I Drove Hands-Free All Week Using Full Self-Driving in a Tesla Model Y L. This Is Why I’m Hooked

Tesla was the first, but not the last, to add point-to-point self driving to its cars. After a week with it, I can see why people are so excited for it.

Last week I did something I don't do often: I went to a Tesla dealership to pick up my weekly test drive, the Tesla Model Y L, the company's larger, 3-row electric SUV. As part of the pickup process, I got a walkthrough of the Model Y L from a lovely Tesla associate named Nolan. He was excited to show me around the Y L, but even more, he was excited to show me Full Self-Driving .

After our quick tour, I headed out of the parking lot and set my navigation destination and then, tapped a small box on the center display: Start Self-Driving.

That's when I felt my body relax a bit, sinking a bit deeper into the driver's seat, my hands in my lap but at the ready if needed. I was still "on call," attentive and watching the car's every move while letting it do its thing.

Yes, I'm a trusting soul. This wasn't my first time in an autonomous Tesla . But it was my first time behind the wheel of a point-to-point system and it was both an eye-opener and a gateway drug. I want my car to drive me all the time now.

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This story is 100% human-researched and written based on actual first-person knowledge, extensive experience and expertise on the subject of cars and trucks.

Point To Point Driving Is the Future, And I'm Here For It

After spending a week in the Tesla Model Y L with Full Self-Driving, I realized something: Turns out, actually driving can be stressful. A true hands-free point-to-point system makes driving easier and more pleasant.

I can already hear what many people will say: I will never trust technology to drive me. There's no way a machine can drive a car better than a human. I like driving; letting the car do it is boring.

But I'm convinced that once you learn how to use hands-free point-to-point driving, you'll be a convert too.

Read: New Technology in Cars is Truly Your Co-Pilot

Which Cars Have Hands-Free Point-to-Point Systems?

We've seen Waymos on our roads for a while and now in some cities, like Austin where I live, Robotaxis and Zoox shuttles, all fully automated driverless cars.

And many of us have hands-free highway driving such as GM's Super Cruise or Ford's Blue Cruise. Then, there's traffic jam assist, lane keep assist, blind spot monitoring, cross traffic detection, road sign readers and more, all building blocks for self-driving cars.

Tesla's Full Self-Driving, which is priced at $99 a month, as well as Rivian's Universal Hands Free (a $2,500 package or $49 a month) and Mercedes-Benz' MB.Drive Assist Pro (more to come on that) allow drivers to set a destination and then, let the car do the driving.

Watch: Tour the Rivian R2 with us!

Hands-Free Driving Will Be Part of the Future of Driving

While fully autonomous cars are the goal for many carmakers, hands-free point-to-point driving is an interim step; it requires the driver be present and paying attention, eyes on the road and ready to take the wheel if necessary.

Eventually, we'll be able to ask our cars to pick us up, drop us off and even, sleep while the car does the driving. But for now allowing the car to drive while you sit behind the wheels has true benefits. Put this one on your wish list.

Read: Why I Bought a Tesla Model Y

Learning How the System Works

Before I drove away from the Tesla dealership, a very nice associate named Nolan took me for a quick spin to show me how the self-driving system works. We got into the car, buckled up and set a destination for a nearby Starbucks. Then, I tapped the "Start Self-Driving" icon on the screen. The car put itself in gear and did all the accelerating, braking and turning. It moved slowly through the parking lot to turn left into an exit lane at a traffic light.

Starting out in a parking lot was comforting; like many drivers, I learned to drive in a parking lot. Seeing how the car makes decisions and developing confidence in its process was important before heading out on the road.

Once we reached Starbucks the Tesla basically turned over the task to me.

Yes, You Can Take Over At Any Moment

There are several ways you can cancel Tesla's self-driving after you've activated it. Tap the brake pedal; tap the right rotating wheel on the steering wheel tap the Self-Driving box on the center screen or take over the steering wheel. Once you do you'll get a little data collection window on the center screen asking why: Navigation, parking, critical or other decision. The system says it's collecting data but you have to select an answer for the message to go away.

There were a few times during my drive that I felt the need to take over and cancel self-driving: When arriving at a location and deciding where I wanted to park; when the map routed me into a lane that would be come a turn lane; when I didn't like its choice of lanes or riding behind a large truck; when I arrived home and needed to angle the Model Y L into my garage.

I preferred managing parking, garages and other small maneuvers myself, though the Tesla did manage true point to point quite well on its own.

Self-Driving Modes Allow You To Adjust Your Experience

One of the things I appreciated most was the ability to set my assertion levels for Full Self-Driving. The Tesla allows you to customize your experience by setting the FSD Mode: Sloth, Chill, Standard, Hurry and Mad Max.

Sloth is super conservative, driving under the speed liming and taking every corner with extreme caution. Chill is a bit faster, but also a bit relaxed, accelerating more slowly and braking earlier. Standard was where I felt most comfortable; it drove the speed limit or slightly faster, it used caution when approaching intersections and it accelerated nicely on city streets and highways.

Hurry was a bit overly assertive, driving just faster than the speed of cars around me. Mad Max, which is designed to drive faster and get ahead of the traffic around you was just too much for me.

Is a Self-Driving Tesla a Considerate Driver?

Overall the system signaled every turn and lane change, paused to look around before making any moves and generally was probably a more considerate driver than most of us.

I was constantly amazed at how it stuck to the speed limit in my neighborhood — a frothy 15 MPH— and gave a wide berth around pedestrians, dog walkers, bicyclists and runners. When it changed lanes it also gave a lot of space between us and the cars around us, and it never failed to use turn signals. On the consideration scale the Tesla FSD system got an A.

Full Self-Driving Took Me to a Tesla Super Charger

One of the things that delighted me most was going to the Tesla Super Charger. I needed to juice up, so I tapped the screen to find a Super Charger nearby. Once I selected the location, I tapped Start Self-Driving and the Tesla took me there, not just rolling up to the terminals, but choosing one and backing into the spot and positioning the car perfectly to be plugged in. It was quite impressive.

Human + Machine Makes the Experience Even Better

The way I drove most of the week, though, was with Full Self-Driving assisting me.

Once you've set your destination and tapped the Start Self-Driving box, the car takes over. But as I scanned the landscape to ensure I agreed with all of the Tesla's choices, I could see what the machine hasn't learned yet: that left lane that becomes a turn lane thanks to a construction zone. A city bus ahead that I know will stop to pick up passengers just past the intersection. A heavy merge coming up that will slow down the right and center lanes; I drive this route a lot and always get over to the left to avoid that merge.

The nice thing is you can simply press the accelerator to go a bit faster if you'd like; tap the turn signal to let the Tesla know you want to change lanes; then zip past the city bus rather than getting stuck behind it.

The net effect was to let me see the road ahead and plan my route rather than simply allowing the car to do it for me. Adaptive cruise control, a common feature in most cars these days, works in a similar fashion, but only on the highway. I appreciated having this on city streets, too.

Do You Need to Pay Attention When Using FSD?

In a word, Yes. The Tesla system is called Supervised Full Self-Driving and it requires the driver to be able to take over at any point. You have to be eyes forward and paying attention.

However, it's not overly assertive. You can look away briefly, rustle through your handbag and find things on the center screen. You can probably spend a fair amount of time looking at your phone, though I mostly left my phone in the charger; not only is it illegal to use your phone while driving, it's irresponsible .

I connected my Spotify, messages and Bluetooth to the Tesla so I had all the necessary apps at hand on the touch screen when I needed them.

And then, there's Grok. Just say "Hey Grok" and the voice-activated system was there to help if I needed it.

Summon Mode Lets Your Tesla Drive to You

This is sort of a cool feature: Stand in a parking lot with your phone in hand, Tesla App open and tap Summon mode. The Tesla will start and then drive to you. I did it in a parking lot and it was impressive: You can hold the arrow buttons and it'll move forward or back, which Tesla calls Dumb Summon.

Smart Summon allows you to tap and hold "Come to Me" and the car will roll up next to you, obstacles and traffic allowing. During my test drive the system worked perfectly.

Of Course, There are Drawbacks — And More Reason To Pay Attention

Probably the most frustrating thing, and this isn't exactly Tesla's fault, is the navigation system often dumped me into a traffic jam. Several times I abandoned self-driving simply to get off the prescribed route and find a better road. Since I was in my neighborhood I usually knew what to expect, but not always. Figuring out the route you want on Google Maps and sending it to your Tesla app is a smart strategy.

Then, I didn't love the simplicity of the Start Self-Driving box. It is lightly grayed if the system isn't available; brighter when it can be used, and once you've tapped it, a the Self-Driving type turns blue; you can tap this to end self-driving, too.

It could be hard to see at a glance if Self-Driving was active; I would love the box to be bigger, brighter and more prominent so it's clear to the driver that it's active.

And it's not always clear with parking or directions. Once it took me to the loading dock of a destination rather than the front door (another Google gaffe?) and most of the time if I didn't take over it would sort of abandon the drive once I reached my destination. I would have expected a driver notification, emergency flashers turned or or some other official end to the drive.

All that said, I really loved the system. The reduced stress was incredible, the added help was nice to have and to be able to relax and see what you're missing around you is a joy. Getting back in to my car with a simple adaptive cruise system was a bit of an adjustment. It's been a week without self-driving and … I really miss it.