Autopilot HW1 or infrastructure improvement

[fasteddie7]

After 6 months of autopilot requiring me to disengage it on the same stretch of road everyday on my commute to work, it has suddenly started navigating the road without need for me to take over. Problem is I don't know if it was the update or the repaving of the road. Construction started on the road a few weeks ago, and due to all of the road work, I drove another route to work for a few weeks. Construction was completed on the road at the same time my HW1 model s received an update. Now I started to take that road again and my vehicle has navigated the road perfectly for three days in a row (every time i've driven it so far!) If some resurfacing and line painting is all it takes, perhaps HW1 will improve with better infrastructure long after updates to the hardware stop, or is the update to the road merely a coincidence and the update actually improved HW1. Darn you no release notes!!! Anyone have a similar experience?

 

[X Fan]

Hhhm, Not a divided road?????

 

[Mattzilla]

I engage autopilot daily on the undivided rural road I use to get to work as well. I haven't really noticed any changes in performance at all. The nag still exists and seems to crop up at the same rate it has since the last major firmware update. But it's still great and handles the 15 minute commute amazingly well, allowing me to relax.

 

[C_A_Braun]

So, here is what I see. In all the clips where AP shutdown, you can clearly see (on your dash) that the camera lost sight of the lines in the road. This is due to cresting a hill and the camera not being able to see the road beyond the peak. On the last video we can't see your dash display but I am guessing that maybe you were just a little bit more to the hugging the left line (perhaps due to road restriping) and that was just enough to allow the AP camera to follow the lines over the crest of the "hill".

 

[fasteddie7]

So, here is what I see. In all the clips where AP shutdown, you can clearly see (on your dash) that the camera lost sight of the lines in the road. This is due to cresting a hill and the camera not being able to see the road beyond the peak. On the last video we can't see your dash display but I am guessing that maybe you were just a little bit more to the hugging the left line (perhaps due to road restriping) and that was just enough to allow the AP camera to follow the lines over the crest of the "hill".

There are two spots on that road, one where there is a crest and another that is a sharp turn. Ap1 still veers to one side on the crest and doesn't handle the sharp curve very well with the newly painted lines...bizzare.

 

[whitex]

Tesla cars do learn from other cars (HD mapping) and tend to drive where other Tesla's have driven and the way they have driven. This is why on popular roads AP1 is able to find lanes even then the roads are completely snowed over (I can't find the thread right now, but people have done such experiments and reported them here). Personally, I did a 6,000 mile trip across North America last year and it was really apparent what areas are popular with Teslas as AP would function MUCH better there. Going to rural areas where there are no Tesla, AP1 was horrible even on well marked roads. Now, whether this is fully automatic learning or hand-curated data for areas with a lot of customers, that is not public knowledge so all we have is speculations.

 

[fasteddie7]

Tesla cars do learn from other cars (HD mapping) and tend to drive where other Tesla's have driven and the way they have driven. This is why on popular roads AP1 is able to find lanes even then the roads are completely snowed over (I can't find the thread right now, but people have done such experiments and reported them here). Personally, I did a 6,000 mile trip across North America last year and it was really apparent what areas are popular with Teslas as AP would function MUCH better there. Going to rural areas where there are no Tesla, AP1 was horrible even on well marked roads. Now, whether this is fully automatic learning or hand-curated data for areas with a lot of customers, that is not public knowledge so all we have is speculations.

There aren't a lot of vehicles where I'm from (south western Pennsylvania) unless it's me driving over it every day, but it does seem a little suspicious that fresh road equals ap working, except there are two more areas that are freshly painted with ap not performing any better.

 

[BrettS]

So, here is what I see. In all the clips where AP shutdown, you can clearly see (on your dash) that the camera lost sight of the lines in the road. This is due to cresting a hill and the camera not being able to see the road beyond the peak. On the last video we can't see your dash display but I am guessing that maybe you were just a little bit more to the hugging the left line (perhaps due to road restriping) and that was just enough to allow the AP camera to follow the lines over the crest of the "hill".

I was just going to post almost exactly the same thing... autopilot lives and dies by the lines on the road and you can see where it loses them in the first few clips. My guess is the the improved contrast from the newly paved road and newly painted lines allow it to stay locked on now, but it’s certainly possible that there was some minor software improvement as well.

 

[Drone Flyer]

After 6 months of autopilot requiring me to disengage it on the same stretch of road everyday on my commute to work, it has suddenly started navigating the road without need for me to take over. Problem is I don't know if it was the update or the repaving of the road. Construction started on the road a few weeks ago, and due to all of the road work, I drove another route to work for a few weeks. Construction was completed on the road at the same time my HW1 model s received an update. Now I started to take that road again and my vehicle has navigated the road perfectly for three days in a row (every time i've driven it so far!) If some resurfacing and line painting is all it takes, perhaps HW1 will improve with better infrastructure long after updates to the hardware stop, or is the update to the road merely a coincidence and the update actually improved HW1. Darn you no release notes!!! Anyone have a similar experience?

I think we need to paint a picture of a stopped car at intersections so our cars will detect them and stop!
Tesla could paint full size renderings of a vehicle just before the crosswalk so the cameras will be fooled into thinking a car was there and stop. Wouldn't this be a great idea? LOL!

 

[Pale_Rider]

Clearly contrasted lines make all the difference in the world. That said, good HD maps of an are can take up some of the slack when there are hills or the lines are not great. I believe I read somewhere that the HD maps will have a pretty good averaged path after a few hundred passes by a Tesla, so its possible its behaving now due to better HD maps but more likely it just the better lines on the road. Here in Texas we have lots of concrete roads with white stripes and even on interstate its can be troublesome in certain lighting. Mine also has trouble with a yellow stripe on my commute in certain lighting, but the car doesn't freak out, mainly I think because I've driven that segment (curved cresting of a hill even) so many times.

Chris

Referral code if anyone needs it: My Tesla Referral Code

 

[BrettS]

Clearly contrasted lines make all the difference in the world. That said, good HD maps of an are can take up some of the slack when there are hills or the lines are not great. I believe I read somewhere that the HD maps will have a pretty good averaged path after a few hundred passes by a Tesla, so its possible its behaving now due to better HD maps but more likely it just the better lines on the road.

HD maps like that will definitely be needed as we move closer and closer to FSD, but right now autopilot only has two options... lines on the road or following the car in front of it. And as I’ve said before, autopilot lives and dies by the lines on the roads... it only follows a lead car if autopilot is engaged and it loses track of the lines and it will only do that for a short time until it can find the lines again. If it loses the lines and there is no car to follow then it will just keep going in the direction it’s going new as it attempts to find the lines again. This is why it fails in a case like this where there is a curve after the crest of the hill. It loses the lines and tries to keep going straight without knowing that the road curves. At some point an HD map could help with cases like this, but that technology isn’t in place yet.

 

[fasteddie7]

HD maps like that will definitely be needed as we move closer and closer to FSD, but right now autopilot only has two options... lines on the road or following the car in front of it. And as I’ve said before, autopilot lives and dies by the lines on the roads... it only follows a lead car if autopilot is engaged and it loses track of the lines and it will only do that for a short time until it can find the lines again. If it loses the lines and there is no car to follow then it will just keep going in the direction it’s going new as it attempts to find the lines again. This is why it fails in a case like this where there is a curve after the crest of the hill. It loses the lines and tries to keep going straight without knowing that the road curves. At some point an HD map could help with cases like this, but that technology isn’t in place yet.

There is a hill crest that goes straight but as soon as I crest it, the car veers off road instead of straight (which I wish it would do)

 

[BerTX]

There is a hill crest that goes straight but as soon as I crest it, the car veers off road instead of straight (which I wish it would do)

That's actually an improvement. It originally used to veer into the oncoming lane.

 

[fasteddie7]

That's actually an improvement. It originally used to veer into the oncoming lane.

Right!? Lol I couldn't test today due to being behind the biggest, slowest 18 wheelers ever! Tomorrow I will pay special attention.

 

[ahkahn]

Long-time lurker and new registrant... as of next week, new owner of a Model S!

So here is a question about this: Does autopilot only map the roads when engaged, or is it mapping while hand driving also?

 

[fasteddie7]

Long-time lurker and new registrant... as of next week, new owner of a Model S!

So here is a question about this: Does autopilot only map the roads when engaged, or is it mapping while hand driving also?

I wonder that myself.

 

[jeffro01]

The lines look pretty good on the old pavement as well... My AP1 car has reliably tracked far worse quality lines than those... The new pavement does improve the contrast for sure but I'm with you in that it's hard to say either way but I'd lean towards the software update being helpful...

Jeff

 

[whitex]

Long-time lurker and new registrant... as of next week, new owner of a Model S!

So here is a question about this: Does autopilot only map the roads when engaged, or is it mapping while hand driving also?

All the time, even if you didn't pay to enable it. This is why they put the hardware in all cars.

 

[fasteddie7]

The lines look pretty good on the old pavement as well... My AP1 car has reliably tracked far worse quality lines than those... The new pavement does improve the contrast for sure but I'm with you in that it's hard to say either way but I'd lean towards the software update being helpful...

Jeff

I looked back at some of the commute I recorded when I first got my vehicle. I'll take video of it tomorrow and see if there is a difference (some of the roads were not worked on and are about the same)

 

[jeffro01]

I looked back at some of the commute I recorded when I first got my vehicle. I'll take video of it tomorrow and see if there is a difference (some of the roads were not worked on and are about the same)

Cool beans, would love to see how the lane marking contrasts changed. I'm amazed at how well our AP1 car sees faint white lane marker lines on white concrete going into the sun with all that glare... There's been a few times where even I can't fully see the lines but when I look down at the IC, the car sees them just fine...

Jeff