Too much discussion of the price of Autopilot and whether to buy it or not.....Is it worth it? You bet. A recent trip south on I95 in VA had me in the left lane of a 3 lane stretch going 65 while on "Nav on AP" with cruise set at 70 in an AWD LR M3. The car suggests moving to the center lane, I acknowledge OK, the blinker goes on and the car moves toward the proper lane. Everything seems normal until the M3 pulls violently back to the left lane with such force that my wife's head hits the passenger window and I notice a Corvette had come from the far right lane and a few cars back and flies by me in the center lane. He/she was doing in excess of 100 and would have probably have hit us. I know I would never have seen him/her as he/she would have been in my blind spot. To me, Tesla cannot put too high a price on this technology.
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Autopilot saved our lives
- Thread starter DVCLIFFORD
- Start date
Thanks for posting this .. glad you are all safe, even if a little shaken. Posts like this help us remember that for every post here claiming the car isn’t doing its job there are many many cases where it is saving lives.
Did you get this on dash cam by any chance? Would be interesting to see.
Glad to hear and good that everyone and the machine itself are safe.
Autopilot (there used to be two tiers: AP and EAP) features such as NoA or the next tier up - old FSD alpha or current FSD beta, are not needed for this though as basic 'Autopilot Safety Features' built into all 3s/Ys would have handled the situation exactly the same... and it looks like starting in early 2019, Tesla sells all 3s/Ys with basic 'Autopilot' included.
They didnt back in 2017/18, but even then 'Autopilot Safety Features' (present without AP, EAP, FSD and even with old AP2.5 hardware):
Automatic Emergency Braking, Lane Departure Avoidance/Warning, Collision Warning, Blind Spot Monitoring, and Obstacle-Aware Acceleration.
Tesla Brings Back Enhanced Autopilot Before End Of Q3, Aiming For Strong Quarterly Result
Autopilot (there used to be two tiers: AP and EAP) features such as NoA or the next tier up - old FSD alpha or current FSD beta, are not needed for this though as basic 'Autopilot Safety Features' built into all 3s/Ys would have handled the situation exactly the same... and it looks like starting in early 2019, Tesla sells all 3s/Ys with basic 'Autopilot' included.
They didnt back in 2017/18, but even then 'Autopilot Safety Features' (present without AP, EAP, FSD and even with old AP2.5 hardware):
Automatic Emergency Braking, Lane Departure Avoidance/Warning, Collision Warning, Blind Spot Monitoring, and Obstacle-Aware Acceleration.
Tesla Brings Back Enhanced Autopilot Before End Of Q3, Aiming For Strong Quarterly Result
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You could argue this scenario either way. Did fsd avoid an accident or nearly cause one?
You are saying FSD decided to turn into a lane with a corvette then decided to not hit the corvette? Wouldn't the better decision be to not turn into the lane.
You are supposed to check your blind spots before changing lanes. You arent supposed to blindly acknowledge lane changes.
So many different ways to think of this. I'm not saying one way or the other. It's just interesting to think about.
You are saying FSD decided to turn into a lane with a corvette then decided to not hit the corvette? Wouldn't the better decision be to not turn into the lane.
You are supposed to check your blind spots before changing lanes. You arent supposed to blindly acknowledge lane changes.
So many different ways to think of this. I'm not saying one way or the other. It's just interesting to think about.
Right lane speed weavers would always concern me when I was on two wheels. Where many courteous drivers will move out of the right lane to the center when approaching an interchange (to let oncoming traffic merge), a lot of I-95 miscreants will use that space to go shooting up on the right, then cut over into whatever small gap they can find. From what I've seen, FSD can handle road markings and traffic control devices. It's reading other drivers that concerns me. Glad you're safe - you live to drive another day!
But if the vette was indeed moving 30+ mph faster (and probably lane weaving) then its hard to spot even for a human (and why such reckless driving is so dangerous). Besides, even the best driver makes the occasional error (even you), and that’s where these systems can save lives.
and it was AP not FSD btw
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most of these thread about how "autopilot saved our lives" turns out to be "autopilot saved us from a minor accident"
It’s a tough crowd here. Glad the M3’s safety system is always looking and you’re able to avoid a potentially very crappy day. I feel much more at ease driving a tesla vs my previous vehicle
Candleflame
Active Member
you need to make sure the road is clear before you do a lane change. being american does not exempt you from that.
A collision with a vehicle supposedly doing in excess of 100mph, is unlikely to be minor. It’ll almost certainly “total” the Tesla. That’s major.
True, but it’s the rare human with the ability to see a vehicle two lanes over and closing at a rate in excess of 100mph. That vehicle would have been minuscule in one’s side mirror, even properly adjusted to cover the blind spot. Maybe an eagle could have seen something that small in the side mirror.
Not a big deal but wasn't he was closing at an estimated rate of 30mph? Just the fact that he can estimate that means he could see. He also says he came from lanes over 3 cars back so he seen the guy at whatever speed it was.
tstolze
Member
Believe he said a few cars back and it would seem to me the Op didn't see this vehicle until after the car made the evasive maneuver.
These situations are terrible on a Highway, excessive speed and coming from the right lane, it's likely the Vette was too far back to be seen or there were other vehicles between the Ops line of site and the Vette.
Candleflame
Active Member
Even in the UK where the speed limit is 70mph it wouldnt be unusual to be overtaken by a vehicle at 100mph. You need to check. If you got a big blindspot because you havnt adjusted your mirrors properly then you need to do a quick glance over your shoulder. In my old E46 which was a LHD which I drove in the UK (RHD country) I actually preferred that to using the right mirror anyway.
If you arent sure the lane is clear you cant move into it.
I bought my old E46 in Munich, so yeah, I've had cars blow by me driving in excess of 100mph, when traveling 65mph, and that 35+mph speed differential means that a car that intersects with your car, is probably about 170ft behind you and in this case two lanes over. That's 10 car lengths back and two lanes over. Of course there's traffic, because why would a car be overtaking on the far right. So, you're telling me, that you can see 10 car lengths behind you, and two lanes over, with traffic between you? I always turn my head, and my E46's mirrors cover my blindspot perfectly, and I know I wouldn't be able to see that car. Strangely, my Model 3 doesn't cover my blindspot completely, and I've had to put small concave mirrors to help.
People do the estimation when they see the vehicle passing them, and how quickly it pulls away.
It came from 2 lanes over. He was in left lane, moving to center lane. Center lane was open. The Corvette was in the right lane, and moved into the center lane. You don't have to see the Corvette, move from right to center, to know that's where it came from, since the center lane was open, and no one was behind him when he was in the left lane. Thus, it came from the right lane.
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