Vendor LaneAhead® System using radar to spot crash danger and focus driver attention

[Telanon]

In addition to the poll above, if you own or have on order an Autopilot-equipped Model S or X, please consider taking this interest survey with only seven click-the-answer-box questions: LaneAhead® Driver Support System . It gives details for Mobileye’s 630 vision-based system for some comparisons with LaneAhead.

Here’s a quick look at LaneAhead, followed by more details.

We’re posting this poll and survey because we have an early LaneAhead prototype and need insights from potential customers to help make final decisions. LaneAhead uses similar technology to our MaxSavr® System for recording & privately replaying Autopilot/driver data. We introduced it last month in the Autopilot forum here: Vendor - MaxSavr® System for recording & privately replaying Autopilot/driver data .

Today’s Teslas have impressive technology to assist their drivers in dangerous situations. Unfortunately, drivers’ attention is sometimes not focused enough to act quickly when critically needed. The results all too often are crashes that might have been avoided or made less severe.

We’re developing LaneAhead Driver Support System to solve that problem. Whether driving with Autopilot, TACC, or without either, LaneAhead helps quickly focus drivers’ attention when it detects potential danger. If Autopilot or TACC is engaged, the driver can decide more quickly whether to take control. If neither is engaged, the driver’s focused attention supports quicker, safer driving decisions.

LaneAhead’s processor module reads Tesla radar and vehicle data but does not transmit messages, to avoid interfering with normal vehicle operation. It has convenient power and data connections for quick disconnection and removal. No wires are cut or spliced to install. As a result, there should be no warranty issues.

LaneAhead displays three types of potential danger for driver attention:

• Yellow-Orange-Red Alerts: help drivers realize when following too closely
• Double-Red Danger Alarm: high-confidence detection of potential crash, needing quick driver judgement about actions that may be required
• White Danger Alert: potential crash danger needing quick driver judgement
  • Autopilot or TACC might misjudge these potential crash dangers and a) ignore a stopped or crossing vehicle, or b) trigger phantom braking
    • If there’s actual danger, the driver may need to quickly take action
    • If there isn’t, the driver may slightly press the accelerator pedal to prevent phantom braking, or be prepared to do it if phantom braking begins

Feel free to comment or post questions. We will answer them as fully as we can. Final decisions are still being made, some based on what we learn here.

Thank you for your interest.

 

[Telanon]

One response in the survey linked above was "I need to see how it displays the warnings". Here is our reply.

We are preparing examples showing videos side-by-side with the LaneAhead display, to illustrate how it works. They will use our early prototype, so the hardware used for the driver display will likely be different. However, the alert and alarm lights themselves and how they work should be exactly the same.

You can see parallel examples for our other product in development on the TMC thread here Vendor - MaxSavr® System for recording & privately replaying Autopilot/driver data , with one critical exception. The LaneAhead driver interface will only show the alert & alarm lights, and NOT show the radar view of objects that MaxSavr does. Similar technology is at work in both, and we could show the radar view to the driver too, but our judgement is that it would focus the driver's attention away from the physical world ahead of the vehicle at precisely the time that real-world focus is critically needed. MaxSavr only works on previously-recorded data, so providing the radar's view of the world to non-driving MaxSavr users is not a safety issue.