Close call...

[mongo]

Because Tesla is NOT Waymo. With LIDAR on top, Waymo can detect 360 all around over 2 football fields away.

Current Tesla can only detect adjacent lanes and front and back.

The speeding car was not in an adjacent lane, so it cannot be Tesla automatic system that did the braking prior to the arrival to an adjacent lane.

The speeding car was not in front nor back, so it cannot be Tesla automatic system that did the braking to the prior to the arrival to the front.

After the braking, then the speeding car came into view to the front of the Model 3.

If it was Tesla automation credit, you would hear it from Tesla's public relations department via blog, twitter...

The B pillar cameras would see the errant car easily. How good is the side collisions avoidance system?

Autopilot is just like the good old fashion airline autopilot. Human can override automation at any time and very easily.

Those who have tried to accelerate only to get the 'object ahead' warning would disagree with you.

That also meant that there would be very loud crashing noises and tire noises on the road that made the Model 3 driver applied the brakes well in advance.

The noise aspect is interesting, but given the sub second timing of the entire event (not well in advance) and when the impact occured, I would be very impressed at the driver reflexes esp since the car approached from behind them (intersection angle).

The before and after brake frames from the full sized YouTube video.

 

[Tam]

...Those who have tried to accelerate only to get the 'object ahead' warning would disagree with you...

I don't understand the concept above.

Let me point out what I mean below:

If I am on autopilot with a stopped car in front of me, the brake has been automatically on. It will automatically release its brake and accelerate on its own when the car in front starts moving.

However, as human, if want to hit the car in front, I can override the automation by pressing on the accelerator.

The automation would give in and let me accelerate to hit the car in front manually.

Human overrides automation in current Tesla's protocol.

 

[mongo]

I don't understand the concept above.

Let me point out what I mean below:

If I am on autopilot with a stopped car in front of me, the brake has been automatically on. It will automatically release its brake and accelerate on its own when the car in front starts moving.

However, as human, if want to hit the car in front, I can override the automation by pressing on the accelerator.

The automation would give in and let me accelerate to hit the car in front manually.

Human overrides automation in current Tesla's protocol.

People have had this situation:
At an intersection waiting to pull into traffic. Press the accelerator
Car detects vehicle traveling along the road and kills the power.

 

[Tam]

It looks like the Model 3 was on Northbound of 63rd St and the Redlight Runner on Northbound CO-119 Diagonal Highway

Google Map:





Better quality video with sound in YouTube:

 

[cityberty]

Based on all the youtube videos with auto braking(some as late as .48)it seems that this would be the driver applying a manual brake. Tesla auto braking is not good yet. Also the sound as others have noted and tesla does not take sound into account yet either.

Even if the driver said they did or didnt brake I think they wouldnt even know if it was them or the car only way would be to pull diagnostic. It happened too fast.

 

[Tam]

Based on all the youtube videos with auto braking(some as late as .48)it seems that this would be the driver applying a manual brake. Tesla auto braking is not good yet. Also the sound as others have noted and tesla does not take sound into account yet either.

Even if the driver said they did or didnt brake I think they wouldnt even know if it was them or the car only way would be to pull diagnostic. It happened too fast.

I agree that Autopilot is currently in its infancy and people have been overestimating it for years.

Automatic Emergency Brake: The red light runner needs to be right in front of the Model 3 in order for the system to react. The brake lights were lit up while the red light runner was still on the left side colliding with the white car on the opposite direction.

My verdict on AEB: No. Not in this case.

Autopilot: Model 3 was in a complete stop waiting for the light to change. It's possible to turn on the Autopilot while in a complete stop.

But you need a leading car in front of you AND you need to release your manual brake (manual overrides automation principle).

At the end of the youtube, you can see a red car waiting on the left turn lane on the other side of the intersection. In my experience, the other side of even a very small intersection (while this intersection is too big) is too far to serve as a lead car for the purpose of activating Autopilot.

Autopilot is getting better and better and maybe it will pick up a lead car from the other side of an intersection but, not now.

Without a lead car, the Model 3 can turn on Autopilot once it reaches 18 MPH. But its speed and travel distance were too low to do so in the video. In addition, activating Autopilot without a lead car needs clear lane markings and the intersection didn't have any lane markings.

My verdict on Autopilot: No. Not in this case.

Side cameras: Although side cameras are now activated, they are in addition to sonars for blindspot for auto-lane-change / side collision avoidance.

Those functions are very limited to adjacent lanes. If side collision avoidance was triggered, the Model 3 would slightly steer to the opposite side within its own lane. It is not meant to steer to the next lane. In this case, there were no automatic steering that we see (we could see the driver's head movement toward the right when the car changed its lane.

My verdict on Side Cameras: No. Not in this case. Maybe in future when the function will be expanded beyond its adjacent lane scope.

My verdict for any automation in this case is NO.

 

[f3honda4me]

I have seen at least one tesla video where it detects cross traffic blowing a red light, does the "beep beep beep" and hits the brake only to have the car it detected from the side come flying into the intersection and hit someone else, missing the tesla.

 

[Tam]

I have seen at least one tesla video where it detects cross traffic blowing a red light, does the "beep beep beep" and hits the brake only to have the car it detected from the side come flying into the intersection and hit someone else, missing the tesla.

I have no doubt that the automation system works in many cases but not in this particular scenario with all the hints we see.

 

[Tam]

..."beep beep beep"...

Even with AEB, and even when it detected obstacles and alarmed "beep beep beep", it didn't avoid a collision in this youtube below:

Autopilot works but we need to know when it works and when it doesn't because it is not mature enough to work in all scenarios.

 

[cityberty]

I agree that Autopilot is currently in its infancy and people have been overestimating it for years.

Automatic Emergency Brake: The red light runner needs to be right in front of the Model 3 in order for the system to react. The brake lights were lit up while the red light runner was still on the left side colliding with the white car on the opposite direction.

My verdict on AEB: No. Not in this case.

Autopilot: Model 3 was in a complete stop waiting for the light to change. It's possible to turn on the Autopilot while in a complete stop.

But you need a leading car in front of you AND you need to release your manual brake (manual overrides automation principle).

At the end of the youtube, you can see a red car waiting on the left turn lane on the other side of the intersection. In my experience, the other side of even a very small intersection (while this intersection is too big) is too far to serve as a lead car for the purpose of activating Autopilot.

Autopilot is getting better and better and maybe it will pick up a lead car from the other side of an intersection but, not now.

Without a lead car, the Model 3 can turn on Autopilot once it reaches 18 MPH. But its speed and travel distance were too low to do so in the video. In addition, activating Autopilot without a lead car needs clear lane markings and the intersection didn't have any lane markings.

My verdict on Autopilot: No. Not in this case.

Side cameras: Although side cameras are now activated, they are in addition to sonars for blindspot for auto-lane-change / side collision avoidance.

Those functions are very limited to adjacent lanes. If side collision avoidance was triggered, the Model 3 would slightly steer to the opposite side within its own lane. It is not meant to steer to the next lane. In this case, there were no automatic steering that we see (we could see the driver's head movement toward the right when the car changed its lane.

My verdict on Side Cameras: No. Not in this case. Maybe in future when the function will be expanded beyond its adjacent lane scope.

My verdict for any automation in this case is NO.

Tam great analysis! Thanks for taking the time. And agree.

Lets hope in 6-12 months time it will be automation with more updates or at the very least with AP 3.0 hardware updates down the line