Accidentally went reverse

[White Snake]

My cautionary tale
I was on the highway in Autopilot and drove onto an exit ramp. I think I did not touch the brake, but took my foot off accelerator and with Regen the car slowed. I came to nearly a stop when the car in front of turned right off the ramp. The car suddenly started to accelerate and I realized the cruise control was still on. I braked and pushed the right stem up. Not sure which I did first. The light turned green and pressed the accelerator and nearly smashed into the car behind me. The car was in reverse! When I thought I was turning off Autopilot I actually put it in reverse.

Multipurpose controls have this risk. Perhaps there should be an audio prompt when changing drive state from Park, Reverse, and Drive. The female voice could state what the car is in.

 

[Celledral]

Shouldn't the reverse camera screen pop up indicating it was in reverse?

 

[EA40]

I’m sure that was scary. Good news nobody was hurt and no Tesla was damaged in this post!

 

[Daniel in SD]

My cautionary tale
I was on the highway in Autopilot and drove onto an exit ramp. I think I did not touch the brake, but took my foot off accelerator and with Regen the car slowed. I came to nearly a stop when the car in front of turned right off the ramp. The car suddenly started to accelerate and I realized the cruise control was still on. I braked and pushed the right stem up. Not sure which I did first. The light turned green and pressed the accelerator and nearly smashed into the car behind me. The car was in reverse! When I thought I was turning off Autopilot I actually put it in reverse.

Multipurpose controls have this risk. Perhaps there should be an audio prompt when changing drive state from Park, Reverse, and Drive. The female voice could state what the car is in.

Braking should disable autopilot so there was no need to hit the stalk. That being said I can definitely see how this mistake could happen. Glad you reacted fast enough!

 

[SSonnentag]

One reason I prefer the S/X independent cruise/AP stalk.

 

[JulienW]

....Multipurpose controls have this risk. Perhaps there should be an audio prompt when changing drive state from Park, Reverse, and Drive. The female voice could state what the car is in.

Having it announce a change under certain conditions from D to R is a good idea. Especially since the neural net could recognize traffic patterns.

Shouldn't the reverse camera screen pop up indicating it was in reverse?

Bet it did as will as the R indicator. However if you are watching traffic and NOT looking at the screen.......

Braking should disable autopilot so there was no need to hit the stalk. That being said I can definitely see how this mistake could happen. Glad you reacted fast enough!

True but in a mini panic we tend to automatically do all options we know without the ability to control what we do. Kinda human AP.