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Tesla Model S: Summon TEST! w/Firmware 8
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This goes hand in had with our Autopilot & TACC (Traffic Aware Cruise Control) Collision Avoidance tests we did last weekend. We separated the Vehicle Summon test this time around. Firmware 8 Has also made a improvement to the Summon function. It still stops for objects in it's path, though, While the Firmware 7.xx it would mildly attempt to navigate around objects, firmware 8.0 has taken it further and the car appears to go to further lengths to go "around" objects instead. I never tested this on camera in the past (Should have) however, I did play around with it in my driveway. This definitely is improved a bit!
 

Tesla Motors: Limited Supercharging Solution Ideas???
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Between Myself and my Viewers, we have some good alternative ideas for Tesla to take a peek at that may be a better solution then a Blanket Limitation to a straight across 400kWh free supercharging per year. If you have a idea that was not presented in this video, please comment and discuss in the comments section below!
 

Tesla Motors: Autopilot Driving without Lines on Firmware 8.0
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As we already know, Autopilot requires either Lines on the road, or to be following directly behind another vehicle to maintain a lock on.
I drive down this road daily. Firmware 7 would let me activate Autopilot right away, but fail requiring immediate take over once the road curves, and I could never get a lock after that.

I finally gave it a try with Firmware 8 (Actually, 7 try's due to my dash cam's footage getting corrupted with a faulty memory card), and once again, Tesla has surprised us!

As it had in the past, it locked on the to lane line, but instead of failing at the curve, once it lost the line lock (See the dash shot), it continued to drive all the way to the stop sign (at point I stopped the car since stop sigh stopping is not currently a feature of the cars) without a lane lock (accept for a brief fraction of a second).

The car (While driving like a intoxicated politician) did manage to remain in it's lane about 95% of the drive, and used it's Sonar to keep distance from the Curb, and to some extent the radar (Though how much, I cannot say as radar data is not displayed on the screen).

Still impressive. While it's not recommended at all to use Autopilot in these situations, or on regular surface streets at all, I do so for testing purposes only. Just the fact that it could keep going at all was just amazing! I wish I had some way to get a raw feed from the autopilot camera too with it's processing to see what it shows!
 

Tesla Motors: Sonar Not Detecting Hand On Sensor!
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After completing our Crash Avoidance testing on my 90D Tesla Model S, I had summoned it to get it closer to my camera equipment, so we could pack our stuff up.
To stop it, I had placed my hand directly on the Sensor, however, the car kept going!
 

Tesla Motors: Car Freaks out after Collision Avoidance Tests
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At the conclusion of Mine and Mike's Human Collision Avoidance Tests; I got back in the car to move it, and it started Freaking Out. Is Tesla watching me? Who knows??? But my car was not happy. Eventually all the alerts went away by themselves, but was still odd...
 

Tesla Motors: Autopilot Camera VS Bright Sun
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Driving directly into the sun. Tesla Autopilot doing the heavy work, and able to keep a solid lane lock while driving directly into the sun. The automatic white balance on the camera adjusts for the bright sun, but just to show how well the autopilot (and future autonomous cameras) can handle the bright sun.
 

Spur of the moment test, done mostly for fun. On our way home, we placed two turkeys in the road, to simulate a Fallen Child. Total weight about 30 Lbs, or about the weight of a 2-4 year old child. Since it was spur of the moment, didn't have any prep time. Will repeat with the Christmas Ham's, doing a stack test to simulate a child standing up.

The car did NOT see, nor Slow or Stop for the turkeys. I had to manually hit the brakes last moment to avoid crushing our thanksgiving guests. In my last human collision test, it started detecting Mike quite a bit further back, so I waited until basically no way it would have stopped the vehicle before slamming on the brakes.
Moral of the story, pay attention to your surroundings while driving, and don't hit any Children (Or Turkeys, unless you plan to cook em up!)
 
  • Funny
Reactions: MickC and ig_epower

Tesla: Supercharging Etiquette Do's, Don'ts & Trailers
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Supercharging... The big question is what is acceptable behavior and courtesy while supercharging? It's not a easy question to answer, as many different situations can arise.
Here, I cover some different situations, including the need to Supercharge while Towing a Trailer (Or luggage carrier/bike rack) on the back of your Tesla Vehicle, to just normal charging.
Most important thing is to BE COURTEOUS! Don't be a EV-HOLE. We are already starting to experience congestion at the superchargers. Once the Model 3 is released it will only be worse!
 

Tesla Autopilot 1.0: Autopilot in Rain Firmware 8.0
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Testing autopilot on the freeway in the lane. Held a excellent lane lock. Used both the lane lines, and the other vehicles around to keep steady in the lane. I had recorded a previous attempt on the way downtown (This video is on the way home). Dash recorded but the road cam did not. The first attempt did just as well, and the rain was much worse.
So autopilot with Firmware 8 has become more reliable over time. The Fleet learning also seems to have finally kicked in. But the new processing of the radar and the proximity ultrasonic sensors seems to have made some difference as well.
 

The above shown is on my 2016 Non-Refresh 90D. I had the same issue, only the DRL did not burn out, on my old MS60. I was told buy 3 service centers that water in the headlight was "normal" as it is not a sealed unit. I do not find water in headlights or tail lights normal by any means. My first car, traded it in before it became a further issue (as they would not replace or repair it). But on my 90D, the "Normal" problem of water in the headlight, really wasn't "Normal". As eventually, the DRL started flickering. A few days later, it went out completely. The Headlight also started having issues coming on and randomly going out.
At that point, service center replaced the entire housing. It has been fine since, until yesterday. Now both headlights, and both tail lights have moisture in them. The re-design of the rear end and the tail lights had greatly mitigated the water in tail light issue, however, it is now back unfortunately. I will keep a eye on it and first sign of trouble call service.
 

This video shows how the Defroster strip on the Autopilot camera functions even when the vehicle is not in use! Seems to be fairly effective at it's job! I'm curious as to if Tesla is using a defroster or heating element on the new Fully Autonomous cars. As a little slush and snow would render them useless!
 

Jason Hughes, Tesla vehicle hacker/tinkerer, has cracked the Battery Management System software, and found something very interesting. in some cases Battery Capacity was under-rated significantly! I can confirm this somewhat, Given that I did a charge from Shutdown Level to 100% (Or as close as the car would let me!), measured the input energy, then added in the 2-3kWh the car keeps as anti-bricking power, and we're still coming up short! (And unable to charge past 96%!!!)

My video about the charging issue from 0-100% and limited power input is coming soon. It's on the editing room table!

Battery chart Compliments of Electrek:
-Original 60 – ~61 kWh total capacity, ~58.5 kWh usable.
-85/P85/85D/P85D – ~81.5 kWh total capacity, ~77.5 kWh usable
-90D/P90D – ~85.8 kWh total capacity, 81.8 kWh usable
-Original 70 – ~71.2 kWh total capacity, 68.8 kWh usable
-75/75D – 75 kWh total capacity, 72.6 kWh usable
-Software limited 60/60D – 62.4 kWh usable
-Software limited 70/70D – 65.9 kWh usable

See the article Here:
Tesla’s hacked Battery Management System exposes the real usable capacity of its battery packs