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Dangly weight tied to steering wheel to fool autopilot that you're paying attention?

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Drama queens, were you threatening all the innocents on the road when you used 7.0 AP?
No, I've never been threatening innocents at any time. I am always paying full attention to the road, and am ready to take over immediately at all times. I have proven this repeatedly in thousands of kilometers of AP driving. This is a driver assistance feature, not autonomous driving, and I treat it as such. You'll see in my various postings on this forum that I have always been quite clear and consistent on this point. The driver is responsible for all actions behind the wheel, and Tesla is responsible to not steal functionality from a vehicle they do not own. Tesla does not have the right to remove functionality from something I already purchased, no matter how much they feel it will improve their PR image.
 
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Green1, I think you and I are in agreement here. It was sarcasm.

I'm simply pointing out that what the crybabies consider dangerous now, was perfectly safe when they were using it a year ago! Now they want to judge others for using the system they found perfectly fine when it was released in 7.0
 
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Seriously? The reason it has you put your hands on the wheel is because it doesn't know where to steer. If you hang something on the wheel, you'll just cause the car to leave the road and crash.

No, the reason it does it is to make sure you're paying attention. If it was because it didn't know where to steer it would crash after I simply touch the steering wheel to tell it I'm still paying attention.
 
For the nanny ninnies, allow me really melt your mind:

With these improvised solutions to create a static torque, AP performance is improved dramatically. Something about the constant reaction force has a stabilizing effect. I think because the motor torque through the EPS rack is always positive and doesn't go through zero, so perhaps the lash and other compliance that can be challenging for feedback control are removed from the situation. Whatever the reason, the steering is much more stable and that includes over crests and other events where AP typically struggles, it seems to continue straight rather than diving toward the roadside.

Anyone else have a similar experience?
 
No, the reason it does it is to make sure you're paying attention. If it was because it didn't know where to steer it would crash after I simply touch the steering wheel to tell it I'm still paying attention.
As I've mentioned before, you (and others) are quoting a message that is over a year old. At the time, that's how Autopilot worked. It didn't have all of the nags that some people are complaining about now.
 
For the nanny ninnies, allow me really melt your mind:

With these improvised solutions to create a static torque, AP performance is improved dramatically. Something about the constant reaction force has a stabilizing effect. I think because the motor torque through the EPS rack is always positive and doesn't go through zero, so perhaps the lash and other compliance that can be challenging for feedback control are removed from the situation. Whatever the reason, the steering is much more stable and that includes over crests and other events where AP typically struggles, it seems to continue straight rather than diving toward the roadside.

Anyone else have a similar experience?

Yes. The driving behavior seemed to be MUCH more stable when driving alone. But when driving with other cars the behavior degraded again just at it would normally i.e. instead of biasing away from moving objects as was claimed, often the car impinges on the dash white line to the right, when it did no such thing as the only car on the road. This is even with making sure the weight bias is to the LEFT, away from the middle lane of travel.
 
1lb is likely more heavy than necessary though. Looking for some 0.5lbs wrist weights..

Maybe instead of nags they should fix things that are actually dangerous, like the lane biasing that doesn't work, or the tendency for 8.0 to brake way too late into the *soil your underpants* zone on the highway.
I don't have a precision scale to weigh my solution, but I am sure it's more than 8 oz. It doesn't appear to be heavy enough to eliminate all nags, but it does reduce them.
I'm shocked that nobody else seems to be concerned with the property rights argument here.

When we allow companies to remove functionality after the sale, where's the limit? What did I actually buy? how can I enjoy my ownership experience if I'm constantly dreading what feature Tesla will remove next?
To be honest, before reading your arguments on the subject I hadn't really thought about the property rights argument. I think that many people don't consider software to be something they own. However, after reading your arguments I agree with you 100%.
 
Have been using AP since March and of course it is getting better - every week even. 8.0 was also (imo) a leap forward.

However, when you are doing a long trip on 8.0, you obviously need to do some muscle exercise, just as in a plane. Luckily, in Europe, sporting goods retailer Decathlon® has the ideal product: wristbands with a 500g weight (they exist in heavier versions as well, but one might as well start small). Are sold per pair, @10 euro.

Of course, given that you need to keep one hand on the wheel, you can only exercise one arm at a time. What to do with the other Decathlon® wristband? Not enough interior storage in your Tesla, you think? No problem, you can just wrap the other Decathlon® wristband around the steering wheel. The extra weight gives the steering wheel a sporting touch which helps motivate you to continue your exercise. Of course you will, and indeed must, while doing your exercise, stay as least as concentrated on the road as you were with 7.1!

IMG_1021.jpg


Stay safe, all!
 
If Tesla knew that they could not remotely and regularly tweak the capabilities of the software they equip their cars with, they would make decisions very differently. It's very unlikely we would have half the cool tech in the cars today in that world.

That includes "taking away" functions that prove unworkable from their perspective.

Luckily for us, most owners update their vehicles as suggested. If a significant portion of owners resisted, Tesla would be forced to react by becoming far more conservative with their releases.

Think of how conservative traditional automakers are, since they are assured that once they ship something, it'll likely be on the road for 15-20 years without updates. We don't want/need Tesla thinking this way.

With the bad of "stealing features I paid for" comes the good of "those features existed in the first place."
 
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No, I've never been threatening innocents at any time. I am always paying full attention to the road, and am ready to take over immediately at all times. I have proven this repeatedly in thousands of kilometers of AP driving. This is a driver assistance feature, not autonomous driving, and I treat it as such. You'll see in my various postings on this forum that I have always been quite clear and consistent on this point. The driver is responsible for all actions behind the wheel, and Tesla is responsible to not steal functionality from a vehicle they do not own. Tesla does not have the right to remove functionality from something I already purchased, no matter how much they feel it will improve their PR image.


Screen Shot 2016-11-29 at 10.57.31 PM.png
 
The great thing about auto steer is it doesn't nag or require you to put your hands on the wheel actually like other brands. It only does when it can't figure out where to go, doesn't have enough data, or you actually do need to steer.

In using it today, it has a pretty solid feel when in control and if you want to use the wheel to force it off you have to apply a decent amount of force - especially if it starts to veer dangerously or something. Overall works great without any nags when in normal operation though so no weights/trickery needed unless justified it seems.

My other take is that it is freeway ready, useful when following another car and with lane info, but not quite solid for city driving roads for sure yet. I think we are a ways off from that in years...


Welcome to 2018... it now nags you every 20 seconds. We've come a long way.
 
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