While I agree with most replies here that the initial post had some bad information, I have noticed that autopilot does slow more abruptly than I would in the same situations (and I don’t mean when it slams on the brakes for no reason). I believe it’s because it’s always trying to maintain an absolute minimum distance from the car in front while a human driver would allow for a more elastic follow distance. It’s noticeably awkward from my perspective as driver driver, and I would guess the vehicles following me would also find it unusual.
Concerned about rear collision when car slows on its own
- Thread starter White Knight
- Start date
No, we can't control other driver's actions.
However, we can control how our Teslas "behave" by not using Auto Pilot in situations where braking more abruptly than expected might be more likely to cause a tailgater to rear end us.
That's the point.
Exactly!!!
C141medic
Active Member
The only way to do this is not to use autopilot at all. There’s no way to predict if or when you’ll get rear ended due to autopilot braking. The only constant is an inattentive driver behind you. You’ll get rear ended with or without autopilot if the driver behind you is not paying attention and / or following too close and you need to brake abruptly for whatever reason.
JohnSnowNW
Active Member
This seems like you're making excuses for other driver's inattentiveness. Just because AP acts slightly different than a human does not mean the likelihood of an accident increases...it could just as easily decrease...if we're just pulling opinion out of thin air.
No excuses being made whatsoever.
Perhaps it depends on the environment in which we drive. I know driving styles, follow distances, and speeds on So California freeways can differ significantly from other places in the USA where I have driven. Most So. California drivers are not likely to brake abruptly, or at all, when a car changes lanes closely in front of them. They will generally maintain their speed or lift off the accelerator briefly, but rarely brake...and drivers following are accustomed to this. An abrupt braking maneuver could more easily cause a driver following to rear end the braking car.
It is my opinion that AP acts more than slightly differently than a human in the situation I'm describing.
I regret I am unable to better express my point of view on this.
JohnSnowNW
Active Member
My apologies if I wasn't clear, it was not my intention to leave this matter up to debate.
I was simply pointing out that you have no evidence to back your opinion that AP acts in such a way as to increase the likelihood of an accident. That's really all I was attempting to point out.
A lot of discussion on both sides. I like this type of braking, acceleration and deceleration on auto pilot. Though it does do drastic braking sometimes but overall i think this type of driving "auto pilot" will prevent careless driving as long we need to pay attention whats going on and take over when need to. Which i do sometimes. i love to switch to cruse control sometimes. Much better than the conventional type. I wiill take note on the screen if the brake lights do shows even when i don't press the brake. Thanks for the open discussion. i dont brake suddenly on my gas cars, thats why i feel uncomfortable when it does on auto pilot sometimes. i still love to switch to auto pilot or cruise control.
Jmp123
Member
In my experience Tesla AP is no more abrupt on the brakes than any of the other smart cruise control or autonomous braking systems I've seen (Acura, Infiniti, Kia, lexus, etc...). Is it more aggressive than how I would brake? 99% of the time yes, but that's ok. I expect it to keep improving over time.
Phantom braking situations do create a concern for me, as that's when it's a very sudden braking. Standard braking due to slowing traffic seems to be quite well calibrated, especially if you have your following distance set to 5 like I do. It allows me to be a lot more mindful of how close the car behind me is following because my car is giving appropriate space in front. Just a casual observation demonstrates how the majority of drivers do not leave anywhere near enough space for reacting to an event in front of them.
As someone who often is going 60-70 MPH in a car pool lane next to stopped traffic, my real fear is someone just pulling out from a standstill into a fast moving lane.
As someone who often is going 60-70 MPH in a car pool lane next to stopped traffic, my real fear is someone just pulling out from a standstill into a fast moving lane.
This is definitely an issue where we live. It happens all the time.
But 60-70 in the carpool lane? LOL.
Make it 75-85 in our neck of the woods.
I find that cruise and autopilot work great in the Model 3. I use them both much more than I expected. My previous vehicle I only used adaptive cruise control occasionally because it would brake way to hard no matter the distance that was set. The Model 3 I find is smooth. If traffic is heavy I disengage auto pilot and or cruise. Just a habit.
Off by an order of magnitude. Apparently the decel threshold that triggers the brake lights is about -0.1G. Some say as low as -0.08G, and others -0.12G. Either way, it's about -0.1G.Well that can't be right. You'd have to run into something to pull 1Gbut point taken
eHaw
Member
We do have control of how closely our Teslas follow the vehicles in front of us. If we are following more conservatively (6 car lengths instead of 3?) our Teslas will not have to respond as aggressively when traffic slows. So we have a bit of control.
Ivan Abundance
Member
In the early days of the S, Tesla realized they needed to add an accelerometer to trigger the brake lights for re-gen braking. All their vehicles have it now. As others have mentioned the screen shows when the brake lights are on.
DopeGhoti
Active Member
calidreamz808
Member
wronggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggg If you ever took the time to glance in your rear view mirror take a look at the display when you're slowing down.. the brake lights come ON when regen is slowing you down.
