Road Trip with a Tesla – Day 4: Rain and Road Work

9:54 A.M., St. Charles, Missouri.  About 13 hours of drive time to go.  I hit rain for the first time during the trip, and the windshield wipers activate without my touching any of the controls.  While this is not that unique as new cars go, the wipers not only turn on but completely adjust based on rain volume.  Again, many cars have this feature too.  But the simplicity of having the car manage all issues with windshield wipers and rain is a great convenience.

The technology has not been developed as it concerns road work.  If no lane markings exist, no Autopilot.  Temporary work force deployed with highway cones, no technological assistance.  This is not a complaint about Tesla but just an observation that while a high level of automation has been deployed well in this car, it’s not autonomous and the experience of driving a car like this brings to focus how far we  have to go to achieve true autonomous driving.

Mike Nelson is embarking on a cross-country road trip from Orange County, California to New York City in a Tesla 90D Model S.  The Model S is equipped with autopilot and electric all-wheel drive.  Mike will share his experiences on the road with autonomous technology with Up to Speed readers in a series of posts.