I love autopilot and use it for most of my driving miles. However, twice now I have found myself on the rumble strips due to being distracted for a few seconds while assuming autopilot was engaged when in fact it was not. Has anyone else caught themselves doing this? What is the solution? Lately I've intentionally stopped using autopilot for hours at a time in order to keep my autonomous senses used to steering. It scares me that I could kill myself or others simply due to the fact that I thought autopilot was steering when it was not. Thoughts? Solutions?
It’s pretty simple. Just make sure autopilot is on before you stop steering. Or keep your hands on the wheel at all times
I have caught the car drifting when I thought I had autosteer engaged but I didn't. Only solution is to always pay attention. Also, I keep my hands on the wheel at all times, so I always feel AS working (unless it is a super straight road, which is where I have mistaken its state before)
Just train your eyes to check if the autopilot steering wheel icon is blue or not. It's actually fun to watch as it rotates in real time with the actual steering wheel. But don't watch it too closely. Eyes on the road.
I have a loaner without AP and did exactly this yesterday even though I was watching the road. Amazing how quickly I’ve come to rely on autosteer.
How to cure user error? Did you ever notice, about 10-15 years ago (before automatic headlights) that a lot of people were flashing their headlights at you at night? Not a lot of directions to go here....
Keep hands on the wheel is probably the easiest way to avoid this. Human peripheral vision is very good, but proprioception is downright magic.
I change how I hold the wheel as a way to subconsciously remind myself whether or not AP is active. Without AP, hands are at 10 and 2, foot is on the pedals. With AP active, one hand at top center of the wheel, foot off the pedals. So far I've never had confusion with the state of AP.
Not sure I'd want the extra time necessary to reposition my foot to brake. Good to have a mental strategy for the different modes of operation though.
It's an example of "mode confusion". A Rigorous View of Mode Confusion Tip: When I'm running on autopilot, I usually have a hand on the bottom of the wheel, applying a small torque so the car knows I'm watching. When I switch off autopilot, and especially if adaptive cruise control is active, I deliberately move my hands to the 3 and 9 position, and keep them there for at least 10-15 minutes. That serves as a reminder that the car is no longer steering.
Autopilot, the semi-autonomous driving feature that requires 100% full attention with eyes on the road and your hands on the wheel at all times. ....what's the point again? Seems the only benefits of AP are only reaped when you are defying the disclaimers you have to agree to before activating it.
What's the point of cruise control? Autopilots on airplanes have the same benefit: they reduce the physical demand of operation.
There are no magical solutions obviously. I am always looking to see if Autosteer and TACC are working fine, almost like I am observing them to see how they work. That's just me though. Only once did I make the error thinking autosteer was on when it wasn't. 7 months and 14000 miles in. Maybe I use autosteer pretty much 99% of the time and thats why I don't find myself in such a situation cuz its always on.
This is it: basically people need to treat advanced driver assistance as if you're using your mind to drive it instead of your body.
Had the same problem when driving a friends non-Tesla. Sat behind the wheel and stepped on the brake. Stared at the door, wondering why it did not automatically close Gotta stay aware anytime you are in the drivers seat.
When I'm driving I'm either doing both speed and steering manually, or doing the full autopilot with autosteer. I almost never drive with just TACC engaged...I'd rather deal with just two modes of driving instead of three. When autosteer is on, I'm usually holding the steering wheel with one hand near 6 o'clock, holding it just tight enough to feel the steering wheel adjustments. (This is similar to what @Doug_G posted above.) I also have a habit of every so often (tens of seconds?) gently wiggling the steering wheel...the amount of resistance I get tells me if autosteer is still engaged or not. Also if I'm using autosteer, I'm usually (casually, not in a paranoid way like some people up thread have implied is necessary) checking the operation of autopilot in general to make sure it's doing the right thing. The idea is to be stay mentally involved, but supervising the driving, not doing the driving yourself. Bruce.
