TACC in bad weather

kuttakamina said:

I've been trusting it, but tonight (after I wiped the camera with a tissue), the car seemed to speed up rapidly towards a car in front of me.
I hit the brakes manually, I wonder if TACC would have figured it out?

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Was the car it was speeding up towards stopped?

So far my experience with the TACC has been good, not perfect but good. It has reliably detected cars and obstacles in front of the car. I have had false positives (1-2) from cars parked at the side of the road and my wife has had one false positive one the highway where the car braked for 2 seconds and the sped up again.

We have had 1 "cruise not available" but a restart cured that problem, I never did find out what caused it.

I find that the TACC brakes a little too late for comfort in my opinion, I would prefer a more gentle slow down over greater distances rather than the relatively hard regen braking that it does do. I find that twisting the distance button, doesn't completely solve this problem, but alleviates it somewhat.

I also worry a little about TACC safety in slippery conditions, but you could argue that TACC should not be used in those conditions anyway.

Other than that I am perfectly happy with it.

There have been a few occasions where it has felt like it has sped up towards a car, but its usually always a case that I can see why it's doing that. Like if someone just switched into my lane, or if the car is forwards enough that it's simply closing the gap faster than I would. I've been told it's way more smooth than on other cars. Like my boss doesn't use adaptive cruise control on his Land Cruiser because it's so jerky. I don't find the TACC jerky at all. It does sometimes brake a bit too much and too late for my taste, but that's a very occasional thing.

I haven't had any "cruise not available" messages yet, but I have had a few "blindspot monitoring" not available messages.

I don't think they can safety implement a non-tacc option because people fall into expecting certain behavior and they'd get confused by why it's not stopping.

I'll have to look into how other companies solve this problem. I know Subaru uses an all-vision system where it won't work in direct sunlight.

kuttakamina said:

I really wonder how this will work in winter or rain.

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By winter, I presume you mean it's snowing and not just the time of year.

Which begs the question - why would you even consider using TACC when weather is bad and/or roads are slippery. Seems like you're trying to jump the gun on automated driving without the correct hardware/software.

kuttakamina said:

Tonight, as I was driving back, I had VERY little condensation on the car. I mean very very little! So little that it was not visiible to human eyes.
And yet TACC got confused. Said cruise not available because front camera is blocked. I pulled over in a parking lot, gave it one wipe with a tissue, and it started to work again.

I really wonder how this will work in winter or rain.

I really wish they give us the non-tacc option cruise (constant speed) option in the next firmware update.

Also, how much do you trust TACC to not rear end anyone?
I've been trusting it, but tonight (after I wiped the camera with a tissue), the car seemed to speed up rapidly towards a car in front of me.
I hit the brakes manually, I wonder if TACC would have figured it out?
I think TACC gets confused on up/down slopes a lot.

Also, I wish TACC could see red/green lights.

This is also my first car with TACC, am I expecting too much here?

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I believe the TACC software update states that it is not suitable for driving in bad weather conditions or winding roads or on hilly areas as the sensors cannot see arond corners or drive the car to factor in certain road conditions.

In these early stages of development, relatively flat roadway such as motorways or major highways are the only suitable areas for TACC or any sort of cruise control.

Remember, this (and Autopilot when introduced) are just a form of drivers aide and is not a substitute for being a self drive car (not yet anyway) where you can set the car to drive you to your destination automatically and forget about the basic facts of being a driver

With more and more gadgets available we tend to lose sight of what put us behind the wheel of a car in the first place. The ability to become a safer driver and taking responsibility for that privilege

TACC works pretty well for me, even in rain where my Toyota Avalon's ACC would have shut off. Although keep in mind the manual says it's not supposed to be used in wet conditions.

Andyw2100 said:

Was the car it was speeding up towards stopped?

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kuttakamina said:

Yes

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Well, if your car's TACC had not been tracking (locked onto) that car as it slowed to a stop, that would explain why your car accelerated towards the stopped car. The TACC does not see stopped cars at all, unless it was tracking them when they stopped. There have been threads discussing this, including one thread involving an accident, due to the owner not understanding the limitations of TACC:

3 day old import P85D crashed while using TACC

Unless the indicator on your display was blue, showing that the TACC was tracking the car that wound up stopped (as opposed to being blue because it was tracking a different car that might have changed lanes out of the lane that stopped car was in), your TACC would have functioned properly by accelerating towards the stopped car.

kuttakamina said:

Tonight, as I was driving back, I had VERY little condensation on the car. I mean very very little! So little that it was not visiible to human eyes.
And yet TACC got confused. Said cruise not available because front camera is blocked. I pulled over in a parking lot, gave it one wipe with a tissue, and it started to work again.

I really wonder how this will work in winter or rain.

I really wish they give us the non-tacc option cruise (constant speed) option in the next firmware update.

Also, how much do you trust TACC to not rear end anyone?
I've been trusting it, but tonight (after I wiped the camera with a tissue), the car seemed to speed up rapidly towards a car in front of me.
I hit the brakes manually, I wonder if TACC would have figured it out?
I think TACC gets confused on up/down slopes a lot.

Also, I wish TACC could see red/green lights.

This is also my first car with TACC, am I expecting too much here?

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I asked something about this fduring my test-drive, and the guy said that he didn't think TACC had any issues with weather.

(My BMW's ACC was unusable in rain, but my current Infiniti's works really well even in rain.)

It sounds like MS's TACC falls somewhere in between...

Yesterday in heavy rain the collision warning went off twice and the car very briefly began to brake. Then it continued on its way. In light rain I haven't had a problem.

Just got back from another drive in moderate rain using TACC. Zero issues.

Heavy rain, I can see the system not working. But I really haven't had problems with anything other than heavy rain. (TACC probably shouldn't be used in heavy rain anyway).

I had ACC on my 2007 Infiniti G35x, and when it would snow out or get dirty, it wouldn't work either. I kind of got into the habit during the winter to just wipe it down so I could use it. Granted, I would never use it while the roads were snow covered, wet, etc.

Add me to the list of "Wish TACC would brake sooner when near a car" people. Just in case TM is reading this thread. I step in for TACC often. Wish it would be a little smoother and slower deceleration.

kuttakamina said:

I think I'll be using TACC only on the freeway going forward. Even then I'll be using it very carefully

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So in other words, you plan to use it as it was advertised to be used, as Tesla has suggested it be used, and as the manual says it should be used? what a concept!

Used TACC in very heavy (worst rain Ive experienced while driving) and I was very very pleased with it. Definitely helped me focus on the road as other ICE vehicles started stopping on the side of the road due to poor visibility.

I'm a fellow DC (well, northern VA) driver and I've used ACC in other vehicles. My 7 year old Audi had it. In my experience, ACC can only follow moving objects (cars). They can't detect stopped objects (cars, trees, etc.) at all and they detect small moving objects (motorcycles) very poorly. On more than one occasion a hapless motorcycle rider has cut in front of me and I had to frantically brake to avoid running the chap over.

So basically, use the TACC only on the freeways when there are moving cars in front of you that the TACC can "lock on to". If you use it on secondary roads, then keep the foot near the brake pedal and be prepared to stop the car yourself.

I've never experienced issues with rain. Btw, just to be clear, I've never used the TACC as I have not received my ordered MS yet. My experience with ACC is in a bunch of german cars (Audis, BMWs, Porsches, etc.). I am eager to see how far technology has progressed on the Tesla, but frankly I don't have my hopes very high on this point.

don't use TACC in bad weather. only use TACC in perfect dry weather conditions. directions says so.