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Firmware 8.1 - Autopilot HW1

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Just had my first experience of AP1 unexpectedly and incorrectly reacting to an underpass. I had read about this but never before experienced it.
I was driving on a divided road, a parkway with a grass median bordered by prominent granite curbs, two lanes in each direction, with cross streets and traffic signals. The car was approaching a railroad bridge over the road, and the road has a slight curve to the right. There were no vehicles in sight ahead in either of the two lanes. The weather was cloudy, so if the bridge was casting a shadow it was subtle. Posted speed was 30 mph (we were passing a school) and speed was set for about 35. AP1 was engaged. Suddenly the warning sound blared and the car braked sharply. i did not have time (or maybe the presence of mind) to note what was on the instrument cluster as I focused on the road ahead and disabled AP to resume speed and avoid getting rear ended.
I made a bug report shortly after this incident, but Tesla gives you so little time to say anything that I doubt my report was clear enough for action. (And I am a bit skeptical of whether such reports are helpful.)
This incident shook me up, and I sure hope Tesla fixes whatever is causing this type of behavior, and soon! I saw absolutely nothing that a driver would consider dangerous or would slow down for. I have driven thousands of miles with AP, and I guess I have been lucky not to experience this particular glitch. I have had unexpected slowdowns, but not like this with warning horns and so on.
I am glad I had no passengers with me (especially my spouse), It would definitely have undermined anyone's confidence in the car.

Was this in MA and if so where specifically?
 
Was this in MA and if so where specifically?

Yes. On the VFW Parkway, southbound, passing the West Roxbury High School campus and approaching the railroad bridge that carries the Needham Line over the road. I was in the right-hand lane.
Normally I only use the AutoPilot on highways such as I-95 but occasionally try it on other roads, and I happened to try it here. I was using it only for 3-4 minutes, since I turned onto the road at Baker St. It should have worked fine (and did until the bridge) because it is divided, has good curbs and pavement markings, and traffic was light. No construction, nothing that would seem to me to cause a reaction -- aside from that bridge and its possible shadow.
 
Yes. On the VFW Parkway, southbound, passing the West Roxbury High School campus and approaching the railroad bridge that carries the Needham Line over the road. I was in the right-hand lane.
Normally I only use the AutoPilot on highways such as I-95 but occasionally try it on other roads, and I happened to try it here. I was using it only for 3-4 minutes, since I turned onto the road at Baker St. It should have worked fine (and did until the bridge) because it is divided, has good curbs and pavement markings, and traffic was light. No construction, nothing that would seem to me to cause a reaction -- aside from that bridge and its possible shadow.

Interesting. It might be a somewhat obscure rr bridge and not in the Tesla database. Also, it's possible you might have been the first Tesla under that bridge. I think with radar learning if something isn't mapped or validated as an overpass or bridge a Tesla needs to drive under it(AP doesn't need to be on)a certain amount of times before it's identified as something that is safe to pass under. I have a small rr bridge near a school close to where I live(I thought this may have been the bridge you were referencing but it wasn't) and I drive under it all the time(no AP...too scary on this road). For the heck of it, and under low traffic, safe conditions I'll activate AP as I approach and see what happens. Considering how many times I've driven under it I'll wager AP will allow me to pass but we'll see.
 
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AP1 saved my keister today. I was driving along in rainy weather in Long Island up Route 107 in Hicksville... the light was green as I looked down at my phone to look at the google map for the next turn.... when I heard "beepbeepbeep"... even though the light was green the car in front of me passed through the light as I looked down, he suddenly stopped short.. I was probably 30 feet behind him but somehow the car detected that I wasn't slowing down fast enough and gave me a warning. Good thing I could stop in time. Without that warning, I might have stopped in time, I might not have. But in the split second I took to look at the map -- BAM, the car stopped short.

I've heard that "beepbeepbeep" before at stop signs when I don't slow down as fast as it would like, but never this far behind another car. I was surprised and pleased.

Oh, maybe I'll go pull the dashcam video.
 
In my experience AP2’s collision warnings are quite good too and AP2 seems to understand diagonal cars and perpendicular cars better.

But yeah, one of those features where once every year or two it goes off at a time where you really wonder if it just saved you from a fender bender. Wish every car had this!
 
Just had my first experience of AP1 unexpectedly and incorrectly reacting to an underpass. I had read about this but never before experienced it.
I was driving on a divided road, a parkway with a grass median bordered by prominent granite curbs, two lanes in each direction, with cross streets and traffic signals. The car was approaching a railroad bridge over the road, and the road has a slight curve to the right. There were no vehicles in sight ahead in either of the two lanes. The weather was cloudy, so if the bridge was casting a shadow it was subtle. Posted speed was 30 mph (we were passing a school) and speed was set for about 35. AP1 was engaged. Suddenly the warning sound blared and the car braked sharply. i did not have time (or maybe the presence of mind) to note what was on the instrument cluster as I focused on the road ahead and disabled AP to resume speed and avoid getting rear ended.
I made a bug report shortly after this incident, but Tesla gives you so little time to say anything that I doubt my report was clear enough for action. (And I am a bit skeptical of whether such reports are helpful.)
This incident shook me up, and I sure hope Tesla fixes whatever is causing this type of behavior, and soon! I saw absolutely nothing that a driver would consider dangerous or would slow down for. I have driven thousands of miles with AP, and I guess I have been lucky not to experience this particular glitch. I have had unexpected slowdowns, but not like this with warning horns and so on.
I am glad I had no passengers with me (especially my spouse), It would definitely have undermined anyone's confidence in the car.
I had a similar experience today. Sunny day, AP1 active, heading south on I87 a few miles below the Canadian border en route from Montreal to Plattsburgh. As I approached an overhead gantry across both lanes, the alarm went off and the car braked hard. As I recall, there were no cars in front of us.

The car did this once before when I was following a car in the right lane of an interstate. The lead car was passing an entrance ramp as another car was merging in. The car panicked, sounded the alarm and hit the brakes. I had assumed it saw what it thought was an impending collision.
 
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I had a similar experience today. Sunny day, AP1 active, heading south on I87 a few miles below the Canadian border en route from Montreal to Plattsburgh. As I approached an overhead gantry across both lanes, the alarm went off and the car braked hard. As I recall, there were no cars in front of us.

The car did this once before when I was following a car in the right lane of an interstate. The lead car was passing an entrance ramp as another car was merging in. The car panicked, sounded the alarm and hit the brakes. I had assumed it saw what it thought was an impending collision.

This may be happening due to the radar taking on a greater role in AP. I think if you drive through it a few time(10?) without AP it will be mapped as safe to drive through(not sure how long this actually takes).