Extreme Autopilot Testing with v2019.12 (video)

[EvolutionTeʂla]

Hey everyone. I just wanted to share my "extreme autopilot testing" video with you. I put the lane keeping abilities of 2019.12 to the test on some really challenging winding country roads and it did incredibly well. Some nice improvements compared to my last test in the fall. I also tested on some roundabouts (just for fun), ha ha.

I'd love to hear what you think.

Cheers,

Michael

 

[DCEV]

Great work!

When Tesla perfects Autopilot, imagine what a great roller-coaster ride it will make on a closed course with winding hills and curves

 

[EvolutionTeʂla]

Thanks for checking out my video @DCEV and for the kind feedback! Ha ha, yeah, it's crazy to think of what it will be like when we can do these sorts of routes from the back seat of the car. Yikes, it's freaky just thinking about that. I think I'd have to do a LOT more testing before I'd be comfortable with that - especially on "The Snake," ha ha.

I hope they get the speed limit sign detection working soon so the car won't be limited to 60 km/h for the whole "Gauntlet" course. It will be interesting to see how quickly it can handle some of those smaller curves. It still slows down to 47 km/h for the sharpest turns, but it feels a lot faster than the previous versions of the software when it would only go 42 km/h.

 

[JammyP]

Thanks for checking out my video @DCEV and for the kind feedback! Ha ha, yeah, it's crazy to think of what it will be like when we can do these sorts of routes from the back seat of the car. Yikes, it's freaky just thinking about that. I think I'd have to do a LOT more testing before I'd be comfortable with that - especially on "The Snake," ha ha.

I hope they get the speed limit sign detection working soon so the car won't be limited to 60 km/h for the whole "Gauntlet" course. It will be interesting to see how quickly it can handle some of those smaller curves. It still slows down to 47 km/h for the sharpest turns, but it feels a lot faster than the previous versions of the software when it would only go 42 km/h.

Is your car AP2? Or 2.5?

 

[EvolutionTeʂla]

Is your car AP2? Or 2.5?

Hi @JammyP . I was really lucky and got AP 2.5 in the first day or two it was available.

 

[Sabre Man]

I really like the different cameras views. I often drive on similar roads, except the surface is worse.

 

[EvolutionTeʂla]

Thanks, @Sabre Man For the next highway test, I'm going to try to switch the side views to rear-facing (in a spot that won't interfere with the AP cameras) and I'm thinking about getting an auto-follow drone for a different angle on the country roads at some point.

I had to look really hard to find these two routes to challenge Autopilot, ha ha. We don't get a lot of interesting roads around here in Southern Ontario. I'm quite jealous of those of you who have lots of winding roads to explore (but I guess it's no fun of you're constantly avoiding potholes and such). Thanks for checking out my new video.

Cheers,

Michael

P.S. Do you have access to Navigate on Autopilot in Ireland yet, or is it still restricted to North America?

 

[Sabre Man]

Here are a few simple videos I've created that showcases Autopilot on some of my local roads. There are some of the better roads. There are stretches where I don't dare use Autopilot, at least not at the speed limit, which is usually 100 km/h outside of towns.

I'd love to see a video where you present your camera setup and how you managed to combine four cameras in your video.

EV TV Ireland

 

[Sabre Man]

Navigate on Autopilot isn't available Ireland yet as far as I know. I'm on 2019.8.6 at the moment. Hoping to get 2019.12 soon. I know some Irish Tesla owners got it recently.

 

[JammyP]

Navigate on Autopilot isn't available Ireland yet as far as I know. I'm on 2019.8.6 at the moment. Hoping to get 2019.12 soon. I know some Irish Tesla owners got it recently.

Still not available in the UK on 2019.12 annoyingly

 

[JammyP]

I am finding Autopilot on this release very buggy In one certain scenario.

When on the motorway in the left hand lane (I’m from the UK) and a car passes on my right in the passing lane, Autopilot highlights and locks onto the car in the passing lane attempting to keep distance separation for a fraction of a second. This results in a kangaroo motion every time a car passes in the passing lane which is very jarring.
In all other scenarios this build seems to be the most fluid I have experienced in the past 18 months.

 

[quickstrike12]

I am finding Autopilot on this release very buggy In one certain scenario.

When on the motorway in the left hand lane (I’m from the UK) and a car passes on my right in the passing lane, Autopilot highlights and locks onto the car in the passing lane attempting to keep distance separation for a fraction of a second. This results in a kangaroo motion every time a car passes in the passing lane which is very jarring.
In all other scenarios this build seems to be the most fluid I have experienced in the past 18 months.

That’s exactly what it is. It shines in other areas but speed control due to incorrectly tracking a vehicle in adjacent lanes is a big problem. The smoothness of the ride is lost on the jittery accelerating and slowing constantly due to this.
I’m wondering if this is supposed to be some sort of AI learning for cars using turn signals to come into our lane?

 

[JammyP]

I’m wondering if this is supposed to be some sort of AI learning for cars using turn signals to come into our lane?

Potentially. I thought it was initially something to do with stopping autopilot passing on the left as it will track the car in the right lane even if the car in front speeds up. Passing on the left is a ticketable offence in the UK. Not sure if the same rule applies in the US with regards to passing on the right? From experience it seems to be less strict.

I have noticed however if you tap the accelerator pedal, the car in the adjacent lane will become unhighlighted and it will track the car directly in front.

 

[TimK]

Great video. The camera options and edit you've put together is perfect for what I've wanted to see in these firmware tests. Subscribed.

 

[EvolutionTeʂla]

Here are a few simple videos I've created that showcases Autopilot on some of my local roads.

I'd love to see a video where you present your camera setup and how you managed to combine four cameras in your video.

Whoa, those are some narrow lanes, @Sabre Man . That must be a bit scary with autopilot. Looks like it keeps the car centred in the lanes nicely though.

I'd be happy to share a video about my camera setup at some point. Basically, I have two GoPros mounted on the sides of the car by suction mounts, one GoPro mounted on the steering column via a sticky mount and a Panasonic G9 Mirrorless Camera (also used for my "studio shots") mounted upside-down from the glass roof via a double suction mount. Then I simply arrange the clips in a grid in Adobe Premiere and sync them based on a clapping sound at the beginning of each recording. You'll want a really fast hard drive to edit 4 simultaneous 2.7K to 4K video streams though. Even my ultra fast Sandisk M.2 drive struggles to keep up.

I also use a wireless lavalier mic setup connected to the G9 for clear audio. It's not a cheap setup, but I wanted to invest in good kit to make these videos stand out among the other Tesla channels.

@JammyP I think it's illegal to pass on the right in some of the US states, but it's not illegal in Canada (or at least not in my province of Ontario).

@TimK Thanks so much for the kind feedback and for subscribing to my channel. I'm just starting out so every subscriber makes a difference.

 

[Congo Line]

Passing on the left is a ticketable offence in the UK. Not sure if the same rule applies in the US with regards to passing on the right? From experience it seems to be less strict.

.

Haha, yeah drivers in US pass using any which lane they want. However it’s because of the slow and oblivious fools who are ignorant regarding the rule to use the fast lane for passing only.

I did notice that on the Autopilot Demo day video, it showed the car passing some slower cars using the right-hand (non-passing in US) lane. So looks like Tesla’s autopilot is also ignoring passing lane restrictions.