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Front Collision Detection

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swegman

Active Member
Mar 27, 2012
1,586
1,652
One feature lacking on the Model S is a front collison detection system. A fellow member on this site informed me of an add-on product made by Mobileye. Their C2 model has been interfaced to several Model S cars. Mobileye is also in discussions with tesla engineers to obtain additional information that would allow them to install their model 560 device (the model 560 requires digital input signals in addition to analog signals, thus allowing more features to be offered). Mobileye told me they hope to have the necessary information within the next 30 days.

A friend of mine told me about a collision avoidance app available for android phones and the iphone. The android version is currently free. The iphone version costs $1.99. I purchased the app to test. However, the app requires that you install the phone in a holder that attaches to the windshield, so that the phone can be properly oriented, and I do not have such a holder. The name of this app is IONROAD. The press on the app looks good. Does anyone have any experience with this app? I sent the maker of the app an email asking whether they had any plans to offer an app for the Tesla in the future (I would think all it would need is a front camera, as the processing could be done by the processor in the touchscreen). Unfortunately, they told me that they are currently concentrating on the smartphone market. Maybe if enough people contact them, they may reconsider.
 
Bumper protection I get, but I don't understand the need for the collision detection thing. Aren't the driver's eyes and ears the most reliable collision detection? Why would you need this unless you were an inattentive driver or have sleep apnea behind the wheel? Plus the driver has the ability to make a judgment which no device can do.
 
Bumper protection I get, but I don't understand the need for the collision detection thing. Aren't the driver's eyes and ears the most reliable collision detection? Why would you need this unless you were an inattentive driver or have sleep apnea behind the wheel? Plus the driver has the ability to make a judgment which no device can do.

I believe the idea is if someone runs a stop sign or light the brakes come on a bit faster than you can press them reducing the speed of the collision. I don't know how it is where you are, but here in DFW pickups and SUVs like to pretend stop signs don't exist and just pull out assuming others will avoid them. Sometimes you can see them and sometimes you can't. Had one pull out in front of me going through an underpass. Missed me by about a few feet had I been in the intersection a half a second sooner I would have hit the side of the truck hard. I had the green light and it was green for a while, he went through the red without even slowing.
 
Artsci, I don't know how old you are, but I'm 55. I can tell you my eyesight and reflexes are not what they were when I started driving at 17. Collision avoidance systems are not meant as a replacement for attentive driving, but as a supplemental aid to provide additional (or advance) notification that a collision may occur. You say you understand having parking assist, but don't see the need for collision avoidance systems. One can argue that parking assist is not needed, as you should be able to properly judge distances for parking. However, many people desire parking assist because it makes it easier to park, especially when it may be difficult to accurately determine where the front and rear of the car actually ends. I submit that a collision avoidance system is an additional device to promote safer driving, as it may provide a warning of an impending accident before you (the driver) notices and reacts to a given situation. As I said, it is not a substitute for careful driving, but rather, an assist device, similar to park assist, anti-lock brakes, etc.
 
Artsci, I don't know how old you are, but I'm 55. I can tell you my eyesight and reflexes are not what they were when I started driving at 17. Collision avoidance systems are not meant as a replacement for attentive driving, but as a supplemental aid to provide additional (or advance) notification that a collision may occur. You say you understand having parking assist, but don't see the need for collision avoidance systems. One can argue that parking assist is not needed, as you should be able to properly judge distances for parking. However, many people desire parking assist because it makes it easier to park, especially when it may be difficult to accurately determine where the front and rear of the car actually ends. I submit that a collision avoidance system is an additional device to promote safer driving, as it may provide a warning of an impending accident before you (the driver) notices and reacts to a given situation. As I said, it is not a substitute for careful driving, but rather, an assist device, similar to park assist, anti-lock brakes, etc.

Undertand and thanks for the explanation. Makes good sense.
 
No one has any experience with IONROAD or the mobileye?

Hadn't heard about this app until reading here, but it looks interesting. I don't have a windscreen mount at the moment, but have one of these on order, from a Kickstater project last year. In theory, it'll be the best windscreen mount ever, so, something that is becoming of a Model S :)

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I believe the idea is if someone runs a stop sign or light the brakes come on a bit faster than you can press them reducing the speed of the collision. I don't know how it is where you are, but here in DFW pickups and SUVs like to pretend stop signs don't exist and just pull out assuming others will avoid them. Sometimes you can see them and sometimes you can't. Had one pull out in front of me going through an underpass. Missed me by about a few feet had I been in the intersection a half a second sooner I would have hit the side of the truck hard. I had the green light and it was green for a while, he went through the red without even slowing.

Second that. Driving standards in DFW are awful. Indicators people, they're there to be used!! (By people, I mean lots of Texas drivers, including my wife, but don't tell her)
 
Second that. Driving standards in DFW are awful. Indicators people, they're there to be used!! (By people, I mean lots of Texas drivers, including my wife, but don't tell her)

Cars delivered in Texas have a self-destruct hooked into the turn signals that activates somewhere between 10,000 and 250,000 blinks. So Texans avoid using the turn signals at all costs.
 
Sorry for the late reply on my review of ionroad! It takes a long time to calibrate, most often when I am already at my destination or close, everything is so far away that it can't detect accurately or within a reasonable time. It just didn't feel like it works as advertised!
 
I talked to Mobileye last night. They will be ready to install their new Mobileye 560 in the Model S in a few weeks once they are able to access certain speed information on the CAN Bus in the car. For anyone looking into it I'd hold off and wait to install their newer system.
 
I installed a Mobileye 560 on my Toyota Sequoia to try before getting one in my Model S (Due "February-March") and I can't say enough superlatives about the product and the company behind it. This device tracks your lane accuracy, senses and alerts you to forward obstacles, and can even differentiate between cars, pedestrians, motorcycles and bicycles in front of you. It instantly and appropriately dims/raises your headlights and it even "reads" speed limit signs.

It is a complicated install and my installer had some issues which were addressed on the spot by the company.

I understand that Mobileye is working with Tesla to ease the install and there may even be a possibility of having Al & Ed's (apparently a very knowledgeable and respected installer) install a unit for you before the car leaves Fremont.

I am trying to learn more about this through Mobileye and I will post any information that I get at this thread.