I've used it, "autopilot" is a really stupid name, you're right, adaptive cruise control with a little extra.
I drove in Burbank, CA, heavy Saturday afternoon traffic on the 5 freeway, barely any lane markings. It held station just fine for the couple miles I tried it. Pretty amazing actually but I kept my hands on the wheel and stayed alert like you're supposed to. -Curt On Tuesday, May 7, 2024 at 01:59:36 PM EDT, Allan Streib via Mercedes <[email protected]> wrote: Also, Tesla's "full self drive" is a myth, or at least it might not be what you think the name implies. It's adaptive cruise control with lane keeping and a bit of navigational awareness. There are plenty of stories of Teslas in FSD mode slamming into bridge abutments, other vehicles, fire trucks with lights and sirens active, etc. I would be afraid to use it. I might try it on a bright sunny day on a clear road with good lane markings, but I'd be watching it closely. Many Tesla owners say it terrifies them regularly. On Tue, May 7, 2024, at 12:49, Allan Streib via Mercedes wrote: > Tesla owners have a blind spot. They think that because the car meets > their needs (or they have adapted to its limitations without admitting > as much), it would meet anybody's needs. > > On Tue, May 7, 2024, at 12:19, Andrew Strasfogel via Mercedes wrote: >> Tesla owner friend of mine drives anywhere/everywhere and is always close >> to a charging station. Very cool car, particularly in full self drive. I >> would own one if I could afford it. >> >> I almost purchased a Mercedes B250E but the 87 mile range was too short, so >> I purchased a 2015 ML 250 Bluetec instead with a 600 mile range. >> >> On Tue, May 7, 2024 at 1:05 PM G Mann via Mercedes <[email protected]> >> wrote: >> >>> I will remotely consider owning an EV only when they come with a spare 5 >>> gallon container full of electrons for when it is out of charge and out of >>> range of a place to plug it in. >>> Point 1: They are over priced >>> Point 2: Battery service life is limited and replacement costs far exceed >>> the value of the car when the battery dies. >>> Point 3: Disposal of the dead and unrepairable very expensive battery >>> presents a huge environmental toxic waste problem, for which there is no >>> current or near future solution. >>> Point 4: Even at the current ownership density, the electrical grid is over >>> task to provide sufficient electrons to "gas them up", and, strictly from >>> the engineering view, rebuilding the electrical grid to meet present and >>> future demands [if we all only drove EV's] would cost many Billions of >>> dollars, and take decades to approve new power generation plants, since >>> coal and nuke are now virtually outlawed, all viable streams have been >>> dammed and producing at capacity, [example, Lake Meade draw down in last 3 >>> years left it nearly empty.] >>> Point 5: If you give proper consideration to the environmental damage >>> mining and processing of rare earth materials causes, world wide, to >>> produce the exotic EV batteries, then add the disposal environmental >>> problems , lack of ability to recover rare earth materials from the "dead >>> batteries" the highly touted "EV" comes off the assembly line with an >>> environmental toxic load that far exceeds its capacity to "Save the >>> environment" and that is brand new, never driven, even. >>> Bottom line, EV's are a man made environmental disaster produced under the >>> governmental guise of "saving the world".. >>> { Short rant complete, note the Mercedes has structurally withdrawn from >>> the EV marketplace.. } >>> G. Mann ... >>> >>> On Tue, May 7, 2024 at 9:37 AM Floyd Thursby via Mercedes < >>> [email protected]> wrote: >>> >>> > The chinee are flooding Euro markets with cheepcheep EVs, in UK they are >>> > like £12k, cheeper than anything any brit or euro builder can build and >>> > cheaper than any other vehicle on the market. A big RORO dumped off >>> > like a thousand of them a few weeks ago at some UK port. They are >>> > likely low-powered, low-range tin cans that might appeal to some if they >>> > have travel that would fit within the limitations of a low-end EV. Saw >>> > a report that the chinee are building so many more EVs than needed for >>> > domestic consumption that they are also dumping them in Germany etc. >>> > where they are awaiting release to the markets (if that happens). If >>> > the brits and euros cut their own throats with EV mandates and allowing >>> > chinee imports that will be the death of local auto manufacturing, EV >>> > products or not. Not sure they would be approved for US markets but who >>> > knows what our elected fools will do. >>> > >>> > The other issue that is looming as EV adoption increases is charging the >>> > things. You would need a home charger of some significant capacity to >>> > charge them quickly (probably minimum 40A if not much more). For those >>> > who don't have their own house where they could install a charger, they >>> > have to rely on public chargers or in their apartment complexes etc. It >>> > takes quite a bit of time to charge an EV although supercharging can be >>> > fairly fast but 2 problems -- the batteries can't take multiple >>> > sequential fast charges so will drop charge rate and increase charge >>> > time, and if multiple cars are at multi-outlet charging station there is >>> > not enough current from the grid to do them all at once, so the chargers >>> > choke the current among each charger and then it takes longer. So you >>> > see these long queues at charging stations when everyone decides they >>> > need juice for tomorrow, or they are on a trip and hit a charging >>> > station along with many others, and they can sit for hours waiting for >>> > the queue to move. Both these issues are problematic if you want to go >>> > on a longer trip in any reasonable time, or even charge your car in some >>> > reasonable time for your daily commute. >>> > >>> > Check out a youtube channel MGUY Australia, he has been putting out some >>> > pretty amazing vids about the whole technical and practical nonsense of >>> > mandating EVs. >>> > >>> > I think the things have a place in the world and technically are kinda >>> > cool (not that I would be keen on one) but are the not the end game. >>> > Plug-in hybrids with regen make a lot more sense. Interestingly in >>> > Norway where electricity is quite plentiful and apparently relatively >>> > cheap, EV adoption has been high (subsidies, COA, etc.) but I saw that >>> > many people have a gasser they keep too, for longer trips and in the >>> > winter when EV range goes to shite due to the cold. So a mix is what >>> > the market votes for even when an EV is a relatively cheap option. >>> > >>> > --FT >>> > >>> > >>> > On 5/7/24 11:58 AM, Randy Bennell via Mercedes wrote: >>> > > I am not a real fan of the electric vehicles being pushed upon us by >>> > > the fools who think they are wonderful, but I see enough propaganda on >>> > > a daily basis to make me think about them. >>> > > >>> > > Some of you folks are engineers etc and likely have a better grasp of >>> > > this sort of thing than I do, so here are my current thoughts on the >>> > > subject. >>> > > >>> > > It appears to me that most of the current crop of electric vehicles >>> > > are high powered and very quick. Some or perhaps most are also all >>> > > wheel drive. They are also generally quite expensive. They require >>> > > high powered chargers to charge in reasonable periods of time and the >>> > > batteries do not last for the long haul and are expensive to replace. >>> > > >>> > > I am wondering why. Would it not make a lot of sense, if one is trying >>> > > to make a wholesale change to the vehicle world to build lesser >>> > > vehicles. Use smaller motors that use less power. That should either >>> > > extend the range or permit smaller batteries of perhaps both would be >>> > > possible. That should also result in lower electrical use for charging >>> > > purposes so it would be less expensive to operate them. If the battery >>> > > was smaller, it should weigh less and special tires might not be >>> > > required and the tires should last longer. Most would not require all >>> > > wheel drive so there would be maybe 2 motors rather than 4 of maybe >>> > > even, only one motor like we have enjoyed in the past. Smaller >>> > > batteries should be less expensive to replace. Maybe they could even >>> > > be swappable entities rather than require a lot of work to replace. >>> > > Despite the fact that "luxury" cars are popular, there must be a >>> > > market for more basic cars without all of the electronic gadgetry in >>> > > cars like the Tesla. >>> > > >>> > > Randy >>> > > >>> > > >>> > > _______________________________________ >>> > > http://www.okiebenz.com >>> > > >>> > > To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ >>> > > >>> > > To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: >>> > > http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com >>> > > >>> > -- >>> > --FT >>> > _______________________________________ >>> > http://www.okiebenz.com >>> > >>> > To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ >>> > >>> > To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: >>> > http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com >>> > >>> > >>> _______________________________________ >>> http://www.okiebenz.com >>> >>> To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ >>> >>> To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: >>> http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com >>> >>> >> _______________________________________ >> http://www.okiebenz.com >> >> To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ >> >> To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: >> http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com > > _______________________________________ > http://www.okiebenz.com > > To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ > > To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: > http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
