AP2 - Snow radar failure

[cwerdna]

Or use a wiper in front of the radar perhaps?
Similar to these headlamp wipers:
View attachment 266678

Sorta along these lines, Google/Waymo has this for their bubble-shaped cars:
Waymo's lidar wipers make self-driving cars safer - and they're fun to watch

 

[caltechkid]

Exaggerate much?



Yikes, please don't tell people cruise control increases safety in snow or acts as some sort of fail safe. It does not. All the studies and experts say the opposite and we have large signs up here warning people to turn it off in winter conditions. I don't want someone sliding into me because they had cruise on thinking it increases safety when the opposite is true.

When using cruise control, the drive wheels have a tendency to overspin before the driver notices the loss of traction.


Turn off cruise control

• When the road is slippery, turn off your cruise control system. Snow, ice, slush or even rain can cause wheel-spin and loss of control. The only way to stop this wheel-spin and maintain control is immediately to reduce power. However, an activated cruise control system will continue to apply power, keeping the wheels spinning. By the time you disengage the cruise control, you may have lost control.

Again, the reasons are fairly simple. You need to feel the road and power given to the tires (and you give that power -- not the vehicle) so you can instantly react in order to avoid sliding or hydroplaning if there's water on the ice. I've had to steer out of slides more than a few times and the results could have been much different if I was using cruise.

Likewise, winter driving carries with it a similar set of perils. Ice, snow, and sleet can make for dangerously slippery conditions, but so too can innocuous-looking slush and all-but-invisible “black ice.” Those who habitually rely upon their vehicles’ cruise controls should eschew the practice during the winter months, because the moments it takes to disengage cruise may be moments you don’t have during a spin-out.

View attachment 265610

Sounds like Canadian propaganda =)

 

[lunitiks]

The AP1 radar has built in heating, yes. It automatically turns on about 3-5 * C (37-41 Fahrenheit) - no controls touched. It gets so hot you can warm your fingers on it. Here you can see the water totally vaporised from the radar in less than 15 mins @ 4 * C outside. (Dunno exactly how fast it happened, pics are 15 mins apart.)

It's shite where I live, though. Give it some snow and only the first millimetre melts - the rest of the build-up stays with TACC Disabled :-(

 

[AnxietyRanger]

Very informative, thanks for the effort @lunitiks.

 

[appleguru]

Yup, ultrasonics and AP2 pretty much useless today... even the front camera heater couldn’t handle the snow! (I did get the car stuck on some ice; the slip start mode came in handy).

 

[jddssc121]

Fortunately in Vegas you will hopefully avoid this type of failure... hopefully....

It's rough out here! It's currently only 63

 

[AWDtsla]

The AP1 radar has built in heating, yes. It automatically turns on about 3-5 * C (37-41 Fahrenheit) - no controls touched. It gets so hot you can warm your fingers on it. Here you can see the water totally vaporised from the radar in less than 15 mins @ 4 * C outside. (Dunno exactly how fast it happened, pics are 15 mins apart.)

View attachment 268658
View attachment 268659

It's shite where I live, though. Give it some snow and only the first millimetre melts - the rest of the build-up stays with TACC Disabled :-(

I've discovered elsewhere that for AP1, it can become highly reliable in snow if you pull out that rubber gasket, then snow won't accumulate on the sensor past the ability of the heater to melt it, as it will exit through the sides. Apparently some service centers were doing this for people although I don't know if there is a TSB.

However - there is no fix yet for AP2+? From what I can gather the sensor itself is far away from the bumper cover? No sorry hydrophobic coating is not good enough. It wears out too fast.

 

[DCEV]

Did they make any improvement to front radar heating in AP 2.5?

 

[AWDtsla]

Did they make any improvement to front radar heating in AP 2.5?

Only thing I found - no.

Radar and Snow

 

[AWDtsla]

Hey AP2+ users - what happens in the winter when all camera's except the the windshield camera's are obscured, and the radar is working? Does to car still have some sort of cruise control or is it like driving a Yugo?

 

[croman]

No Lane changes, limited surround error but AS and TACC still work.

 

[D.E.]

I lost radar on a long trip, driving through snow and sleet toward the end of the first day, The sleet formed a soft ice layer about an inch thick on my front bumper. I cleared the bumper and sprayed alcohol based windshield deicer back behind the front bumper, it didn’t seem to help. The next morning the radar was still out. An hour into that day’s leg, I tried the alcohol spray again. No help. Then I did a computer reboot (just scroll wheels), and the error cleared, my TACC and autopilot were back.

I think it takes a reboot to clear the error message once the radar unit clears of ice.

I don’t know enough to know if the alcohol was helpful. I did spray quite a bit of it, several ounces. I looked up the car drawings (parts catalog, electrical system) so got an idea where it was but couldn’t be sure.

So take what you want from this. I don’t know if the alcohol was effective, I don’t know if the reset is needed to clear the radar unit error or whether it would have cleared on its own without the reset.