Autosteer's sucky choice of lane position around bends

[j-rho]

So, got my car yesterday but already have 100+ miles of Autopilot under my belt. I really like the speed adaptation, and the lane-holding when things are straight is a little wobbly but passable.

The thing I really don't like is how it behaves around bends, especially when there's traffic. If, hyptothetically, the X is 6 feet wide, and the lane is 10 feet wide, it feels like when going around a bend in the road, the car leaves 3 feet of space on the inside of the bend (to the right of the car in a right-hand bend) and only about 1 foot of space on the outside.

This is a really unnerving feeling, and if I were somebody alongside in the lane to the left of the autosteered car, I'd be unnerved there too. Maybe it's the racer in me, but I like to take the "inside line", always looking for the apex, and from a safety POV - when you're in the inside of the bend, you could theoretically straighten out the wheel for a bit to deal with something, and still stay in your lane, whereas if you're already running on the outside, there's a lot less margin before you're crossing into the next lane over.

A couple times I inadvertently wrestled control away from autosteer because of how close to the outside of the lane a line choice it was making.

Anybody else experience this? Am I too sensitive? Is this something that's changed in character through the software versions? Car is on 2018.24.1.

 

[P85_DA]

Trust the car it drives fine around bends ..:I have close to 70k miles driving AP1 ,2.5 ...when AP first came out It would take bends at full speed ...now I find it more natural going thru bends ..the outside sensors should keep distance between car on outside lane

 

[Corbets]

As a motorcyclist, I’m accustomed to taking the outside of the bend (on the road, not the track ) - it gives you better visibility through the curve in situations where there’s, for example, a wall on the inside bend.

As long as you’re in the lane, I wouldn’t worry too much about it - but I say that without having taken delivery of my own X yet.

 

[arnolddeleon]

My limited experience with autosteer (about 400 miles) also had me disagreeing with it on curves. I'm not a performance driver but I also like to straighten my curves. If there were no other cars I would let it drive its way but would tend to take over if there were other cars around me.

 

[Haxster]

For the most part, lane handling on curves (when I let it) seems reasonable to me, but AP seems oblivious to:
Driving in another vehicles blind spot
Driving alongside (and uncomfortably close to) a large truck
Driving alongside a vehicle weaving in (and out!) of its lane
Driving alongside another vehicle on a curve
Squeezing over to let a motorcycle pass between lanes (a dangerous practice in any event)

 

[Need]

Yup, AP loves to hug the outside curve like a NASCAR driver. Like others said, I think it has to do with giving the camera/sensor better angle to see further away.

 

[mikerwalsh]

I couldn't agree more with being uncomfortable with hugging the outside curve, especially with oncoming traffic hugging the inside curve-it seems like we pass each other at a speed differential of 120 MPH with inches to spare! I usually take control on the twisty sections, for my own piece of mind. I've had situations where the oncoming truck was a little over the line-I don't like that adrenaline rush! Plus it seems like AP is slow to enter the curve, and I've have it go over the yellow line and buzz at itself

 

[mxnym]

Plus it seems like AP is slow to enter the curve, and I've have it go over the yellow line and buzz at itself

I see you've just joined the forum in April, but I don't know when you got your Tesla. This used to happen to me (Fall 2017) but hasn't happened on newer firmware versions. Is this an ongoing issue for you, or something that may have been resolved by updates?

 

[mikerwalsh]

I got it in March, so it has happened since then, but I haven't noticed going over the line recently, so it may have been resolved. I'll keep an eye on it. Some of our twistier mountain roads are more fun to drive manually anyway!

 

[Foxtrotter]

I agree completely with the OP. With our model 3 (4000 miles in 2.5 months) autopilot hugs the outside of curves which can be quite unnerving for me. Especially if there is a wall or another vehicle there. It goes so close that if something were to happen there would be no room to maneuver to the outside. No time to take control. This is more of a problem on sharper freeway turns and at higher speeds. At the higher speeds the car goes deeper into the turn before starting to turn so it starts the turn close to the outside and then stays there. We generally don't use autopilot if there are substantial turns and our desired speed is more than 70mph. And we have seen it hit the dots on the like several times with higher speeds on turns. At lower speeds it seems fine.

 

[ShawnA]

Hi j-rho,

I agree completely... I have had the Model X since March 22, 2018.
In cornering it behaves like the steering is bouncing off of the outside of your lane.
I too, like the inside line...
The problem I see with following the inside line would be following it to an off ramp...

I recently returned from a 1900 mile trip from Southwest Michigan to East of Montreal, Canada.
It was a good chance to experiment with the auto-steering and lane change.
It seemed to follow the center of the lane exactly on straight sections of road.
I would prefer one or two feet off-center toward the shoulder in the right lane and the same
one or two feet off center in the left (passing) lane toward the left shoulder.
It would keep it clear of the wide, large trucks too...
On more than 2 lanes, like through Toronto on 401, I don't know what it should do...

I noticed on many of the Interstate Highways there was a dashed line across the exits.
Probably to keep us going straight instead of following every exit off of the road...

Shawn

 

[mikerwalsh]

I drove a particularly windy section of highway today to see if recent updates had improved the cornering, and I didn't notice any improvement. But what was really disconcerting was its habit of completely losing its way over humps in the road, where it can't detect either the outside or inside lines. It will often pull to the left or right, and I have to take over until we get over the little hill.Today I tested it when there was no traffic, and just let it try to recover, but it actually swerved into the oncoming lane. On another occasion it swerved toward the ditch, but I intervened, since there are limits to what I will do in the interest of science

 

[Peteski]

I don't use Autosteer if there are any signficant bends in the road, especially at speed, it's just not that good at picking the best line and it does have a tendency to go to the outside of the lane which is sometimes okay, sometimes not depending on the situation. On a motorway or major dual carriageway with gentle turns it's brilliant and sits dead centre in the lane with no wandering. Passing trucks you do feel a bit closer than normal (as you might naturally edge out a bit when driving yourself), but you soon get used to it. On a decent A-road with fairly gentle bends it's pretty good too, but once you get into proper bends requiring significant steering input and a good choice of line then I just switch it off and enjoy a bit of self-driving fun!

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

I drove a particularly windy section of highway today to see if recent updates had improved the cornering, and I didn't notice any improvement. But what was really disconcerting was its habit of completely losing its way over humps in the road, where it can't detect either the outside or inside lines. It will often pull to the left or right, and I have to take over until we get over the little hill.Today I tested it when there was no traffic, and just let it try to recover, but it actually swerved into the oncoming lane. On another occasion it swerved toward the ditch, but I intervened, since there are limits to what I will do in the interest of science

On the bright side: you'll have fewer nags.

 

[Keiki]

Me too. Especially with trucks on 495 on Long Island NY. Wish side sensors would properly gauge and keep better side distance. Almost always take back control when passing or being passed by Semi's.
2017 (April Delivery) Model X P100D fully loaded and still loving it.