AP in Fog

[davidada]

Happy new year Tesla owners.
We spent NYE in Lisbon this year.
Drove home after midnight on the A8 north in the densest fog I have ever seen.
Visibility was 6 to 10 meters max.
Normally this would have me very stressed out visualizing the hidden highway.
I turned on AP and the car tracked the lanes perfectly, set the cruise to 110km and it felt like flying through the clouds in a personal jet.
So happy to have a Tesla

 

[holmgang]

isnt that a bit a fast for driving in the densest fog youve ever seen that resembles flying through the clouds in a personal jet?

 

[Char]

What about other cars that aren’t Tesla’s being driven in AP? No worries about one of them slowing suddenly as they lose sight of the road at night and in heaviest fog you’ve ever seen? Was this an empty road? I’d be worried driving in such fog that I could’t see far enough ahead to react. Multi car pile ups happen this way.

 

[Not Sure]

I'm not sure if that's a good ide

 

[davidada]

isnt that a bit a fast for driving in the densest fog youve ever seen that resembles flying through the clouds in a personal jet?

Not in Portugal, I was more worried someone would rear end me. Also the highway was deserted.

 

[davidada]

What about other cars that aren’t Tesla’s being driven in AP? No worries about one of them slowing suddenly as they lose sight of the road at night and in heaviest fog you’ve ever seen? Was this an empty road? I’d be worried driving in such fog that I could’t see far enough ahead to react. Multi car pile ups happen this way.

 

[davidada]

Yes I was worried , however the other traffic was non existent- New Years Eve 12:30pm
Also Portuguese drivers are notorious for tailgating (sorry PT but you know it's true)
So my main worry was being rear-ended, I was vigilant and ready to take action.
The speed was Kilometers not mph.

 

[Not Sure]

Don't suppose they have fire trucks in Portugal?

 

[swaltner]

Google “Tesla autopilot crash” and come back and extoll the virtues of hurtling down the highway at 110 kph into the fog with zero visibility and no ability to see the road in front of you.

As has been proven many times by many crashes, the current AP system is not perfect and shouldn’t be treated as such. The current AP system uses the camera as a primary sensor and just like you as a driver needs to see, so does the AP system.

 

[Blue Express]

I would never use AP in bad weathers. That is suicide.

 

[Atari2600]

This Tesla article suggests OP does not have much to worry about.

Upgrading Autopilot: Seeing the World in Radar

The net effect of this, combined with the fact that radar sees through most visual obscuration, is that the car should almost always hit the brakes correctly even if a UFO were to land on the freeway in zero visibility conditions.

Taking this one step further, a Tesla will also be able to bounce the radar signal under a vehicle in front - using the radar pulse signature and photon time of flight to distinguish the signal - and still brake even when trailing a car that is opaque to both vision and radar. The car in front might hit the UFO in dense fog, but the Tesla will not.

 

[ecarfan]

Happy new year Tesla owners.
We spent NYE in Lisbon this year.
Drove home after midnight on the A8 north in the densest fog I have ever seen.
Visibility was 6 to 10 meters max.
Normally this would have me very stressed out visualizing the hidden highway.
I turned on AP and the car tracked the lanes perfectly, set the cruise to 110km and it felt like flying through the clouds in a personal jet.
So happy to have a Tesla

The Autopilot forward facing radar may not detect stopped vehicles in your lane. There have been multiple instances of Teslas on Autopilot failing to detect and brake for vehicles in front which were not moving.

Here is just one example out of several: Tesla Model S on 'Autopilot' Crashes into Fire Engine on Los Angeles Freeway

For your own safety and the safety of those on the road with you, do not drive fast in foggy conditions.

I use Autopilot frequently and find it very useful. But it has limitations. Be aware of them.

 

[Atari2600]

I agree. I think Tesla should take that article down. That thing has been up for years and it was my original source of misinformation.

 

[holmgang]

And overall the point is that the "AP" function should be used to relieve burden of driving in mundane conditions, not take over driving duties in difficult conditions. It's a driving aid -- complementary, not substitute.

 

[TradingInvest]

Happy new year Tesla owners.
We spent NYE in Lisbon this year.
Drove home after midnight on the A8 north in the densest fog I have ever seen.
Visibility was 6 to 10 meters max.
Normally this would have me very stressed out visualizing the hidden highway.
I turned on AP and the car tracked the lanes perfectly, set the cruise to 110km and it felt like flying through the clouds in a personal jet.
So happy to have a Tesla

If this is true, Tesla should cancel your AP, refund the money. It would be good for your safety.

 

[Nikxice]

Visibility was 6 to 10 meters max.
Normally this would have me very stressed out visualizing the hidden highway.
I turned on AP and the car tracked the lanes perfectly, set the cruise to 110km and it felt like flying through the clouds in a personal jet.

Wow, 110km (68 mph). That converts to 30 meters per second and your forward visibility is no more than 10 meters? I wouldn't recommend that kind of speed even if every deer in the world was tagged with a GPS transponder.

 

[diplomat33]

Happy new year Tesla owners.
We spent NYE in Lisbon this year.
Drove home after midnight on the A8 north in the densest fog I have ever seen.
Visibility was 6 to 10 meters max.
Normally this would have me very stressed out visualizing the hidden highway.
I turned on AP and the car tracked the lanes perfectly, set the cruise to 110km and it felt like flying through the clouds in a personal jet.
So happy to have a Tesla

That is not safe. AP is a driver assist which means it can do certain tasks like lane keeping, but it cannot do all driving tasks. So yes, it was able to track the lanes but it would not have been able to stop in time in case of an emergency. You were very lucky. If there had been a wreck up ahead with a stopped car, AP most likely would have crashed into it. Or if an animal, or god forbid a person had crossed in front of your car, AP would most certainly have hit it under those conditions.

 

[gcmak]

I live on the foggy side of San Francisco and I can also attest that AP does a great job in fog. Frankly it sees better than I can. If you are recording dash cam footage, you can get a rough idea of what the car can see, and I'm blown away by not only how much further it can see down the road than I can but the clarity by which it can see. AP, has been pretty conservative in its operation when it comes to weather situations as far as my experience.

It has deactivated many times during rain and direct sunlight - and upon reviewing the dashcam footage after those situations, I can appreciate why AP gave up and indeed I could see/manage much better than the computer could.

 

[mystery]

Happy new year Tesla owners.
We spent NYE in Lisbon this year.
Drove home after midnight on the A8 north in the densest fog I have ever seen.
Visibility was 6 to 10 meters max.
Normally this would have me very stressed out visualizing the hidden highway.
I turned on AP and the car tracked the lanes perfectly, set the cruise to 110km and it felt like flying through the clouds in a personal jet.
So happy to have a Tesla

heavy fog but driving 110km/hr? that sounds irresponsible and too fast for conditions.

 

[ahkahn]

Interesting how everybody is talking about how dangerous this is, and how much AP is unsafe in these conditions, but all of the AP data proves those theories incorrect. It is statistically safer to drive with AP activated than without. And for the fellow who posted the link to the article about the firetruck accident, I could 1000-fold you articles about crashes and pile-ups in the fog.