FSD 14.3.9 went up and down to Lares without me taking the wheel.
In town it was heading into oncoming traffic.
From Aguadilla to Lares through the mountains, for lunch and ice cream, and back the same day. On the narrow roads going up it did really well. The mistakes happened on town streets: twice into oncoming traffic, the potholes, and two overreactions to emergency lights.
Watch the complete trip.
Nine minutes covering all 71.9 miles: the road where only one car fits, the two wrong-way moments, the ambulance, the tow truck, and the potholes.
The numbers, untouched. 6:11
It got the hard part right. Not the basics.
The road to Lares is the hardest of the day, and that is where I used FSD the most. The two Lares legs have the highest percentages. The lowest is the last one, getting home, at 94%.
But that 97% does not count the mistakes. Heading into oncoming traffic cannot happen, and it happened twice in the same day. To be fair, this kind of mistake does not usually happen often. The reaction to emergency lights in the opposite lane had been fixed in v14.3.8, and it is back in this version.
The published score is 6.0. Without caps it would be 7.3, but driving against traffic, twice, is a severe failure that on its own holds the score at 6.0 at most. The dip at home, taking the wheel, parking, and the overreaction to emergency vehicles also failed, but they count against their category without a cap.
What it did well and what went wrong.
What it did on its own
- It waited for the oncoming car. At a construction zone where only one car fits, one was coming downhill. It stopped, let it pass, and then went through, without me stepping in. 3:23
- It climbed to Lares without me taking the wheel. One lane each way and cars pass close. It did not hesitate when two cars crossed at once on the narrow road. 2:53 3:06
- The descent, at 100% FSD. Coming down through San Sebastián was the same. It is the only leg of the day Wattly shows at 100%. 6:35
- The turn onto the main avenue, right. This time I left home with FSD on and it turned left correctly. Keep in mind there was no traffic. 1:09
- After dark, no problem. Almost dark, with headlights coming at us, I did not have to take the wheel either. 7:45
What went wrong
- Into oncoming traffic, twice. The first in downtown Aguadilla, with the one-way sign and its arrow pointing the other way right there. The second on the way out to the ice cream shop. 2:00 5:19
- It pulled over for emergencies in the opposite lane. An ambulance and later a tow truck, both in the other lane. I did not have to step in, but the previous version had already fixed this. 2:39 7:28
- Potholes, not yet. Leaving home and arriving at the ice cream shop I took the wheel because it does not avoid them. 0:47 5:46
- It tried to pull into a parking lot. I turned it back on after the wrong-way street and it wanted to pull into a parking lot instead of turning. 2:14
- Parking is still the weak point. In Lares it parked somewhere that was not even a parking spot, and at the restaurant it picked one I did not like. Both times I moved it myself. At the ice cream shop it circled the plaza without knowing where to park. 4:07 4:24
A real test is not a lab.
This is the first v14.3.9 trip. That is why trip-to-trip consistency is not scored: there is no other trip on this version to compare it with.
The stop at the corner store was a last-minute request of ours and I had to step in. That was not an FSD failure. Neither was the pin I dropped on the map so it would stay on PR-2: FSD wanted to U-turn onto another route, and it was not the one I wanted. 7:02 1:27
There is no video of the last leg home because I ran out of batteries. On that leg there were no interventions beyond the usual ones: the dip, a pothole, and several speed bumps.
It is a real trip, with my car, my route, and that day’s weather. A different road on a different day may produce something else.