Most consistent (and annoying) autopilot error

[slevit1md]

I’ve found that autopilot is completely unable to handle situations where two lanes become one. Specifically, when you’re driving in the right hand lane of the highway and the on-ramp merges in. As soon as the right side lane marking goes away to allow the lanes to merge, autopilot seems to see the continued left side lane marking, and the right hand marking of the on-ramp as one very wide line. It then swerves into the middle of what it see as the new lane, and then swerves back into the proper spot as it again becomes a single lane. This is where I see the behavior the most, but it also happens pretty much any time two lanes become one and for a time, the middle lane marker goes away.
This is really the only thing I’ve noticed that autopilot is consistently unable to figure out while driving on the highway. You’d think that by now, they’d find a way to tell the vehicle to just follow the left-hand lane markings temporarily! If the car is smart enough to take an exit off the highway (which it does seem to do, nearly perfectly, almost all the time), then it definitely ought to know that where lanes merge in, and not to swerve into the middle of it! It’s unsafe, and it happens every time!

 

[ewoodrick]

I'm not sure why you say "autopilot is completely unable to handle situations where two lanes become one"
Your description indicates that it does handle it, albeit not to your liking, but it handles it.
Part of this is caused by areas that don't quite handle the lane markings as national standards recommend. A taper line should extend for a significant portion of the taper and the car will respect the lane marking.

 

[Maximus-MX]

I’ve found that autopilot is completely unable to handle situations where two lanes become one. Specifically, when you’re driving in the right hand lane of the highway and the on-ramp merges in. As soon as the right side lane marking goes away to allow the lanes to merge, autopilot seems to see the continued left side lane marking, and the right hand marking of the on-ramp as one very wide line. It then swerves into the middle of what it see as the new lane, and then swerves back into the proper spot as it again becomes a single lane. This is where I see the behavior the most, but it also happens pretty much any time two lanes become one and for a time, the middle lane marker goes away.
This is really the only thing I’ve noticed that autopilot is consistently unable to figure out while driving on the highway. You’d think that by now, they’d find a way to tell the vehicle to just follow the left-hand lane markings temporarily! If the car is smart enough to take an exit off the highway (which it does seem to do, nearly perfectly, almost all the time), then it definitely ought to know that where lanes merge in, and not to swerve into the middle of it! It’s unsafe, and it happens every time!

I agree. This is the most annoying thing I find using autopilot on highway. I read a while back in this forum that this is to accommodate wide HOV lanes. I am not a programmer or engineer, but I would think that if they program it with delayed response, it will solve the problem. Something like “if the lane line on the right/left ‘widens’ while the other line is straight, wait 2 seconds before you recenter yourself.”

 

[mxnym]

Interestingly, while AP1 had this issue, in AP2.5 at least, it followed the inside line instead of doing this right up until they made the change that allowed for automatic lane changes (presumably either using a different camera or using more width on an existing view).

Also interestingly, this issue seems to be mostly resolved for me in 2019.12.1.1. This may or may not have anything to do with the fact that I have been fairly consistently cancelling with the steering wheel when it tries to do this several times a day for as long as it has been happening in hopes that the disengagements would eventually catch someone/something's attention.

ETA: To be clear, I said "inside line" because this would also happen at exit ramps on the left side of the road. However, I should have said "remaining line" because the behavior also changed for when you're in the lane that's ending.

 

[mxnym]

I agree. This is the most annoying thing I find using autopilot on highway. I read a while back in this forum that this is to accommodate wide HOV lanes. I am not a programmer or engineer, but I would think that if they program it with delayed response, it will solve the problem. Something like “if the lane line on the right/left ‘widens’ while the other line is straight, wait 2 seconds before you recenter yourself.”

I would think that the cameras could see far enough ahead to make an appropriate decision based on the lines without even needing such a delay.

 

[arcus]

Also interestingly, this issue seems to be mostly resolved for me in 2019.12.1.1

2nd that! I think it does handle wide on-ramps much more, uhm, elegantly.

 

[ditzpro]

Yes , This behavior has been active for quite a while ..Always upsets my wife when it happens ..I thought Tesla would have fixed it by now but still waiting ..Minor but annoying ..

 

[ek993]

There’s still so far to go before AP is more than just a tool that can be used while on a highway.

When performing highway to highway transitions with NoAP it cruises in the merging lane almost to the end before actually joining the highway. Had an incident a few weeks back where they closed off the merging lane around halfway down with cones. The X would have polished straight through them, I had to take control at the last moment and merge onto the highway manually.

I also wonder how it wound handle a situation where it wants to merge but someone comes up too quickly alongside you or blocks you - and the X starts to run out of merging lane. Will it come to a stop or freak out and handle manual control to you? Don’t want to try it...

Once they crack these types of situations - obstacles on the road, potholes etc - then I think we things will be closer to full autonomous capability.