Riding too far to the left

[israndy]

I know the cameras were calibrating on the drive home from the Delivery Center. Did I do something wrong during that calibration? It seems that my new Tesla M3 rides too far to the left on AutoPilot the majority of the time. It will cross the centerline w/o a care. I care about the oncoming traffic and will take control.

I don't know how far to trust it. Driving over the top of Hwy 17 on the way to Santa Cruz the car rides inches from the concrete barrier over the lane line and into the metal grates over the drains. I have not made it once completely on AutoPilot.

https://i.imgur.com/5VJG9pm.mp4

I am starting to realize that it might not ever come in contact with the barrier so I am curious if others trust AutoPilot. Will it get better as I continue to drive it? Should I wait for an update before trying this stretch again? Should I learn to trust the car, it doesn't wanna lose it's paint any more than I do...

Hard to see in the video with my cheap dashcam but the proximity lines around the car go red, I think that is as close as they indicate. Oddly they don't beep at me and the car just keeps on keeping on unless I panic.

-Randy

 

[israndy]

I figured out how to post the video on here, not just the link

-Randy

 

[gaswalla]

I have AP 2.5... to be safe, no matter what AP version you have, don't drive in the left most lane

 

[israndy]

Is that because EVERYONE of them rides too far to the left? You would think there would be an adjustment...

-Randy

 

[Boourns]

Didn't watch your video, but mine stays fairly centered. Most of the time when I take over it's because the car is going too far to the right. If you think it's a problem I'd take it in for a service center appointment.

I do agree with @gaswalla, though, that center lane is best. AP for some reason has a harder time seeing the solid yellow line than white stripes.

 

[voip-ninja]

I know the cameras were calibrating on the drive home from the Delivery Center. Did I do something wrong during that calibration? It seems that my new Tesla M3 rides too far to the left on AutoPilot the majority of the time. It will cross the centerline w/o a care. I care about the oncoming traffic and will take control.

I don't know how far to trust it. Driving over the top of Hwy 17 on the way to Santa Cruz the car rides inches from the concrete barrier over the lane line and into the metal grates over the drains. I have not made it once completely on AutoPilot.

https://i.imgur.com/5VJG9pm.mp4

I am starting to realize that it might not ever come in contact with the barrier so I am curious if others trust AutoPilot. Will it get better as I continue to drive it? Should I wait for an update before trying this stretch again? Should I learn to trust the car, it doesn't wanna lose it's paint any more than I do...

Hard to see in the video with my cheap dashcam but the proximity lines around the car go red, I think that is as close as they indicate. Oddly they don't beep at me and the car just keeps on keeping on unless I panic.

-Randy

I can't tell anything from your video due to the angle of the camera. However based on your written description of the problem auto-pilot does not sound particularly useful.

 

[WileyTheMan]

Let's also get out of the way that 17 is already a treacherous highway, and there's no way I would trust Autopilot on that road at this development stage. The road is heavily used, incredibly narrow in certain areas, and people are unpredictable.

 

[barjohn]

I have AP2.0 and it always is a little left of center when riding the left lane. When there is a concrete barrier, I don't trust it. Especially when making a right sweeping turn at speed. It moves further to the left and is late starting the turn in. It does much better in the center lane when there is one. In the right lane, it will unpredictably try and take an exit; however, not consistently meaning you have to be ready to take control away. Humans, being aware of the wall and its immobility will tend to favor the right side a little since cars on your right side can move to allow for it. The wall won't!

 

[dragoljub]

Ours is centered. Have service look at it.

 

[chillaban]

Note that a little left is different from actually crossing the centerline.

Note that especially prior to the "new" neural net (e.g. 2018.10.5 for model 3), I would absolutely not even attempt AP on hwy 17 (at speed. With dense traffic you might be pinned at a slow enough speed to have more success). The system is not capable of navigating such a challenging mountain pass. Even with the new update, you'll probably still have a small handful of necessary disengagements.


And, considering Autopilot is a L2 ADAS, if you don't feel comfortable with what it's doing, take back control. It's never a good time to conduct science experiments on a public road, and you'd rather not turn into the next "Autopilot wrecked my car" thread.

 

[gregincal]

I commute 17 every day, and never use autopilot between Los Gatos and Scotts Valley. I haven't paid too much attention to whether it's exactly centered, but it definitely gets too close to the center divider on curves (it only took a couple times on the first curve by the Cats for me to start routinely disengaging it before I get there).

 

[Cheburashka]

You are out of your mind if you trust AP on 17. You will end up like those other car parts on the curb pretty quickly. Wait until you get down the hill to use it. There are enough shitty drivers on 17 as is.

 

[voip-ninja]

If AP hit a barrier on that stretch of road would the driver be responsible or would Tesla?

 

[r0xx0r]

If AP hit a barrier on that stretch of road would the driver be responsible or would Tesla?

Of course, it is yours.

Anyway, using AP next to the center divider is dangerous. My X AP 2.0 drifted to close to the divider on some curves. I had to take over the wheel. Not feel it is safe enough. But I think the speed is matter. Seem safe @ 65mph but I don't want to be a jerk on the most left lane.

 

[voip-ninja]

Of course, it is yours.

Anyway, using AP next to the center divider is dangerous. My X AP 2.0 drifted to close to the divider on some curves. I had to take over the wheel. Not feel it is safe enough. But I think the speed is matter. Seem safe @ 65mph but I don't want to be a jerk on the most left lane.

The reason I ask the question is that Tesla has thousands of vehicles making AP trips on these stretches every week. I would think that if AP was not performing well on a particularly "bad" or "dangerous" stretch of roadway they would simply disable AP for that section.... they could determine this based on things like how often a driver needed to intervene or FELT they needed to take control of the car away from AP.

The typical consumer who enables AP is going to assume that AP won't take over if it's not able to safely do so and could get themselves into real trouble once there are 100's of thousands of these cars on the road.

 

[Big Earl]

If AP hit a barrier on that stretch of road would the driver be responsible or would Tesla?

The driver would be responsible. The driver is always responsible.

 

[Big Earl]

I know the cameras were calibrating on the drive home from the Delivery Center. Did I do something wrong during that calibration? It seems that my new Tesla M3 rides too far to the left on AutoPilot the majority of the time. It will cross the centerline w/o a care. I care about the oncoming traffic and will take control.

I don't know how far to trust it. Driving over the top of Hwy 17 on the way to Santa Cruz the car rides inches from the concrete barrier over the lane line and into the metal grates over the drains. I have not made it once completely on AutoPilot.

https://i.imgur.com/5VJG9pm.mp4

I am starting to realize that it might not ever come in contact with the barrier so I am curious if others trust AutoPilot. Will it get better as I continue to drive it? Should I wait for an update before trying this stretch again? Should I learn to trust the car, it doesn't wanna lose it's paint any more than I do...

Hard to see in the video with my cheap dashcam but the proximity lines around the car go red, I think that is as close as they indicate. Oddly they don't beep at me and the car just keeps on keeping on unless I panic.

-Randy

Hi Randy,

It's hard to tell how close it is to the left lane line in your video due to the placement of your dash cam. Given how close the concrete barrier is to the edge of the lane, I would not be using Autopilot on that section of road, as there is very little room for error and very little time for corrective action.

Can you film a demonstration of your vehicle hugging the left lane line on a more open stretch of road?

 

[daniel]

I felt that my Model 3 was riding too far to the left when I first tried AP. Then I got 2018.10.5 and now it seems to be pretty well centered in the lane. From the video in the OP I cannot tell what that car is doing, so I cannot comment on it. If you don't yet have 2018.10.5 then I would not expect it to stay centered. (I gather that not all cars have 10.5 yet.)

When discussing AP behavior, it would be helpful to explicitly state the version number. Somebody will read this thread in a year when future updates may have already fixed the issue.

 

[seattlite2004]

The driver would be responsible. The driver is always responsible.

Maybe...dated, but I think its still relevant: https://www.wired.com/2011/06/active-safety-systems/

 

[gregd]

First off, I agree with the posters who would never even think about using AP on Highway 17 through the mountain. I think twice to even drive it myself. And to think that once upon a time, that barrier was no taller than the yellow stripe down the middle of the road.

But, it did get me to wonder why a car with side sensors would have trouble following a concrete barrier such as what they have on Hwy 17. I would think it would be a rather easy surface to follow at a safe distance, i.e. in the lane. Can the ultrasonic sensors not see the barrier? Or, are they ignored (and if so, why)?