Holding The Steering Wheel? More like Wildly Waggling it

[HumbleDriver]

Hi

A recent firmware update rendered autopilot vastly better than previously. As a result i've been using it more. What's not changed however is the incredibly irritating hold the steering wheel nags and the effort required to dismiss them.

Let me state - I understand why they are there - and i do hold the wheel - all the time. The wheel feeds through my hands or i'm physically touching it the vast majority of time.

This is not enough for autodrive though, it seems like in order to register your hands on the wheel it requires quite a lot bit of resistance to the autodrive's control. So what invariably ends up happening is i get a warning. And this is when it gets really silly. I sit there waggling the wheel furiously trying to get it to register my hands on the wheel without disengaging autopilot. Either the response time is really slow or its designed to deliberately irritate because it takes a while for the warning to dismiss

Ludicrously my autodrive was disabled on the 15 minute drive to the train station this morning!

Is there a trick to this? Thanks!

 

[murphyS90D]

Actually hold the wheel. Don't let it slide through your hands. The car has to detect resistance to the rotation of the wheel. There are no sensors in the wheel itself.

 

[Saghost]

There is a torque threshold you have to reach.

In my experience it reacts quickly once you reach that level, but holding the wheel while allowing the car to steer won't get you there usually.

If you're waggling back and forth and not getting a reaction, you're probably not pulling hard enough on any of the moves.

Someone stated in another thread that they think the force required varies from car to car; I don't know if that's correct or not.

 

[Snerruc]

I usually have my right elbow on the armrest and my hand hanging from the wheel. The weight of my hand is enough to tell the car you are there. Squeezing the wheel does nothing and don’t let the wheel slip through your grip.

 

[boaterva]

Right, don’t turn the wheel, no ‘waggling’, just stop it from turning at all. That’s what I had to learn to do. Works for me.

 

[RIP1]

I also find it annoying but easy enough to turn message off. Thanks for info on how its activated I didn't know that. I have a few other issues with it that I was wondering if its just me :-
1/ In a straight line its perfect. around corners its always late so wanders to the outside of the lane I am in. This is not an issue normally but if a truck is coming at me and it wants to wander to within 1 foot of it. I don't have the balls to let it do its thing, so I turn it off when trucks come at me on an inside corner. Will new hardware effect this?
2/ I love that it knows what the speed limit is and sticks to it (or in my case it +2) but every now and then it gets stuck and even though it knows the speed limit is 100 it keeps the car at 80. I am not talking about when I set the limit at 80 either.
3/ I wish it would stop at red lights
summary I love it, even with the above imperfections, especially on long trips.

 

[drtimhill]

Dont think of it as fighting autopilot .. just gently tug the wheel a little . I find one hand lightly on the wheel with an occasional soft tug to say im here is all that i need.

You need to tug enough to feel resistance but not so much the wheel gives way and AP disengages. Takes a bit of trial and error.

 

[dannycamps]

Hi

A recent firmware update rendered autopilot vastly better than previously. As a result i've been using it more. What's not changed however is the incredibly irritating hold the steering wheel nags and the effort required to dismiss them.

Let me state - I understand why they are there - and i do hold the wheel - all the time. The wheel feeds through my hands or i'm physically touching it the vast majority of time.

This is not enough for autodrive though, it seems like in order to register your hands on the wheel it requires quite a lot bit of resistance to the autodrive's control. So what invariably ends up happening is i get a warning. And this is when it gets really silly. I sit there waggling the wheel furiously trying to get it to register my hands on the wheel without disengaging autopilot. Either the response time is really slow or its designed to deliberately irritate because it takes a while for the warning to dismiss

Ludicrously my autodrive was disabled on the 15 minute drive to the train station this morning!

Is there a trick to this? Thanks!

You do know you don't actually have to squeeze/apply pressure to the wheel right? You just need a very slight turn in either direction (meaning just enough to feel some resistance from the wheel). You get a feel for it after a while. You can also touch any of the steering wheel controls (e.g. scroll wheels) and it will dismiss the warning.

While annoying, the nag screens are there for a reason.

 

[mtndrew1]

I rest my right hand against the right side of the bottom spoke of the steering wheel and it provides enough tension to keep autopilot happy.

It doesn’t want physical contact or “waggling,” it wants light resistance against its turning action.

 

[Babaron]

I share the op’s frustration. On a straight stretch of road, it is, with hands on wheel, more of an effort to keep wiggling the wheel than it would be with no autopilot on. How does that remove “the most mundane part of driving?”

Imagine how frustrating it would be if cruise control would require the driver to gently tap the brake pedal every 30 sec? Not enough to disengage cruise, but enough that it knows your paying attention.

Crap, I hope I didn’t just give the engineers another idea?

 

[Destiny1701]

I remember the good ol’ says in 2015/16 of zero nags and driving for 45 -60 min on the highway in a perfectly straight and comfortable fashion. And that was AP1 by the way!

The system today (while understood from a safety standpoint) is not even close to as rewarding an experience as it once was

 

[2101Guy]

For me, resting my elbow on my lap and having my hand rest on the bottom of the wheel (between the spokes)) while holding the wheel just tightly enough so that it doesnt slip through my hand as I hold the wheel, has worked perfectly for me. I didnt believe it would work as well as it does, until I tried it.

An alternative that isnt talked about, is to simply pull back once on the auto pilot stalk for each nag. This dismisses the nag.

 

[Destiny1701]

One can also use any of the steering wheel toggles. Ie. vol control

 

[dannycamps]

I remember the good ol’ says in 2015/16 of zero nags and driving for 45 -60 min on the highway in a perfectly straight and comfortable fashion. And that was AP1 by the way!

The system today (while understood from a safety standpoint) is not even close to as rewarding an experience as it once was

Blame the people who enabled AP and then fell asleep behind the wheel.

 

[drtimhill]

Blame the people who enabled AP and then fell asleep behind the wheel.

And posted (fake) YouTube videos of themselves doing it...

 

[Destiny1701]

And posted (fake) YouTube videos of themselves doing it...

Totally agree. Can’t wait for someone to develop the medical tech edged in the wheel or seat or seat belt etc which would be able if your awake or asleep.

hmmm....