What the Heck is up with Autopilot?

[luvnMyTS]

Tesla strongly recommends the "EARLY" warning setting.

As far as close calls, the camera in front is the only thing that warns of cars stopped ahead. That camera can only see so far out in front. If you are barreling along a 50-60 miles an hour and coming up on stopped traffic, chances are, if you don't hit the breaks, the car is going to plow into those cars in front. At that speed, the camera cannot see far enough in front to react in time. At 40 miles per hour, it will usually catch it, but still slams on the brakes quite hard.

Then you have to consider possible reasons the camera may not see the car in front when it normally does. Glare from the sun or lights can affect how soon it recognizes stopped traffic ahead.

Bottom line, if you're using auto-pilot on city streets, you probably shouldn't be, but if you are, and you're coming up to stopped traffic, don't even bother testing auto-pilot. Just hit the brakes and slow as you would if you driving without it. It's certainly not efficient for the car to brake so late and not take advantage of regenerative braking. Auto-pilot is ALWAYS going to brake much later than you would or would feel comfortable with in those situations. Get used to just not using it or relying on it in those situations.

Not sure if Tesla can improve the camera's vision to see further out in front? But I have a feeling this will be an issue with auto-pilot as long as the existing hardware is used. I'm sure when 2.0 is released with new hardware, it will be much improved. Until then, don't even bother testing it. You're just wasting your brake pads and being less efficient with no regenerative charge back to the battery in those hard braking stops.

 

[Chasedrgc1223]

Definitely was going less than 50mph and closer to 40, and it was nighttime without any perceived glare.

 

[isaax]

I've also had similar issues since 7.1 on the highway with traffic traveling at 65-70mph. If I ended up catching up to a slower car in my lane, my MS would not slow to keep it's distance. My TACC distance is always at 6/7. This never occurred while on 7.0 even for merging traffic like in the video link below from my Blackvue cam. TACC did not slow for the car. It's obvious in the video how much time I gave TACC to react before I intervened. The car was displayed on my dash LCD as a vehicle directly in my path. My distance was set at 7.

But hey, AP no longer likes to swerve towards an exit :biggrin:
20160115 233733 NF - YouTube

 

[RedSoxFan18]

AP keeps wanting to side swipe cars for me..... I feel it pulling towards cars in other lanes and it's way to close for comfort.

+1, happened to me twice yesterday during a long interstate drive from Hartford CT back to Maine.

 

[Majerus]

Just had to me this morning, which ended up with my car being rear ended. Normally I have my distance setting to 7, today it was 5 which may have attributed to the problem. AEB was set to early.

 

[Cosmacelf]

If I had to guess, it sounds like Tesla put in more code to do processing to do things like slow down for curves, don't take exits, etc. So the car computer is now busier doing more things and it is occasionally running out of time to process basic TACC. I could be wrong, but that's what it feels like to me...

 

[LetsGoFast]

This is now something like four reports of similar failures. I'm becoming convinced there is a newly introduced bug, based on the long history without these incidents on 7.0 -- in at least one case (the first accident), Tesla inspected the logs and sensors and eliminated sensor failure as an option.

I'm also dismayed at those who say that setting your follow distance to 7 is the solution. Not only do we have reports of failure when set this high, but in stop and go traffic, I find a setting that high increases the risk of accident due to the incentive for cars to dive into the gap between your car and the next.

 

[Chasedrgc1223]

Oh man sorry to hear that... Definitely something going on with AP.

 

[electracity]

Tesla strongly recommends the "EARLY" warning setting.

As far as close calls, the camera in front is the only thing that warns of cars stopped ahead.

Is that true? The forward looking radar is normally the primary crash prevention system.

 

[msnow]

I read all the comments in this thread and I say "Gee, there must be a problem with the 7.1 software".........they I say "Wait a minute, I own an 85D with 7.1 and my car has behaved perfectly with TACC and AP." Soooooo, do some cars have cameras, and/or sensors that are not behaving properly.....did the software not get downloaded properly........is it driver error? Not sure what the real answer is but I am thinking the cameras/sensors performance is suspect. Weather was not mentioned in any of the comments but I would suspect it the least. I have to think the software was extensively tested before we ever got to use it......Tesla could not afford to do otherwise.

I'm sticking with software bug as the most likely culprit. I have adjusted my settings from car distance of 4 to 6 and collision warning from the middle setting to "early" to be safer. Just keep an eye on it.

 

[garygid]

With 7.1 (2.9.154) using AP on the freeway, I changed lanes into the leftmost of
two exit-only lanes, and flicked the AP stalk down fully once or twice to drop
5 or 10 mph. These are long exit lanes, and all going well as expected.

As the car approached the section where the lane bends slightly to the right
to make room for a narrow v-shaped island with crash barrels and the beginning
of the physical barrier between the exit lanes and the freeway lane, instead of
just continuing in the exit lane, my car tried to swerve into the narrow V, toward
the crash barrels.

Since my hands were holding the steering wheel sufficiently to feel any steering
efforts made by the AS, I was able to correct and get the car back on course.
However, my passenger made a major exclamation, mostly indicating
a desire to live, I suspect.

So, at this stage of AP software development, either stay highly vigilant
or just do not use it. The life you save could be somebody you love.

 

[Andyw2100]

That's the thing, mines set at 6 but if I'm not using TACC and the car isn't picking up the car in front consistently it doesn't matter.

What does this mean? If you're not using TACC, the car isn't in any way in control of speed, or in any way responsible for preventing you from rear-ending someone. Forward collision warning and AEB are safety-net features. not features to be relied on. With TACC engaged, the Model S software --SHOULD-- regulate the car's speed, and keep you safely behind the target car. So I have no idea what you are expecting when you write "I'm not using TACC and the car isn't picking up the car in front consistently."

Just had to me this morning, which ended up with my car being rear ended. Normally I have my distance setting to 7, today it was 5 which may have attributed to the problem. AEB was set to early.

Really sorry to hear of this.

If I had to guess, it sounds like Tesla put in more code to do processing to do things like slow down for curves, don't take exits, etc. So the car computer is now busier doing more things and it is occasionally running out of time to process basic TACC. I could be wrong, but that's what it feels like to me...

This is the most logical guess / explanation I have heard yet. (In addition, of course, to the very real possibility that all the incidents have been some variation on user-error.)

 

[msnow]

What does this mean? If you're not using TACC, the car isn't in any way in control of speed, or in any way responsible for preventing you from rear-ending someone. Forward collision warning and AEB are safety-net features. not features to be relied on. With TACC engaged, the Model S software --SHOULD-- regulate the car's speed, and keep you safely behind the target car. So I have no idea what you are expecting when you write "I'm not using TACC and the car isn't picking up the car in front consistently."




Really sorry to hear of this.




This is the most logical guess / explanation I have heard yet. (In addition, of course, to the very real possibility that all the incidents have been some variation on user-error.)

It's as I've told you before the collision warning comes on unexpectedly without TACC and with TACC I've had two instances of it losing the car in front of me (one more since the last time you asked me about the details of this). The collision warning was also a result of the car not picking up on the car in front until very late.

 

[byan1232]

That's the thing, mines set at 6 but if I'm not using TACC and the car isn't picking up the car in front consistently it doesn't matter. I also changed my warning setting to "early" until this is worked out.

How do you set your warning setting?

 

[davidc18]

My wife has just been trying out the autopilot recently. Today she noticed that when she got on the highway with cruise control at 65 (speed limit) she could not get the autopilot to activate (gray, no blue). She also noticed that the speed limit sign recognized by the car was 45 mph (the road she was on, not the highway). I told her I thought it was the new update, that there was a 5 mph limit above the posted sign for it to work. Am I full of **** or is this correct? Has anyone else noticed this too?

Yes, this is a new feature of 7.1 to prevent the bad behavior seen on youtube. The problem is that the car does not really know where it is and which speed limit signs correlate to the road you are on. Lots of comments on this in other threads.

 

[Andyw2100]

It's as I've told you before the collision warning comes on unexpectedly without TACC

This part I understand. You are getting false positives on the Forward Collision Warning system, right?

But is that what you meant by "isn't picking up the car in front consistently?" Because if so, it was your wording that confused me. I would call this "reacting to things that are not there."

and with TACC I've had two instances of it losing the car in front of me (one more since the last time you asked me about the details of this). The collision warning was also a result of the car not picking up on the car in front until very late.

Again, I think it was your wording, when you wrote "but if I'm not using TACC and the car isn't picking up the car in front consistently it doesn't matter." You made it sound like you were expecting your car to pick up cars in front of you and do something about it even when TACC was not engaged.

 

[Majerus]

How do you set your warning setting?

Go to controls, second tab, driver assistance. Its at the bottom. The same page that all autopilot settings are under.

 

[msnow]

This part I understand. You are getting false positives on the Forward Collision Warning system, right?

But is that what you meant by "isn't picking up the car in front consistently?" Because if so, it was your wording that confused me. I would call this "reacting to things that are not there."




Again, I think it was your wording, when you wrote "but if I'm not using TACC and the car isn't picking up the car in front consistently it doesn't matter." You made it sound like you were expecting your car to pick up cars in front of you and do something about it even when TACC was not engaged.

Was speaking from the perspective of the sensors. Main point to remember; as others have noticed, the sensors are not locking on consistently to the vehicle in front and I'm getting false positives on collision avoidance. Just be mindful that's my only purpose in posting my observations.

 

[calisnow]

As far as close calls, the camera in front is the only thing that warns of cars stopped ahead. ...Not sure if Tesla can improve the camera's vision to see further out in front? But I have a feeling this will be an issue with auto-pilot as long as the existing hardware is used.

What about the forward facing radar? Doesn't that contribute to sensing obstacles in front such as stopped cars?

 

[Chasedrgc1223]

I'm nearly certain it uses the radar for distance and secondary detection, and the camera is used to detect what the obstruction is and where (identifying trucks as trucks and things like that)