Accident while on EAP...

[Freewilly]

Just to clarify in advance, this accident is completely my fault as I dozed off behind the wheel after a long day at work and very little sleep the night before, and it's my responsibility to maintain control of the car at all times, but I am concerned that the car didn't stop in this situation as is advertised in EAP features.

I was on a single lane highway interchange in relatively high traffic so speeds were slow, I'm guessing that we were below 30MPH as the airbags didn't deploy. In the attached videos, you can see that my Model 3 didn't veer in either direction to avoid the accident and it obviously didn't slow down. I think the glare from the sun might have played a role in not recognizing the brake lights of the Forrester in front of me, but I would think that the radar sensors would have picked up the rapidly closing distance between the car in front of me and my car.

I emailed Tesla, but haven't received a response yet. I am planning on taking the car in on Monday to get it repaired and I'm hoping they can download the data to see what might have happened.

My intention in sharing is that many of you will be more attentive when using EAP and don't be a dummy like me and fall asleep behind the wheel.

IMG_6296 - Streamable
IMG_6297 - Streamable
IMG_6295 - Streamable

 

[McFlurri]

It does seem very odd that autopilot didn't stop...

 

[SSonnentag]

Definitely some radar or radar response fail going on there.

 

[Freewilly]

I should add, no injuries on either part, just my pride and soon to be my wallet...

 

[whatthe2]

Ugh, so sorry. Glad you acknowledged up front your responsibility, but I certainly agree it is odd the car didn't stop. Just curious, are you certain AP was still on since you were on an off-ramp?

Edit: I may be thinking NoAP, that shuts down on an off-ramp, but AP still continues.

 

[jonotastic]

Glad you are okay, do you think AP was disabled because you didn't move the wheel when it flashes blue to make sure you are still there? I've never seen what happens if you don't... does it just turn off or does it sound an alarm?

 

[Freewilly]

Since I dozed off and there isn't an internal cam, I can't be 100% sure it was still on, but I know that it was on before I dozed off.

Ugh, so sorry. Glad you acknowledged up front your responsibility, but I certainly agree it is odd the car didn't stop. Just curious, are you certain AP was still on since you were on an off-ramp?

Edit: I may be thinking NoAP, that shuts down on an off-ramp, but AP still continues.

 

[whatthe2]

Glad you are okay, do you think AP was disabled because you didn't move the wheel when it flashes blue to make sure you are still there? I've never seen what happens if you don't... does it just turn off or does it sound an alarm?

It does sound an audible alert if you don't acknowledge it when it tells you to, before shutting off entirely.

 

[jonotastic]

It does sound an audible alert if you don't acknowledge it when it tells you to, before shutting off entirely.

Thanks, good to know

 

[whatthe2]

Since I dozed off and there isn't an internal cam, I can't be 100% sure it was still on, but I know that it was on before I dozed off.

Got it, certainly makes sense. Hopefully Tesla can clear it up, just so you know for sure. Glad no one was injured.

 

[Ludalicious]

Extremely odd if you were on autopilot why it didn't stop. Kind of hard to tell if you were in fact on autopilot or not though. The only time J have seen autopilot fail and causing an accident is when a vehicle in front has a empty flat deck trailer. It doesnt pick up the trailer but that was a few revisions back now. Not too sure if that glitch has been worked out.

But if you were infact on autopilot. I would like to thank you for finding a flaw in the system at your expense of course... LOL

 

[JeffK]

It looks like autosteer was on until the last minute because it's pretty solid as far as steering goes. The car isn't accelerating or decelerating when you compare it to your surroundings. Unless you were steering. Another possibility, without autopilot cancelling out was if you had your foot slightly on the accelerator. This would have overridden any braking from TACC.

Also, 2019.5.15 and 2019.8.3 are pretty buggy, so who knows.

 

[jonotastic]

It looks like autosteer was on until the last minute because it's pretty solid as far as steering goes. The car isn't accelerating or decelerating when you compare it to your surroundings. Unless you were steering. Another possibility, without autopilot cancelling out was if you had your foot slightly on the accelerator. This would have overridden any braking from TACC.

Also, 2019.5.15 and 2019.8.3 are pretty buggy, so who knows.

That's probably it!

 

[redgt]

without autopilot cancelling out was if you had your foot slightly on the accelerator. This would have overridden any braking from TACC.

i thought the same thing

 

[Tam]

...glare...

I don't think the glare has anything with the frontal collision because it was not in front.

It might be a good time to install a dash cam with audio as well because it can tell audio clues.

In the past, AP has not been very good when approaching an obstacle that's on one side within the lane and not in the very center of the lane even in a very slow speed.

Your scenario also adds that it's a curved road and the radar might have been trained for a straight path.

It's an imperfect system and hopefully, it will be able to deal with these scenarios some day.

 

[whatthe2]

It looks like autosteer was on until the last minute because it's pretty solid as far as steering goes. The car isn't accelerating or decelerating when you compare it to your surroundings. Unless you were steering. Another possibility, without autopilot cancelling out was if you had your foot slightly on the accelerator. This would have overridden any braking from TACC.

Also, 2019.5.15 and 2019.8.3 are pretty buggy, so who knows.

That's a great point. As we are speculating at this point since the OP dozed....
OP, do you have a habit of keeping your foot near the accelerator when on AP? I have a habit of keeping mine well off, since I have received the warning when accelerating while AP is enabled. Just curious.

 

[Freewilly]

In the past, AP has not been very good when approaching an obstacle that's on one side within the lane and not in the very center of the lane.

This is what I was thinking considering she drove towards the right of the lane in the turn.

 

[chillaban]

The curved path might have confused AP about whether or not the car in front is “in your lane” or not.

I have seen AP track the wrong lead car before across many updates. Still not perfect.

Sorry to hear what happened. And props to you for accepting responsibility. We all make mistakes. Glad nobody was hurt.

 

[Freewilly]

OP, do you have a habit of keeping your foot near the accelerator when on AP?

Not normally, I try to keep it closer to the brake instead of the accelerator, I figure that's safer.

 

[JeffK]

This is what I was thinking considering she drove towards the right of the lane in the turn.

Current AP, though, will brake hard even if someone inches toward your lane. Just today I had someone in front of me in the next lane go barely on the lane line between up. The car thought it was changing lanes and slowed down dramatically. I follow cars like this all the time on curves too where I live and haven't had any trouble so far.

Not normally, I try to keep it closer to the brake instead of the accelerator, I figure that's safer.

Depends. If you accidentally tap the brake just as it's about to stop by itself, it'll roll right into the car in front of you.