AutoPilot Almost Killed Me!

[LasVegas2019]

So I am cruising down the freeway using autopilot at the posted 70mph. As I am approaching a giant sign above the freeway showing which lane to be in to pay toll in cash my Y suddenly starts to rapidly slowdown. The car behind me swerved as to not hit me. I jammed the throttle immediately to get back up to speed. WOW!!!! I am PISSED! Now I am afraid to use my autopilot! I also paid for the FSD to the tune of 7k and this is what I get? I am told that the cameras misinterpreted the big sign over the freeway. If you want FSD or even autopilot to be safe there is no room for "misinterpretation" at all. This never happens in any car with adaptive cruise control. It seem like lately I keep running into real world scenarios where Tesla for all its hype is substandard to most other cars with current tech. Sadly I am losing my ability to say "its ok, its a Tesla. (rant over, drops mic)

 

[Petrlol]

Welcome to phantom braking. It sucks. Sadly you just learn to know where it may do it.

 

[Young Phenom]

Same thing happened to my wife on our trip to Philly. She will only use the cruise control now.

 

[Johann Koeber]

I understand, it is not worth the price for you. Yes, you have the right to be pissed.

Always keep in mind: you alone are the responsible driver of the car. It is far from a self driving car. Many of us here use and like the so called autopilot features. And they work so well, that in the rare occasions they do not, one is rightfully surprised.

To each his own.

 

[evfeh]

You have to set expectations correctly. I've had a couple of those, but I'm not scared of it, you gotta learn it. I've seen one where a yellow sign with a flashing yellow near an intersection, FSD wants to treat it like a yellow traffic sign and really hesitates to brake and then continues.

 

[RetepRelief]

The phantom braking happens with cruise control (TACC). I had it happen for toll readers across the road on MD200 as well as a large (6 lane) overpass on I270 in MD among others. Disappointing.

 

[Dennisis]

It happens but I’m sure will improve in future updates, something no one else offers that I’m aware of. If you’ve been reading these forums I’ll bet you’ve seen it mentioned. Can be disconcerting but it could have been road debris or another reason you hit the brakes hence safe following distances for all.

 

[mswlogo]

Welcome to phantom braking. It sucks. Sadly you just learn to know where it may do it.

Actually I think the OP is overreacting a little. But I have yet to predict when it will phantom brake. I used to think I could but not lately. It seems better lately but still does it now and then. What I have learned is it’s not slowing down as much as it feels. It just adjusts its speed really quickly. Might be a 10mph drop but it feels like 40mph.

So what I have learned to do ( which I always had a habit of doing any way) is watch out for tailgaters.

When cars are an appropriate distance behind I look in my mirror after a phantom brake and they the person behind me barely flinches. Doesn’t change lanes, no fingers nothing.

I’m not excusing Tesla for this, it certainly needs to be addressed and it can cause an accident by a bad driver behind you.

 

[Hoowzer]

I don't have the confidence that autopilot will work as intended during toll bridge crossings and locations where there is construction. I always try to be cognizant and take over if needed.

 

[Iain]

I never forget it’s beta. With that said I use it 90% of the time and have had only a few surprises. As a professional Pilot I always monitor the autopilot, so that could make me a little more comfortable. My wife won’t use it yet, but drives with me with no complaints. It keeps getting better and better but until it’s not beta expect some abnormalities. ( if they could please fix flashing lights, please, please please)

 

[vegas888]

I It is far from a self driving car.

Then it should cost $100 and not $8000.
You are not paying big money for "It is far from .... "

 

[PKOttawa]

I’ve also noticed an issue where if the lane is ending the car will go right to the end and then creep over too much and nudge into oncoming traffic.

I now have to take over manually, when there is a lane merge.

 

[vegas888]

Elon thought after dropping Mobileye from future cars it will be easy to replace it

 

[mhonig]

So I am cruising down the freeway using autopilot at the posted 70mph. As I am approaching a giant sign above the freeway showing which lane to be in to pay toll in cash my Y suddenly starts to rapidly slow down. The car behind me swerved as to not hit me. I jammed the throttle immediately to get back up to speed. WOW!!!! I am PISSED! Now I am afraid to use my autopilot! I also paid for the FSD to the tune of 7k and this is what I get? I am told that the cameras misinterpreted the big sign over the freeway. If you want FSD or even autopilot to be safe there is no room for "misinterpretation" at all. This never happens in any car with adaptive cruise control. It seems like lately, I keep running into real-world scenarios where Tesla for all its hype is substandard to most other cars with current tech. Sadly I am losing my ability to say "its ok, its a Tesla. (rant over, drops mic)

I agree. I am very afraid of being rear-ended because the Y slows down suddenly. Today I was driving 55 mph in fairly heavy traffic and the cameras spotted a stop sign at the end of an off-ramp and immediately started stopping. Fortunately, I stepped on the accelerator quickly and got away from the car behind me.

 

[vegas888]

i don`t own Y yet but i read somewhere there should be option to turn off sudden slow downs. Am i right?

 

[Dennisis]

No one forces you to buy autopilot - various issues are well documented and publicized and it's not cheap. Those of us that paid for it did that, or should have, with the knowledge we were buying an unfinished product with the promise of future improvements.

 

[john5520]

Elon thought after dropping Mobileye from future cars it will be easy to replace it

Agreed!! We'll see what he has in store with this re-write. I hope it lives up to the hype. On the bright side for me at least, phantom braking has been reduced since the last couple updates. It's not gone completely, but it's more predictable and controllable. I have experienced similar behavior to what the OP described in the past so I understand the concern.
I haven't received the latest update yet so can't comment on it, but it should help with the phantom braking caused by incorrect speed data on the freeway.

 

[Ariscus]

Almost killed might be a bit histrionic, but it definitely sucks. Mine does it probably every 3rd or 4th time I drive more than 5 miles on AP and it’s startling and frustrating every single time. There are certain areas of surrounding freeways I know it will mess up. Not phantom breaking, but it will swerve hard one way or another, or will not be able to decipher when one lane becomes two and it will weave back and forth. Luckily I know most of them and will take over right before it happens, or grip the wheel more tightly so when it tries to swerve it will disengage. Sadly, while I agree with you that for the price you pay, you should get better, most of the Tesla fan boys especially 3 and Y owners will downvote and ridicule you. It’s a sad reality of the community. Hope you have better results in the future.

 

[ks1972]

No one forces you to buy autopilot - various issues are well documented and publicized and it's not cheap. Those of us that paid for it did that, or should have, with the knowledge we were buying an unfinished product with the promise of future improvements.

I don’t think you can buy a new Tesla without autopilot. Guess you mean , nobody is forcing you to use autopilot.

after April 2019, Tesla is kinda forcing you to buy autopilot because there’s not an option to buy a car without autopilot

 

[drtimhill]

I am told that the cameras misinterpreted the big sign over the freeway. If you want FSD or even autopilot to be safe there is no room for "misinterpretation" at all. This never happens in any car with adaptive cruise control.

I can understand your concern, but if your ask is 100% reliability from any driver assist then you might as well sell your car .. it will never happen, not ever. The goal of any driver assist system (or, eventually, a self-driving car) is to be safer than a human driver. And let's face it, that's not a very high bar in some ways. Does that mean the car won't make mistakes? Of course it will, but if it makes fewer than a human (and, probably, FAR fewer), then that's a good thing.