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Dynastar
Member
I have used AP 1 on snow covered roads and it worked fairly well. The roads had bare pavement ruts where the cars were driving and snow everywhere else and AP worked pretty well. It wouldn't switch on in the snow covered sections but if it was already on it would navigate fine when it got to the snowy sections.
Driving during snowstorms, I've lost cruise control and AP1 when the radar horn plugged up with snow and ice. But I do remember it working better than I would have expected on pretty snowy roads last winter. But full whiteout? Nah...
alseTrick
Active Member
Good luck with that. However, I value my life.
If it works in the snow, you're lucky. Or maybe unlucky because it could make a fatal error at any time.
Salt and snow EASILY defeat the radar sensor on the Model S, which is not heated. Not that heating would be particularly effective against a conductive salty film over it during winter weather. Bouncing rock salt EASILY defeats the ultrasonics. Finally, since only the front camera's have wipers, expect an opaque cover of salt and dirt on all other camera's.
Salt and snow EASILY defeat the radar sensor on the Model S, which is not heated. Not that heating would be particularly effective against a conductive salty film over it during winter weather. Bouncing rock salt EASILY defeats the ultrasonics. Finally, since only the front camera's have wipers, expect an opaque cover of salt and dirt on all other camera's.
Here is my take. In order to achieve and claim full self driving the car must handle all situations on its own, This would include snow. Having said that heavy snow is in my opinion the most difficult common driving condition I don't see how the current hardware 2.0 suite can achieve full self driving in total white outs/blizzards.
As for traction in the snow with RWD go check out some youtube videos and forum posts. From what I gather this seems to be the consensus.
RWD summer tire= terrible
RWD all season tire= just ok
RWD snow tire = fairy good
For what it's worth my current car (Grand Prix) is FWD no traction control or ABS with all season tires I have zero problems with all but the largest storms in Wisconsin. I have never gotten stuck nor gotten in an accident in snowy conditions.
The point is of course all wheel drive is going to be better, but In my opinion RWD with a good set of snow tires will be perfectly acceptable for all but the worst of conditions.
As for traction in the snow with RWD go check out some youtube videos and forum posts. From what I gather this seems to be the consensus.
RWD summer tire= terrible
RWD all season tire= just ok
RWD snow tire = fairy good
For what it's worth my current car (Grand Prix) is FWD no traction control or ABS with all season tires I have zero problems with all but the largest storms in Wisconsin. I have never gotten stuck nor gotten in an accident in snowy conditions.
The point is of course all wheel drive is going to be better, but In my opinion RWD with a good set of snow tires will be perfectly acceptable for all but the worst of conditions.
alseTrick
Active Member
If non-emergency vehicles are driving around in whiteouts and blizzards, they deserve their potential fate. Not to mention if some bozo were trying to do it with autopilot.
When road conditions are like that they close the roads.
You can drown in a bowl of soup too, not all soup drinkers deserve what they get. There's no problem driving around in the snow with the right gear. Many places in the world this is part of daily life, not a once a year thing where you just stay home.
They shouldn't call it full self driving then. L5 means that car is able to navigate in extreme weather.
thefortunes
Active Member
CarlitoDoc
Member
In Wisconsin we rarely shut down roads or interstates and "it's snowing out" is very rarely an excuse to miss work. Heck my town doesn't even bother to plow unless we get more than 2-3 inches of snow even then they only hit the main roads. I've made 100+ mile trips in near whiteout conditions no problem at all, so yes autopilot will someday need to handle this if they want the northern half of the world to refer to it as full self driving.
Haha definitely down south, 1/2 inch of snow and the entire state is paralyzed. I visited during a snow storm one year, I was so pissed everything was closed... on the plus side I had no traffic to deal with! HahaLol. Maybe in Florida
alseTrick
Active Member
You literally said "whiteouts and blizzards". That's NOT 2-3 inches. I've lived in the Midwest. I know what I'm talking about.
ccutrer
Active Member
I've been on the freeway with > 1 inch of fresh snow, as yet unplowed, decent visibility. Our AP1 Model X AWD with winter tires is a champ in the snow, and I was impressed with how well AP1 did with dead reckoning (no longer being able to see lane markers whatsoever). I could feel it start to drift a little, even though it was trying to stay in center. I don't think I kept it on very long though - I also have doubts that AP2(.5) hardware can reliably handle blizzard conditions. But honestly, "it just has to be better than a human", and if the human shouldn't have gone out at all, and AP2 FSDS's reaction is to just pullover and wait, that may be acceptable.
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alseTrick
Active Member
It does NOT mean it can drive through blizzards...or tornadoes or hurricanes or earthquakes or volcanoes or tsunamis or landslides or avalanches or sinkholes or major floods!
I can't believe you people are serious.
thefortunes
Active Member
Apparently not in Wisconsin (or Minnesota, etc...).
We have had various (probably > 6 - too lazy to look it up) 10+ inch snowstorms over the last couple years. I'm sure many (if not all of them) qualified as blizzards. I drove the Roadster or S (yes, with winter tires) in most of them.
It is EXTREMELY rare to shut down highways in Wisconsin. We just know how to drive in those conditions.
If you ski or snowboard you're quite accustomed to driving through "a blizzard". Frankly the risk to yourself and others while driving to and from the mountain is less than the risk when actually skiing. Also, storms are rarely homogeneous: You might drive 20 miles and have a half mile section where it was whiteout conditions. Deciding to stay home because there's a chance at some point it will go whiteout: just never leave your house, that's super safe.
ccutrer
Active Member
@alseTrick I'm curious which part you disagree with? That pulling over and waiting out undriveable conditions would be acceptable for an ASDS vehicle, or that I would dare see how AP1 reacts to not being able to see the road with almost zero traffic at low speeds on a 7-lane wide freeway for a few seconds? (I can't remember why it was so deserted, and not plowed yet. Maybe it was Christmas morning?)
