Autopark - Not what I expected?

[jpaz]

Almost 2 months with my new S 100D (with AP2) and it is amazing. But as I explore features, I am discovering some pitfalls. Just used Autopark for a parallel parking experience and the car finished about 18 inches from what I thought was a well-delineated curb along the left side. I needed to manually maneuver it closer.

I have had success with using AP to back into a supermarket lot space a few times. The final orientation of the vehicle was right on, but I think I will wear out my front tires really quickly if I keep using this feature.......lots of turning back and forth and abrupt movements as the car makes its way into a fairly easy spot with a vehicle on each side and plenty of room.

I know that this is a complex bit of automation but frankly, I expected a bit more. Hate to say it but my wife's ICE (groan) has autopark and it seems a lot more refined.

I am not complaining but am wondering if any of you are having the same experience or if I need to change some setting.

Thanks.

 

[Matutino]

I use auto park often and I wouldn’t say mine does extra maneuvers. Each and every time we parallel park is within acceptable distance with the curve.

 

[Snowstorm]

I find autopark a neat gimmick but of little practical use right now. It works so slowly that is not worth using. I is super hard to monitor what's going on from inside. Would be a lot more useful if you can turn on autopark, exit the car and have it park into a spot for you. That way, you can watch from the outside to make sure it is not hitting something, and have it put you into a tight spot that you may not be able to easily open lol the doors.

 

[fren]

ap1 , works perfectly for // parking , not tried the other one

 

[Gwgan]

Faster than the Leaf

 

[AWDtsla]

Parallel park works 95% of the time. Everything else is just a gimmick. Perpendicular park makes you look like you shouldn't be driving.

 

[The Duke]

Agree with AWDtsla, parallel park works for me all the time. I gave up on perpendicular and use the backup camera. I have noticed Nicki sometimes sees the cement to asphalt boundary as a "curb" so she parks a ways away, but always under 18" which is the law here.

 

[iffatall]

I don't have AP on my car, so cannot tell from experience, but isn't it near impossible to take control when auto park goes wrong? I mean may be in extreme situations you can tell it is going wrong and stop it, but I feel otherwise, there is no way you can stop it in time.

Just saying based on some YouTube videos, so may be you guys who have experience can shed some light on this - I am just curious.

Paying attention when AP is engaged, and taking over is easier because you know what is coming, and you know the shortcomings. But when parking, it is almost impossible to tell what the car might do next, if the success rate is 95%. Isn't it?

 

[jpaz]

I don't have AP on my car, so cannot tell from experience, but isn't it near impossible to take control when auto park goes wrong?

Touch the brake or the wheel anf AP immediately stops (pauses) and offers the option to resume or stop the process

 

[MarcusMaximus]

Agreed with others. Perpendicular parking is essentially useless because of the glacial speed(and perpendicular parking is super easy anyway). I use parallel parking all the time and the vast majority of the time it's great and saves time vs me trying to gauge distance from the curb/the car in front/the car in back. I've had it happen once where it ended up too far from the curb, but it's usually spot on.

 

[iffatall]

Touch the brake or the wheel anf AP immediately stops (pauses) and offers the option to resume or stop the process

Sorry, I should have put it better. I know how to stop it. What I was wondering about is whether you can realize you need to stop it in those 5% of the cases. I feel like it is impossible to tell when it might have turned the steering wheel a tad too much or too little, or if it is going to accelerate a tad too much or too little. Does this become predictable with experience?

 

[brkaus]

@iffatall i agree it is difficult to know when to stop it. I can’t always see the corners well enough and it can cut things pretty tight. It does stop fast with a touch of the pedal, but how much rope to give it is always in my mind.

I’ve had very good luck with parallel parking.

 

[MarcusMaximus]

Sorry, I should have put it better. I know how to stop it. What I was wondering about is whether you can realize you need to stop it in those 5% of the cases. I feel like it is impossible to tell when it might have turned the steering wheel a tad too much or too little, or if it is going to accelerate a tad too much or too little. Does this become predictable with experience?

I'd note that, for better or worse, its acceleration is always between 0 and roughly that of Elon's snail. Being unsure about whether you can fit is a valid concern(though, if you are unsure, then you would have fared no better), but things change slow enough that if you see a problem, you can prevent it from happening.

 

[JayyyDeee]

Auto park is a gimmick. its significantly slower than a normal person and it sometimes does a terrible job.

 

[1208]

Wont be impressed until it does this.

 

[BerTX]

I don't park in places where Autopark works. I'm one of those people who parks at the back of the lot away from all those other idiots.

I can count the number of times I've used Autopark on two fingers.

The Autopark I want, with no cars around, is hard to program. IMHO, it's the real reason for the delay in the Cross-country Autonomous Drive.

 

[jpaz]

A little update. As luck would have it, I was at the same location and the exact same parking spot was open. So, I decided to try again. This time, it worked very well. My initial thought is that the recent update to 2018.6.1.64lefac might have been the difference but it could also be that the surrounding vehicles were not the same. After leaving the store (reason I parked), I got into the car to leave and the screen went blank and the system re-booted. Coincidence? Maybe. But I still think this parallel parking experience was much better.

 

[Matutino]

A little update. As luck would have it, I was at the same location and the exact same parking spot was open. So, I decided to try again. This time, it worked very well. My initial thought is that the recent update to 2018.6.1.64lefac might have been the difference but it could also be that the surrounding vehicles were not the same. After leaving the store (reason I parked), I got into the car to leave and the screen went blank and the system re-booted. Coincidence? Maybe. But I still think this parallel parking experience was much better.

The re-boot is a know issue with the latest 2018.6.1 update.

 

[Texas]

I have AP1. The parallel parking feature works like a charm every time, provided: there is real curb the sensors can "see", and the space is long enough. I rarely use the perpendicular parking feature, but worked fine when I used it.

 

[barjohn]

Watching videos of the new 2018 Leaf auto park puts the S to shame. It shows you what it is going to do and then executes it exactly like a good driver would. You have a 360 birds eye view to see what it is doing and how it is doing it and it doesn't need other cars to form boundaries but can use the parking lines on the pavement.

As I understand it, it uses Mobileye 4. I wasn't an owner when Tesla broke off with Mobileye but it sure makes me wonder if that was a smart move. Maybe we would have more of the features we paid for and they would work more consistently. I guess Intel was smart enough to buy them.