Hw3 FSD 12.6.4 vs 14& 14.1lite
2022 model 3 lr awd Ontario Canada
I am a designer/cabinet maker and drive ~ 4000km per month.
Personal experience below:
12.6.4
Phantom braking was almost nonexistent.
City driving:
At stop signs, especially left turns and four-way stops, it was very hesitant. It would occasionally take the wrong path through roundabouts, but overall the city-driving logic was solid.
One thing I really disliked was that it tended to wait until the last moment before merging into the correct lane.
Highway:
The overall highway logic was clear and predictable. The UI could recognize HOV lanes, but FSD itself couldn’t seem to properly recognize or use them.
In Standard mode, it could maintain a reasonable speed even while staying in the middle lane. My main complaint was that acceleration for passing was slow.
14.0 lite
Phantom braking became much more frequent. I even had one incident in city driving where it suddenly braked hard despite having a clear view of the road and a vehicle following behind me.
City driving:
Lane positioning and lane-selection logic seem clearer. Stop-sign behavior is slightly better than V12, and roundabout handling is pretty decent.
Highway:
Honestly, it’s a disaster.
In Standard mode, it will sit in the middle lane at around 111 km/h max. it moves into the left lane to pass but accelerates painfully slowly. In Hurry mode, it moves into the left lane to pass but accelerates slowly, then stays in the passing lane forever.
Based on my driving habits, highway FSD is basically unusable for me right now. I’ve gone back to using Lane Keep instead.
I haven’t properly tested HOV behavior yet. If I manually merge into the HOV lane, FSD can stay in it.
14.1 lite
Phantom braking is still there, although it seems slightly less frequent.
I haven’t noticed any meaningful changes in city driving.
I also haven’t noticed any meaningful changes on the highway.
Personally, I think HW3 is completely outdated at this point. I don’t feel like distillation has really accomplished much for HW3. I’ve also driven the full, unrestricted version of FSD on newer hardware, and the difference is very obvious.