2017.50.3.f3425a1 is out!

[Daniellane]

I was in full "Russian Roulette Suicide Mode" today. This is about as far as I have been willing to go before disengaging for a stopped car that Autopilot seems completely oblivious to. Still can't figure out why it does this only once in a while. In this clip my Tesla Model S 90D is in Autopilot barreling down the road at 57 mph with no hint of stopping. I didn't disengage by applying the brakes until I reached the left turn lane of the intersection. Firmware 2017.50.3 f3425a1.

 

[pkodali]

Yep.
That was it. Only works if wiper stock is in the off position. Are used to always leave it in off but now I leave it in Auto.
Thanks!

No problem. Figured it was some kind of safeguard

 

[conman]

Drove home through some urban roads I normally enable AP with and was bitterly disappointed today. I felt less comfortable enabling it in winding medium speed roads than I used to be and cresting a hill it used to easily do previously it decided to change langes with clear lane markings. I ended up turning it off and only using TACC. More sighs.

 

[J1mbo]

I was in full "Russian Roulette Suicide Mode" today. This is about as far as I have been willing to go before disengaging for a stopped car that Autopilot seems completely oblivious to. Still can't figure out why it does this only once in a while. In this clip my Tesla Model S 90D is in Autopilot barreling down the road at 57 mph with no hint of stopping. I didn't disengage by applying the brakes until I reached the left turn lane of the intersection. Firmware 2017.50.3 f3425a1.

What distance setting are you using? 1 will start braking quite late.

 

[Daniellane]

What distance setting are you using? 1 will start braking quite late.

7

 

[cybergates]

What distance setting are you using? 1 will start braking quite late.

it doesn't always detect stopped cars at a light until it's very close and then slams on the breaks (scaring passengers and me!) or sometimes not at all! (haven't quite "tested" that.... Tesla needs to work on this. I use a distance of 5. I had a 3 series which had dynamic cruise control - it had similar issue....it could not detect stopped cars at all!).

 

[J1mbo]

7

If you turn the AP stalk, you can vary the follow distance of the system. If you set it to 1, the car starts to react very late, set it to 7 and the car starts to react very early.

 

[ChrML]

ACC/AP does not (always) detect stopped cars in your path if it has not seen it move. This is a weakness very well documented in the user manual. It's not a feature of the current system.

It MIGHT detect the car, or detect it late, but don't rely on it doing so.

 

[Daniellane]

If you turn the AP stalk, you can vary the follow distance of the system. If you set it to 1, the car starts to react very late, set it to 7 and the car starts to react very early.

Yes, it’s supposed to, but it doesn’t always behave the same.
Here’s a video from my first test drive on 2017.50.3. I was very impressed with the improvement.
Why did it work here? Set to 7.

But not here? Also set to 7.

 

[ishareit]

This update has tried to kill me twice now with AP. A couple of times on curves on freeways with big vehicles next to me, the car braked hard and tried to stop for no apparent reason. It had never done that before for me. Wonder what is going on...

 

[Joe F]

Yes, it’s supposed to, but it doesn’t always behave the same.
Here’s a video from my first test drive on 2017.50.3. I was very impressed with the improvement.
Why did it work here? Set to 7.


But not here? Also set to 7.

Perhaps because in the first example, the car in your lane was not at a full stop. The video is not sufficient to make that determination, and I suspect your own eyes can not make that determination at the distance radar could.

In the second example, the car was clearly at a full stop given its position at the red light, made obvious by the fact that the cross traffic position indicates that the light was red for your road for a while, hence the car was at a full stop.

Your radar, as has been pointed out in numerous threads on TMC as well as being documented in the manual, will not detect a stationary vehicle in your lane; It needs to see it moving, even slowly drifting forward by inches, which is no doubt the case in your first video.

 

[Daniellane]

Perhaps because in the first example, the car in your lane was not at a full stop. The video is not sufficient to make that determination, and I suspect your own eyes can not make that determination at the distance radar could.

In the second example, the car was clearly at a full stop given its position at the red light, made obvious by the fact that the cross traffic position indicates that the light was red for your road for a while, hence the car was at a full stop.

Your radar, as has been pointed out in numerous threads on TMC as well as being documented in the manual, will not detect a stationary vehicle in your lane; It needs to see it moving, even slowly drifting forward by inches, which is no doubt the case in your first video.

WOW!
Can’t detect stopped vehicles in my lane?
That seems crazy.

 

[chillaban]

WOW!
Can’t detect stopped vehicles in my lane?
That seems crazy.

Unfortunately detection of stationary vehicles is a hard problem. AP2 used to be a lot more willing to do so, but that also led to a lot of phantom braking events where randomly a car blinks onto the display and causes the car to slam on the brakes for a split second.

Sooner or later they'll have to solve it in order for city driving to be possible. FWIW, right now, if I manually lower the TACC speed to 25mph or so, it will correctly stop in time basically every time. Above 30mph though, it's downright frightening. If anything, as TACC got smoother, this aspect has gotten worse.

 

[dmode]

Unfortunately detection of stationary vehicles is a hard problem. AP2 used to be a lot more willing to do so, but that also led to a lot of phantom braking events where randomly a car blinks onto the display and causes the car to slam on the brakes for a split second.

Sooner or later they'll have to solve it in order for city driving to be possible. FWIW, right now, if I manually lower the TACC speed to 25mph or so, it will correctly stop in time basically every time. Above 30mph though, it's downright frightening. If anything, as TACC got smoother, this aspect has gotten worse.

Will it actually slam the brakes at the last minute above 30mph ? Or has no one tried this yet ? I seem to recall vaguely to have tried this once in the freeway and it did stop at the last minute. But I am not 100% sure

 

[chillaban]

Will it actually slam the brakes at the last minute above 30mph ? Or has no one tried this yet ? I seem to recall vaguely to have tried this once in the freeway and it did stop at the last minute. But I am not 100% sure

If you'll pay for my insurance premiums for the next 3 years I'll give it a shot ;-)

But no, seriously. I consider myself a skilled driver, I've taken a few EVOC classes on weekends for fun. Every time I've intervened at the last second I felt comfortable and it did not look like it would be able to avoid an accident.

 

[arwooldridge]

Raining here in UK auto wipers worked adequately on 100mile round trip. on occasion allowed a bit more rain build up than I would have preferred, (Setting 2). A few days before though when not raining, I noticed the wipers start up every time I went into a tunnel from daylight. Overall still quite good for a beta rollout.

 

[oktane]

WOW!
Can’t detect stopped vehicles in my lane?
That seems crazy.

It's because AP2, blind spot, early collision, etc. are not "refined" in the Tesla as compared to say, Mercedes. It's hasty implementation using incomplete hardware and software.

You and I got suckered into buying what is essentially a "beta" car. Drivetrain etc. are good, safety features substandard by my taste. AP2 was a lie to consumers but getting better every build. It will never work as advertised, however.

I hope they get their act together before larger car companies perfect electric drive.

 

[Daniellane]

Unfortunately detection of stationary vehicles is a hard problem. AP2 used to be a lot more willing to do so, but that also led to a lot of phantom braking events where randomly a car blinks onto the display and causes the car to slam on the brakes for a split second.

Sooner or later they'll have to solve it in order for city driving to be possible. FWIW, right now, if I manually lower the TACC speed to 25mph or so, it will correctly stop in time basically every time. Above 30mph though, it's downright frightening. If anything, as TACC got smoother, this aspect has gotten worse.

Interesting.
So speed is the major factor. I’ll have to test.

 

[chillaban]

Interesting.
So speed is the major factor. I’ll have to test.

Yeah, at least in terms of having enough time to brake. Basically, once you're about 5 car distances away (just a figure off the top of my head), it seems like AP2 reliably detects a car AND estimates its distance. If you're traveling 25mph at that time, you can comfortably slow down in that distance. But if you're going 50, it's way too late to start braking even with near full braking force.

 

[Daniellane]

Yeah, at least in terms of having enough time to brake. Basically, once you're about 5 car distances away (just a figure off the top of my head), it seems like AP2 reliably detects a car AND estimates its distance. If you're traveling 25mph at that time, you can comfortably slow down in that distance. But if you're going 50, it's way too late to start braking even with near full braking force.

As I recall, the first time I became aware of this by blindly trusting it, it was able to stop on its own. It was more like a panic stop, jamming on the brakes, like a driver who just looked up while texting. Perhaps that’s just emergency anti-collision braking.