Danger during AutoPass

[l4sythe]

During a 1500 mile road trip, mostly interstate roads I used Autopilot a lot, and loved it!! During the trip on two occasions, while engaged in Autopilot , I signaled for a pass maneuver to the left, being old school and safety conscious, I check my blind spot before I started my pass. During the pass, about half way into the left lane, the car abruptly veered back into the drive lane before making the pass ( thank God or we would have hit the car we were passing ) Anyone else had this issue? I was trying to remember if I might have shut my blinker off before maneuver Was completed. I have not tried to duplicate the move again.

By the way, in other post, I have seen remarks on dangers of passing tractor trailers.... I agree, can be scarey in Autopilot

 

[Az_Rael]

I have occasionally seen that behavior in my 3. Yes, if you let go too early on the blinker, it will cancel the lane change, but that problem is pretty easy to learn how to avoid. On my 3, I fully activate the blinker and the car turns it off when done, so I know it’s not letting go of the blinker causing the issue. I think sometimes it gets some flash from a sensor that something is in the lane, and it aborts the lane change. Similar to phantom braking. A few times it aborted the lane change, then immediately started one again causing much weaving around on the road. Fun times.

It happens often enough that if someone is driving very aggressively behind me (waiting for me to leave the lane), I do not use AP lane change. If the car aborts and that person has already started overtaking me, I am not sure the car wouldn’t hit them.

 

[l4sythe]

I have occasionally seen that behavior in my 3. Yes, if you let go too early on the blinker, it will cancel the lane change, but that problem is pretty easy to learn how to avoid. On my 3, I fully activate the blinker and the car turns it off when done, so I know it’s not letting go of the blinker causing the issue. I think sometimes it gets some flash from a sensor that something is in the lane, and it aborts the lane change. Similar to phantom braking. A few times it aborted the lane change, then immediately started one again causing much weaving around on the road. Fun times.

It happens often enough that if someone is driving very aggressively behind me (waiting for me to leave the lane), I do not use AP lane change. If the car aborts and that person has already started overtaking me, I am not sure the car wouldn’t hit them.

Well, I didn’t realize the blinker would shut off itself. Next time out, I’ll have to try it, love this forum, I learn so much.

I was going down a steep hill on interstate with a overhead sign toward the bottom, that, I think, caused a rapid braking event I believe, anyway it braked for no other reason I could see.

 

[Az_Rael]

Well, I didn’t realize the blinker would shut off itself

Well, I am not sure it will on an X. It doesn’t on the S, since the S has a mechanical blinker. It works on the 3 because the blinker doesn’t “stick” in position. Does the X blinker stay in the “blinking” position when you use it, or does it go back to the center? If it always goes back to center, then it will work like the 3. If it locks up or down while blinking, it won’t.

 

[alexdav]

I don't have my X yet (delivery on the 18th), so I can't speak specifically to that.

But yeah, with the 3, if you leave it, it'll automatically turn off. However, I've noticed that, to me, it feels like it's blinking too long into the lane change that I feel like other drivers may think I'm going to keep going. So, I manually cancel it by pressing the turn signal in the opposite direction once I've passed over halfway into the lane.

You could try doing that with the X, manually turning it off once the vehicle has cross over halfway over. I'm pretty sure I've done that in my S is as well.

 

[jboy210]

You should not touch the blinker until the lane change has completed. If you do shut it off mid lane change the car will assume you are aborting the lane change and return to the original lane pretty quickly. I know this one from experience.

 

[jabe99]

Agree that this is caused by not keeping the blinker on until you have fully changed lanes.

 

[l4sythe]

You should not touch the blinker until the lane change has completed. If you do shut it off mid lane change the car will assume you are aborting the lane change and return to the original lane pretty quickly. I know this one from experience.

Thanks, I bet that’s what happened to me, it was a real fast maneuver that was actually was a little scarey. Another habit I need to break from driving my BMW.

You should not touch the blinker until the lane change has completed. If you do shut it off mid lane change the car will assume you are aborting the lane change and return to the original lane pretty quickly. I know this one from experience.

 

[l4sythe]

Agree that this is caused by not keeping the blinker on until you have fully changed lanes.

Thanks, I that is a critical piece of information that one should know before using the autopilot. I checked back in my manual and unless I missed it somehow, I did not find any mention of the abort feature. Thanks again for heads up.

 

[jboy210]

Thanks, I bet that’s what happened to me, it was a real fast maneuver that was actually was a little scarey. Another habit I need to break from driving my BMW.

Wait, you use the blinker when changing lanes in your BMW? As a fellow BMW owner it is my job to drum you out of the BMW owners club.

 

[scsmx]

The blinker stalk on the X is mechanical and you must return it to neutral manually once the lane change has completed unless you need to abort as previously mentioned. The completion of the lane change is when the dotted line returns to solid on the display.

 

[HadoukenZR]

Echoing the same experience in my X. Was caught by surprise when I turned off blinker mid auto-lane change. Violent swerve back to original lane if you don't let it complete the lane change.

 

[dethman]

this freaked me out several times. car would swerve suddenly back to the original lane during the middle of a lane change. pretty sure it was due cancelling the blinker, but still, it really shouldn't react in that way.

 

[atppilot]

In the manual it states that it will not complete the maneuver until it acquires the the far side lane lines(approx 50%). If it does not it will return to the lane.

 

[NikeWings]

In the manual it states that it will not complete the maneuver until it acquires the the far side lane lines(approx 50%). If it does not it will return to the lane.

That's right, it's about 50% and it'll hold the lane change just fine.

 

[Darmie]

Wow, very interesting on the 3 the blinker shuts off. That's what I love about our Goldwing.
What the wife and I found is as long as the inner most side of both tires cross the line, you can let go of the blinker and the car will still move into the lane of choice.

 

[RRM998]

I always keep my turn signal on until the lane change is complete. I still have the occasional time when the car will swerve back to the original lane. I'd say it happens about 1 in 10 times.

I always have my hand positioned on the steering wheel to be able to manually complete the lane change when I start an auto lane change.

 

[l4sythe]

Wait, you use the blinker when changing lanes in your BMW? As a fellow BMW owner it is my job to drum you out of the BMW owners club.

I know, I need to get out of the BMW club, BUT of course Tesla wanted me to give them my 750, so I kept it . I now am pushing buttons that are not there, waiting for door to closes when I hit break on & on & on. Makes me crazy when I have to drive that old school car!!

 

[jboy210]

I know, I need to get out of the BMW club, BUT of course Tesla wanted me to give them my 750, so I kept it . I now am pushing buttons that are not there, waiting for door to closes when I hit break on & on & on. Makes me crazy when I have to drive that old school car!!

If you 7 Series was like our 7 series I know why Tesla did not want the POS. Ours had so many thing break. Every one of the window shade things broke within a year. The GPS would route you 200+ miles out of the way. The car would accelerate at full throttle on cruise control in its own. Exhaust manifold cracked. Steering knuckles came loose. Not had for 3 years and 20,000 miles huh? So glad to turn in that car.

Now have an X3 which has few problems, but still has issues.

 

[l4sythe]

If you 7 Series was like our 7 series I know why Tesla did not want the POS. Ours had so many thing break. Every one of the window shade things broke within a year. The GPS would route you 200+ miles out of the way. The car would accelerate at full throttle on cruise control in its own. Exhaust manifold cracked. Steering knuckles came loose. Not had for 3 years and 20,000 miles huh? So glad to turn in that car.

Now have an X3 which has few problems, but still has issues.

My 750 has been good to me, no issues except standard service BUT if I could get a fair deal for it, I would trade it in a heart beat for an MS. My wife as the ‘18 MX and we love it. Going to do a round trip Florida to Maine next month in the X!!