Tesla kills Autopilot, locks lane-keeping behind $99/month fee • Hacker News Board

Re: Tesla kills Autopilot, locks lane-keeping behind $99/month fee

#361

Post by Zigurd » Sat, Jan 24, 2026, 7:31 PM UTC

testing22321 wrote: post #360

Zigurd wrote: post #349

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, actually, nobody remote drives a Waymo. If you don't know how Waymo works, you also don't know how far behind is Tesla. There are fundamental obstacles to Tesla ever being a viable robotaxi.

Waymo have remote humans that can take over control when neeeded. It sounds rare, but it does happen. https://waymo.com/blog/2024/05/fleet-response#:~:text=In%20f...

There is never any remote driving involved. That would be dangerous. The current state of Tesla's "remote control" consists of a ghetto V2V hack to move the Killswitch to the chase car. How many years do you think it took to develop the remote decision-support Waymo has got? The second paragraph of the article you linked to explains this:

> Much like phone-a-friend, when the Waymo vehicle encounters a particular situation on the road, the autonomous driver can reach out to a human fleet response agent for additional information to contextualize its environment. The Waymo Driver does not rely solely on the inputs it receives from the fleet response agent and it is in control of the vehicle at all times. As the Waymo Driver waits for input from fleet response, and even after receiving it, the Waymo Driver continues using available information to inform its decisions. This is important because, given the dynamic conditions on the road, the environment around the car can change, which either remedies the situation or influences how the Waymo Driver should proceed. In fact, the vast majority of such situations are resolved, without assistance, by the Waymo Driver.

Re: Tesla kills Autopilot, locks lane-keeping behind $99/month fee

#362

Post by ajross » Sat, Jan 24, 2026, 8:25 PM UTC

array_key_first wrote: post #356

ajross wrote: post #353

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's no different on a technical level than Waymo using remote operators. Presumably Tesla just hasn't wired that up, or doesn't plan to. FWIW, your logic works better the other way around anyway: if the system didn't work, there would be easily-accessible proof to that effect showing the resulting hilarity as the operator needed to step in. There isn't. And... of course there isn't. Because FSD is real and works and…

No it's entirely different on a technical level, because waymos always drive themselves. The human operators don't drive, and in fact can't, they can only make decisions that the car then executes. Waymos are autonomous vehicles, Tesla has some vehicles which may operate autonomously in certain circumstances. There's a big difference.

Waymo's operators can absolutely control the vehicles directly. I'm not sure what you're trying to cite here. The only effective difference in architecture here is where, physically, the backup operator sits.

I know it's upsetting to think that someone you hate has a good product, but... they do. Arguing on the internet isn't rolling back the launch.

Re: Tesla kills Autopilot, locks lane-keeping behind $99/month fee

#363

Post by nwienert » Sat, Jan 24, 2026, 9:09 PM UTC

fartfaceMcgee wrote: post #308

nwienert wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have a EX90 I got on a really great deal, we drove it cross-country and it was mind-blowing how little I had to do. If it didn't make you touch the wheel / pay attention we could have basically done the entire trip without incident minus off-ramps. But there was one thing that was quite bad, similar to yours. While passing a semi I pulled it to the left side and it actually yanked us right so hard and then over-corre…

How you like that car? I test drove an early model that was really a pre-release dealer demo. It was a great ride but I also didnt get to do a whole lot with the sales guy next to me and a tight deadline to get back home.

Made me want to invest in Volvo. They fixed most of the software issues, what's left is a shockingly nice experience. Touch screen can be a bit annoying is all, but Google integration and design of the UX in the touchscreen is really good.

Re: Tesla kills Autopilot, locks lane-keeping behind $99/month fee

#364

Post by idibiks » Sat, Jan 24, 2026, 9:30 PM UTC

eudamoniac wrote: post #354

rcxdude wrote: post #339

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You attempt to ID them and pick them up later, and if you can't, you let them go.

Well, I'd rather they just get pitted. If someone is at the point of fleeing from police in a high speed chase, I want them removed from society, because nobody well adjusted and beneficial does that. Whether that's by arrest or by accidental death, I really don't mind either way. The alternative also emboldens criminals to flee as a first resort and to plan around that possibility. Fortunately in USA we have many st…

This would be precisely the divide I mentioned above. One is focused on whole-picture outcomes, the other is focused on making sure “bad guys” have a bad time (regardless of how that fits into the larger picture). Folks on either side of this divide tend to think the other is actually, factually nuts.

Re: Tesla kills Autopilot, locks lane-keeping behind $99/month fee

#365

Post by apublicfrog » Sat, Jan 24, 2026, 9:36 PM UTC

roryirvine wrote: post #340

apublicfrog wrote: post #295

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow, I've never seen an article that misleading from the first line! > "Full Self-Driving" costs $8,000. BYD includes its version for free on a $9,300 car. These are unrelated things. Tesla's comparative offering (at the time this article was written) was also included for free.

So, what you're saying is that Tesla used to be as good as a $9,300 BYD but is now going to be worse? No wonder they need to hide behind a tariff wall.

No, and it seems you're intentionally inferring something there.

I am saying that the article is comparing two features that are different and alluding to them being the same to confuse the non-informed reader.

I have no idea what a "tariff wall" is, but I don't believe Tesla or BYD pay a tariff in my country.

Re: Tesla kills Autopilot, locks lane-keeping behind $99/month fee

#366

Post by Chilinot » Sat, Jan 24, 2026, 10:13 PM UTC

sizzle wrote: post #283

Chilinot wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My volvo also has a "not perfectly tuned" PID loop. With "autopilot" engaged it keeps weaving constantly left and right inside the lane im in. Have gotten used to keeping a firm-ish pressure on the steering wheel at all times to compensate. But drivers behind me must have thought me drunk before i got the hang of it.

This is lane keep assist not lane centering and dangerous to use as a lane centering feature as it’s not designed to do that hence the ping ponging behavior

Lane keep assist is always enabled, this "copilot" or whatever it's called is an extra feature i can manually enable over the default lane assist. And it will steer and follow the road quite well in most conditions. But sometimes it starts the ping pong behaviour.

Should also be noted that i never take my hands of the wheel. And the volvo is quite fast at beeping at me if it detects that i dont hang onto the wheel.

Re: Tesla kills Autopilot, locks lane-keeping behind $99/month fee

#367

Post by fragmede » Sun, Jan 25, 2026, 1:31 AM UTC

rraihansaputra wrote: post #302

tzs wrote: post #278

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's essentially that Subaru's lane system actually has two levels: it has lane keeping where it's just trying to keep you inside the lines, and then on top of that it also has lane centering which is pretty much what it says. Same with Hyundai except they call them "Lane Keeping Assist" (LKA) and "Lane Following Assist" (LFA) and I have trouble remembering which one centers you and which one just keeps you from le…

idk whether subaru is exact the same as hyundai but i basically turned lane centering off on my hyundai. when possible i only use radar cruise control, and lane follow. if i want to overtake, turn on my signal and it'll automatically safely increase speed to set cc speed and let the lane follow off. it's pretty seamless. lane centering is a bit too annoying for me, i need to keep my hands on the wheels anyway.

> i need to keep my hands on the wheels anyway.

Alignments off. Not as bad as it used to be to get it done.

Re: Tesla kills Autopilot, locks lane-keeping behind $99/month fee

#368

Post by fragmede » Sun, Jan 25, 2026, 1:37 AM UTC

scruple wrote: post #351

lbreakjai wrote: post #338

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To your first point, that's what adaptive cruise control does. It will slow you down to maintain a gap with the car in front of you.

ACC generally has a 3-4 second time interval that it permits between you and the car in front of you. I live in SoCal, so a lot of my driving is on very aggressive routes. The 4-second gap is mechanically safe but it's practically unusable because it creates a void large enough to invite other cars to lane change in front of me. So when that car merges in, the ACC detects a violation of the safe braking distance and…

The beauty of ACC is it lets your disengage mentally. You can be aggro if you want to with it on, but I found it's just not emotionally worth it to get mad at being cut off anymore in a car with ACC. ACC just handles going forwards and I'm not having to touch gas nor brake. If I'm not touching either, I don't have to panic react to getting cut-off, just make sure the ACC is handling it, and if that's all I need to check, vs slam on the brakes, then eh.

Re: Tesla kills Autopilot, locks lane-keeping behind $99/month fee

#369

Post by starik36 » Sun, Jan 25, 2026, 1:37 AM UTC

tra3 wrote: post #156

starik36 wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We've had FSD trial for 4 months in the middle of last year. I work from home so I can't really justify $100 a month. However, we did take a few trips (about 60 miles in each direction) to see family through downtown LA. I was honestly stunned by how far the tech has come. It basically drove us door to door without a single intervention.

I talked to about 3 people about this that have personal experience with Tesla autopilot and that's been the feedback. So where's the gap? What's the problem?

I don't think there is a problem per se. There are probably still edge cases out there that I didn't experience. But overall, I think the tech is ready to roll.

Re: Tesla kills Autopilot, locks lane-keeping behind $99/month fee

#370

Post by eudamoniac » Sun, Jan 25, 2026, 1:38 AM UTC

idibiks wrote: post #364

eudamoniac wrote: post #354

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, I'd rather they just get pitted. If someone is at the point of fleeing from police in a high speed chase, I want them removed from society, because nobody well adjusted and beneficial does that. Whether that's by arrest or by accidental death, I really don't mind either way. The alternative also emboldens criminals to flee as a first resort and to plan around that possibility. Fortunately in USA we have many st…

This would be precisely the divide I mentioned above. One is focused on whole-picture outcomes, the other is focused on making sure “bad guys” have a bad time (regardless of how that fits into the larger picture). Folks on either side of this divide tend to think the other is actually, factually nuts.

You are ignoring the big picture outcome of the resultant culture that develops in a society in which criminals can easily flee and not be chased. Culture shifts for the worse in an environment that is less likely to catch, arrest, or prosecute criminals. Trust and norms erode.

The factual outcomes almost don't matter; what matters is perception among the masses. For example, if people largely believe that shoplifting is not prosecuted in a city, and they see shoplifting occur, it is extremely depressing, even if they see the person arrested. It's demoralizing. It also probably leads to more attempts at shoplifting overall. I use this example because it's common enough in a few cities.

High speed chases are rare, so it's not as immediately obvious. But if people see on the news two stories, "man kills woman, cops are there, he flees in car, high speed chase, crashes into innocent bystander killing self and them" versus "man kills woman, cops are there, he flees in car, police arent allowed to chase him so he is currently at large, but they are trying to track him by other means", the latter is far more demoralizing, makes one lose faith in society and the rule of law, makes one less proud of their culture, etc etc. This is a serious effect over time.

At some level, society needs to believe that bad behaviors are punished and that good guys are trying their best to stop bad guys. This is very important to a functioning society. When people stop believing that, culture declines rapidly. Even if the utilitarian outcome is slightly better when not stopping bad guys sometimes (e.g. not prosecuting the previous president even if you could), it's usually not worth the resultant demoralization.