Autopilot speeding ticket

[fasteddie7]

So here's an interesting one. My buddy was traveling on a stretch of road we both travel frequently. The road goes from 50 to 35. Autopilot slows down automatically here but only starts slowing down as soon as the sign passes the front bumper. The cop clocked him as he reached the sign going 50 while the car was adjusting down to 35. Anyone else out there have a similar experience. Seems a little trappy to me. Thoughts?

 

[oneday]

So here's an interesting one. My buddy was traveling on a stretch of road we both travel frequently. The road goes from 50 to 35. Autopilot slows down automatically here but only starts slowing down as soon as the sign passes the front bumper. The cop clocked him as he reached the sign going 50 while the car was adjusting down to 35. Anyone else out there have a similar experience. Seems a little trappy to me. Thoughts?

I always thought that was funky that AP didn’t slow down until crossing the sign. I always told myself the decel is pretty quick.

Cop should have been cool and given a warning. Legally cop is right, driver is wrong at least in the US.

 

[Derek Kessler]

Yep, speed trap. With the speed limit database they're using they should be able to put that into action.

 

[agloutney]

That must be with AP2. AP1 starts slowing before the sign as soon as it comes into view. If going from a lower limit to a higher one it starts to accelerate as it passes the sign indicating the higher speed limit.

 

[fasteddie7]

That must be with AP2. AP1 starts slowing before the sign as soon as it comes into view. If going from a lower limit to a higher one it starts to accelerate as it passes the sign indicating the higher speed limit.

His was AP2 but I have an AP1 and my vehicle does not allo until crossing the sign. Is there a setting?

 

[kavyboy]

That must be with AP2. AP1 starts slowing before the sign as soon as it comes into view. If going from a lower limit to a higher one it starts to accelerate as it passes the sign indicating the higher speed limit.

That is exactly the opposite of what I have observed (AP1). It clearly adjusts the speed exactly when the car passes the sign, and not before. It's pretty obvious here in Texas where there can be a series of signs that gradually drop down from 80 MPH to 35 MPH and back up again when going through a town. I have it configured to chime at 5 MPH over speed limit, and it often does even though it's decelerating by itself. It wouldn't do that if it were slowing upon approaching the sign. Maybe things work differently in Canada?

 

[kavyboy]

So here's an interesting one. My buddy was traveling on a stretch of road we both travel frequently. The road goes from 50 to 35. Autopilot slows down automatically here but only starts slowing down as soon as the sign passes the front bumper. The cop clocked him as he reached the sign going 50 while the car was adjusting down to 35. Anyone else out there have a similar experience. Seems a little trappy to me. Thoughts?

Speed trap, and uncool.

 

[E-Ryc]

Yep, speed trap. With the speed limit database they're using they should be able to put that into action.

Why bother with with such useless features? We (well, at least the people who are not hanging on sub-39 versions) got Atari games so we should be happy

 

[S4WRXTTCS]

I've never experienced AP2 automatically slow for when the speed limit changes.

It's probably because I dial it down as soon as I hit the first sign letting me know of the new speed limit is advance.

The rule of law is you have to be traveling the new speed limit BEFORE the sign.

Personally I think the cop was being hardcore about it, and I would have given a bit more room. There are plenty of people who don't slow down till way after the sign so there isn't a lack of them. Maybe he just wanted to nail a Tesla.

 

[whitex]

So here's an interesting one. My buddy was traveling on a stretch of road we both travel frequently. The road goes from 50 to 35. Autopilot slows down automatically here but only starts slowing down as soon as the sign passes the front bumper. The cop clocked him as he reached the sign going 50 while the car was adjusting down to 35. Anyone else out there have a similar experience. Seems a little trappy to me. Thoughts?

If traveling at 35mph before the sign the ticket would have been obstructing traffic. Welcome to traffic laws - revenue generators for local governments. Check out how pissed people are in Arizona because Google (Waymo) cars don't ever speed.

 

[Jhelin]

If traveling at 35mph before the sign the ticket would have been obstructing traffic. Welcome to traffic laws - revenue generators for local governments. Check out how pissed people are in Arizona because Google (Waymo) cars don't ever speed.

There's only one solution to this, and i'm seeing the future news headline: "Man got head ripped off as car instantaneously decelerated from 50mph to 35mph to strictly obey traffic laws"

 

[JosefMS]

If you have it on dash cam, I'd take that to court.

 

[emmz0r]

Where's the sign reading? Sure taking their sweet time. And it's pretty basic information that the speed limit counts from the sign and not 500 meters after. Tesla should fix this. For me with AP 2.5 it slows down sometimes before, sometimes after, completely random. The sign location compared to GPS seems unprecise at best.

 

[agloutney]

That is exactly the opposite of what I have observed (AP1). It clearly adjusts the speed exactly when the car passes the sign, and not before. It's pretty obvious here in Texas where there can be a series of signs that gradually drop down from 80 MPH to 35 MPH and back up again when going through a town. I have it configured to chime at 5 MPH over speed limit, and it often does even though it's decelerating by itself. It wouldn't do that if it were slowing upon approaching the sign. Maybe things work differently in Canada?

Interesting. It’s possible the AP1 software changed at some point but I’m sure it either used to slow before the sign or it’s a local thing in Canada. I haven’t been using it as much since the nags increased so maybe something changed. I’ll go test it again today and report back.

 

[Jan Fiala]

In Europe it sucks in the same way. AP is not reading signs but reading the speed limits from the database. Therefore it really makes no sense to start reducing speed AFTER passing the speed limiting point in the database. Any sane programmer would do it in that way, that the car will slow in advance to avoid speeding trough the speed limiting point.

If we must use the database as the speed sign reading doesn't work at all, it should at least work it properly.

P.S. The speed sign database in Europe is pretty accurate. I have no complaints at all.

 

[emmz0r]

In Europe it sucks in the same way. AP is not reading signs but reading the speed limits from the database. Therefore it really makes no sense to start reducing speed AFTER passing the speed limiting point in the database. Any sane programmer would do it in that way, that the car will slow in advance to avoid speeding trough the speed limiting point.

If we must use the database as the speed sign reading doesn't work at all, it should at least work it properly.

P.S. The speed sign database in Europe is pretty accurate. I have no complaints at all.

Here it is road work everywhere and it's reduced to temporary limits which are not in the map database. So I basically have to yank the AP stalk or just disable AP altogether. Reducing it 5 at the time from 80 to 50 km/h looks like am doing something nasty while driving

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

If you have it on dash cam, I'd take that to court.

"Look, I have proof that I was speeding!"

The law's not complicated:
1) speed zone starts at the first sign
2) do not exceed the maximum speed indicated for the zone, except:
- when accelerating to merge onto a limited access highway
- when prevailing speeds make it unsafe to drive at the speed limit

That speed assist behavior needs to be fixed. Of course, it's hard to do that, because speed signs can be large in special cases.

I've occasionally had people get worked up because I don't deliberately speed. Usually in the morning.

 

[GlmnAlyAirCar]

So here's an interesting one. My buddy was traveling on a stretch of road we both travel frequently. The road goes from 50 to 35. Autopilot slows down automatically here but only starts slowing down as soon as the sign passes the front bumper. The cop clocked him as he reached the sign going 50 while the car was adjusting down to 35. Anyone else out there have a similar experience. Seems a little trappy to me. Thoughts?

Your friend has an out. In PA, if the speed limit drops by more than 10MPH, there must be a sign prior to the change that says "speed limit x ahead". Usually AP1 will slow upon reaching that sign. But in any case if that sign isn't present he certainly has a case to fight the ticket.

 

[whitex]

"Look, I have proof that I was speeding!"

The law's not complicated:
1) speed zone starts at the first sign
2) do not exceed the maximum speed indicated for the zone, except:
- when accelerating to merge onto a limited access highway
- when prevailing speeds make it unsafe to drive at the speed limit

That speed assist behavior needs to be fixed. Of course, it's hard to do that, because speed signs can be large in special cases.

I've occasionally had people get worked up because I don't deliberately speed. Usually in the morning.

You have a nice law in Maine allowing you to speed if others are speeding (prevailing speeds you mention). All you have to do is to make a reasonable argument that you believed driving slower would be unsafe (hard to disprove unless the cop has a video of surrounding traffic). In most places however speeding is speeding, if you're going over the speed limit it doesn't matter if you have a dying person with you and you are trying to get them to the hospital - of course it's in the cop's discretion to let you go or even escort you to the hospital and not give you a speeding ticket, but they can if they want to.

PS> I found that out he hard way when I was young, argued that all traffic was going 20km over the limit in Ontario Canada, had proof of that as the cops were giving away tickets in an assembly line fashion (speed trap just over the hill, 6 cops writing tickets as fast as they could, with few cars waiting to be ticketed and a cop at the top ensuring the line of waiters is never empty). That's when the judge explained to me the example about a dying person in the car. Speeding is speeding he said, oh and in traffic court you are guilty until proven innocent (another quote from another judge I got during my teenage driving adventures).

 

[agloutney]

Interesting. It’s possible the AP1 software changed at some point but I’m sure it either used to slow before the sign or it’s a local thing in Canada. I haven’t been using it as much since the nags increased so maybe something changed. I’ll go test it again today and report back.

Ok im eating humble pie for breakfast. AP1 does indeed slow at the sign and not before. I remain adamant it didn’t always behave like this as I remember seeing this and thinking how intelligent the AP1 is. It’s a difference I immediately noticed when I first got my AP2 car which I’ve been driving lately.