Adaptive Cruise Control (experience post FW v6.1)

[cwood]

I used TACC on a ~370-mile journey this past weekend and it worked almost flawlessly. (The only "flaw" was when Speed Assist failed to read a speed limit sign in heavy rain.) I've never used an active cruise control system before so I have nothing to compare it to, but in absolute terms it was amazing. It will make highway driving SO much nicer--and safer.

Now if Tesla can just get the P85D's range up to the point where it feasible for highway driving... but that's another post.

 

[R²B]

Has anyone yet commented that the "Overtake" functionality can only seemed to be triggered by fully clicking the Left Turn Signal all the way. I usually do the half press of the turn signal (makes the blinker flash three times) and that doesn't seem to trigger the overtake functionality.

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

Has anyone yet commented that the "Overtake" functionality can only seemed to be triggered by fully clicking the Left Turn Signal all the way. I usually do the half press of the turn signal (makes the blinker flash three times) and that doesn't seem to trigger the overtake functionality.

I think that's logical: for safety reasons you don't want accidental triggering of a lane change because the car can't see far enough to judge by itself. I'd expect a safe process to be: half press to indicate, pause, full press to make the car change lanes.

 

[drsaab]

In 4 to 5 segmented trips in a day. I get one segment with cruise not available. . Anyone else having such a high failure rate? Car is clean. Avg 35 degrees. Sunny.

 

[stevezzzz]

The dotted line is when it's guessing the speed limit (without seeing an actual sign).

I think it's more than that: I've seen the dotted line appear at the new speed limit as I approach the speed limit sign, then it switches to solid as I pass the sign. But I've seen the dotted line appear at other times, too, so I'm still not sure what it's doing.

 

[commasign]

Has anyone yet commented that the "Overtake" functionality can only seemed to be triggered by fully clicking the Left Turn Signal all the way. I usually do the half press of the turn signal (makes the blinker flash three times) and that doesn't seem to trigger the overtake functionality.

I used it a few times, works as advertised, but remember it will only speed you up to the speed limit (or the speed you set on your cruise control?). I.e. won't work if you're already at target speed. Meant to deal with a really slow car in front of you.

 

[cgiGuy]

For completeness sake, I was pointed that you can set a new current speed (if you've accelerated), by holding the stalk up or down for a while.

Is this being reported as new in 6.1? Currently (6.0) this is not how my "dumb" cruise control works. Holding the stalk up/down while the speed is already set just moves it continuously in increments (about 3 miles -/+ per second). Doesn't match speed.

 

[R²B]

Incoming tip:

I was having trouble adjusting the TACC following distance knob and remembering which way to turn it to make the adjustment I wanted. I realized that if I turned the knob toward the car in front of me that would adjust the distance to bring me closer. The opposite is also true (turning the knob away from the car in front of me increased the distance). This is very intuitive when you think about it this way and since then I don't even need to fool around with it. Thought I'd share in case they're were others out with similar experiences.

 

[NOLA_Mike]

Incoming tip:

I was having trouble adjusting the TACC following distance knob and remembering which way to turn it to make the adjustment I wanted. I realized that if I turned the knob toward the car in front of me that would adjust the distance to bring me closer. The opposite is also true (turning the knob away from the car in front of me increased the distance). This is very intuitive when you think about it this way and since then I don't even need to fool around with it. Thought I'd share in case they're were others out with similar experiences.

Good tip that I think I will get some use out of! Thanks.

 

[commasign]

Incoming tip:

I was having trouble adjusting the TACC following distance knob and remembering which way to turn it to make the adjustment I wanted. I realized that if I turned the knob toward the car in front of me that would adjust the distance to bring me closer. The opposite is also true (turning the knob away from the car in front of me increased the distance). This is very intuitive when you think about it this way and since then I don't even need to fool around with it. Thought I'd share in case they're were others out with similar experiences.

Love it! Turn the knob away to push the car in front of you further away! Edit: nevermind, I have it backwards! lol Edit: ok, got it now. Turn knob towards the car in front to move your own car ahead a bit.

 

[zzzzdoc]

Had a few weird situations with TACC today. The most interesting one, was after exiting to the right (with the TACC still engaged), I signaled a left turn, as the ramp bifurcates. The car rapidly started to speed up to highway speed, till I hit the brakes. It thought I was overtaking instead of getting ready to slow for a traffic light and a left turn.

 

[Todd Burch]

Is this being reported as new in 6.1? Currently (6.0) this is not how my "dumb" cruise control works. Holding the stalk up/down while the speed is already set just moves it continuously in increments (about 3 miles -/+ per second). Doesn't match speed.

Here's how it works in 6.0:

If your current speed is within 5mph of the set speed, a full flick up will increase set speed by 5 mph. If you're going more than 5 mph above set speed (by pressing the accelerator), a full flick up will set CC to the current speed.

 

[stevezzzz]

Had a few weird situations with TACC today. The most interesting one, was after exiting to the right (with the TACC still engaged), I signaled a left turn, as the ramp bifurcates. The car rapidly started to speed up to highway speed, till I hit the brakes. It thought I was overtaking instead of getting ready to slow for a traffic light and a left turn.

I think you're ascribing capabilities to TACC that it doesn't yet have. When you left the thru lanes and the radar saw a clear exit lane ahead, the car started to accelerate to the tacc set speed. Your left turn signal likely had no effect on the current algorithm (which doesn't factor in stop signs or traffic lights), since its current function is limited to triggering passing acceleration and defeating the lane departure warning.

 

[tc4542]

Yea, same thing happens on my Lexus LS430. It doesn't know the difference.

 

[zzzzdoc]

I think you're ascribing capabilities to TACC that it doesn't yet have. When you left the thru lanes and the radar saw a clear exit lane ahead, the car started to accelerate to the tacc set speed. Your left turn signal likely had no effect on the current algorithm (which doesn't factor in stop signs or traffic lights), since its current function is limited to triggering passing acceleration and defeating the lane departure warning.

It most certainly wasn't a clear exit lane. It absolutely thought I was passing and accelerated.

 

[stevezzzz]

It most certainly wasn't a clear exit lane. It absolutely thought I was passing and accelerated.

I misunderstood the situation, then. So there was a car in front of you on the off ramp and when you signaled your intended left turn the car accelerated, closing the distance between you and the car in front of you? I wonder how close the software will let you get if you don't pull out to the left to pass in that situation? I can't believe it would continue to close the distance until you collided.

I have noticed that when you signal left when following at a speed below the set point, the S accelerates even before you start moving to the left to pass. So the behavior you observed is consistent with that. Who's got the nerve to answer the question I raised in the previous paragraph?

 

[Andyw2100]

It most certainly wasn't a clear exit lane. It absolutely thought I was passing and accelerated.

I don't think you understood what stevezzz was trying to explain to you, or what the TACC is supposed to do. If the icon on your dash was grey, that indicated that the TACC was no longer tracking a car in front of you. At that point it is going to try to take you back to your set cruising speed. It doesn't know anything about exit ramps, stop lights or anything else. In simple terms, all it knows is following other cars without hitting them, and trying to maintain the speed you have set when it doesn't have a car to follow. What made you think it would have any idea that you wanted to slow down? If you were still tracking a car (so it was blue) and you signaled left, and it accelerated, it did exactly what it was supposed to do, provided you were not yet at the speed limit you had set.

 

[Saghost]

It most certainly wasn't a clear exit lane. It absolutely thought I was passing and accelerated.

Did you enable that overtake option on the TACC?

I don't know much about it, but there was something in the release notes about a left turn signal causing the car to accelerate up to the set speed, reducing the closure distance to a car it is following. That might produce your exact experience, I think.
Walter

 

[stevezzzz]

I think it's worth reiterating the most surprising behavior I've encountered so far when tacc is engaged; that is, if a car in front of you in your lane is stopped at a signal, the tacc doesn't seem to register it as a target to be tracked and avoided unless it locks on before the car ahead comes to a complete stop. If that car is still creeping even a little bit, no problem: tacc acquires and reacts to it, even if it's a bit later than I would prefer.

 

[Andyw2100]

I think it's worth reiterating the most surprising behavior I've encountered so far when tacc is engaged; that is, if a car in front of you in your lane is stopped at a signal, the tacc doesn't seem to register it as a target to be tracked and avoided unless it locks on before the car ahead comes to a complete stop. If that car is still creeping even a little bit, no problem: tacc acquires and reacts to it, even if it's a bit later than I would prefer.

I think what it boils down to is this:

As a supplement to your basic highway usage cruise control, TACC is excellent. It knocks it out of the park. I don't think we could ask for more.

As a "pseudo-auto-pilot", attempting to use it in situations where we never really would have used cruise control before, it works reasonably well, but not nearly as well as on the highway. In my mind, there are probably some things that Tesla could do to improve how it functions in non-highway settings, but if they are going to be giving us true auto-pilot soon, then perhaps those things aren't necessary.