Automatic Emergency Braking for Large Object

[SomeJoe7777]

Had a nice demo of AEB today in response to a large object on the road.

Westbound Westpark Tollway, Houston TX, just after US-59 to Westpark Tollway exit, there was a large object (plastic planter?) in the right lane. Although I was already moving to the left lane to dodge the object, Automatic Emergency Braking detected the object and applied the brakes to slow the car. Side collision avoidance may also have activated to steer the car left to avoid the object.

I couldn't tell for sure, but if the object was indeed plastic, this indicates that the camera may have detected the object instead of the radar. If so, that represents a large advance in the system's capability.

 

[ebmcs03]

That was Auto Pilot doing? The big jerk to the left.

 

[SomeJoe7777]

That was Auto Pilot doing? The big jerk to the left.

For sure the car applied the brakes by itself -- AEB.

As for the left-hand jerk into the left lane, that one I can't be sure if it was me or the car. I was already moving to the left to change lanes and avoid the object, but it appears that the car may have moved more on its own. The jerk to the left is at the exact same time as the collision warning alarm.

 

[Kant.Ing]

AEB is triggered by radar. See Upgrading Autopilot: Seeing the World in Radar

"After careful consideration, we now believe it can be used as a primary control sensor without requiring the camera to confirm visual image recognition. This is a non-trivial and counter-intuitive problem, because of how strange the world looks in radar. Photons of that wavelength travel easily through fog, dust, rain and snow, but anything metallic looks like a mirror. The radar can see people, but they appear partially translucent. Something made of wood or painted plastic, though opaque to a person, is almost as transparent as glass to radar.

On the other hand, any metal surface with a dish shape is not only reflective, but also amplifies the reflected signal to many times its actual size. A discarded soda can on the road, with its concave bottom facing towards you can appear to be a large and dangerous obstacle, but you would definitely not want to slam on the brakes to avoid it.

Therefore, the big problem in using radar to stop the car is avoiding false alarms. Slamming on the brakes is critical if you are about to hit something large and solid, but not if you are merely about to run over a soda can. Having lots of unnecessary braking events would at best be very annoying and at worst cause injury."

Phantom braking is also triggered by radar. The cameras are only used to find lane markings for Autosteer.

 

[nvx1977]

A little bit of digging led me to this radar that Tesla is/was using:
MR2001 Multi-channel 77GHz Radar Transceiver|NXP

(for those who want to geek out more on radar)

 

[e-FTW]

AEB is triggered by radar. See Upgrading Autopilot: Seeing the World in Radar

"After careful consideration, we now believe it can be used as a primary control sensor without requiring the camera to confirm visual image recognition. This is a non-trivial and counter-intuitive problem, because of how strange the world looks in radar. Photons of that wavelength travel easily through fog, dust, rain and snow, but anything metallic looks like a mirror. The radar can see people, but they appear partially translucent. Something made of wood or painted plastic, though opaque to a person, is almost as transparent as glass to radar.

On the other hand, any metal surface with a dish shape is not only reflective, but also amplifies the reflected signal to many times its actual size. A discarded soda can on the road, with its concave bottom facing towards you can appear to be a large and dangerous obstacle, but you would definitely not want to slam on the brakes to avoid it.

Therefore, the big problem in using radar to stop the car is avoiding false alarms. Slamming on the brakes is critical if you are about to hit something large and solid, but not if you are merely about to run over a soda can. Having lots of unnecessary braking events would at best be very annoying and at worst cause injury."

Phantom braking is also triggered by radar. The cameras are only used to find lane markings for Autosteer.

That explanation is exactly what everyone fails to understand about Autopilot. Sadly, too many words for click-bait outlets to care about it.

 

[Kant.Ing]

I for sure hope Tesla has made progress internally and soon will announce to switch back to camera vision. It's a milestone for outsiders like me to consider EAP (AP2) really better than AP1.

On the other side, Mobileye ushered Tesla and its owners to this camera-only vision, I'd like to see a closure one way or the other too.