Hit a deer, where was the driver assisted features?

[brkaus]

Something that even the mid-range Volvos has for a decade or so..
And these days I saw commercials for B segment vehicles with this features (I wont even talk about 100k plus segment)

And sometimes the Volvo system misses things too. Sad.

The car guy on the radio my mom listens to all the time says all the collision avoidance systems are overhyped. They give the impression on a suit of armor. But in reality they can miss things. They don’t come to a stop completely, etc. this is for all vendors.

 

[Kutu]

So, yesterday I hit a deer...
My model S is a 2017, about 4 months old, with autopilot etc, also I have the latest update.
Where all my driver assisted features sleeping? -because, it did not make a warning sound, it didn't brake, it did nothing at all...
Off course I didn't ram straight into it, but tried to steer away from the deer.
But not a single reaction was made by the car, I would have thought that it would register the deer, or am I wrong?
Visible damage is; hood, front left fender, grille, headlight, front bumper. Invisible damage that I noticed so far is possibly radar and sensors in the front/side, because after the hit it won't turn on any assisted driving features. Automatic high beam deactivated, cruise control deactivated, autopilot deactivated, park assist and summon deactivated, and off course the screen tells me to contact Tesla service...
But why didn't it do anything or make any sounds? Deer was bigger than a small person, so does that mean that my car don't register people either?

Just curious - did you have cruise control, or auto steer enabed when the deer moved into you path?

 

[boonedocks]

3 months maybe 6 months definitely

I remember Elon once said AP systems would potentially see a moose but nothing smaller.....at least until FSD.....and that 3 months maybe 6 months definitely away

 

[daniel]

3 months maybe 6 months definitely

I remember Elon once said AP systems would potentially see a moose but nothing smaller.....at least until FSD.....and that 3 months maybe 6 months definitely away

My most optimistic guess for FSD is five years. Ten years would not surprise me. It's coming, but it's got a ways to go yet. I wish Tesla would fire their whole FSD team and contract with Google to provide the technology. I think Google is the furthest along and the best equipped for this.

 

[Tiger]

Related topics:

• I grazed a deer yesterday--no alert from car
• Volvo's Cars Can Now Spot Moose—Then Hit the Brakes for You

 

[T3SLA90D]

I think one of the problems is that current Tesla’s reflexes are still slower than human reflexes and therefore it’s not much of help in situations that develop all of the sudden. I always notice a 0.5-1 second delay from the time a car cutting in from if me until it is seen by radar and car acts on it. In my opinion autonomous driving in emergency situations would be safer that human driving only if the car’s reflexes are faster than the humans’.

 

[Upscaleman]

Autopilot cars still need human intervention....they are't named KITT, they don't call you "Michael" and there is no "Turbo Boost" feature to jump 30 feet in the air over fences, dumpsters, bad guys, etc....

 

[nowtleft]

Radar is absorbed by anything that is mostly water. Consider what a microwave oven does. If there is no reflection the radar can't see the deer. The ultrasonic sensors do not have enough range to be of much use. It is close to impossible to avoid a deer that waits until the last second to dart in front of a car.

My only encounter with a deer was while riding with my brother on interstate 80 in PA. It jumped over the hood and never touched the car.

it can see people - some vids on youtube show it!

 

[u00mem9]

I’m guessing the car recognized the deer, but resources were focused on an upcoming launch event staged with 1/2 completed prototype vehicles or rebodied lotus show cars from their stillborn 2012 (2011?) Geneva show, and there just wasn’t time or competent management to send a signal down to the banal reality team that operates brakes.

Or that team got the message, but it was during a GQ interview.

Sorry to hear about the accident. Can you make the repair saga thread separate so that this thread can stay on topic of active safety in the current market?

 

[sdugan99]

2.5 has a better radar for this exact scenario. I hope that Tesla will be able to address this defect in AP without upgraded radar.

???

 

[rhumbliner]

No autonomous system could prevent that. Deer are too fast and random.

No current autonomous system could prevent that. It’s coming, tho. Like others have pointed out, it may take awhile, but it’s definitely coming. I’ve been around long enough to know that when people draw a line in the sand and say “computers will never do this” they are invariable wrong.

 

[mkspeedr]

My impression - no system can be 100% against deer. Deer are quite possibly the dumbest animal on earth. In the past I would refer to them as rats with hooves but I realize that is an insult to rats.

I have had deer stationary on the side of the road, frozen - until I got next to them and they bolted out in front of me. I have had deer come out of ravine on a flat open road where the deer was well below the road. I have had deer run along side me at 20mph for 1/4 of mile until the hillside dropped (otherwise if the road was straight it would have kept going forever).

Yes, I am sure a good AP system can prevent many impacts but I don't think it can prevent all of them.

 

[d21mike]

Any chance there is something in the logs? Maybe have Tesla review the logs. That might help at least for this debate.

Here is a video that show stopping for a (dumb) person in the street. But maybe is see the "hard" camera.

 

[TexasTeslaRacing]

So, yesterday I hit a deer...
My model S is a 2017, about 4 months old, with autopilot etc, also I have the latest update.
Where all my driver assisted features sleeping? -because, it did not make a warning sound, it didn't brake, it did nothing at all...
Off course I didn't ram straight into it, but tried to steer away from the deer.
But not a single reaction was made by the car, I would have thought that it would register the deer, or am I wrong?
Visible damage is; hood, front left fender, grille, headlight, front bumper. Invisible damage that I noticed so far is possibly radar and sensors in the front/side, because after the hit it won't turn on any assisted driving features. Automatic high beam deactivated, cruise control deactivated, autopilot deactivated, park assist and summon deactivated, and off course the screen tells me to contact Tesla service...
But why didn't it do anything or make any sounds? Deer was bigger than a small person, so does that mean that my car don't register people either?

Any pictures of the aftermath?

 

[Quick2Judge]

So, yesterday I hit a deer...

Was the deer running or still? Straight road or curvy road? How fast were you going?

 

[chillaban]

Any chance there is something in the logs? Maybe have Tesla review the logs. That might help at least for this debate.

Here is a video that show stopping for a (dumb) person in the street. But maybe is see the "hard" camera.

It seems to very specifically detect pedestrians (which is also called out in the manual's TACC section) but the same neural net may not be sensitive to an animal at this time.

 

[Vger]

A good friend of mine just hit a full grown Angus cow on a rural two-lane blacktop near Moab, Utah with his 2017 90D. It was open range country, and a line of black cows were crossing the highway at dusk. He did not see the cow in his lane until very late; he then swerved, but hit a second cow in the other lane head on. The cow impacted the frunk, then the windshield (shattering it), and then the roof. The A-pilars held but are seriously bent. The airbags did not go off, and he and his wife in the passenger seat were totally unharmed. The car was actually drivable afterward, but the police would not allow it given the state of the windshield. The car is being flat-bedded back to the Denver area for assessment by a body shop and insurance. No word yet on whether it is repairable.

There was no warning or braking from AP2.0. I encouraged him to write an email to Tesla Service to report the incident, for their knowledge.

The passive safety features did their job, and saved my friends, but active safety— not so much.

 

[Russell]

I have had deer stationary on the side of the road, frozen - until I got next to them and they bolted out in front of me.

I remember that one.

 

[nimrooz]

No, sorry, have not taken any pictures of it, bodywork guy is coming to my house tomorrow to look at it and make some preliminary orders for parts as it's close to Christmas and they only have small "a" class cars available for rent, so I hope to drive my sidegaping weird faced Tesla until they get the parts and are ready to do the job.
I really hate small ugly cars, I rather drive horse and sledge than that s*h*i*t...

However, on topic, I watched the video from my dashcam several times, and in the video you see the deer long before I saw it when I was on the road driving.
You could argue that I should have seen it before, but when you watch the video you know it's coming, and you can se the whole sides and everything in one screen in a 30 degree (or something) field, but in real life the field is 180 or more.
And you can only focus on so much when driving.
But the car does not do anything, not a warning sound, display warning or anything. And consider the video from YouTube further up here, I think it is weird.

Also, to answer some of the first post's, I forgot to warn the deer
About the autopilot, cruise control, I did not have them on when this happened, due to snowy roads. When it is snow on the roads, or even ice, the car is pingponging around way to much, and keeps on suddenly braking and accelerating. That's actually irritating, but hoping it'll get better over updates soon...

 

[Upscaleman]

A good friend of mine just hit a full grown Angus cow on a rural two-lane blacktop near Moab, Utah with his 2017 90D. It was open range country, and a line of black cows were crossing the highway at dusk. He did not see the cow in his lane until very late; he then swerved, but hit a second cow in the other lane head on. The cow impacted the frunk, then the windshield (shattering it), and then the roof. The A-pilars held but are seriously bent. The airbags did not go off, and he and his wife in the passenger seat were totally unharmed. The car was actually drivable afterward, but the police would not allow it given the state of the windshield. The car is being flat-bedded back to the Denver area for assessment by a body shop and insurance. No word yet on whether it is repairable.

There was no warning or braking from AP2.0. I encouraged him to write an email to Tesla Service to report the incident, for their knowledge.

The passive safety features did their job, and saved my friends, but active safety— not so much.

I would have ubered to town and returned with the best butcher I could hire....