First, after our rental experience on a business trip with a Tesla Model 3, I would definitely rent one again. However, the experience with driverless technology definitely reinforced my thoughts on introducing driverless technology on streets where human beings are also driving. An explicit logical system is not ready for implicit chaotic humans – IMHO. Is it an advantage on clear roads and highways? Not always, as well.
We arrived in Denver, CO, on February 6 in order to teach a class on the use of EMPATH electrical signature analysis. Part of the emphasis was on the use of energy and emissions to support maintenance systems – after all, the single largest opportunity in most facilities for energy and emission improvement is to maintain the equipment and infrastructure as you should anyways. We also had an opportunity to rent a Tesla from Hertz. For some reason I selected the Model 3. I’m a big guy, so it was just a bit of a contortion act to get into the vehicle, but once inside it was no problem. The two technicians that came with me to help with the class are not tiny people either, but we were pretty comfortable once we got the hang of the basics.
I was on the development teams for the Hybrid Tahoe and Volt at GM and then later the hybrid 644 and 944 hybrid construction tractor teams at John Deere as an electric motor and insulation reliability consultant. I’ve owned a hybrid Tahoe and a Volt and really enjoyed the performance that goes with electric machines, instant torque and a number of other advantages. I was looking forward to my first full electric vehicle experience with the Tesla, especially as I have a few people that I grew up with at the company.
I was not disappointed. Performance was outstanding, handling was exceptional, even with a payload that I would estimate exceeding 700+ lbs. There was even a pothole that I would call a ditch or moat that surrounded one side of the hotel that I thought we’d have problems with and it acted like a champ. I normally drive a pickup truck for projects because of the landscape that I deal with from steel plants to wind farms, so it took a little getting used to not seeing ahead in times where we were in traffic. As a final note on the payload, the trunk and ‘frunk’ (front trunk) provided a LOT of space, which I was not expecting. Three guy’s worth of luggage and equipment was a breeze in the smaller Tesla Model 3.
Because I had driven the Volt I was prepared for the regenerative braking experience. As soon as you are not depressing the gas pedal you slow down – in fact, I rarely had to put my foot on the brake pedal. The strangeness of not transitioning through gears is also something that a first-time user might have to get used to.
Then on the third and last day after class we set up to find something other than hotel food and decided we were going to try auto-pilot and see what would happen with obtaining a standard charge. Following is a video of the experience.
Even after watching the videos from Hertz, it took a while to figure out the interface, which resembles using an iPad or iPhone. The user manual interface was all but impossible as we were not able to scroll down – which I put to user error. Basically, I couldn’t get to the instructions on how to scroll because I couldn’t scroll. So, we found our answers via Google search. The traffic was extremely heavy and we were extremely hungry, so we did not use autopilot on our first stretch to IHOP. After dinner we attempted to find a charging station before we would take the Tesla on the highway to test autopilot after rush hour.
The system did find charging stations, but did not identify ‘type.’ Tesla uses a Type 3 fast-charger, which they tend to include. At our first location, which was a Walmart a short distance away (0.2 miles – in Denver the charging stations are everywhere) and we found a Walmart delivery truck at an angle across all but two spaces. Another electric Volkswagon was parked at an angle across the other two which included the fast charging station. He was struggling as his car and the charging station were not communicating so, as you can see in the video, he was more than a little rude.
I searched for a Tesla Supercharging station – after all there is a claim that you can fully charge in 15 minutes (welcome to marketing hype). That experience was very different. Everyone kept to themselves but were pretty much quiet and polite, all had books or movies going – basically, using the standard charging experience, you are still looking at a charging rate of 235 miles/hour, or 35 kwh charging (the default). You can increase the charging rate on the interface, and the charging station we were attached to would allow us to go much, much faster. However, that would reduce battery life. So, using the default we identified that it would take 50 minutes to charge from 43% to 80%. The charging station was also 15+ minutes away, taking 8% of our charge to get there (including the drive to dinner and trying to find a charging station) and another 5% to get back to the hotel.
I typically drive anywhere up to 16 hours to haul test equipment to test wind turbines, then have to leave the vehicle running in order to have air conditioning (summer) or heating (winter) as required by our safety rules. I estimated that on the highway in average temperatures the driving and charging times would be a stop every two hours for an hour charge on a fast-charging station preserving the life of the battery. That means that an average trip of 14 hours from Chicago to West Texas would be 21 hours in length, adding a day to the trip and additional recovery time. If performing ESA on a 100-turbine site, that would mean up to 6 days travel, 2 days recovery on either end, for just two days on-site versus 2, 2, and 2, or 10 days electric travel versus 6 days with fossil fuel. That assumes you are not waiting in line at any of the charging station. So, at this time, switching from gas or hybrid to all-electric does not fit for traveling technicians. But is something I plan on in the future – mostly for the performance and comfort. The exceptionally low cost (the history on the Tesla 3 showed it cost $14 at the last charging station to go from 15% to 80% versus $40 for the same distance in my truck) for fuel is definitely a plus.
The next morning was a quick trip of 15 miles to the airport. I left a little early to see about avoiding the worst of traffic so I could get one last shot at testing autopilot.
The summary of what I was really testing with the Tesla Model 3 rental on our business trip – Autopilot. I don’t believe it is ready for prime-time when there are other human beings nearby. For long road trips it seems far superior to cruise control. My Silverado has lane change, following, and other features that definitely help, but autopilot took it to the next level. For keeping the driver alert it would periodically require you to put pressure on the wheel or it would simply turn off steering control. I experienced that the evening before and it was a bit of a surprise. I would think it should have slowed the vehicle down instead of having an uncontrolled car (it continued to maintain speed) should the driver be incapacitated.
Even when I caught up to traffic on the highway autopilot managed speed, but did not change lanes. Both on the highway and the 35 mph zone we were in the evening before when passing through old construction zones where the lines criss-crossed, the vehicle got confused. In one case where the lanes split for a turn the car jerked abruptly into the turn lane startling both us and the car following. I definitely found that unsettling. I did have to take control and stop quickly at one stop sign and one stop light as the vehicle showed no indication of slowing down even though it did appear to be registering the change back from red to green. On the highway at the end of the video above you will see a pickup truck entering from the right. I took over when the truck swerved across the solid line from the entrance ramp to be directly in front of me and the autopilot did not react.
Personal note: if I see someone looking at their phone or something else while driving one of these vehicles in traffic I am most definitely putting distance between us.
Overall it was a good experience and I’m glad for it and plan on renting one of the larger Teslas in the near future. I’m planning on exploring driverless AI further but at this point I still stand firmly behind my “it’s not ready for prime-time” thoughts. In fact, based on understanding how AI/ML is done and where it presently stands, releasing some of this tech based on hype is not something I would advise. It is going to take some time to ease it into general use and it will take much more training. For instance, the system made no notice of potholes and objects on the ground and in Denver this made for some jarring pothole finds.
