Haven't driven a Tesla but I'm quite sure the safe braking distance is a lot shorter than it _feels_ like for a human and this is actually one of the tasks I'd rather leave to a computer than a human.
I'd assume the Tesla to have a lot better (quicker) reaction skills than you and you should probably just trust it (in this particular scenario) and relax, even though the distance might _feel_ too short.
Driving a Tesla for almost a year now and when I had mine for 2,5 weeks it crashed into a car in front of me on AutoPilot in slow moving traffic. Stop and go. After 15 stops, it moved again, but this time didn't stop. I just sat there expecting it would brake. It didn't. There was no major damage, just about $1500 due to a small dent in the hood.
AutoPilot is beta. Don't trust it to be quicker than you. It will fail in ways humans do not ever expect. Always pay attention and take control if it feels off.
This is terrible. This is the exact reason why I would want to buy a Tesla. Just for the AutoPilot to drive the car in bumper-to-bumper freeway traffic. If it does not work reliably in this situation, then the AutoPilot is essentially worthless to me.
On my regular commute, the freeway interchanges that I must take, are too frequent, that I don't think the AutoPilot is worth the trouble to switch on. Especially when the freeway is empty, since I would have to take control of the car every few minutes.
The only scenario where I think AutoPilot is worth the effort to switch on, is if I must drive long distances on the same freeway, where you don't have to switch freeways. Like the drive from LA to SF. Or LA to Vegas. Or even just staying on the same freeway for 20 to 30 minutes.
I hope they can fix this deficiency. This AutoPilot technology is definitely beta, if they can't perfect simple stop-and-go freeway traffic.
This is true, the car can panic stop very quicky. The problem is I want to leave enough space to dodge pot holes that the car in front of me just drove over, since Autopilot can't really do anything about that (nor do I expect it to)
I'd assume the Tesla to have a lot better (quicker) reaction skills than you and you should probably just trust it (in this particular scenario) and relax, even though the distance might _feel_ too short.