Autopilot and Construction Zones...

[Saghost]

I'm in the middle of a long East coast road trip, and I just realized: under firmware 8.1 (and I think later 8.0 builds,) Autopilot recognizes and reacts to construction barrels.

I suppose I need to start with a disclaimer - using Autopilot in construction zones is specifically not recommended, and several accidents have resulted from inattentive use of Autopilot there.

However, a number of the construction zones I've been through today have been in the standard, full width and fully marked lanes, with just barrels on the side.

Some of you may remember that some months ago I did a thread on the timing of the "hold steering wheel" prompts. The really dedicated will remember that at the end of the trip something unexpected happened - a whole series of 16 seconds prompts as I approached a bridge with no traffic nearby - and a row of barrels on one side.

Today I noticed that the fast prompts happen every time I passed construction barrels.

So I'm thinking the camera is recognizing the barrels somehow...

Note that I haven't seen any evidence of it accepting them as a guide line - just as a warning sign.

 

[vandacca]

I agree, it's been my experience as well that the "hold steering wheel" prompts are not simply based on a timed interval. It seems to also depend on how "confident" AP is. So when there are twisty roads or poor lane markings or construction barrels, etc. the prompts happen more often.

When I'm on long, wide, straight HOV roads, I don't see prompts for quite some time.