Firmware 8.0

[David29]

Question about lane-keeping --I hope it works here rather than starting a new thread.
I have an AP1 car and have been using the AP features regularly since they were first released in the fall of 2015. My current firmware is 17.6.15.
Something I have noticed since the beginning, and which others have posted about, is the tendency of the auto-steering to lose the center of the lane when cresting a hill. The behavior is worse with more vertical curvature, and much worse if the road curves to one side or the other while also cresting the hill.
But I have been noticing and am curious about is why the car can't keep itself in the center of the lane (or maybe not even in the lane at all) when the display on the screen clearly shows that the car is not in the center of the lane, and shows it wandering about. In other words, the screen display shows that the car "knows" it is off-center, and yet it does not correct itself in a timely fashion. I can't help but wonder if there is some logic that is preventing the car from staying within the lanes lines under these conditions.

I had an unpleasant example of this behavior last night on an Interstate that crested a grade while in a slight curve to the right, and the car moved a good foot or two over the right-hand lane line into the adjacent lane. Fortunately there were no vehicles there, and it corrected itself. (The lane markings are clear there, and the lighting and pavement conditions were normal, no precipitation, etc..) But the motion was so jerky that it would have been both frightening and uncomfortable to any passenger. I was aware of what was happening and I had no passenger so I let it take care of itself, but I would probably have taken over steering control if I had had my spouse with me.

Not having experience with other cars I can't say how bad or good the Tesla system is compared to the competition on this point, but I feel this is a very big weakness in the auto-steering function. And it does not seem to have gotten better in the past 15 months....

 

[GlmnAlyAirCar]

I had an unpleasant example of this behavior last night on an Interstate that crested a grade while in a slight curve to the right, and the car moved a good foot or two over the right-hand lane line into the adjacent lane.

This is something that has been bugging me since 7.0. Each release I am hoping it will get better, and each release I am disappointed.

In one sense I can understand why this might happen. When cresting a hill, there is significantly less forward lane-line data, and the data it does have is very near to the car. I have to think this pushes the lane keeping algorithm into a region of reduced stability. On the other hand, we, as human drivers, have essentially the same visual information of what is straight ahead, and where the lines go. If a human can figure it out, why can't AP? I am certain we use clues other than just the section of road immediately ahead and the visible lane lines. Hopefully AP can use these as well. And this isn't just for AP1. When on the highway, AP2 will be using essentially the same information AP1 has now - the forward cameras. Perhaps the increased computing power will allow autosteer to take in more clues; however, I feel AP1 will likely benefit as well once they finally get this problem straightened out.

 

[anonim1979]

IMHO - that's hardware limitation of APv1 won't ever be overcome.

AP v2 is much more powerfull/faster and should(will be?) be as good as a human someday in this regard.
Here's nice video (early January version) showing how fast it detects lines after going over a hill.

 

[MarcG]

I'm on 17.6.15 and noticing an odd AP(1) behavior.

Sometimes I want to change lanes with Autosteer engaged, but it's being too conservative (won't change lanes right away for whatever reason).
So what I typically do is disengage AP by pushing the stalk away from me (thereby disengaging TACC as well) to start driving manually and perform the lane change myself.

With this latest release, AP sometimes freaks out AFTER I've disabled it and beeps very loudly, as though I'm about to have a collision.
The car I'm passing flashes red for a quick second, then the system realizes I'm already in the next lane over and shuts up.

I'm not super aggressive and riding the car in front too closely, but it certainly seems too close for AP.
For the record, I've been driving the same way forever and only this 17.6.15 release isn't liking it..

Has anyone else noticed this?

 

[AustinP]

Has anyone else noticed this?

Yes, happened to me too!
Never had this. Updated to 17.8.16 last week.

 

[shonline]

Sounds like expects behavior to me.

AP will not change lane due to perceived danger. You initiate move into perceived danger. Car tries to save you from danger.

Normal in my mind and good!

 

[msnow]

Sounds like expects behavior to me.

AP will not change lane due to perceived danger. You initiate move into perceived danger. Car tries to save you from danger.

Normal in my mind and good!

@MarcG said he turned off AP before getting the warning.

 

[mrElbe]

@MarcG said he turned off AP before getting the warning.

Yes, but if he has collision avoidance on and maybe even set to early warning, then this is expected behaviour.

 

[shonline]

@MarcG said he turned off AP before getting the warning.

I am assuming because he has AP he also has collision avoidance. It works when AP is off. Therefore, this is intended behavior in his scenario and not a fault with the firmware at all - in my mind at least.

 

[MarcG]

I do have forward collision warning (FCW) turned on, but it is set to late.

Note that this is new behavior, at least for me with 17.6.15 as it never behaved this way before.

I'm not saying it's right or wrong behavior, but it does surprise me given no settings or driving patterns have changed.

Even my passengers have asked "why is your car freaking out" as they agreed there was no reason for alarm.

This reminds me of a bug in early 7.0 or 7.1 releases where the FCW would go off based on parked cars while driving through curvy city roads.

 

[Viking1]

I have 17.7.2. This morning I got an emergency warning. Beeping, red car on the display, breaking automatically being applied. I was in TACC, no AutoSteer. The car in front was probably 10-15 car lengths ahead and was not breaking. On the freeway going about 70. I shut off TACC. Luckly, no one close behind me. Scary and very unexpected.

This is the second time. The first time I was coming to a slow regen stop. Going about 15 mph and slowing. Car in front stopped. Plenty of length to car in front.

I'm giving up on 17.7.2. I'll wait for the next release to try again.

 

[Tomnook]

Anyone noticed that 17.7.2 doesn't pick up speed limit changes as well as previous versions .... and isn't a patch on AP1? At least here in the U.K.- are these detected by a camera or from Google maps?

 

[MP3Mike]

Anyone noticed that 17.7.2 doesn't pick up speed limit changes as well as previous versions .... and isn't a patch on AP1? At least here in the U.K.- are these detected by a camera or from Google maps?

Unless there was an update I missed 17.7.2 is for AP2 cars, and AP2 cars currently only use a GPS database for speed limits not the camera. We don't know if they use the Navigon data, Google maps data, or something entirely different for that database.

 

[Tomnook]

Unless there was an update I missed 17.7.2 is for AP2 cars, and AP2 cars currently only use a GPS database for speed limits not the camera. We don't know if they use the Navigon data, Google maps data, or something entirely different for that database.

Do you mean that AP1 used the camera - hence the big difference? Makes sense.

 

[MP3Mike]

Do you mean that AP1 used the camera - hence the big difference? Makes sense.

Yes, AP1 uses the camera with the GPS speed limit database as a backup. (And the AP2 release notes indicated that AP2 would start using the camera again at some point in the future.)

 

[Tangible]

A New York Times story about mapping today has this report about Tesla:

"Cars that have the new software, known as Version 8, note the positions of road signs, bridges and other objects, and send the data to a Tesla database that other Tesla vehicles can draw on to make safe driving decisions."

Tesla's hype machine is fully operational. I hope the driving machine catches up someday.

 

[Todd Burch]

A New York Times story about mapping today has this report about Tesla:

"Cars that have the new software, known as Version 8, note the positions of road signs, bridges and other objects, and send the data to a Tesla database that other Tesla vehicles can draw on to make safe driving decisions."

Tesla's hype machine is fully operational. I hope the driving machine catches up someday.

That would be the blacklisting for radar returns to reduce false positives, which is expected to be integrated into the radar stuff in v8.1.

If 8.1 ever comes out.

 

[HX_Guy]

Just got a notification that a Software Update is available for my HW2 car! Car is currently in for service, so not sure if its related to them re-uploading the current firmware or if a new version is actually available.

 

[Joe F]

Just got a notification that a Software Update is available for my HW2 car! Car is currently in for service, so not sure if its related to them re-uploading the current firmware or if a new version is actually available.

What version had you been running?

 

[HX_Guy]

17.7.2