WARNING: I rear-ended someone today while using Auto Pilot in my brand new P90D! part 7
Jan 21, 2016
Krugerrand
Brent's post was great. So many people in a hurry to go nowhere. If it's that important for someone to get a few feet closer to their destination, have at it I say. For sure I won't be the one on the side of the road collecting or giving insurance information.
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Jan 21, 2016
McRat
I feel for the OP. That must have been very embarrassing and quite a hassle. Glad everyone is OK. I'm not so quick to blame the car mfr though. The following is not going to be popular, but is true:
Even if cars are truly cross-linked autonomous, auto braking and adaptive cruise should be thought of as a second line of defense, not the decision maker when it comes to safe car operation. If somehow you are distracted or suddenly incapacitated (fall asleep is #1), auto systems should save your life and other motorists.
Like airbags, you should have them, but not need them for survival. Very cool technology, but will never be able to do 100% threat assessment, deer strikes come to mind as does wrong way drivers. You should decide your following distance based on current conditions and traffic behavior, something computers cannot do unless cross-linked. Conditions include long range visibility, your "space pillow", and how the driver ahead of is acting (texters need more following distance, since their braking is based on crumple zones during impact, not car performance). You should always be able to easily outbrake the car in front by looking further ahead. Always have a escape plan. ABS allows you to MASH that pedal violently as you firmly steer the car around threats. If you aren't hitting the brake rapidly and with great force, it doesn't do it's job as well, it has to enable ABS before you can steer the car aggressively under max brake effort for the best results. Lanes are 12' wide normally, and you can split lanes like a motorcycle in an emergency to reduce impacts, or keep the tailgater from giving you whiplash.
If you have NOT experienced max ABS braking while rapidly changing directions, it costs between $250 and $2500 to learn this in a safe environment. IMO, should be mandatory, all my family has had it, I have taken many classes, and continue to do so. Classes are fun, and keep you sharp. Most people in classes are surprised how hard any modern car will brake today. Normally the instructor will tell you, "again, faster and harder" during ABS training until you get angry on the brake pedal.
Cliff Notes: Be alert, get training, predict problems.
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Jan 21, 2016
thegruf
Reading the first post again it seems that both TACC and AEB should have worked (assuming he was travelling >5mph). This strongly suggest a detection failure. I am surprised that Tesla have not sent a specialist to test in detail and review the operation of all the sensors and systems involved. There is a lot of Tesla reputation at stake here.
I have been educated by this thread how AEB works ie reduces by 25mph, or if travellling at <25mph presumably is supposed to stop the car. I can see the thinking here, that at highway speed abruptly braking by 25mph will alert the driver who will instinctively take over, however abruptly braking for say 60mph to a standstill on a highway could be exceptionally dangerous in the event the sensor misdetected a threat (dog running across road perhaps (make that a roo for the Aussies here) ie a brief threat that clears but that sensors could detect as a stationary object). It is essential that the owner clearly understands the nature of this functionality. I admit I didn't. I doubt I am alone.
However I am confused, consider:
I am travelling at 50mph, the car detects a (eg stationary car) threat in front of me and activates, it reduces speed to 25mph. I am then doing 25mph, the threat is still there so this is a valid condition for AEB to activate again?
The evidence suggests not, but where is the line in the Tesla text, so specify how the AEB is reset to reactivate? We can all assume how it works, but for such a safety aid, surely it is critical to explain the operation fully to the user.
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Jan 21, 2016
Electricfan
I have not read every post, so if I'm repeating something somebody else said, forgive me.
I think AP may recognize cars faster and better than 18 wheelers. This is based on an unscientific sample size of one - me and my experience. I drive in Houston rush hour traffic 5 days a week on beltway 8, with AP engaged. The car has never come close to rear-ending another car. But today, for the first time since 7.1 came out, I almost hit an 18-wheeler. I would have hit him at about 5 or 10 mph if I had not stomped on the brake at the last second. I let it get extremely close because I wanted to see if the Model S would stop, but it didn't.
What happened was this: I was in the center lane with cruise set to 73 (distance at 7 as always) and the lane was clear in front of me. Then this 18-wheeler decides to pull in front of me from the lane to my right. (I ordered a new dashcam today, will be installed tomorrow, because my dashcam failed me) The Model S started slowing but only on regen. And it didn't start slowing until long after I was aware the truck was pulling in. (because it took it too long to recognize the truck?) I didn't feel the brakes cut in, and that really puzzles me because I know sometimes they do kick on. So, the car slowed but not enough and as I was about to smack the rear of the truck I decided to exercise the better part of valor and step in, braking just in time to keep from hitting it.
I am mystified why Tesla would program the car to let it hit an object it knows is there. Why not brake?? It was slowing quickly on its own. Why on earth did it not use the brakes and slow just a little more to avoid an accident?
The only answer I can come up with is this: I was wrong. It wasn't going to hit the truck. But I've been driving for 40 years, and all my instinct says I would have hit him. Again, I wish I had the dashcam footage, but dashcam is in trashcan now. New one on way.
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Jan 21, 2016
AWDtsla
I don't seem have a problem doing it for free. LOL. How can you trust any car and your ability to drive it you don't push the limits on regularly? In fact when it gets slippery out you should try tapping the brakes or using the throttle often to test surface friction.
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Jan 21, 2016
Ulmo
I've always set the Tesla to 7 (max distance) during all my Tesla test drives 100% of the time, and each drive when I had a time where I had to take over, the distance was enough that I easily knew when I had crossed the "threshold" for it being too weird, so it was easy for me to know when to take over. Also, I've almost never had people cut me off for Tesla's "7". I normally have much more following distance than a Tesla 7 when I drive myself in my own car. I was just taught that way. That's when people cut me off left and right. I usually laugh, because I'm very good at lane picking and almost always end up passing them again without trying. I swear by max following distance every time (except when I'm trying to do precise psychological programming of the behaviors of others around me in order to open up a hole or wake someone up, but that's pretty rare after I've educated all the common companion commuters on a particular route and time of day).
I'm much more at risk of becoming bored with driving. I can't wait until "autonomous" is working proficiently enough. I wonder if they realize the gaps in redwood trees above show the next curve angle before you can see it, if they know headlamps reflecting off around curves might be a car, the crest of the road is the middle divider (unless marked), the minimum stopping distance around a turn, looking between the cars to see all the cars ahead for a mile ahead all thousands of them, looking at their weaving back and forth, their inattentiveness, their tail lamps, and can make psychological profiles of each driver from the front view cameras to know what they're all up to and plot routes through them as the car drives ... that's what us experienced human drivers do, so anything less and the autonomous cars aren't going to be that smart. Here's hoping they are.
For now, when it's set to 7, and the car wants to drive you into a concrete center divider, you're already steering it back into the lane, no problem. If you have it set to 2, then all of a sudden you have no idea when to start reacting, and then it's too late already. Who cares if someone cuts you off. That's so irrelevant.
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Jan 22, 2016
sandstruck
New Embarrassing (to me) Information from the logs
I received a phone call an hour ago from my Tesla Service manager who told me the following:
My car had been traveling at approximately 40 MPH when it engaged the AEB. He told me that the engineers determined that the car in front of must have slammed on the brakes ("a rapid emergency deceleration"), and the AEB significantly slowed my car, thus avoiding a much worse accident. In fact, the damage to my car is negligible (broken nose cone).
As I repeatedly mentioned in my posts, I remembered something very different transpired--a gradual slowing down, synchronously, with the car ahead of me to about 5 MPH--and a surprising, last-second failure of my car to stop. That's how I remembered it, anyway (I'd have sworn on a stack of bibles). It now seems that my version of events was dead wrong. It makes me wonder how many other memories I have mistakenly fabricated.
The important thing is that I believe Tesla's interpretation of events more than my own. And I want to apologize to everyone who wasted time on this thread and on me, and who believed me at my word. To those posters who accused me of acting irresponsibly by posting before I had the full information from the logs--you were right!
I will slink away now to my basement, inebriate myself perhaps, and marvel at my fallibility, at the frailty of my memory. Mea culpa.
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Jan 22, 2016
ecarfan
@sandstruck, again I applaud your openness and thank you for sharing that information from Tesla. It is well established that human memory can be remarkably inaccurate, especially when a series of events occur very rapidly. And trial lawyers know very well that "eyewitness" accounts where the witness states emphatically that they are accurately describing what they saw may in fact be wildly inaccurate. I remain convinced that a TACC setting of 6-7 is significantly safer than a lower setting. It not only gives the driver more time to react, it also gives the AEB more time to analyze the situation and respond. It seems likely that a greater following distance might have prevented this accident.
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Jan 22, 2016
andrewket
+1 on your transparency. Also +1 on dashcams.
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Jan 22, 2016
msnow
No "slinking" necessary @sandstruck. #1 no one got hurt #2 you have proven to be an honest person and #3 it was a stimulating and knowledge provoking thread.
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Jan 22, 2016
calisnow
The autonomous cars don't have to be as good as humans at interpreting complex visual pictures - they just have to cause accidents at lower rates than humans do and they will have beaten us at our own game despite being "dumber." As for their ability to interpret complex visual pictures - that will improve continuously of course.
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Jan 22, 2016
jeffro01
Indeed. I want to say "I told you so" but that wouldn't be fair since my original premise was that the OP wasn't being honest. That clearly isn't the case, the OP was being honest based on what they thought happened so I stand corrected in my insinuation that the OP was not being truthful. As always there is a difference between genuinely thinking you're being honest and well, not...
Jeff
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Jan 22, 2016
calisnow
You didn't waste anybody's time, nor were you irresponsible in describing your memory of the incident. The only time wasters were the jerks on the thread who attacked you. The discussion itself has been very helpful.
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Jan 22, 2016
Ivo-G
Sandstruck, thanks for sharing it all with us. When so many can post about nags or delivery times or what they bought for X-Mas and who knows whatever other topics, you chose to share with us one of the most horrifying moments a (new) car owner could experience, and I for one definitely learned a lot from it. These lessons will stick with me for a long time I hope and may one day save me from being in such a situation myself.
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Jan 22, 2016
msnow
True but you did call it right when you said to wait...that we didn't have all the information. I'm glad that Tesla was more forthcoming with what the logs showed rather than the "sir we are not responsible" comments.
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Jan 22, 2016
bhzmark
That's exactly how AEB is supposed to work.
But was TACC on? And if so, why didn't it stop the car?
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Jan 22, 2016
McRat
Probably not news, but when "exciting" things happen that cause adrenaline to kick in, your perception of time and speed changes. Everything slows down. It's normal, and nothing to be embarrassed about.
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Jan 22, 2016
ModelX
Thanks for sharing, both your original perceptions and your new knowledge!:smile:
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Jan 22, 2016
Andyw2100
Thanks for the follow-up, sandstruck. No need to apologize!
For those who are not interested in a dashcam as an option to be able to go back and at least partially recreate for yourself something like this, should it happen, the logging sites / software now available might be good alternative solutions. If sandstruck had been using one of them, he could have checked the log of his speed himself almost immediately after the accident.
Visible Tesla is free software that would allow you to log your car's activity. Two newer services are EVMote and TeslaLog. There are threads here on TMC on all three.
TACC was on. The OP has said this many times, and it was confirmed by Tesla. The reason it didn't stop the car was that the target car did "a rapid emergency deceleration." TACC is not designed to slow the car in that situation. AEB kicked in, and did reduce the impact of an unavoidable frontal collision, which is what it is supposed to do.
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Jan 22, 2016
gothmog2
He was following at 2 car length difference. If it had been four lengths AEB might have had enough time to stop. If the car in front does an emergency stop, AEB can only do so much at close range (and did what it could)
Thanks for sharing, Sandstruck.
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Jan 22, 2016
AWDtsla
This is the real question.
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Jan 22, 2016
Canuck
"You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to sandstruck again."
(No need to slink away -- you should proudly enjoy that drink. Cheers!)
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Jan 23, 2016
thegruf
I'm going to buck the trend here - with the obvious caveat that I was not there so do not know what really happened and I dont have the logs from Tesla.
That said ...
If AEB kicked in - ie the car slammed on the brakes - I would be astonished if the driver didnt clearly recall this. An attentive driver would be alert to a sudden rapid deceleration, and inattentive driver would be woken up by it.
I'm no conspiracy theorist but something doesn't stack up.
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Jan 23, 2016
WarpedOne
The most probable reason fort things not stacking up was already given:
Human memory is very imperfect thing. A person may be 100% honest in his recollection and interpretations, but he has no clue about accuracy of those memories and interpretation. Human brains are an imperfect recording machines when in 'normal' state. When they jump into panic mode, it only gets worse. Go watch some mind games documentaries. It gets interesting and scary how 'removed from reality' are our perceptions.
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Jan 23, 2016
bhzmark
If TACC is on and senses a rapid decelerating car in front, it damn well better stop my car behind it -- or at least try its hardest. There is no reason it shouldn't. It seems to do that regularly in quickly stopping traffic. Even when making the tracked car red, but it still supplies sufficient braking to stop. I still don't see why it didn't ok in this case.
Also sandstruck didnt report that tesla said anything about TACC in this latest call. I would him to ask them this question. Why didn't TACC stop the car?
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Jan 23, 2016
davidc18
Sandstruck thanks for sharing, it was an interesting thread. Glad you are okay.
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Jan 23, 2016
TSLA Pilot
TESLA MOTORS: WHERE ARE YOU?
One event is an anomaly; two is a trend.
It's time to send out some engineers and start carefully inspecting hardware and reviewing vehicle logs--here is a perfect example, and the OP's new car too, of course.
Let's nip these problems in the bud before we start reading some remarkably bad headlines . . . .
Thanks.
- - - Updated - - -
Whoa. Don't be so hard on yourself.
What you've been told does not necessarily indicate what actually transpired. Yes, being an eyewitness may not mean you saw everything correctly either, but nor is the car infallible either.
What the car "reported" may not have been exact because what the logs show is simply what the car sensed--and it may not sense correctly.
Regardless, this has been a very informative thread and we appreciate your candor.
I'm going to start looking for dashcams--do we have a thread for those on here?
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Jan 23, 2016
sandstruck
This squares with what the Service Manager told me. At the time of the event, TACC was functioning correctly. Had my distance been set higher than two, he said I'd likely have avoided the collision (i literally needed an extra foot).
Extrapolating from this, it seems obvious that depending upon one's speed, even with the maximum setting of 7, the system's radar and cameras cannot see far enough ahead to avoid all accidents (i wonder if i'd been going sixty at the time, with a setting of 7, would the car have stopped on time? How about at seventy?).
Some on this thread have posited that tbe system reacts faster than a driver ever can. but (and this is also obvious) in many cases a driver might see brake lights ahead cosiderably sooner than TACC senses that car's rapid desceleration.
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Jan 23, 2016
msnow
True.
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Jan 23, 2016
dsm363
Thanks for sharing and glad you are ok as well. That explanation does seem more plausible as if there was a gradual deceleration to 5 mph you should have been able to stop the car easily. Memory can be a tricky thing when events like this happen. Agree dash cams seem more and more useful as time goes on.
Tesla does not claim that TACC will bring the car to a complete stop in every situation. At this point the system is not capable of doing that. The AEB kicked in at 40mph and significantly reduced the impact speed. The TACC setting was 2 on a scale of 1 to 7. The following distance was not enough to give the system time to react and avoid a collision. The system is not yet perfect. You seem to think it should be at this early stage of development. I'm sure it will improve over time. My conclusion is that at this time Tesla should not allow such low TACC settings. It can give drivers a false sense of security.
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Jan 23, 2016
dsm363
Agree. If someone is following that close they should be in control and responsible. Not depending on some system that isn't designed to completely protect them in every situation.
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Jan 23, 2016
mkjayakumar
For those who say AEB will release the brakes after reaching 5mph, have you seen the video titled: Autopilot saves the day (Tesla Autopilot saves the day - YouTube) where the car initially traveling at 45mph sees an object cut across and comes to a complete stop with inches to spare.
You will notice that the car was never locked onto anything in the front, but it still came to a complete stop when it noticed a stationary obstruction.
So this 'AEB will reduce by 25 mph and will give up after reaching 5 mph' isn't true as you can clearly see on that video
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Jan 23, 2016
pdq
In the 4 months I've had my P90D I've used TACC as often as I can -- love it. I don't like people who tailgate me, and I don't tailgate, so I have my car set to a separation distance setting of 7 which gives plenty of time if TACC were to not respond properly.
AP OTOH still scares me. I tell people it's like being a passenger in a car with someone who has just gotten their learners permit.
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Jan 23, 2016
Pollux
I admire your willingness to re-examine your position.
While confabulating is way more common than any of us would like to believe, I'm still struck by the variation between your memory and the report from Tesla. The engineer who used to reside within my body would want to see the actual data and/or engineering root cause analysis rather than have it filtered through a service manager. Not that I would ever doubt the chain that reliably transported data and interpretation all the way from an overworked individual contributor in a core engineering team all the way through a sequence of managers and departments until it finally reached you.
Alan
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Jan 23, 2016
AWDtsla
Just trying out 7 tonight. That's really really far, at embarrassing levels even. It's like you're "that guy" with a line of cars behind you, trying to pass you over the shoulder one at a time
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Jan 23, 2016
bhzmark
From the OP:
No one said TACC should be able to avoid a collision in all cases. But it should try. And certainly in this case. If it is following a car for a few minutes, and that car brakes hard, even screeches to a halt, there is no reason TACC shouldn't do the same. And it should be able to do it much faster than any person can.
And also, why was AEB engaged when TACC was on and functioning? Why didn't TACC do the braking (to a stop) instead of AEB braking (just reduce speed by 25mph)?
I still think something else went on. From my extensive experience with TACC (and its counterpart in other cars) I have seen auto braking very aggressively when the locked on car in front brakes hard.
Which best explains what happened?
1) Sometimes when TACC is on and functioning and following a locked on car and that car brakes hard, TACC might run into it anyway. (or just hand over the braking to AEB which won't brake to a stop).
OR
2) While TACC will normally brake hard to try to stop when the car in front brakes hard to a stop, in this case there was weird condition such as some lane-changing by cars in front, or a hill, or a curve, or sun glare, or accidentally disengaging TACC or something else that better explains the failure to brake hard to a stop.
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Jan 23, 2016
ecarfan
TACC set at 6 or 7 provides a safe following distance and allows the driver to react in time if the car in front slams on their brakes. A lower TACC setting is not safe. What "embarrasses" you does not embarrass me. Your attempted comparison of TACC to someone driving with a line of cars behind them on a single lane road and no one in front of them is obviously incorrect. TACC operates by locking on to the car in front and then maintaining a fixed distance.
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Jan 23, 2016
woof
Playing armchair engineer...there are other possibilities. I'm sure the data show AEB suddenly kicked in at 40 MPH due to the rapidly decreasing distance between you and the car in front. However, there are alternate possibilities as to why TACC saw that.
Imagine this scenario:
You are Car T moving 60 MPH, Car B is directly in front of you moving 60 MPH, Car C is directly in front of her, slowing down from 60 MPH to come to a stop up ahead.
Car B sees Car C slowing down, and moves to the right lane to pass Car C, slowing down to 50 MPH, then 40 MPH.
Car T is tracking Car B as she moves right and slows. Car T slows as well. Car B is moving faster than Car C.
Car B passes Car C, which is now moving 20 MPH. Car T moving 40 MPH (because it was tracking Car B) switches to track Car C.
Car C is moving significantly slower than Car T.
Car T applies AEB as it calculates Car C is in collision path.
I'm guessing the data Tesla sees is that the tracked car suddenly slowed, thus AEB was applied. What it probably doesn't show is that Mobileye just switched which car it was tracking, which I've seen occur quite often when using the Mobileye based ACC in the BMW. I use ACC almost every day, even though every day does something "wrong" at least once, and I need to correct it. It's still a useful feature that I prefer over regular cruise control.
So have that drink, but mull over the possibility you may not be as wrong as you think.
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Jan 23, 2016
AWDtsla
Lots of people do stupid things all the time and failed to be embarrassed by them.
Regardless, while it is tracking the other car, your brake lights often light up while tracking at this distance. Again I don't care if YOU are not embarrassed, but being a football field length away from the car in front of you and randomly hitting the brakes just screams "old man, should have had license revoked, steer f****** clear!"
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Jan 23, 2016
DougH
For what?
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Jan 23, 2016
scottf200
Answered numerous pages back at the beginning. Summary: he ran into the back of someone and they don't blame the person that gets run into.
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Jan 23, 2016
DougH
Yeah I got that. And I did not quote you I quoted the OP.
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Jan 23, 2016
scottf200
Ok. He answered it early on. Go read it.
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Jan 24, 2016
bhzmark
AEB should only apply when TACC isn't on. When TACC is on TACC should brake to a stop when needed under any condition where AEB would brake only decreasing speed by 25.
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Jan 24, 2016
mkjayakumar
Then how do you explain the video titled, 'Autopilot saved the day'? It brings the car to a complete stop from 45 mph in less than 2 seconds.
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Jan 25, 2016
davidc18
That may be so but it is the setting that allows the maximum time for the driver to intervene if necessary. I would never recommend any other setting while the system is in 'beta' and has proven to be negative results at lower setting.
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Jan 25, 2016
AndreyATC
I always have AP on 7 I find it perfectly fine It keeps 3-4 car lengths or so while you are following someone and stops keeping half-a-car length Also, it does a very good job on what distance to keep depending on the speed Overall, fairly accurate, with just a tad on the safer side
TACC isn't controlled by just the separation setting you choose, but also your speed. At 35MPH you maintain a certain distance between you and the car in front of you, but at 75MPH, it is greater -- check it out. My commute to work in the morning is on a 3 lane divided highway and it's not unusual for me to be on TACC at 75 - 90MPH. Sure, I've got a decent separation between me and the car in front of me, but guess what -- the entire column of cars is similarly spread out. No one tailgates at those speeds and in 15 years of driving that route I've never seen an accident.
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Jan 30, 2016
Electricfan
My car tried to sideswipe a truck today. I grabbed the wheel and avoided the accident - I'm 100% sure it would have hit the truck. I trust AP much less now than I did when I woke up this morning. Sure hope we see a massive improvement soon. If anybody can see anything in the video that might have confused AP, please comment. I can't think of anything. The windshield was clean. The lane ahead was clear, no confusing markings of any kind. The car just dove to the right like it wanted to ram the truck. I did not hit the wheel causing it to move. I wasn't touching the wheel. My arms were at the sides on armrests. My leg didn't hit the wheel. The wheel moved completely of its own accord.
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Jan 30, 2016
DougH
Not good. Thank god you were paying attention.
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Jan 30, 2016
Andyw2100
And not reading a book...
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Jan 30, 2016
Electricfan
Right before that video I had spent 30 minutes in a bumper to bumper traffic jam, and was very happy to get be moving again. But I was reading during the bumper to bumper part. I only read on beltway 8, (or in bumper to bumper stop and move 4 ft, stop again traffic) where I thought it was safe. I'm rethinking that now. This is the first time the car ever just dived toward another vehicle for no reason. Really scared me. I have said before and now I say it again with greatly renewed conviction - I don't think Tesla should have released autopilot if they knew it was as bad as it is. Somebody is going to die, and there is going to be a very costly lawsuit, more costly in terms of lost sales and popularity of the car than in money, by far.
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Jan 30, 2016
ecarfan
If that's what it takes...
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Jan 30, 2016
theslimshadyist
I'd take that video to your service center to see what sort of unacceptable hypothesis they try to feed you. Wanna take it to another level? Post the vid on twitter and tag both Tesla and Musk, ask them to comment.
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Jan 30, 2016
vgrinshpun
I have an older P85+, but tried autopilot on a loaner for couple of days. As far as I remember, the car beeps if driver takes over from the AP. I was wondering why there was no beep when you grabbed the wheel to correct the course. Could it be that the AP was not on at the time you were passing the truck?
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Jan 30, 2016
sorka
It's a two tone beep with lower tone following a higher tone. You can here it in the video about a half second after the manual steering correction. Easier to hear with headphones on.
Mine has done exactly this with 7.1 twice. I've stopped using it altogether except for brief intervals of just a few seconds when I need to reach down to get something and only when there are no other cars around. Really wish I could go back to 7.0 for AP but keep 7.1 for summons.
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Jan 30, 2016
vgrinshpun
I've listened again, with ear phones, on high volume and can't hear any beeps...
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Jan 31, 2016
ankitmishra
@ElectricFan The road has a consistent black strip marking. I am not sure what happened there, but it is the only remote possible reason I can think of. These markings are present in the lane you were driving and in the lane truck was. Maybe your car begin following the false lane formed between black markings. I think your car was swerving between the real lane and pseudo lane much before the truck came. Check around 0:11, your begins correcting into real lane and then swerves again. 0:08-0:11, your car is going into false lane. Hey, I tried my best and I could be terribly wrong. Just trying to help.
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Jan 31, 2016
ChadFeldheimer
I've encountered AP (7.0) shifting lanes on its own (into other traffic), but my experience was not nearly as smooth as in Electricfan's video. In my case, my car swerved quickly while traveling roughly 50mph. This happened twice, and I caught it both times. It was almost as if the car suddenly realized we were straddling a lane marker. I haven't had a recurrence with 7.1.
In my personal experience, the radar and ultrasonic sensors appear to be quite reliable - in the sense that if an obstacle is in range of those sensors, the car will take appropriate action. On the other hand, the image/object recognition lane detection system in the (I believe) Mobileye processor is much more prone to error. In my opinion, it is in the dangerous territory of being reliable enough to give some confidence, yet unreliable to actually depend upon. It seems to me that Tesla pushing the limits of the technology here - even Mobileye has publicly stated as much.
At speeds below 30mph or so, my car appears to be reasonably capable of autonomous (hands completely off) travel. The range and reliability of the radar and ultrasonics appear to be sufficient in this slower speed range to inform the car to drive reasonably well even with little human supervision. Once I get above 35mph, the car can get itself into trouble much more quickly, especially with lane detection mistakes.
As such, in heavy congestion (stop and go), I let autopilot do its thing and it has done a great job for me. I feel comfortable diverting much of my attention to my phone, checking and responding to messages. But when traffic allows speeds beyond 30mph or so, I begin to transition to paying close attention to the driving task and being ready to take over instantly (in terms of human reaction time).
It appears that Electricfan's video was shot at ~78mph. The steering corrections that I experienced with 7.0 were dramatic enough that they would have been quite strong swerves at 78mph. Granted, the car presumably have swerved to the same degree at 78mph.
Electricfan: glad you caught it and thanks for sharing. I need to get a dashcam so I can share mine too!
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Jan 31, 2016
green1
Please do us all a favour and launch a law suit and get it over with. You already admitted multiple times that you have completely ignored Tesla's instructions on how to use AP, and that at the time of this incident you in fact did not have your hands on the wheel, despite all the instructions to do so. PLEASE sue Tesla so we can get this out of the way and finally prove to you that YOU are responsible for the vehicle at all times. I hope the judge is smart and awards costs to Tesla.
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Jan 31, 2016
JunesongProvisn
I really hope the most recent update fixes these issues. I also never experienced it with 7.0 but with 7.1 have seen my car try to dive into the other lane like Electricfan's vid. Very unsettling for sure.
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Jan 31, 2016
Electricfan
I can't hear any beeps either. But, you also can just BARELY hear the talk radio station I had on. So its not surprising to me that the dashcam mostly recorded road noise. I played back the original .mov file at high volume and the road noise is all I can hear, with just a whisper of talk.
I realize since you can't see the instrument cluster you might wonder. But if AP was off, why did the car dive to the right? For it to do that I would have had to hit the wheel with my leg. As a human I could be mistaken about AP being on, but I'd also have to basically be a liar, because if AP didn't steer the car to the right then I must have, and I didn't.
So, I guess it boils down to taking my word, or not. I posted because I think that Tesla owners need to be aware AP will exhibit this kind of behavior. I had never seen this before. I can't imagine what would happen if you were beside an 18-wheeler and not paying strict attention (forget reading a book, what if you were just scratching your eye, or tuning the radio, or reaching for something in the glovebox?) and the car suddenly dived to the right?? Death - yours, passengers and other cars - it could truly end in a horrific accident. That's the only reason I'm posting about it.
All I've seen before is AP will drift across the lanes, but I had thought it would not do it if there was a car nearby because the ultrasonic sensors would prevent it. I was wrong about that.
I'm wondering if the white/black stripes had something to do with it, and caused AP to get confused about the lanes, as ankitmishra suggested above. You can see in the video the car did drift to the left right before it dove to the right.
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Jan 31, 2016
AWDtsla
Looks like the the "normal" ping-pong behavior lots of people (everyone?) sees. Where 7.0 was scary with no bias, 7.1 may hit the lane marker while another car is doing the same. I see no preference to biasing away from moving objects as advertised.
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Jan 31, 2016
Discoducky
Record that section again, at the same time of day, in the same weather conditions and post the video.
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Jan 31, 2016
ChadFeldheimer
The pickup truck has running boards and a stylized groove along the bottom of the doors. Perhaps AutoSteer picked up on those cues and interpreted those as lane markings?
As to why the ultrasonic sensors didn't pick up the truck - I don't believe the range on the ultrasonic sensors is long enough to be of much use with the closing speed in the video. Where you took over control is probably at the limits of the useful range of the ultrasonic sensors.
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Jan 31, 2016
Electricfan
It will have to wait. That road is I-610, the south loop, and right before where the incident in the video took place the road is currently under construction - 3 lanes become 1. I was stuck for a half an hour waiting to get through it, and am not about to go through there again.
I also didn't charge my Tesla last night, planning to charge it during the day today on solar, but the sun isn't cooperating at all. Or actually I guess you have to blame the clouds; I'm sure the sun is still shining but we can't see it in Houston right now.
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I've wondered about this - can the car "see" a trailer that's flat and has no load on it, as well as it "sees" a full-box type trailer? And I've noticed it doesn't seem to "see" a tow truck very well - had a tow truck pull in front of me recently and if I hadn't taken over it would have rear-ended it for certain. So, I think you're on to something - the car doesn't "see" odd shapes as well as normal shapes.
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Jan 31, 2016
ankitmishra
I think I didn't explained myself properly the 1st time. I was not talking about the real lane boundary painted in white/black stripes. I am talking about the consistent black thick marking in the middle of your lane and in the truck lane. They might be tyre tracks or something else. But my suspicion is this that those black marks form a pseudo/false lane of their own and the car might have been overwhelmed by the continuously changing data. As you also noticed, it was swerving before the truck. I hope that this helps. If you didn't misunderstood me the 1st time, I hope I am not bothering by repeating myself. Still, my suggestion would be to contact Tesla as they will be able to tell what happened.
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Jan 31, 2016
ChadFeldheimer
Neural networks are the state of the art technology for feature and object detection. They consist of a very rudimentary model of how our brains work to achieve the same task - layers of interconnected neurons progressively identify fundamental lines, then features, then shapes, and objects. They are not explicitly programmed - instead, they are trained. The neural network is shown thousands or millions or even billions of examples of objects. The network gradually learns how to recognize the objects that it is trained with.
At a minimum, for AP in the 7.1 release, the distinct objects the processor is trained to recognize include lane markings, speed limit signs, trucks, cars, and motorcycles. Obvious, because this is the feedback we get from the instrument cluster.
The neural network in the current AutoPilot hardware has limited processing ability. It is nowhere near the complexity of the portion of the human brain that we use to drive on the highway - even ignoring street signs, traffic lights, traffic cones, pedestrians, animals, etc etc.
Like you, I've also observed that it doesn't classify certain vehicles very well. There was a picture uploaded in this forum earlier of AP 7.1 identifying a car (sedan, I think) in a drive-through bay as a semi-truck - possibly the tall rectangular outline of the drive-through bay tricked the neural network into identifying the car as a truck. These poor classifications could either be a fundamental limit in the processing ability of the processor hardware or in the breadth training data - or both.
Since identifying the exact type of vehicle isn't critical (versus, say, finding lane markings), I'm guessing Tesla hasn't devoted much time to getting that classification to perform well. Especially for less common vehicles, like the tow trucks or empty trailers that you've noted.
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Jan 31, 2016
Electricfan
Ok, I understand you now. I don't know if that could be the answer because those dark stains (ICE vehicles are so nasty!) from gasoline and diesel exhaust fumes and leaking oil are so common that the car would be having this problem much more often. But who knows? Only Tesla, at this point. And I can't believe they are unaware of this behavior of their AP. I think they're most likely working extremely hard on 7.2, and I hope to God they fix this bug before an accident happens.
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Jan 31, 2016
Beryl
Excellent post.
This is how I use autopilot now that my camera and sensors have been calibrated correctly. If I'm all alone on a relatively straight road above 30mph, I can comfortably divert my attention a bit more.
What is the speed limit on that road anyway?
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Jan 31, 2016
ChadFeldheimer
I believe the thick black marking is accumulated motor oil =) With enough Teslas on the road, those will eventually go away!!!
I had the same thought. But the motor oil was quite consistent throughout the video, and the car only drifted when the truck was close. So I looked at the truck for visual cues that look similar to lane markings. Both are plausible explanations, given the little information we have.
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Jan 31, 2016
Electricfan
118 kph = 73 mph. Speed limit is 65. If you drive 65 you get run over in Houston. 73 is on the slow side of normal Houston speeds.
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Jan 31, 2016
AWDtsla
I have never seen my car use the ultrasonics to get away from another car, or for the matter even the front radar when the car notices another car encroaching on the shared lane marker.
I always take over past a certain point of anxiety, and I let it get _real_ close. Passenger commented yesterday on how close we were to another car and I didn't take over for it.
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Jan 31, 2016
Quantum`
Owner's manual says the ultrasonics turn off over some minimal speed. But I've got to think they at least pretend to turn on for lane-changing.
The radar -and- camera are ostensibly used for Autopilot, and the radar should be an absolute dead-reference that something's in front of you, but this is letting us down. This is why I say the software is overwhelmed and getting way behind in these swerves and close calls.
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Jan 31, 2016
ChadFeldheimer
Me neither, although I regularly have side collision avoidance push me away from stationary barriers. It only kicks in for me when the barriers are within about 2 feet away.
I don't let other cars get that close - the side mirrors would be inches away at that point, which is too close for comfort.
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Jan 31, 2016
Beryl
Yes. I live in a Houston suburb. Many Texan have insane driving habits which I don't plan to adopt. +5 is enough for me unless I'm passing or driving in the left-most lane. (Haven't been run over yet, thank God.)
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Jan 31, 2016
copyhacker
After watching several times, that is what I think is happening as well. Especially given the (dusk?) lighting conditions and the fact that the yellow left edge line begins to be smudged about the time the car starts heading to the right. As you look toward the horizon at that point, the parallel oil stains are much clearer than the real lane markings, and it looks like the car is beginning to track them instead. FWIW.
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Jan 31, 2016
davidc18
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Jan 31, 2016
ecarfan
Well, maybe. To me, the image quality of the video is too poor to make a determination as to the clarity of the lane markings.
Agreed. We are years away from AUTONOMOUS driving. Autopilot DOES NOT equal Autonomous.
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Jan 31, 2016
dsm363
Yes. The reading issue has been covered multiple times. Electricfan says he will continue to read when he wants to but at same time is upset about Tesla releasing autopilot saying you must be attentive at all times saying it isn't safe.
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Jan 31, 2016
Electricfan
Well, I'm really upset that Tesla released autopilot in such a poor state. I am honestly shocked its so bad. But maybe I'm crazy. One thing is for sure, time will tell. If AP is truly dangerous then somebody is going to die in an AP-involved accident eventually, and when that happens the members of this forum don't get to pass judgement. It will be a court, with a judge and jury. Also passing judgement will be the masses, most of whom don't drive Teslas. If fires that didn't hurt anybody were a threat to Tesla, what do you think an AP-related death will cause? I sure hope I'm wrong. Or we never find out, because Tesla releases 7.2 very quickly, and the car becomes truly safe to drive on AP. But asking people to let AP drive, but keep two hands on the wheel and be ready to take over at any moment to catch an AP screw-up is just stupid, in my opinion. Nobody, even the boy scouts on here who follow directions so religiously, can pay attention 100% of the time. So if you enable AP, and you try your best to be attentive but the car makes a suicidal dive just at the moment you get distracted (by one of million things - billboard, car accident, sunset) anybody can be killed by AP. Tesla should not have released it if they knew it could kill somebody if their attention wanders at just the wrong moment. How is that not common sense? How can anybody think releasing a feature that might malfunction and kill someone is reasonable or socially acceptable? Like calling it "Beta" makes that ok? Really?
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Jan 31, 2016
Krugerrand
How can any company, dealership or private citizen sell a product (motorized vehicles) to teenagers, pregnant women, families, and all others of adult age all over the world in the first place, that can have a mechanical failure which can lead to serious injury or death (AND HAVE), and requires the 'driver' be 100% attentive at all times? *Gobsmacked!*
If I were you, I'd be all over the worldwide banning of automobiles, motorcycles, 18-wheelers, snowmobiles, jet skis, etc... Then you'd not have to be concerned about remaining 100% attentive with AP features engaged in any of those death machines. I'd suggest horses, except that they are even more dangerous because they have free will. We need to get back to walking everywhere. It's the safest transportation mode to get from point A to point B - well, except for the Cellphone Zombies; they're pretty dangerous to themselves and others because they aren't...wait for it...paying 100% attention when driving their bodies forward. Better ban walking too.
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Jan 31, 2016
sorka
It's clearly there although faint right at the 19 second boundary. Right before it hits 19 seconds to just right afterwards.
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Jan 31, 2016
ecarfan
And I am amazed that you are shocked, "...shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!"* (Gambling with people's lives, apparently.) Yes, Tesla's V1 beta AP is not yet perfect. I would also point out that human drivers are very far from perfect, and cause hundreds of thousands of deaths and serious injuries worldwide every year and yet they are allowed to drive after passing laughably minimal driving tests (at least in the US). So now you have concluded that Tesla's AP is dangerous, after repeatedly acknowledging that you have used it on public roads while completely ignoring Tesla's instructions and deliberately ignoring the road around you by reading a book while the car drove itself. That is what shocks me.
*Obviously that is not a quote from Electricfan, but from the film "Casablanca".
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Feb 1, 2016
calisnow
Fascinating video. But even if the car got confused about where the lines were - why would it actually appear to dive into the truck? That is just super weird. Wouldn't the radar and ultrasonics have told it there was an object there it was about to hit? EDIT: n/m I read more posts that say the ultrasonics turn off at a certain speed, and other posts that hypothesize that the "brain" is getting overwhelmed with sensory input and thus the radar seems to fail.
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So the million dollar question is - would the car have seen the truck in time and suddenly braked to avoid hitting it? Yes I realize we can't test this possibility. I do wonder if Tesla is secretly banging up test mules on private tracks in scenarios like this.
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If these kinds of "corner cases" can only be learned by the neural networks via trial and error over time then it is certainly plausible that Tesla is building an unassailable lead in the race to autonomous driving and that they might arrive at the goal several years sooner than anyone else in the industry - because nobody else in the industry has nearly the fleet size and they've had a big head start in "school."
I do wonder if this is why they pushed Autopilot out on the bleeding edge - because Musk is taking a calculated risk that nobody will die using Autopilot while the fleet learns its way to 99.9999% error-free behavior - and he knows the only way to get there is to put a big fleet on the road and let it get to learnin' so to speak.
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Feb 1, 2016
Electricfan
I don't know what my allegedly inappropriate use of AP has to do with Tesla releasing what they released.
Anyway, I contacted Tesla service this morning and ask them to look at my car. They responded and are pulling the log files. I'll report if they find anything interesting.
One update - this morning as I was driving in on Beltway 8, the car just decided to drive on the shoulder for a while, all by itself. I'll post the video, although its not as exciting as the near-miss with the truck.
For the record, since everybody seems to get so heated up on the subject, I no longer read while on AP. The car used to work better - the incidents with the truck and the shoulder-cruising this morning are new, at least for me. But while its messed up I obviously don't trust it. AP isn't helping me at all right now - its much more stressful to use it than not.
Which means I wasted a lot of money upgrading my 2013 to a 2015, which might make some people on here happy, based on some of the unfriendly posts I've seen.
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Feb 1, 2016
bhzmark
Ap does what it does. It's not perfect but it will get better. Abs and seat belts and rear view mirrors etc. aren't perfect either but we make use these tools within their limits. Ap is still beta and it's getting better. I would never go back to a car without ap.
I share the frustration that seemingly obvious errors (too close on the right side, not distinguishing lanes from shoulders) ought to be programmed out. And I suspect they will very soon. But meanwhile it is so much better to have the help with (but not full delegation of) most micro adjustments while driving on highways and other appropriate roads.
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Feb 1, 2016
Yitt
I just took my first long road trip in my 70D. Before that, I'd experimented with AP but not used it for an extended trip. Thus, I don't know if my observation is specific to 7.1 vs. 7.0.
But dang, that thing sure wanted to get up close and personal with trucks as I passed them. Maybe it's because I normally give a wide berth when passing, but it FELT like the car was magnetically attracted to trucks one lane over to the right. I took control a few times. Many other times, I let it go and it was fine (though uncomfortably close). I would much rather if AP gave extra space when passing in the left lane.
Even with that and a reminder to hold the wheel every three minutes, AP performed well overall and made the trip a lot more pleasant. I did not mind keeping a hand on the wheel almost all the time, and occasionally giving it a little "tug" to reassure the car I was still there. I guess I basically used it as intended, including lots of lane changes, and it was fine except for cutting it a little close on the right side.
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Feb 1, 2016
dhanson865
I've seen a huge change in your posts since this thread started on Jan 13. It's only been three weeks but your posts have become more logical and more willing to consider the other side of the conversation.
On the other hand I've seen others that are still stuck giving you the same response they gave you weeks ago when it was pile up on elctricfan day.
I really don't see any reason to be stuck in the past. You've provided new insights and video evidence and we should just go forward with this new input...
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Feb 1, 2016
ankitmishra
@ElectricFan What is that bump sound at 0:05? Car swerved immediately after that sound.
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Feb 1, 2016
sorka
You can hear the two done beep again in this one as well(right before second 11 clicks over). Same as the previous. So you were on AP and it started veering over the yellow line?
Is the glass in front of the cameras nice and clean???
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Feb 1, 2016
Andyw2100
I could be mistaken, but I think that sounds like the sound my car makes when switching to (and possibly from?) regenerative braking. The speed isn't changing much on the dashcam display, but there is generally some lag with that anyway.
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Feb 1, 2016
scottf200
"more logical" -- you state that while quoting him where he clearly still believes reading was "appropriate use of AP" since he states "allegedly inappropriate use of AP". I'm looking forward to using AP but following Tesla VERY clear instructions on how to use it. Hands on wheel and you are responsible for the vehicles driving. Every odd scenario needs to be reported but none from looking at the logs timestamps based on an ambulance report documented time for the non-Tesla driver and their family/friends ... if you know what I mean.
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Feb 1, 2016
ankitmishra
I think it is the sound of car going over some minor imperfection in the road. The car goes over two strips of imperfections beginning at 0:14. At 0:05 imperfection, car was recovering from a curve. Do minor speed brakers/bumps cause problem with AP? This is my observation of the video. I cant find any other event. Also, what is that black space on the other side of road? The one with incoming traffic. It is also at same location as the anomaly.
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Feb 1, 2016
Hpnewport
I have glitches every single day in my car from calendar not working, radio stuck on certain channels to screen blanking out randomly, f'ing navigation system taking 30-60 seconds to tell me where the heck I am, map half full of grid, no streets, I can go on and on. For anyone to think or say like the Tesla service apparently did here, that autopilot is 'flawless' is complete bs. It is not a good system-yet. Don't trust it, but you can use it as long as you keep hands on wheel and foot ready to brake. Funny that other scenarios seem to tell a story that the car will absolutely brake to the point of skid to avoid a collision...my opinion after reading this is that the autopilot probably failed to do its "intended" job which is to monitor everything around it and react for you. But, it is still in beta and can't be trusted.
I've been in HOV lane going along just fine in AP and when there is an 'exit' from the HOV and no more stripe on the right side, the car jerks violently to the right even thought the left stripe continues just as it had been...huge problem...don't trust it.
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Feb 1, 2016
Electricfan
I can't answer questions about the shoulder incident because I left the video file at work.
About the truck incident - I noted something new this evening when I was creating a video clip to send to Tesla (I heard back from service, and somebody in CA was copied and they wanted details on the problems so I sent them the video - not the youtube crappy version but the actual dashcam footage which is much better - and if anybody wants it and knows a way I can send it to you or place I can upload it for you please pm me). By the way, this is a great little video cutter that will let you take a few minutes out of a longer video file, and its totally free: Free Video Cutter - Free download and software reviews - CNET Download.com
What I noticed tonight solves the puzzle, I believe. Below is a picture of two skid marks that are in the middle of my lane, and appear right before my car dives toward the truck. I think AP "calculated" that the lane was suddenly ten feet to the right based on these skid marks, and that's why it abruptly dove to the right. We'll see if Tesla agrees. I'll post back if they share something with me about it.
Here's the pic of the skid marks that I think caused my near-miss with the truck.
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Feb 1, 2016
jeffro01
I call BS. I don't know what your car seems to be doing or what you might be doing as the operator but I drive mine daily and my calendar works, radio is never stuck, screens never blank out randomly and my navigation system calculates all routes I've given it to date within seconds and always knows where my car is with a full map and streets, etc...
The car doesn't jerk violently in any direction, that's absurd. You are free to not trust whatever it is you aren't trusting but while AP isn't perfect and there are things it really needs to improve upon such as taking sharp\sharp'ish freeway curves (101 north through San Rafael comes to mind), I find it to be quite good at what it does. Naturally I don't ask it to do things I know it's not capable of doing so that may skew my results some...
Jeff
One more thing to note as it pertains to exits while on the freeway. In 7.0 the car would drift towards the "open" side of the lane, IE were the white line breaks for the exit, but I never had an issue with it trying to take the exit. In 7.1 I have noticed it's much stabler in that scenario and continues on straight.
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Feb 1, 2016
Beryl
What level of of 7.1 is installed? I had display and radio problems until the SC updated me fro 2.9.154 to 2.10.56.
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Feb 2, 2016
Boston
First, I would like to thank the OP for sharing his experience and provoking a useful discussion.
Second, I would like to add my support for Woof's theory. I am also an engineer and I also currently own a Mobileye (same as used in Tesla) based ACC in my BMW i3. I had a nearly identical situation to the OP and had to stand on the brakes to avoid rear ending the stopped car in front of me. Bottom line. The ACC was tracking the car that passed the slowing car and did not switch to the one right in front of me until it was too late. This is a very repeatable failure mode that I am now very sensitive too. OPs memory is not shot. Tesla's engineers are reporting the truth. The TACC was simply tracking the wrong car till it was too late. The bug is very reproducible on my BMW when the highway makes even the slightest bend (right bend if the car leaving my lane to pass goes to the left or vice a versa).
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Feb 2, 2016
dhanson865
Have you seen the quotes / videos where Elon admits he drives in AP with hands off the wheel on a regular basis? What do you think about Elon doing it? Are you going to start bad mouthing Elon every time you see a post about him?
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Feb 2, 2016
Electricfan
Sorry but I have the original file and after listening over and over I just don't know. I can't see a bump in the road. I don't remember the noise. I have no idea. Just guessing, it sounds like the car hit something small in the road.
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No, I haven't noticed bumps causing a problem with AP. My car drives this road every single day, M-F. At the same time. Why it drove on the shoulder this time is very strange.
The black space is a place where the concrete barrier is replaced with metal barrels, for unknown reasons. There are several occurrences of this in beltway 8 around this location.
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Feb 2, 2016
Andyw2100
If you have a few minutes, try listening to some video from your car from other times when it has TACC engaged. I really think that is just the sound of the car changing from power to regenerative braking. With TACC on that happens pretty regularly, so it shouldn't be too hard for you to find a couple of other incidents of that, and see if the sound is the same. I could be mistaken, but that's what it sounded like to me.
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Feb 3, 2016
Navyguy
Lol these elitists. "AUTOPILOT IS THE BEST..." Car crashes -"DUMBASS DRIVER - YOUR FAULT... AUTOPILOT ITS THE BEST"
His fault for setting the distance trusting it too long, tesla's fault for miss representing its effectiveness. The car is still supposed to emergency brake in ANY situation, however in this it didn't. BOTH are at fault, the "AUTOPILOT"<<<<< malfunctioned. "Assistance" or not.
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Feb 3, 2016
Max*
Actually the car did emergency brake, Tesla pulled the logs.
Pot calling the kettle black? Just saying....
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Feb 3, 2016
Navyguy
Weird, it almost looks like the color of the car was too close to that of the lines and it did the same thing along the "lines" no pun intended of when it first got released and it wanted to veer off of exit lanes because the line followed the exit ramp/
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How is that calling it black? One I never said its the sweetest thing in the world. 2 I have yet to make the purchase lol. still seeing how things are doing, and so far I am getting less and less impressed
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Feb 10, 2016
WannabeOwner
I have a question:
From your initial post the guy in the car in front didn't jump out and say "The idiot in front of me stopped suddenly" or "XXX fell off the vehicle in front of me and I had to stop suddenly", there doesn't appear to be any indication that he stopped suddenly and that isn't your recollection either, although I agree that adrenalin-rush or eyewitness-unreliability might be a factor in your recollection.
So my question is: assuming he was braking reasonably hard, not himself using AEB, not in some heavily modifed car with very fancy brakes, shouldn't a Tesla's AEB be able to outbreak him? TACC reaction time should be a few milliseconds I think?, you were 1 second behind him, why didn't AEB stop you in time?
And why did you need to augment the AEB with manual braking at all? Tesla say you braked one second after the alarm went off, surely AEB should have done its job enough by then?
My assumption is that a Tesla, being well equipped, will out-brake a "regular" car, or is that not true?
If the TACC was tracking the wrong vehicle, which had by then pulled over to the other lane, then this would surely be something that needs fixing (and calls your liability into question) and has nothing to do with Tesla's assertion
I'm probably overlooking something very obvious
I'm not sure I would want to own a Tesla without a dashboard camera to adjudicate if it was me, the "Other Guy", or Tesla that caused the problem.
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Feb 10, 2016
McRat
Based on independent testing, a Model S stops towards the high end of sedans. It has about the same as braking power as a Camry or any other standard sedan. A BMW base 3 series will stop sooner.
Do not tailgate a modern sportscar. They stop a lot faster than a Model S can. Certainly enough to defeat a close setting on an auto braking system. About 40 feet difference at 70mph. Even something like a Camaro coupe will stop 30' shorter.
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Feb 10, 2016
Navyguy
I agree, the automated braking should have stopped you sooner than you could have, it would have reacted faster than you could have and applied optimal braking pressure. HOWEVER I think what happened was it was tracking the car in front, it changed lanes and the car in front of him stopped sooner than the tesla was able to aquire a "lock" on the next in line car in front? OR just a complete sensor / TACC /braking failure. in that case Tesla's fault for faulty software/hardware BUT accident wise your faulty for following too closely, or waiting for it to react etc. (or simply unavoidable accident however, that stems to following too closely unfortunately you could always follow further away no matter how close or far you already are.)
If it did take too long to acquire a lock on the next vehicle that is a serious flaw, think of what happens if the guy breaks fast, the guy behind him swerves away and your left with no reaction time. it needs to detect a fast oncoming obstacle and apply the brakes accordingly regardless of if it thinks its a car or not. after all, any object not moving in front of you the sensor sees as a "wall" so to speak.
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So an emergency braking, cant be saved by an AUTOMATED EMERGENCY Braking lol. I mean come on, that is such BS, that is the whole purpose of that, adaptive cruise control maintains and changes speed, AEB is supposed to be used when a human cannot or with proper speed react. now does that change the distance in which a car can physically stop no, hence the set follow distance. however it will minimize the impact by as much as computationally possible in the given amount of time etc.
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Feb 10, 2016
green1
Remember that AEB does not stop the car? it only reduces the speed and then releases. It is not designed to avoid collisions, that is not it's purpose. It's job is to reduce the impact of an already unavoidable collision. If you rely on it, and it is working properly, there is a very high chance you will hit the other vehicle.
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Feb 10, 2016
McRat
Yes, it is to prevent serious injury from inattentive driving. Normally a human looks at more than just the car right in front of them. AEB cannot. When I see brakes 5 cars up, I increase my distance and tap my brake rapidly 3 times. This is to avoid getting cornholed. Then I get ready to "split lanes" in case there is a collision as the cars in front are braking. If one person is texting, there will be an impact, and impacts produce very short stopping distances.
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Feb 10, 2016
Navyguy
WOw really? well I may have found 3 of 3 deal breakers, lol since there are alot of even lower end cars that ave automatic emergency braking. I think even a honda does, for a car to have autopilot yet not stop from an emergency then that's a deal breaker.
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Feb 10, 2016
green1
Many vehicles have AEB, but read the fine print to see if any of them are any different. It's clearly in the manual for the Model S, I wouldn't be surprised if other cars are the same.
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Feb 10, 2016
gregincal
Yes, Honda does have such a system, and it works exactly the same as Tesla's. The key with such systems is that they kick in when a collision is "unavoidable" which by definition means that it will not be able to prevent the collision. Here is from my Honda CR-V owners manual:
Collision Mitigation Braking System Can alert you when a potential frontal collision with a vehicle or pedestrian is determined and reduce your vehicle speed when a collision is deemed unavoidable to help minimize collision severity.
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Feb 10, 2016
Navyguy
Well AEB is a false representation of it, if it causes it CMB as above, AEB was mentioned as Automatic emergency braking, and btw the honda one they showed it with working going x speed into a semi that was parked, and showed it slamming on the brakes, I will try to find the video (not the malfunctioning prototype one tho ahah)
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Feb 10, 2016
green1
How is it misleading? They say it automatically brakes in an emergency, that's exactly what it does, nowhere is it called collision avoidance, or automatic STOPPING.
Sure, many companies have shown videos of how a system might someday work, but if the manual says that it doesn't stop the car, I'll trust that over a video of what they might do someday.
Could keep posting, but what I am saying is they advertise all this safety crap as a marketing sell. then small text disclaimer it in the manual which you wont see until after you bought the car. they call it one thing aloud, AEB, then write is as CAB (computer assisted braking etc) Just saying.
He didn't say how fast he was going BUT he did say it slowed down, after a certain speed like 50 mph I think it only mitigates the crash. under 40 I believe it is supposed to stop fully. at least the ones I saw in those videos do. But full highway speed at 70 into a stopped vehicle perhaps wouldn't have stopped. but it should have at least applied full brakes. You know, since that is how it is sold and advertised. otherwise it's simply false advertising. and almost as bad as saying cigarettes are safe, like tobacco companies used to say until the mid 90's when they finally got sued.
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Feb 10, 2016
AWDtsla
Maybe read the manual.
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Feb 10, 2016
msnow
As you are not an owner, perhaps your feedback would be far more appreciated in the Honda forum than your trolling in this one.
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