Years ago when I had my Roadster in the shop for service, I got a Model S loaner with the old Mobileye system. It had its shortcomings, but one thing that did impress me was its reading of speed signs — not quite flawless, but pretty darn close. Autopilot was also able to adjust its speed automatically whenever entering and exiting speed zones, which was highly convenient.
When I bought my new Model S this year, I was disappointed that Autopilot no longer adjust its speed automatically, aside from reducing to the speed limit (whatever the car believes that to be) plus 5 MPH. So, I was back to watching carefully for speed changes and nudging the stalk as needed. I also gradually realized that the car was no longer reading speed signs at all, but instead was relying on Google’s map data, which is occasionally wrong.
I read an article asserting that Teslas no longer read speed signs because of a Mobileye patent, but they were developing a work-around. With the latest software update in my Model S, the work-around has arrived! And the result…
It’s not good. It seems to read signs OK in town, but I haven’t yet seen it correctly read a sign higher than 60 MPH. This is particularly annoying when leaving town on the highway and going from the 60 zone to 75, because then autosteer is restricted to 10 MPH below the actual posted speed limit. The only fix is to pull off on a side road, then immediately back to the highway, at which point it “forgets” all about signs and reverts to the Google map data.
In addition to being blind to 70 and 75 MPH signs, it also was very confused by the highway construction, work zone 65 MPH signs. It saw them, but it read the first one as 45 MPH and the second as 55 MPH. Pulling off the road and back on caused it to revert to Google’s also-incorrect 75 MPH.
When I bought my new Model S this year, I was disappointed that Autopilot no longer adjust its speed automatically, aside from reducing to the speed limit (whatever the car believes that to be) plus 5 MPH. So, I was back to watching carefully for speed changes and nudging the stalk as needed. I also gradually realized that the car was no longer reading speed signs at all, but instead was relying on Google’s map data, which is occasionally wrong.
I read an article asserting that Teslas no longer read speed signs because of a Mobileye patent, but they were developing a work-around. With the latest software update in my Model S, the work-around has arrived! And the result…
It’s not good. It seems to read signs OK in town, but I haven’t yet seen it correctly read a sign higher than 60 MPH. This is particularly annoying when leaving town on the highway and going from the 60 zone to 75, because then autosteer is restricted to 10 MPH below the actual posted speed limit. The only fix is to pull off on a side road, then immediately back to the highway, at which point it “forgets” all about signs and reverts to the Google map data.
In addition to being blind to 70 and 75 MPH signs, it also was very confused by the highway construction, work zone 65 MPH signs. It saw them, but it read the first one as 45 MPH and the second as 55 MPH. Pulling off the road and back on caused it to revert to Google’s also-incorrect 75 MPH.
