Auto Pilot and Cruise Control for Software Build 2019.5.15 has Serious Problems

[ent3ndu]

I get the crazy braking behavior too. I paid attention to the screen last time it happened, and my car thought there was a car in the next lane switching lanes in front of me (the car in the right lane next to me on the screen was moving over the lane line on the AP display). Problem is, that car wasn’t actually over the lane. There’s definitely a detection problem there, I’ll try to get a video next time I’m in the car.

 

[Mobocracy]

I'd agree this last rev. is much more touchy. That being said, I have always noticed that Navigate is more touchy than just the regular AP. Telsa seems to have cranked up the sensitivity on people encroaching on your lane - where it is breaking early.

-Model 3, LR May 2018

 

[jfunk]

Came here looking for a thread like this. Drove from Northern Michigan to Minnesota, and back again. Noticing the excessive jerking when doing auto lane change on both NoA and regular autopilot. Also noticed the phantom braking issue in a couple of spots, although this seems to be less prevalent for us. Running 2019.5.15 on Model 3 LR AWD. Hope this is fixed soon!

 

[Fernand]

I was just watching a youtube clip of driving 2018.50.6 on
nav-autopilot (in the rain). And the driver self-initiates lane
changes (not just authorizing a nav-autopilot lane change)
and it does it without having to hold the blinker stalk. For
instance at 5:48.

As far as I could see, with 2019.5.15 if I try that, it aborts
the lane change as soon as I release the blinker arm,
and it swerves abruptly back into original lane.

That makes it different between 1) when nav-auto wants
a lane change (and a single tap is good enough) and
2) when I initiate a lane change (and I have to hold blinker).

Is it different when on nav-auto vs. just autopilot?

Can someone please confirm either behavior? Is this
swerve-back what some people are complaining about?

 

[trident]

With the latest download, the lane change process is one touch either way. No more half hearted attempt to move over into another lane. Much improved.

 

[Fernand]

WHICH latest version? As I mentioned I'm on 2019.5.15
and it has not been one touch either way. Please look at
the bottom of your phone app and tell me your version #.

 

[trident]

WHICH latest version? As I mentioned I'm on 2019.5.15
and it has not been one touch either way. Please look at
the bottom of your phone app and tell me your version #.

2019.8.3 Works very well, so far.

 

[Fernand]

@trident, thank you. That's very encouraging.

 

[trident]

@trident, thank you. That's very encouraging.

Stop sign/stop light recognition does not work in my car!! Another thread states give it 24-48 hrs. after download. Will test again today.

 

[hcdavis3]

WHICH latest version? As I mentioned I'm on 2019.5.15
and it has not been one touch either way. Please look at
the bottom of your phone app and tell me your version #.

I’m curious if 5.15 turned on lane departure warning, maybe causing the jerkiness when changing lanes. I got 8.3 a couple of days ago and it’s been fine.

 

[hcdavis3]

Stop sign/stop light recognition does not work in my car!!

Mine doesn’t either.

 

[cfichuck]

2019.5.15 is better for me than the previous 2018 version. I did a pretty long drive on Norcal freeways yesterday. From Oakland to Santa Rosa and back in Navigate on Autopilot. I only had it out of AP a couple of times. That included the whole Richmond Bridge, many freeway changes, and some ugly construction zones on 101 where it dropped the Navigate from AP, but continued in AP, then picked up the Nav aspect by itself once out of the construction mess. Very very good.

I've had the Model 3 (Medium Range, single motor, EAP) for 3 months, I'm starting to really trust it, but this was the first time I fully let 'er rip in Nav-on-auto through bumper to bumper traffic, and all the way up to 75MPH stretches. I was so completely impressed I'm pumped to a whole 'nother level of Tesla respect. There are some new behaviors, but I haven't gotten any bizarro slowdowns in the middle of the road like the OP.

I did have some surprises with lane changes until I fully realized what the program's rules are. I don't know if this is new.

• A If the car requests or suggests a lane change, it takes a brief tap on the blinker arm to let it do it. It will look for a safe time/spot to go. The "tap to cancel" button on the screen just adds confusion, if it won't do it without confirmation nowadays anyway.
  
• B If the driver initiates a lane change, it's completely different. You have to hold the blinker the whole time until the car finds a safe opening and is in the target lane. The times I only held it at the start of the lane change, it would begin changing lanes, but then madly swerve back into the original lane. Scary.
  
• C If navigation calls for taking an exit it can take the turn without any driver blinker confirmation. Technically it's not really changing lanes, but still ...

It's obviously not consistent, and I think this will cause some real "issues", especially when the driver is no longer sure WHOSE BRAIN originated the specific lane change you're making. In the pressure of a crowded 4 lane freeway in the dark, I had a couple of those nasty swerve-backs when I lost track of who was calling for a specific lane change. It must have looked crazy to drivers behind me, and once caused me to desperately kill the AP until I'd gotten onto the next freeway. The amazing acceleration helps recover in these situations, but still ...

The glitz & glamor of a fully automatic lane change aside, IMHO it would be less confusing for now if a lane change always required holding the blinker arm until being in the target lane. Simple and consistent. Tesla are you reading these?

Apparently the release notes explained A, B & C. Thanks for reading them. I've had my Model 3 for less than a week. I'm still reading the manual to tweak things. I've experienced the all the issues noted in this thread and wondered what the heck I was doing wrong. I found this post to be very helpful.

 

[Fernand]

You can use the online help from to submit feedback.

Where is that, pls?

 

[electrictorque]

Where is that, pls?

Login to your account at Tesla.com then click on MANAGE then click on request help and fill out the form.

 

[dfwatt]

While the previous software installations on on my Model 3 have worked very well, 2 weeks ago my car updated to build 2019.5.15 and my car's performance immediately changed for the worse. I have cleaned the camera lenses and windshield glass to make sure that is not the issue. Here are the symptoms:

When in either auto pilot or cruise control mode, the car will, occasionally, aggressively decelerate for no apparent reason. It has happened several times on straight sections of divided, well-marked highway with no vehicles or notable physical objects ahead. This is very dangerous as it could easily cause a rear-end collision. It frequently happens when changing lanes to an unencumbered lane; where you would expect the car to accelerate to the preset speed. Instead the car will rapidly decelerate - eventually resuming acceleration to the preset speed after a period of time. The danger is that cars behind me would anticipate no reason why I should suddenly decelerate. Using AP or cruise control has become nerve racking.

Automatic lane changing frequently does not work (nearly half the time). Given the manual turn signal, the car will approach the dashed line and will bounce off, rapidly retreating to the original lane. Once on a virtually empty stretch of perfectly straight and level highway, I gave the M3 more than half a mile to change lanes. The AP bounced off the dashed line about 10 times before I had to take manual control as other vehicles were approaching from behind. To them, I must have appeared to be an intoxicated driver and they proceeded to pass me carefully. For whatever reason, navigate on autopilot is able to signal and take exit lanes without difficulty.

When I approach stopped vehicles ahead, the adaptive cruise control leaves an inordinate amount of space between me and the car in front of me. If I touch the accelerator to close the space, the car sometimes will lurch and jerk, unless I disengage the cruise control altogether. This is not a serious issue.

When resuming from a stop, the start of the acceleration use to be very smooth, but it now jerks to a start. This is not a serious issue, but it was much nicer before. For the comfort of my passengers, I now start the acceleration manually and then shift back into cruise control.

Here's why this is a very significant problem. Sudden deceleration is a serious safety issue that I cannot remedy with driver oversight. If cruise control were to fail to slow in time, the driver can press the brakes manually. However, if the automatic system hits the brakes, there is nothing I can do to "un-hit" them except to disengage the system, but by that time, the car has already slowed dramatically and I am already in the midst of a dangerous situation. I'm looking forward to getting safely beyond software build 2019.5.15!

When you say it decelerates rapidly, do you mean just regen braking or friction braking on top of that? If it's the latter, that would be incredibly dangerous. If so, did you reach out to a Tesla service tech?

 

[HullspeedDC]

When you say it decelerates rapidly, do you mean just regen braking or friction braking on top of that? If it's the latter, that would be incredibly dangerous. If so, did you reach out to a Tesla service tech?

It doesn't seem to be friction braking. It feels like maximum regen braking, but with a dual motor, that is significant. I installed 2019.8.3 last week and it's doing MUCH better.

 

[HullspeedDC]

I'm happy to report improvements after installing 2019.8.3 last week. Here are my observations following 3 busy days of city driving and a long weekend trip.

Phantom braking (sharp braking without obstructions present) is almost gone. I experienced 2 occurrences - once on a curve where autonomous sight distance may have been an issue, and once where a strong shadow was across the road. One other case of unexpected slowing (not sharp braking) I attribute to possible map database issues where the car appears to be slowing for a curve that is not actually present - but the behavior is the same.

Lane changing works again - and perhaps better than it ever has before. In 2019.5.15, I was pleasantly surprised when lane changing *did* work. Now, it works all the time. On my long trip, I only experienced 1 "bounce" off an empty lane.

Following cars with TACC and EAP/AP is much smoother. In 2019.5.15 it seemed like being connected to the car in front of you with a rod. You felt every little touch of the brakes of the car in front of you - and since some people drive "jerky", that's not good. I can still tell if I have a "jerky" driver in front of me, but my ride is a little smoother. TACC following was also good in versions prior to 2019.5.15 (in my experiences)... so this is a move back toward normal.

When pulling up behind a stopped vehicle, the distance left between cars is still a little far (as was previously the case), but I can live with this - and maybe the idea is not to breath the exhaust of the car on front of you??? Resuming movement (when in TACC) is still subject to a small starting jerk, where it had been as smooth as glass prior to 2019.5.15.

It certainly appears to me that Tesla is testing out algorithms in preparation for FSD. My other ICE car has a very functional adaptive cruise control that maintains speed as long as nothing is directly in front of you - but, the cruise control leaves it to you to slow down if the situation is becoming squirrelly. Tesla's algorithms now appear more cautious of the context around you and the car speed is more likely to fade in the midst of what the algorithm sees as uncertainty (my impressions). To me, this is a reasonable part of the evolution to get to FSD; so, I'm happy.

 

[cfichuck]

Was 2019.8.3 an auto download or did you have to do something. New owner here.

 

[trident]

It comes automatic, then you have to select download now or later. Takes about 1.5 hr.

 

[Fernand]

I just got 2019.8.5. The car does feel zippier, and AP feels different, more aggressive. In the limited testing tonight when in AP the expected single tap lane change on driver whim was not happening. Had to hold the blinker. Same as in 2019.5.15.

But then I got into a complete mess on navigation messages, where it started out being seconds behind, and ended up thinking I was on the streets below, telling me to turn left on the freeway, etc. The mess continued after I exited, and I was getting GPS confused type erroneous nav instructions. I'm about to go reset both the screen and control computers.