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Model S - AP hands on steering wheel warning, audible vs. visual only

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Just trying to figure out what I am missing here.

While on AP, sometimes I get visual only (blinking) warning about keeping my hands on the steering (even though I had my hands on the steering wheel already!).

Sometimes I get audible beep warning (even though I had my hands on the steering wheel already!) which is easier to notice.

I simply don't trust AP, so I always have my hands on top part (12 o'clock position) of the steering wheel, and still I got red alert for ignoring the warning 3 times and locked me out of AP until I pull over. Funny things is, I don't remember seeing any of 3 warnings I supposedly received!

I sometimes wonder.. what if I had gotten into an accident, wouldn't tesla/logs just claim that I didn't have my hands on the steering wheel and put all blame on me?

Is there something wrong with the way car detects whether hands are on the steering or not? I think they need a better way to detect this.
 
If your hands aren't putting a specific amount of torque on the wheel when AP isn't turning the wheel, or providing minor resistance against AP's turning of the wheel, it won't recognize your hands. At least on my AP1 car.

Warnings also progress in severity. At first, there's a pop-up with no blinking, then the blinking will start, then finally a beeping.
 
If your hands aren't putting a specific amount of torque on the wheel when AP isn't turning the wheel, or providing minor resistance against AP's turning of the wheel, it won't recognize your hands. At least on my AP1 car.

Warnings also progress in severity. At first, there's a pop-up with no blinking, then the blinking will start, then finally a beeping.

Thanks for the info. Something doesn't seem right about warnings because last time I locked out of AP, I didn't get any audible warning, it should have done it on the 3rd warning at least.

Also if car is sensing for certain amount of torque, Telsa can provide misleading/incorrect information during accident. If driver's hands in fact were on the steering but not enough torque, they can be wrongly blamed for not holding the steering wheel.
 
Yea, I've noticed that same problem on AP1 car (my wife doesn't use EAP on her AP2 car). I just assumed this is par for Tesla software quality control, i.e. Elon. I bet he hasn't driven an AP1 car in a while now, so there is nobody to point this bug out, nor is it a priority to fix since it doesn't affect new car sales.
 
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When you think about it, this is really a ridiculous requirement. Imagine you’re driving down a straight road were no steering is required and you were on auto pilot. The car makes you actually physically steer the wheel to keep auto pilot on. I know it’s just a little but it is still steering.

That is analogous to forcing you to keep your foot on the brake pedal while on cruise control and push the brake pedal just a little bit (not too much) every 30 seconds to keep cruise control from automatically disengaging. That would be ridiculous, right?

Just use the Eye direction detection system the Cadillac has already, for crying out loud.
 
Thanks for the info. Something doesn't seem right about warnings because last time I locked out of AP, I didn't get any audible warning, it should have done it on the 3rd warning at least.

Also if car is sensing for certain amount of torque, Telsa can provide misleading/incorrect information during accident. If driver's hands in fact were on the steering but not enough torque, they can be wrongly blamed for not holding the steering wheel.

I have not properly tested, but sometimes it seems that after a few of the intermediate warnings, the system will jump straight to beeping alert or red hands of death the next time (as if it tracks the driver pushing luck a bit). I don't know if that's actually the case, or if the alert stages are just inconsistent / buggy.