Driving on the highway is annoying due to "Blind Spot Warning Disabled" alert

MileHighMotoring said:

I had my car in and mentioned that I often see an alert pop up under the speedometer saying that Blind Spot Detection has been Disabled. They said it's normal and you'll see this every time the car goes above 80 or 85 mph. And every time you slow slightly and then go to 85 again, the warning pops up again. This is by design. IT's really distracting and annoying and takes my eyes off the road. I don't even use this feature (I have eyes and mirrors and a functioning neck that can rotate my head when I need to change lanes ) so this is especially loathsome to me.

Anyone else agree with me on this?

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Honestly, the blind spot detection is such a useless POS that I turned it off. I am really concerned that the full auto pilot features will never come with the current sensors. I frequently get a blind spot alarm 2 seconds AFTER a car passed trough.

I get this warning at a perfect 88 mph every time but, I haven't arrived in the future yet

The quality of the detection is clearly worse at higher speed and that is why it cuts off. If you routinely go back and forth from over to under 85, you can always turn off the system and you won't get the pop-up any longer.

joer00 said:

Honestly, the blind spot detection is such a useless POS that I turned it off. I am really concerned that the full auto pilot features will never come with the current sensors. I frequently get a blind spot alarm 2 seconds AFTER a car passed trough.

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I don't understand what blind spot monitoring has to do with autopilot?

Max* said:

I don't understand what blind spot monitoring has to do with autopilot?

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The automatic lane change functionality presumably uses the blind spot detection to determine when it is safe to change lanes.

LetsGoFast said:

The automatic lane change functionality presumably uses the blind spot detection to determine when it is safe to change lanes.

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Didn't the advertised lane changing functionality have the driver initiate the lane change by clicking the turn signal?

If so, I still fail to see how the blind spot monitoring will prevent that from happening (you'll still have to check to make sure there are no cars, regardless of how well the blind spot monitoring works).

LetsGoFast said:

The automatic lane change functionality presumably uses the blind spot detection to determine when it is safe to change lanes.

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Actually, automatic lane change will use the driver to determine when it is safe to change lanes, not the useless sensors.

Max* said:

Didn't the advertised lane changing functionality have the driver initiate the lane change by clicking the turn signal?

If so, I still fail to see how the blind spot monitoring will prevent that from happening (you'll still have to check to make sure there are no cars, regardless of how well the blind spot monitoring works).

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Well, ideally you'd want the car to double-check that the driver hasn't instructed the autopilot to cause an accident. :biggrin:

I questioned the rear sensor choice when they first started rolling out autopilot. They made a huge compromise for cost. Most manufacturers (like Mercedes) and self-driving cars use 3/4 angle radar units in the rear. This allows them to detect vehicles moving at a higher rate of speed, and from longer distances. With their slower response times and shorter range, ultrasonic sensors likely can't compete (and the above is clear evidence of that). Certainly autopilot v2 will correct this deficiency, but that doesn't help the vehicles currently on the road.

Gizmotoy said:

Well, ideally you'd want the car to double-check that the driver hasn't instructed the autopilot to cause an accident. :biggrin:

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Sure, but we don't know if that's a hardware issue (which I doubt) with the blind spot monitoring or someone didn't do a good job writing up the software (easily solvable).

Gizmotoy said:

I questioned the rear sensor choice when they first started rolling out autopilot. They made a huge compromise for cost. Most manufacturers (like Mercedes) and self-driving cars use 3/4 angle radar units in the rear. This allows them to detect vehicles moving at a higher rate of speed, and from longer distances. With their slower response times and shorter range, ultrasonic sensors simply can't compete. Certainly autopilot v2 will correct this deficiency, but that doesn't help the vehicles currently on the road.

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Autopilot != Autonomous

Tesla's goal with the current sensor suite was to hit Level 2 of Autonomous driving (aka Tesla's Autopilot). For that, all they need to do is stay in lane and not crash into the car in front of you.

Auto-lane changing (not initiated by the driver) is probably approaching if not directly Level 3. We're far enough away from that (IMO) that adding the sensors at this point would be a waste of money. Look at how many people sold their Tesla's when they went from Level 1 (no Autopilot) to Level 2 (Autopilot), imagine the cost benefit for Tesla when they release Level 3 hardware/software?

AmpedRealtor said:

Actually, automatic lane change will use the driver to determine when it is safe to change lanes, not the useless sensors.

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I would be astonished if the car would change lanes when the blind spot warning is active in that direction. Its possible, I suppose, but I'd happily wager against it.

Max* said:

Auto-lane changing (not initiated by the driver) is probably approaching if not directly Level 3. We're far enough away from that (IMO) that adding the sensors at this point would be a waste of money.

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I think my point was that many manufacturers ALREADY include these sensors to implement a reliable blind spot warning system, and that it's mandatory for more advanced features. This isn't some far-off request. Vehicles you can purchase are rolling with this stuff now, and have been for years. Notably, I made no mention whatsoever about lane changes not initiated by the driver. I think you might have assumed that?

LetsGoFast said:

I would be astonished if the car would change lanes when the blind spot warning is active in that direction. Its possible, I suppose, but I'd happily wager against it.

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And this is why. People will absolutely feel that the car will help them not do something stupid. But we know the sensors they're relying on become increasingly inaccurate at high speeds, and don't have long enough range to detect vehicles approaching with a high speed delta. It was a mistake to not include better sensors like other manufacturers.

Many cars implement blind spot detection without rear-facing radar. In fact, I'd hazard a guess that the majority of cars with blind spot detection do not use rear-facing radar. My wife's Lexus RX-450 does not have radar and it works quite a bit more reliably than Tesla with more or less the same sensor suite (I believe that Lexus actually uses fewer sensors than Tesla).

I don't expect Tesla to work perfectly in edge cases, like someone overtaking you from behind at a very large speed differential, but I would expect the car to resist if you ask it to change lanes and it believes that there is a car there already.

I don't know where you are but here speed limits are way Under 85mph so this should'nt be a problem...

Dakkor said:

I don't know where you are but here speed limits are way Under 85mph so this should'nt be a problem...

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Texas has some 85 mph speed limits, Wyoming has 80.

LetsGoFast said:

Many cars implement blind spot detection without rear-facing radar. In fact, I'd hazard a guess that the majority of cars with blind spot detection do not use rear-facing radar. My wife's Lexus RX-450 does not have radar and it works quite a bit more reliably than Tesla with more or less the same sensor suite (I believe that Lexus actually uses fewer sensors than Tesla).

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Heh :biggrin:. Lexus uses radar (millimeter wave, in particular) for it's Blind Spot Monitoring (BSM) systems, including on the RX-450. That's probably why it works more reliably.

The Lexus Blind Spot Monitor is a system that uses radar technology to monitor the vehicle's blind spots.

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Notably, this is different than rear-facing radar, which you also mentioned. That's a different thing.

MileHighMotoring said:

I was waiting for this reply I live near a 75 mph toll road.

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Well you are lucky cause here max speed on highway is 100km/h (62mph). Most city highway are 43mph.

I am having problems with the Blind Spot Monitor where a car can move all the way up to the back of the driver or passenger's door before the silver arc comes on. There is another issue where a car/truck can pass on the right or left and it never comes on. I used the Bug Report voice command to report it to Tesla Support.

There is also a condition in heavy rain where I get a warning telling me that the BSM stopped working. I have owned other cars with BSM and it has always worked in heavy rain and always warned me when a car over lapped my rear bumper.

I would prefer to have the BSM indicator in the side view mirrors like Lexus, etc.