Autopilot worked for me today and saved an accident

[jmdavis]

I wanted to post my experience this morning while using autopilot. I am a long time user of the system and know very well its capabilities and its limitations, but I never thought that the use of autopilot would actually save me from a crash as it did today.

I am a physician in Florida where I was doing my daily commute on I-75. The traffic pace was about 60mph with moderate to heavy traffic. I was driving in the far right lane with autopilot engaged and a 2 on the TACC spacing. I was following a truck which was large enough to obstruct my view of the car ahead. But I did note that AP was registering the car in front of my lead car just fine despite me not having a view. Suddenly full emergency braking was activated on my car, which startled me because the lead car was still moving at a normal speed and I could not detect a problem. A split second later the car directly in front of me veered into the shoulder to avoid hitting the car in front of him which had stopped abruptly for road debris. The AP in my car managed to brake even before the car in front of me acted and was able to come to a full stop with a decent amount of room between me and what was the second car ahead of me. The original lead car was now stuck on the side of the road.

This scenario perfectly demonstrated how the new AP car tracking system works to make things safer. If I was driving manually, it is unlikely that I would have been able to stop in time, since I could not see the car that had stopped. The car reacted well before the car ahead of me reacted and that made the difference between a crash and a hard stop. Strong work Telsa, thanks for saving me.

 

[Galve2000]

I'm glad it worked out well for u, and the truck, and the car in front of the truck.

Now if only AP would learn to take a curve on the highway while staying in its lane i'd be thrilled.

 

[wayner]

Now if only AP would learn to take a curve on the highway while staying in its lane i'd be thrilled.

I don't have any issues with that, even with small radius curves.

 

[bhzmark]

Now if only AP would learn to take a curve on the highway while staying in its lane i'd be thrilled.

I do that all the time. No problem.


And so do lots of others.

I suggest ignore the troll trying to ruin a positive thread and react to the OP.

 

[dirtyofries]

I do that all the time. No problem.

And so do thousands of other AP drivers who really own the car and aren't short selling trolls who ruin a perfectly good thread with lies and fud and display obvious ignorance of how AP actually works and that what you describe simply isn't an issue at all.

You are now ignored and I suggest everyone else do the same.

And all later posts ignore the troll and react to the OP.

Same here - I've used it on 880, 680, 280 - all in curvy sections.

Recently let AP navigate parts of 101 and 68 on the Monterey peninsula where it's curvy, hilly, and relatively fast. It handled it incredibly well!

The improvements from 7.1 to 8.0 are quite noticeable.

Just for fun, I also tried it on a quiet day in Big Sur on 1. It can do it, albeit slowly sometimes, but still incredibly impressive.

 

[Rockster]

Fantastic testimony. Thanks for sharing. I have one question, though. Not meaning to criticize, but just curious. Why have the TACC setting on 2? I don't really see a compelling reason to keep it that low and, in virtually all cases, on anything other than 7. Am I missing something?

 

[Galve2000]

i maintain that I have had the opposite experience since 8.0 -- if that makes me a troll then so be it.

i note bhzmark does not post his location in his profile. he should come try AP on NYC highways before he insists on "no problem"

I do apologize for hijacking this thread and will not comment further on this issue in this thread.

 

[DiamondHands]

Glad you're ok, thanks for posting.

 

[Max*]

Fantastic testimony. Thanks for sharing. I have one question, though. Not meaning to criticize, but just curious. Why have the TACC setting on 2? I don't really see a compelling reason to keep it that low and, in virtually all cases, on anything other than 7. Am I missing something?

Yes. I assume you live in a semi - rural area?

I keep my TACC at 3 on any interstate travel (65mph+), and on 1-2 in any traffic (0-35mph, let's say). Otherwise, the gap is so big that every damn car on the road will cut you off.

When I go to the city, even a setting of 1 isn't small enough to prevent people from cutting you off all.the.freaking.time. So I end up driving without AP.

 

[Galve2000]

Fantastic testimony. Thanks for sharing. I have one question, though. Not meaning to criticize, but just curious. Why have the TACC setting on 2? I don't really see a compelling reason to keep it that low and, in virtually all cases, on anything other than 7. Am I missing something?

if you keep it on anything less than one on NYC streets (and highways) you will get constantly cut off. just one reason to leave it at 1, -- even 2 can get you into trouble.

 

[Max*]

i maintain that I have had the opposite experience since 8.0 -- if that makes me a troll then so be it.

i note bhzmark does not post his location in his profile. he should come try AP on NYC highways before he insists on "no problem"

I do apologize for hijacking this thread and will not comment further on this issue in this thread.

This isn't the thread for the discussion, but I don't agree with you.

I've driven my car in NYC often enough, the lanes are much narrower than down here, so AP does have some places where it has problems*. But overall, Belt Parkway, BQE, etc. it performs fine. Not as well as a large flat carless interstate, but as well as you'd expect it to do in a congested city.

Though narrow lanes alone aren't a problem, AP did better on Goethals bridge than half the drivers that take it.

 

[MP3Mike]

This scenario perfectly demonstrated how the new AP car tracking system works to make things safer. If I was driving manually, it is unlikely that I would have been able to stop in time, since I could not see the car that had stopped.

While I think it is great that AP was able to see the issue and stop early, if you can't stop to avoid hitting the car you are following you are either following too closely or not paying attention. (I'll give you an exception if the car in front of you hits a solid concrete wall and comes to a full stop in less than a second.)

Was there any collisions, or did everyone manage to stop/maneuver to safety?

 

[Vitold]

i maintain that I have had the opposite experience since 8.0 -- if that makes me a troll then so be it.

i note bhzmark does not post his location in his profile. he should come try AP on NYC highways before he insists on "no problem"

I do apologize for hijacking this thread and will not comment further on this issue in this thread.

Video or it did not happen.

 

[BerTX]

Fantastic testimony. Thanks for sharing. I have one question, though. Not meaning to criticize, but just curious. Why have the TACC setting on 2? I don't really see a compelling reason to keep it that low and, in virtually all cases, on anything other than 7. Am I missing something?

If I had a seting of 8 available, I'd set it to that.

Driving the Tesla is fun. Seeing how close you can follow the car in front off you is just stressful.

 

[SageBrush]

AP did something else not mentioned by OP:
It acted quick enough to slow down in a manner that allowed the car behind OP to avoid hitting him and perhaps setting off a chain reaction.

I'm sure we will read about this in all the national newspapers tomorrow. NOT

 

[sdorn]

AP did something else not mentioned by OP:
It acted quick enough to slow down in a manner that allowed the car behind OP to avoid hitting him and perhaps setting off a chain reaction.

I'm sure we will read about this in all the national newspapers tomorrow. NOT

No way to know if that is true. The car behind OP may have been following at a safe distance and therefore had plenty of time to stop (like every responsible driver should do).

 

[OlderThanDirt]

AP did something else not mentioned by OP:
It acted quick enough to slow down in a manner that allowed the car behind OP to avoid hitting him and perhaps setting off a chain reaction.

I'm sure we will read about this in all the national newspapers tomorrow. NOT

I've had the Autopilot reacting before the cars ahead experience several times now. Pretty darn amazing is all I can say.

We can't make all vehicles capable of this soon enough.

 

[SageBrush]

No way to know if that is true. The car behind OP may have been following at a safe distance and therefore had plenty of time to stop

Which does not detract from the point. Look at the statistics of collisions on the highways that are the result of sudden stops and notice how many are pile-ups.

 

[Chopr147]

if you can't stop to avoid hitting the car you are following you are either following too closely or not paying attention.

Because at 60MPH you are 6 car lengths behind at all times? Geez.
On a highway doing 80 mph I am not 8 car lengths behind so I guess that makes me a dangerous driver.

This scenario perfectly demonstrated how the new AP car tracking system works to make things safer. I

Good for you. So many times I find myself trying to see in front of the vehicle F/O me. I teach my kids to anticipate these things by watching the road ahead of the immediate vicinity. But they don't listen to me

 

[GlmnAlyAirCar]

I wanted to post my experience this morning while using autopilot. I am a long time user of the system and know very well its capabilities and its limitations, but I never thought that the use of autopilot would actually save me from a crash as it did today.

I am a physician in Florida where I was doing my daily commute on I-75. The traffic pace was about 60mph with moderate to heavy traffic. I was driving in the far right lane with autopilot engaged and a 2 on the TACC spacing. I was following a truck which was large enough to obstruct my view of the car ahead. But I did note that AP was registering the car in front of my lead car just fine despite me not having a view. Suddenly full emergency braking was activated on my car, which startled me because the lead car was still moving at a normal speed and I could not detect a problem. A split second later the car directly in front of me veered into the shoulder to avoid hitting the car in front of him which had stopped abruptly for road debris. The AP in my car managed to brake even before the car in front of me acted and was able to come to a full stop with a decent amount of room between me and what was the second car ahead of me. The original lead car was now stuck on the side of the road.

This scenario perfectly demonstrated how the new AP car tracking system works to make things safer. If I was driving manually, it is unlikely that I would have been able to stop in time, since I could not see the car that had stopped. The car reacted well before the car ahead of me reacted and that made the difference between a crash and a hard stop. Strong work Telsa, thanks for saving me.

You really should Tweet this to Elon.