Zach Noonan Presents Research on Drivers' Use of Tesla's Auto Lane Change at TRB 2025 Annual Meeting
by Niels Wu
AgeLab Postdoctoral Associate Zach Noonan presented research at the Transportation Research Board 2025 Annual Meeting on Tesla drivers’ utilization of the auto lane change feature before and after major software version updates.
Noonan’s presentation drew from a study titled “Changes in Adoption and Use Patterns of an Automated Lane Change Feature Following Over-the-Air Software Updates” and took place as part of a Lectern Session, “Impact of Individuals, Family, Community, and Technology on Driving Safety and Training.”
Auto lane change allows Tesla vehicles to automatically steer into an adjacent lane and is part of a broader collection of automated steering, acceleration, and braking features called Autopilot. These features can be updated rapidly through “over-the-air” software updates which may change drivers’ behaviors on the road both in terms of their rate of use of certain features as well as the nature of their execution of driving maneuvers.
The study featured in Noonan’s presentation examined Tesla drivers’ use of auto lane change one month before and after two software updates made in 2016 and 2019. The study drew data from an ongoing naturalistic driving study by MIT’s Advanced Vehicle Technology Consortium and included nearly 16,000 miles of Autopilot driving by 28 Tesla drivers.
Findings revealed that after the 2016 software update, driver utilization of auto lane change increased seven-fold and maintained a consistently high level for the remainder of the study, possibly explained by the fact that this update most enhanced the feature’s sensing and obstacle detection capabilities.
The study also found that in the month proceeding the 2019 update, drivers, on average, drove at higher speeds when using auto lane change and also initiated auto lane change earlier when behind another vehicle compared to the month following the 2016 update. This suggests that as drivers explore and become more experienced with the feature, they may become more adept at anticipating the need for and using it.
Noonan noted that this exploration process may represent an opportunity for supplemental driver education or training that accounts for drivers’ adaptations to new features over time.
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