Autopilot behaviour in strong wind

[Ozboz7]

Hi all. Couldn't find a clear answer in the forum hence the thread.

Given the recent strong winds from storm Isha, I was wondering if anyone has any experience of what autopilot does in severe winds they could share?

I was driving home and battling the wind with the steering wheel, wondering if autopilot fights it off and stays in lane until the bitter end, or if it disengages (as if you had pulled the steering wheel) and expects you to take over?

So far my car seems to have just dealt with it, but I haven't been on autopilot in significantly strong winds. Wondering if anyone can share some (possibly seat colour-changing) experience?

 

[Fursty Ferret]

In my experience, apart from the sound of the wind you can't tell that it's there. The only problem is that if other cars move around in their lane Autopilot tends to crap its pants and stamps on the brakes, but in general the lane-keeping is excellent.

 

[Pagemakers]

Same

 

[pdk42]

Drove back from Cambridge to Leamington on Sun evening in the teeth of the last storm. Strong and gusty cross wind all the way and AP handled it very well. The steering wheel twitched a lot, but the car kept pretty well nailed in the centre of the lane.

 

[NewbieT]

Just remember the limitations and warnings in the manual, including:

Be aware of the following limitations while Traffic-Aware Cruise Control is active.

• Traffic-Aware Cruise Control does not adapt driving speed based on road and driving conditions. Do not use Traffic-Aware Cruise Control on winding roads with sharp curves, on icy or slippery road surfaces, or when weather conditions (such as heavy rain, snow, fog, etc.) make it inappropriate to drive at a consistent speed.
• Do not rely on Traffic-Aware Cruise Control to maintain an accurate or appropriate following distance.

and

Autosteer and its associated functions are particularly unlikely to operate as intended when:

• Visibility is poor (heavy rain, snow, fog, etc.) or weather conditions are interfering with sensor operation.

 

[M1tch]

I drove from Gloucester to Lincoln during the recent winter weather this weekend - (let’s stop naming weather as it just whips people up into an unrequired frenzy, even with one or two a week).

Anyway, as normal had AP (EAP) engaged and couldn’t tell it was windy. Journey was completely fine. As above, some high sided vehicles got blown around and the car thought they would veer into mummy lane so reacted. However quickly learned to watch for this and predict and counter it.

The big issue was getting out of the car…..To start with I nearly lost the door, then the gate nearly knocked me over when I went to plug it in.

 

[JIBYC]

It's much better than the system I used in a Kia a few years back. The gusts hit the natural frequency of the lane keep and it started violently over correcting.

 

[Andy H]

Same, did a big chunk of A303 / M3 and had one of the best unbroken AP runs ever!

 

[yessuz]

Hi all. Couldn't find a clear answer in the forum hence the thread.

Given the recent strong winds from storm Isha, I was wondering if anyone has any experience of what autopilot does in severe winds they could share?

I was driving home and battling the wind with the steering wheel, wondering if autopilot fights it off and stays in lane until the bitter end, or if it disengages (as if you had pulled the steering wheel) and expects you to take over?

So far my car seems to have just dealt with it, but I haven't been on autopilot in significantly strong winds. Wondering if anyone can share some (possibly seat colour-changing) experience?

so you were driving home in strong wind, presumable in Tesla? Why you did not enable AP?

 

[Ozboz7]

so you were driving home in strong wind, presumable in Tesla? Why you did not enable AP?

I did, car was fine.

More just wanted to know what the expected behaviour of very strong wind is, if someone else has experienced it disengaging etc.

Half the battle of people saying AP / other features are rubbish are they don't understand expected behaviour and limitations..

It's a bit like Bjorn nyland 0% test, the expected behaviour of a car after 0% varies dramatically and knowing what happens is very useful

 

[Ozboz7]

I drove from Gloucester to Lincoln during the recent winter weather this weekend

This is pretty much my experience.

I really want someone to drive in some kind of super long wind tunnel and see at what point it taps out