Road debris detection/warning on AP1?

[Saghost]

I had an interesting experience this morning that I'm not sure what to make of, so naturally I rushed over here to tell y'all about it...

Several seconds after I engaged Autopilot on my commute this morning, I got the intense, high pitched beep of the forward collision warning, but no red car or other instrument panel indication and the car didn't brake or steer away.

None of the cars nearby were doing anything odd that I saw, but there was an object in my lane - something flat and rubber looking, maybe six inches square and an inch or two tall (which I'd already seen when the alert hit, and decided would fall a few inches outside of the wheel track.)

So what happened? At this point, my best theory is that the radar/camera saw the object, decided it wasn't a car, and sounded an alert for road debris that I'd never read about or come across before. (8.1, 17.26.17)

Has anyone else experienced something like this?

 

[boaterva]

Maybe just the object detection saying 'I have no idea, you decide'. (I was going to make a 'we report, you decide' joke, but that tag line is dead. )

 

[bikeandsail]

Interesting. I have always thought that alerting for road debris and avoiding it and chuckholes would have to be an integral part of "autonomous" driving.

 

[McRat]

Most cars have Road Debris Detection Monitoring.

It's often mislabeled as the Tire Pressure Management System screen. You have encountered dangerous road debris when you see the PSI value decline on one or more tires.

You're welcome.

 

[muleferg]

Happened to me Sunday. Someone placed some trimmings from a small tree in the gutter for the city to pick up. I came bye it later in the pm and no warning. Very strange

 

[HankLloydRight]

Good to know.. Starting a 3000 mile road trip today with AP1. Will look for this feature.

 

[####AFastTezla]

Wow, exciting stuff from the Tesla gods!!!

 

[ecarfan]

@Saghost interesting report. A few days ago I was on a freeway near my home in moderate traffic and suddenly the car in front of me swerved around something large (2-3 ft) and roughly rectangular in our lane. I was easily able to avoid it, but no alerts went off in the car. I think that was because the object was a partially collapsed cardboard box. Too soft for radar to detect, I would guess. In the past I recall Elon saying that we should not assume that radar will detect softer objects such as animals or people, even as large as a moose.

 

[Saghost]

@Saghost interesting report. A few days ago I was on a freeway near my home in moderate traffic and suddenly the car in front of me swerved around something large (2-3 ft) and roughly rectangular in our lane. I was easily able to avoid it, but no alerts went off in the car. I think that was because the object was a partially collapsed cardboard box. Too soft for radar to detect, I would guess. In the past I recall Elon saying that we should not assume that radar will detect softer objects such as animals or people, even as large as a moose.

Yeah, on my summer road trip there were several occasion where there were fragments of destroyed tires in my lane and nothing ever happened.

That's why I phrased it like I did - it's the only explanation I've come up with, but not something I expected. I'll see if I can get anything useful off the dash camera.

Edit: Here's a seven second clip. You can hear AP engagement, then the alert and see the object. I guess you'll have to trust me about there being nothing displayed on the IP.

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10155050018264069

Edit2: Wow, FB really stomped on the resolution when they recoded it.