It works. Usually. Mostly. With a big asterisk attached.
After putting the Tesla Model Y through its paces in Ann Arbor and San Francisco, the verdict is mixed. The car handles highways like a pro. It breezes through roundabouts that would give human drivers anxiety. But call it what it is. “Full Self-Driving (Supervised).” The parenthesis is doing a lot of heavy lifting here. It means you drive. Sort of. Tesla’s literature says keep your eyes on the road or the system bails on you. It’s a polite way of admitting the tech isn’t ready for a hands-off holiday.
The Good Part
For most of the time? It’s flawless. We drove two 2026 Model Years. The one in Ann Arbor crushed it on suburban streets. Complex intersections? Handled. The San Francisco model wandered the city with similar grace. Our staff reported smooth sailing. The system follows navigation inputs without hiccups. It feels smart. Maybe too smart?
Then It Gets Weird
Reality hits. And not softly.
The Ann Arbor car missed a speed bump. Hidden in heavy shade? Sure. It didn’t see it. Then it tried to drive into our neighbor’s driveway. Twice. A giant forsythia bush blocked our own driveway, so the AI couldn’t see it until it was too late to turn in. We hit the brakes. Hard.
San Francisco was worse. A four-way intersection. The car started drifting into oncoming traffic during a left turn. We disengaged. Close. Another time? It turned left at a crawl while traffic bore down on us. Too cautious? No. Dangerous.
The Vigilance Tax
No crashes. That’s the good news. The bad news is you’re sweating bullets. You can’t relax. You have to micromanage the robot. Watch for hiccups. Be ready to slam the pedal. After days of this, awe turns to exhaustion. You’re just a nervous co-pilot waiting for disaster.
If you love driving? This isn’t helping. It’s a high-tech toy. Not a labor-saving device. You’re paying for the privilege of watching the screen instead of the road. Is that worth it?
The Price Question
It used to cost $8,000. A steep bet on future tech. Tesla fixed that. Sort of. Now you can subscribe for $99 a month. Try it. Hate it? Cancel it. Keep control.
That flexibility? Maybe it’s the only thing working correctly.
