Autopilot car length control while on Cruise Control

[surfrasch]

Hi folks....just did a 13 hr drive, New Hampshire to Detroit, then back a few days later. I do this every 6 months. 2018 model 3 LR without FSD.

I have terrible issues now with how many car lengths being controlled to the car in front of me while on the highway. There's so much room, cars keep coming up from the right side and cutting in front of me. Yes, I know, drive slower in right lane, behind the trucks, my life will be more relaxed. Try doing that for 13 hours, you will pull your hair out.

I recall I had an option previously in the software, to adjust the amount of distance to the car in front of me. I see that option has disappeared, or I can't find it....is this correct?

Is this related to this "radar vs camera" issue at Tesla? Is my car now controlling speed based on camera not radar? if so, this really sucks. The distance control seems too conservative.

 

[GtiMart]

You can adjust the follow distance using the steering wheel's right scroll wheel. Click it left - right. You can go down to "2" now whereas the previous lowest value was "1". 2 isn't too bad, there's significant room but it should be okay in general. It's not "car lengths", it's a value that means something to the algorithm but I'm not sure you can relate it to an absolute distance. Play with it and see how it works.

 

[SalisburySam]

You can adjust the follow distance using the steering wheel's right scroll wheel. Click it left - right. You can go down to "2" now whereas the previous lowest value was "1". 2 isn't too bad, there's significant room but it should be okay in general. It's not "car lengths", it's a value that means something to the algorithm but I'm not sure you can relate it to an absolute distance. Play with it and see how it works.

My 2018 M3LR can still go down to a following length of “1” but only because I’ve not “upgraded” beyond software version 2022.20.8. Subsequent versions disabled the radar and enforced a minimum following distance of “2” along with other “features” I found undesirable. And I agree this is not really car lengths. Early on the suggestion was made that it is ½ or full seconds, a time-based rather than distance-based setting. That means a “1” following distance translates to whatever distance is needed to keep a 1 second space between you and the car in front. As speeds increase, so will the distance. I don’t know if any of that is true, but it seems to mimic my experiences in my still radar-enabled vehicle.

 

[EVRider-FL]

I recall I had an option previously in the software, to adjust the amount of distance to the car in front of me. I see that option has disappeared, or I can't find it....is this correct?

Since you don’t have FSD Beta, you should still have the following distance option.

 

[surfrasch]

thanks folks, I recalled seeing it as a menu adjustment option, didn't realize it was also on the right scroll bar. I'll try that out!

 

[gaximus]

I have the same issue. I used to keep it at “1” which I believe is time based, think it’s “1” started at 2 seconds and increased from there. But 2 is too far away for some traffic situations, like when I’m in stop and go traffic, I keep getting cut off, now I have to keep my foot on the “gas” pedal, which defeats the whole purpose of having self driving. This all started after Telsa offered me new cameras for free, I shouldn’t have got them. They didn’t tell me that upgrading my cameras would disable my radar cruise control. I spent $6000 upgrading all the computers in my car getting it to where it is, now I hate driving the thing. So upset with Tesla, and they won’t put my old cameras back in.