Poor auto pilot behavior after annual service

[hbutler97]

I own a 2016 AP1 model S. I have 13k Miles on the car and I can easily say that at least 60% of those are AP miles. Might be more. Generally AP has been well behaved and I know the general situations where the system would struggle.

Last week, I took it in for the first service. After the service when engaging AP, the car will immediately(and violently) pull to the right side of the lane and and go past the lane line at times. Initially I obviously took over. Experimenting with the problem later, if left engaged, it will settle back into the lane but will hug the right line for the first minute or so and eventually will find its way back to the center of the lane and function as expected. If turned off and reengaged the same behavior would occur.

When I left the service center, I did get a notification for a firmware update. I had not applied the update when I first saw this behavior. It's unclear to me if the service center made a firmware change. I would assume that would not happen.

I installed (and a subsequent one)the update hoping it would fix the problem but there was no change.

I've called the service center several times and just got voice mail. Left a message about 3 days ago and haven't heard back. As a result I'm asking you all if anyone else has seen such a behavior after a service

 

[thimel]

Hasn't happened to me nor do I remember any similar reports on the forum. If it doesn't fix itself in a few days you should definitely take it back to the SC.

 

[condizombi]

My Model S (2016 AP1) does the same: when I engage it it jerks to the right (doesn't cross the line though), then creeps back to the middle over about 30 seconds. After that it's great. Happens every time i turn AP on, so I never do it unless no one is near me.

 

[Kreten]

I have this behaviour with my Model S (2016 AP1) from the very beginning. It does it only some times - it looks to me that only on some roads. Since it does cross the line many times I'm cautious when engaging AP...

 

[hbutler97]

Finally got a call back from the service center. They told me to bring it in to do a test drive with a tech. Ill take it in next week.

Really not happy about this as it clearly started once I took it in. AP working like this is unusable

 

[jeffro01]

I HIGHLY doubt your AP is working any differently than it did prior to the service... There isn't ANYTHING the service department can do to "tweak" or "adjust" the behavior of AP as it's all software controlled from the cars software... You are free to do with whatever you like with your time but taking it back to the service center for a test drive with a tech is a complete and total waste of your time... Even if the tech agrees something is "wrong" there isn't anything they can do about it anyhow because again, the service department does not have any special AP adjustment capabilities.

Clearly this is a case of a "correlation does not imply causation"...

FWIW, each and every software update I've gotten since AP has come out has always had a short period of "touchiness" with AP before it adjusts with what new code it's been given in relation to the driving experiences it's getting. It has, to date, always smoothed itself out over a few drives or so and then you notice the improvements, some more obvious than others for sure.

Jeff

 

[hbutler97]

I would hope that my AP was something that easy to explain. But I'm absolutely sure that this behavior is new since the service. As stated I have well over 7000 AP miles on this car and it has never behaved this way. The behavior is very repeatable. It is interesting that some has had this behavior and feel that it's always how the system behaved.

Not sure why so many folks seem to think AP issue are something misinterpreted by users. Yes there r some folks that abuse and/or don't understand how it works. I don't consider myself in either of those categories.

You r not the right person to receive this message, but in its current state it's unusable. Anyone who would use it this way is not respecting the safety of themselves and others. Message to tesla will be to fix this. Will not take no for an answer.

If anyone has this behavior you should also make tesla aware as it is unsafe. Trust me this is not normal behavior for my car.

 

[jeffro01]

I would hope that my AP was something that easy to explain. But I'm absolutely sure that this behavior is new since the service. As stated I have well over 7000 AP miles on this car and it has never behaved this way. The behavior is very repeatable. It is interesting that some has had this behavior and feel that it's always how the system behaved.

Not sure why so many folks seem to think AP issue are something misinterpreted by users. Yes there r some folks that abuse and/or don't understand how it works. I don't consider myself in either of those categories.

You r not the right person to receive this message, but in its current state it's unusable. Anyone who would use it this way is not respecting the safety of themselves and others. Message to tesla will be to fix this. Will not take no for an answer.

If anyone has this behavior you should also make tesla aware as it is unsafe. Trust me this is not normal behavior for my car.

LOL... You're being a bit dramatic don't you think???... You seem to not understand how this process works... Again, it's your time and your free to do with it as you please but taking it back to the service center to do a tech ride along won't do anything for you, it just won't... Save yourself the time and take a deep breath and relax...

Jeff

 

[hbutler97]

Ok. Jeff.

I'm upset that my family was nearly in accident in my 100k ride due to new negative behavior that occurred after taking my car in for an annual service. I'm cool with your position as it being dramatic. The only reason for taking the time to respond is to encourage others to speak up.

I would hope that any tesla owner that has seen this behavior would not consider this normal and speak up. And yes be dramatic about it because it's unsafe.

 

[hbutler97]

So, took my car to the service center and the foreman took a ride and definitely agreed there was a problem. They recalibrated the radar and did a wheel alignment. My car now is back to where it was prior to the service

 

[dhcp]

So, took my car to the service center and the foreman took a ride and definitely agreed there was a problem. They recalibrated the radar and did a wheel alignment. My car now is back to where it was prior to the service

Thanks for taking the time to share your story and the update!

 

[hbutler97]

Absolutely my pleasure. We have very nice automobiles and early adopters for the future of autonomous cars. Reporting problems is only going to help things along.

 

[Electroman]

For those who were certain this is not a service center issue....

-

 

[daviddc]

hbutler97, thank you for this post. Because I am a new Tesla owner, I assumed this behavior is normal. I have AP 2.0 and it only recently received auto steer. My car behavior is not exactly as you describe, but it is close and I now know there are other possible causes besides software. Very helpful!

FYI, my AP needs improvement in two ways that are repeatable. First, is that when ever it is searching for the lane, it always abruptly favors the right side, even if the right side is not the correct play such as a lane that is ending ahead. I understand the obvious benefit of favoring the right, but the jerking abruptly to get there needs to be resolved. Their algorithm needs to be more smooth. I can imagine drivers behind me thinking I'm drunk or texting.

Second, is that my AP crosses over the white line on the left side when using an off ramp with two lanes. I have repeated this same off ramp several times and always manually corrected except the last time because I was alone. It is a tight off ramp - 25mph limit - with clearly marked lines, but AP can't seem to handle it.

Thanks again.

 

[Thinkfn]

daviddc, your problem is not the same as hbutler's. Your problem is indeed software, as AP2 is nowhere near AP1 capability yet,

 

[hbutler97]

daviddc, your problem is not the same as hbutler's. Your problem is indeed software, as AP2 is nowhere near AP1 capability yet,

I'm interpreted the post as more of coming into the understanding that it could be more than software versus thinking the problem was the same. I could be wrong however.

But thinkfn is correct this was an AP1 car

 

[jeffro01]

LOL... Placebo effect in full force on this one... But again if you want to believe the service center trip did the trick, knock yourself out...

Jeff

 

[Max*]

LOL... Placebo effect in full force on this one... But again if you want to believe the service center trip did the trick, knock yourself out...

Jeff

Too bad the service center doesn't have the ability to do a wheel alignment, which would explain why the car always pulls right, and is coincidentally one of the things that's [suggested to be] done during an annual inspection. O wait...

 

[jeffro01]

Too bad the service center doesn't have the ability to do a wheel alignment, which would explain why the car always pulls right, and is coincidentally one of the things that's [suggested to be] done during an annual inspection. O wait...

Alignment issues, nor the radar, would cause the car (per the OP) to "immediately(and violently) pull to the right side of the lane and and go past the lane line at times"...

Sure alignment is important for a number of reasons but again, it doesn't explain the behavior reference by the OP at all. Nor does "recalibrating" the radar as again, what the OP described isn't controlled by the radar...

If people would have actually read the OP, the symptoms described, and then read the magic fix by the service center you'd realize they don't line up... Placebo effect is real...

Jeff

 

[Max*]

Alignment issues, nor the radar, would cause the car (per the OP) to "immediately(and violently) pull to the right side of the lane and and go past the lane line at times"...

Sure alignment is important for a number of reasons but again, it doesn't explain the behavior reference by the OP at all. Nor does "recalibrating" the radar as again, what the OP described isn't controlled by the radar...

If people would have actually read the OP, the symptoms described, and then read the magic fix by the service center you'd realize they don't line up... Placebo effect is real...

Jeff

Have you ever driven a car that's way out of alignment? Let go of the steering wheel going 60mph, and it will pull you into the next lane quickly. AP then kicks in knowing the car is pulling a little and brings it back in. I can 100% see this being the culprit.

The OP might have been a little dramatic with the "violently" comment, but it's TMC, what do you expect.


I agree about the radar, which is why I left it out of my original reply...