 25, 2025
Biden’s First EV Charging Station Goes Online After $7.5 Billion In American EV Investments
Biden’s First EV Charging Station Goes Online After $7.5 Billion In American EV Investments
Despite in investments for the development of in the , not a single charging station had gone live thanks to — until now. The first EV charger paid for by Biden’s Bipartisan deal has come online in Ohio, according to , which marks the operational start of what the...
Aug 25, 2025
Volkswagen EVs Can Now Power Your House For Two Days (Update)
Volkswagen EVs Can Now Power Your House For Two Days (Update)
Experts have said that one of the ways to speed up EV adoption is for them to support . The ability for owners to power their house off their car or from the grid is vital. Just nine EVs on the market currently support bidirectional charging, but now VW...
Aug 25, 2025
Costco Will Sell The Chevy Blazer EV At A Discount To Go With Your Rotisserie Chicken
Costco Will Sell The Chevy Blazer EV At A Discount To Go With Your Rotisserie Chicken
knows that you keep coming back for the and Kirkland brand, but you can now also buy a cheaper at your local warehouse. Chevy notified its dealers that members are eligible for a $1,000 rebate on the through January 2, according to . The discount is part of ,...
Aug 25, 2025
GM Says It's Dropping Apple CarPlay And Android Auto Because They're Unsafe (Update)
GM Says It's Dropping Apple CarPlay And Android Auto Because They're Unsafe (Update)
GM is still dealing with the fallout of its decision to drop Apple CarPlay and Android Auto in favor of developing its own in-house system. In the last eight months, the company has had to deal with while still maintaining its in-house system will be “.” Since neither of...
Aug 25, 2025
Danish Investors Dump Tesla Shares After Elon Musk Calls Strikes In Sweden 'Insane'
Danish Investors Dump Tesla Shares After Elon Musk Calls Strikes In Sweden 'Insane'
Danish pension fund PensionDanmark is dumping all of its stock and putting the U.S. EV maker on its exclusion list of the companies it chooses to invest in – or not. The fund is selling all of its shares due to Elon Musk’s refusal to enter into labor agreements...
Aug 25, 2025
Copyright 2023-2025 - www.zzdcar.com All Rights Reserved