pedestrians and V8.1(17,11,10) release

[skip8jj]

Yesterday afternoon while driving on a two way city street, a pedestrian crossed about 15 yards in front of us. I was surprised to note that our MS with AP1 began slowing as we approached the pedestrian and then returned to the set speed, TACC set at 20mph, when the pedestrian reached the curb. The car was not in Auto Pilot but, as noted, the TACC had been activated.

I had seen some discussion about the ability of the car to detect crossing pedestrians but had not experienced the action and do not know which release carried this ability. The pedestrian was not depicted in the instrument cluster. I would not depend on this feature but it is nice to see it work. City traffic conditions can be trying so any addition help is a plus. I am assuming the feature only works when TACC is engaged. It might be desirable for TACC to be activated at 15 mph as opposed to 18 mph in order to take advantage of the AP / TACC features.

 

[chillaban]

Yesterday afternoon while driving on a two way city street, a pedestrian crossed about 15 yards in front of us. I was surprised to note that our MS with AP1 began slowing as we approached the pedestrian and then returned to the set speed, TACC set at 20mph, when the pedestrian reached the curb. The car was not in Auto Pilot but, as noted, the TACC had been activated.

I had seen some discussion about the ability of the car to detect crossing pedestrians but had not experienced the action and do not know which release carried this ability. The pedestrian was not depicted in the instrument cluster. I would not depend on this feature but it is nice to see it work. City traffic conditions can be trying so any addition help is a plus. I am assuming the feature only works when TACC is engaged. It might be desirable for TACC to be activated at 15 mph as opposed to 18 mph in order to take advantage of the AP / TACC features.

There's some youtube videos from as early as the first 8.0 release showing this ability. For fun, around my work campus I punish jaywalkers by using them as TACC/AP pedestrian detection dummies. I would say the detection is maybe 75% at best. If the person is obstructed by a rain coat, holding a laptop, or runs through really quickly, TACC doesn't react at all.

Don't rely on it, and only test TACC against pedestrians when you really want to teach them a lesson