36.X and Steering Wheel Weight?

[KLam]

Trying to defeat hands on the wheel check with wheel weights is doomed unless its very sophisticated .

Tesla relied on the torque sensor on the steering column to detect if the hands are on the wheel. For a good detection implementation, the software will first calibrate the system initial torque magnitude at start of drive. Then it will sense the increase in torque with the hands on. This sensing could be done by turning the steering wheels clock wise or counter clock wise. The sensing frequency and magnitude could be variable. Human will not be able to give a "constant" torque increase all the time, but a wheel weight would. The presence of a "constant" torque increase is a tell tale sign of the presence of a wheel weight. Hence immediate strike out!

 

[ZuleMYP]

What might work is a device that goes over the left scroll wheel and nudges the volume alternately up and down every X time.

Let's take it further and be smarter about it; tap the wires outside the steering wheel in the dash. No need to have some motorized contraption on a steering wheel control. Just send randomly timed pulses up, down, or combination of the two via pulses on the lines. Done.

 

[brancky3]

Let's take it further and be smarter about it; tap the wires outside the steering wheel in the dash. No need to have some motorized contraption on a steering wheel control. Just send randomly timed pulses up, down, or combination of the two via pulses on the lines. Done.

I have a raspberry pi sitting here collecting dust, tell me it's possible

 

[brancky3]

But also I'm on 2022.40.1 right now and my weight works perfectly fine. I only use it on the freeway of course... IMO the need to put torque on the steering wheel going 75+mph is downright dangerous with how aggressively it snaps out of autopilot once you hit that limit. My wife downright refused to use cruise control because of how hard it snaps out of the lane if you move it too far... hence why I bought a weight.

 

[KLam]

But also I'm on 2022.40.1 right now and my weight works perfectly fine. I only use it on the freeway of course... IMO the need to put torque on the steering wheel going 75+mph is downright dangerous with how aggressively it snaps out of autopilot once you hit that limit. My wife downright refused to use cruise control because of how hard it snaps out of the lane if you move it too far... hence why I bought a weight.

Actually, I have found the torque needed is very small in my experience. I don't know if Tesla implemented kind of phase detection or not but it seems like its there. You see, if you put your hand on the steering, paying attention to the road and try to drive, you will try to steer according to what you see on the road. The system will try to turn the steering wheel according to the road too. So after a little while your inputs will be slightly out of phase. The system will be able to sense this slight torque differences in phase and act accordingly.

 

[TenKOhms]

I have a raspberry pi sitting here collecting dust, tell me it's possible

Very possible, and really shouldnt be too difficult. The connector to the buttons are pretty easy to get to, if you watch videos on how to replace the steering wheel, you can see the connectors for the left and right buttons. Probe which wires on the respective harness you want go high/low based on scrolling up/down. Then tap into those wires with an arduino/pi and have a random timer that emulates a flick up/down on the button. The main problem is this is such an easy thing for Tesla to stop by just having a future software update not have button inputs be valid for attentiveness.

 

[Graham J]

But then you're limited on changing your own volume. I'd much rather prefer a device that goes over the right scroll wheel since I never use it. Well, I use it on road trips to change the speed down/up every 20 seconds or so to avoid the nag

If the device had a wheel that rolls against the scroll wheel that wheel could be accessible to roll with your thumb manually. Presumably it would work on either side.

Personally I wouldn't want to modify the car's wiring.

 

[Cosimo3456]

But also I'm on 2022.40.1 right now and my weight works perfectly fine. I only use it on the freeway of course... IMO the need to put torque on the steering wheel going 75+mph is downright dangerous with how aggressively it snaps out of autopilot once you hit that limit. My wife downright refused to use cruise control because of how hard it snaps out of the lane if you move it too far... hence why I bought a weight.

I agree with you. After messing with autopilot on a ton of drives I now put my foot on the accelerator slightly and hit the right stock up to disengage AP and I don’t feel a thing. I was tugging on the wheel and it was very dangerous, my wife hated it. Love using the weight also, noticed a ton of crazy “autopilot unavailable for rest of drive” alerts. But have used it after an update about 3 days ago and have had no issues.

 

[2101Guy]

So nice to finally see all of the fellow pro-weight users come out in the open now vs feeling some sort of shame. Rejoice!

Only problem is we won’t need them after 12/31/2022 as Elon promised FSD/AP will no longer require any hands touching the wheel at all by then

 

[brancky3]

So nice to finally see all of the fellow pro-weight users come out in the open now vs feeling some sort of shame. Rejoice!

Only problem is we won’t need them after 12/31/2022 as Elon promised FSD/AP will no longer require any hands touching the wheel at all by then

IMO nothing to be ashamed of - if the lines on the road look sketchy to me even in the slightest I still grip the wheel regardless. Another one of my problems with needing torque on the wheel is if I keep my hands at 10 and 3 it will still nag me to turn the wheel because the force is equal on both sides.

 

[TenKOhms]

I saw a couple posts/comments that 40.X they’re not experiencing the wheel weight disengagement? Let’s hope!

 

[Darmie]

Trying to defeat hands on the wheel check with wheel weights is doomed unless its very sophisticated .

Tesla relied on the torque sensor on the steering column to detect if the hands are on the wheel. For a good detection implementation, the software will first calibrate the system initial torque magnitude at start of drive. Then it will sense the increase in torque with the hands on. This sensing could be done by turning the steering wheels clock wise or counter clock wise. The sensing frequency and magnitude could be variable. Human will not be able to give a "constant" torque increase all the time, but a wheel weight would. The presence of a "constant" torque increase is a tell tale sign of the presence of a wheel weight. Hence immediate strike out!

This is why I was thinking a weight on each side of the wheel may work. Actually one weight on the bottom of the wheel may work if heavy enough. This would simulate resting your hand on the wheel. No torque pressure is present until autopilot moves the wheel to stay in lane. Each time the wheel is moved by autopilot, it would sense the resistance and recognize the wheel is being held. Sure you are relying on autopilot to move the wheel before the system feels the resistance but A/P moves the wheel often.

 

[burtinboy]

Maybe it was just 36.x......Let's see.

 

[2101Guy]

We wont need any weights in about 6 weeks.

On a call on Wednesday to discuss quarterly results, Musk said he expects to release an upgraded FSD software at the end of the year, adding that while its cars are not ready to have no one behind the wheel, drivers would rarely have to touch the controls.

"The car will be able to take you from your home to your work, your friend's house, the grocery store without you touching the wheel," he said.

 

[TenKOhms]

Take what Elon says with a grain of salt... I wouldn't take that as a guarantee. And especially if it's being derived from "without you touching the wheel" he might have unknowingly exaggerated there and meant more to talk about the capability of FSD beta and less about hinting that wheel touch nags are potentially removed.

 

[2101Guy]

Take what Elon says with a grain of salt... I wouldn't take that as a guarantee. And especially if it's being derived from "without you touching the wheel" he might have unknowingly exaggerated there and meant more to talk about the capability of FSD beta and less about hinting that wheel touch nags are potentially removed.

Darnit! I was so used to him being a man of his word on his timeline committments.

 

[alexcue]

Take what Elon says with a grain of salt... I wouldn't take that as a guarantee. And especially if it's being derived from "without you touching the wheel" he might have unknowingly exaggerated there and meant more to talk about the capability of FSD beta and less about hinting that wheel touch nags are potentially removed.

Well that is good thinking... but nobody has said the obvious... Elon Time isn't normal humans conception of time!

 

[ZuleMYP]

Well that is good thinking... but nobody has said the obvious... Elon Time isn't normal humans conception of time!

Elon’s day to day activities involve him traveling at 99.66% the speed of light such that 2 months his time is over 2 years our time…

 

[coco135]

you guys are making this more complicated than it is.
All you need is 260 grams of weight on either side and you’re good to go.
I took a metal piece that weigh 250g added epoxy mold to shape the rear of the yoke, used double sided tape and all is good.

It doesn't "recalibrate" at every start of a trip, it doesn't look for force changing, there's no aliens looking from above.
You do need to cover the cabin camera as well.

 

[Graham J]

Take what Elon says with a grain of salt... I wouldn't take that as a guarantee. And especially if it's being derived from "without you touching the wheel" he might have unknowingly exaggerated there and meant more to talk about the capability of FSD beta and less about hinting that wheel touch nags are potentially removed.

Perhaps it's miscalibrated but my sarcasmometer was beeping loudly at @2101Guy 's post