EAP newbie question

[tpatana]

I haven't completely figured out how/when the EAP brakes, so can someone clarify. I've understood that in normal situations the AEB will drop your speed by 25mph if it anticipates collision coming. Also if you have EAP enabled and you're following a car, it'll automatically slow down or speed up with the car in front, including full stop and resume after it resumes.

So what happens if there's longer gap in traffic. Say for example the car you're following with EAP increases speed beyond EAP speed limit, so it'll gain longer gap between you two. Then it stops in traffic, would the EAP recognize it's the car we're supposed to follow and slow down / stops correctly, or would it only drop by 25mph?

I guess similar question is what happens when you get in sudden traffic from empty road. Is the EAP smart enough to catch with the traffic, or will it only use AEB?

 

[Runt8]

EAP will bring you down to a complete stop based on the car in front of you if you have it activated. EAP isn't following a specific car, it's following the car that is in front of you at the moment.

AEB reduces the severity of impact and works all the time (you don't have to activate it like EAP).

 

[tpatana]

EAP will bring you down to a complete stop based on the car in front of you if you have it activated. EAP isn't following a specific car, it's following the car that is in front of you at the moment.

AEB reduces the severity of impact and works all the time (you don't have to activate it like EAP).

Thanks. So if you have EAP enabled, the AEB should never activate? But I thought the Model3 who hit the fire truck, had EAP enabled? I remember the reasoning was the the fire truck wasn't moving. So if there's stand-still traffic when you're coming full speed, the EAP will manage correctly, or not?

 

[Runt8]

EAP definitely isn't perfect so you always have to be aware of your surroundings. If I remember correctly the fire truck accident was related to the fact that it was moved over to the side and the car in front of the Tesla veered out of the way. This is just from memory though, I'm sure someone can add more details or correct me if I'm wrong...

But in general, EAP should notice stopped traffic in front of you and bring you to a stop.

 

[Az_Rael]

My experience with it and stopped traffic ahead, is it waits longer than I would to start slowing. So I tend to manually roll down the max cruise speed on the scroll wheel as I approach a backup so that I don't have to white knuckle the approach. I then usually leave the cruise speed set to a lower number just so the car doesn't try to jump back up to 70 if a large gap opens only to have to immediately aggressively slow me back down. Just makes for a smoother ride.

And yes, you should never fully trust EAP is going to do what you think it should. If you are uncomfortable with what it is doing, disengage and take over manually. No need to play chicken with stopped traffic or someone cutting you off, etc. It is a driver assistance only.

 

[cellogig]

My experience with it and stopped traffic ahead, is it waits longer than I would to start slowing. So I tend to manually roll down the max cruise speed on the scroll wheel as I approach a backup so that I don't have to white knuckle the approach. I then usually leave the cruise speed set to a lower number just so the car doesn't try to jump back up to 70 if a large gap opens only to have to immediately aggressively slow me back down. Just makes for a smoother ride.

+1

 

[Tam]

...So if you have EAP enabled, the AEB should never activate...

AEB is on as the default whether you turn on EAP or not.

...hit the fire truck, had EAP enabled?...

Both AEB and EAP are not perfect. Owner's manual lists their limitations.

The reason they are not perfect is because of flawed radar technology that has been a challenge since it was first invented 83 years ago.

Please read:

Why Tesla's Autopilot Can't See a Stopped Firetruck

To make it better, Tesla will activate TeslaVision to have cameras help out the radar. But remember, when TeslaVision will come out and how effective it will be are still unknown at present.

Other companies also recruit LIDAR to help out RADAR. But note that UBER need to have enough man powers to program the software so that when the LIDAR detected a 3 dimensional pedestrian with her bicycle, UBER programmers should not classify her as "false positive" and ran over her.

In summary: Technology is great but it is useful to understand its limitations.

 

[Soda Popinski]

To make it better, Tesla will activate TeslaVision to have cameras help out the radar. But remember, when TeslaVision will come out and how effective it will be are still unknown at present.

I understand not all the cameras are active under EAP as of now. I'm assuming the current cameras only do lane detection, and "Tesla Vision" will use computer vision to classify objects (such as cars, people, horses, etc.) and build a 3D model of the area around the car. Does that seem about right?

 

[Tam]

...computer vision to classify objects (such as cars, people, horses, etc.) and build a 3D model of the area around the car. Does that seem about right?

That is the idea!

 

[tpatana]

My experience with it and stopped traffic ahead, is it waits longer than I would to start slowing. So I tend to manually roll down the max cruise speed on the scroll wheel as I approach a backup so that I don't have to white knuckle the approach. I then usually leave the cruise speed set to a lower number just so the car doesn't try to jump back up to 70 if a large gap opens only to have to immediately aggressively slow me back down. Just makes for a smoother ride.

And yes, you should never fully trust EAP is going to do what you think it should. If you are uncomfortable with what it is doing, disengage and take over manually. No need to play chicken with stopped traffic or someone cutting you off, etc. It is a driver assistance only.

Right, I'm wondering if in such cases I need to take over, or trust the EAP to do it's thing. The fire truck example indicates it doesn't work if the other car is completely stationary.