That is correct... you can use the turn signals while in autopilot to (sometimes, in my experience) have the Tesla switch lanes for you automatically, but currently the driver is always picking the lanes.
It also looked like the Tesla was susceptible to bullying.
Meaning... if someone wants to cut in front of me... I don't have to choose to let them. But the Tesla seemed to welcome people cutting in front of it. I didn't get a clear look for very long, but a few times someone passed it and pulled in front of it they cut in too soon for the software's comfort so it applied the brakes. A human may do that as well, but realistically if I got passed on the right by a jerk who cut in front of me to show his anger for making him pass me... I probably would see he was going much faster than me and wouldn't slow down just because he was driving aggressive.
But yeah, I still want one. Will be interesting to see how all this stuff plays out. I personally would like to see the Tesla do 3 things to avoid pissing off other drivers on the road (especially for the foreseeable future while we have mixed vehicles on the roads)...
1) Close the gap in front of it. If there aren't any cars in front of you, do like humans do and accelerate a bit above the posted limits. 10 MPH above posted seems reasonable, but I'm sure someone can come up with an algorithm for what is appropriate in a 35 vs an 85 zone.
2) Don't drive like an American. Drive smart, and only use the left-hand lane for passing. People in other countries tend to be better about this, I think Tesla needs to incorporate some Autobahn training into their software.
3) Automatically repot to what it sees. We'd all be thankful if Teslas automatically reported to Waze, debris on the road, stopped cars, police ahead, etc. And took pictures and sent it in to the appropriate entity responsible for road maintenance. How cool of a service would that be for everyone if Tesla reported potholes and helped cities get more data around what needed to be fixed.
I agree, taking the ego out of driving will be good.
But how should a machine behave while there is still ego present? Tesla will share the road with humans for the foreseeable future.
For starters, don't be in the passing lane aggravating people I think would be sufficient. Or, to MVP it... just an alarm that beeps at drivers who have auto-pilot on if they are in the left-hand lane and a car is behind them but not in front of them. Tesla has all this sort of sensors already so it should be able to recognize that situation that warrants an internal cabin alarm to remind the human driver to use the turn signal and get over.
Tesla has to be mindful of human behavior here. Build software that makes their cars perceived as good drivers by human motorists. What I saw yesterday... the Tesla was driving like an asshole and slowing down traffic. Seems like an easy problem to fix. Too bad we can't have our Dad's ride around yelling at Tesla for a few hundred miles while it learns how to drive "right." Ha.
The behaviour you saw was entirely the fault of the human behind the wheel. He was more than capable of noticing that he was holding up traffic behind him and driving slower than average. There's no need for Tesla to add alarms or special behaviour for this situation because they don't claim to give you full automation right now. There are still some driving tasks that are the responsibility of the driver.
In addition to that, if/when all cars are autonomous, different cars will have different.. temper. Or go at different modes - e.g. eco vs speed. I'm sure hacks for faster or more eco driving will emerge, wether legal or not. Cars should never expect everyone to drive the same and adapt to surroundings err.. autonomously.
