Safe Margins

[Beta V]

I've been driving for about 55 years. I never drive in the center of the lane--the yellow strip on the left and the white shoulder line on the right. Never. When I can, I drive in a lane which gives me a buffer between opposing traffic or traffic in other lanes. Driving in the center cuts that down by two or more feet. When in the far left (fast) lane, I don't hug the wall, but I also give myself a larger buffer than the autodrive track does.

I suggest Tesla give us a choice to slide the "center" target line over a bit in either direction to add more buffer and reaction time when someone crosses into our lane. Given how poorly the Tesla predicts how a blocking car is moving out of the way, I think this makes sense.


We should also be able to designate (or the vehicle should sense) that we meet the "high=occupancy" requirements of a highway and automatically route us into that extra lane.

This is more important than fart noises.

 

[ewoodrick]

Riding in the center is by far the safest position. It gives you the best ability to avoid obstacles on both sides. It is also just the best when you are in lanes with standard traffic on either side. Like lanes 2-3 on an 8 lane highway. What becomes really dangerous is people who don't feel comfortable driving 1 ft from a concrete wall and they move away from it, either removing others safety margin, or actually moving into other lanes. You ought to try driving the Dallas loop where their are columns that you have to pass within what seems inches..

Having Tesla move the car to the side you want is counter to the Autopilot solution. You aren't driving, your reaction times aren't important.

The HOV lanes are something that are slowly being adopted. But the rules for HOV are a LOT more complex than just doing it. For example, Washington has done the stupid thing of separating HOV lanes continually with double white lanes. In most other states, a solid lane is wrong to cross, and double white lanes are explicitly illegal here in Georgia.
And then you've got HOV2 and HOV3. You've also got HOT lanes with variable toll costs. You've also got states where some EVs can go into the HOV lanes, but only if they have a sticker.
HOV calculations aren't that easy.

 

[Batt Car]

Recipe for failure. Someone is dialed left, the other dialed right, slight error and people will blame the car. Drive in the lanes like everyone else does. As for HOV make it an election on screen or via voice controls. Seat are fooled by empty car seats, packages, etc.

Maybe this car is not for you.

 

[Peteski]

Centred in lane works fine for me. Our UK roads are generally narrower than they are in the US, so there isn't often much choice of position. Also if something is detected dangerously close to the side AP does actively move away from it.

In a wide lane I can see what the OP is getting at, but I don't see a manual positioning tolerance as the answer. Maybe AP itself could bias toward the inside of a wide lane to give a wider berth to oncoming traffic? I've just never driven in lanes wide enough to benefit from it!

 

[mattack4000]

Tell that to the bikers who wants you to drive on the wrong side of the road to make room for them (ca drivers know what I am talking about)

 

[gnuarm]

Recipe for failure. Someone is dialed left, the other dialed right, slight error and people will blame the car. Drive in the lanes like everyone else does. As for HOV make it an election on screen or via voice controls. Seat are fooled by empty car seats, packages, etc.

Maybe this car is not for you.

Maybe this forum is not for you?

 

[gnuarm]

I wish the Auto Pilot would at least dodge vehicles that stray out of their lane. A number of times I've been on the highway and a semi truck starts moving into my lane some inches or a whole foot and the car is happy to stay where it is in the lane making no move to avoid the big truck. I have to take control back to veer over to the edge of my lane.

 

[mattack4000]

Ap1 does a better job at it than ap2

 

[gnuarm]

I watched a bit yesterday and I noticed that when passing vehicles they often appear on the display to lurch toward my car. I guess the AP can't take that too seriously or the car would always be lurching around.

 

[jboy210]

I wish the Auto Pilot would at least dodge vehicles that stray out of their lane. A number of times I've been on the highway and a semi truck starts moving into my lane some inches or a whole foot and the car is happy to stay where it is in the lane making no move to avoid the big truck. I have to take control back to veer over to the edge of my lane.

If they actually cross into your lane, AP will take action. I had this happen the other day and AP correctly knew I was in the right lane and the shoulder was clear. It braked hard and moved the car partially to the shoulder. A second or two later, AP determined there was enough room between the offender and smartly pulled in behind. This happened almost faster than I realize it, and likely saved a collision between me and other vehicle.

 

[jboy210]

Tell that to the bikers who wants you to drive on the wrong side of the road to make room for them (ca drivers know what I am talking about)

Yep. I want my next Tesla to say when that happens, "Too close for missiles, switching to guns".

 

[gnuarm]

If they actually cross into your lane, AP will take action. I had this happen the other day and AP correctly knew I was in the right lane and the shoulder was clear. It braked hard and moved the car partially to the shoulder. A second or two later, AP determined there was enough room between the offender and smartly pulled in behind. This happened almost faster than I realize it, and likely saved a collision between me and other vehicle.

I suppose the auto pilot can use the shoulder when it needs to. What it failed to do is to move within the lane when a truck crossed the line between our lanes with me on the left. At least it has a camera so I'd be able to prove that the truck caused the accident. lol

 

[Peteski]

I suppose the auto pilot can use the shoulder when it needs to. What it failed to do is to move within the lane when a truck crossed the line between our lanes with me on the left. At least it has a camera so I'd be able to prove that the truck caused the accident. lol

It is supposed to have side collision avoidance, but I'm not sure how effective it is in practice. It certainly allows trucks to get pretty close without moving over, but I've never stress tested this particular feature! Others have reported their car moving out of the way in critical situations, so it probably does work in at least some cases. Personally I wouldn't trust it to react to a vehicle suddenly swerving over at the last moment.

 

[gnuarm]

It is supposed to have side collision avoidance, but I'm not sure how effective it is in practice. It certainly allows trucks to get pretty close without moving over, but I've never stress tested this particular feature! Others have reported their car moving out of the way in critical situations, so it probably does work in at least some cases. Personally I wouldn't trust it to react to a vehicle suddenly swerving over at the last moment.

That's interesting. The car is 7 feet wide. The lane is 12, so 2.5 feet on each side when centered. I've seen trucks cross the line by maybe half a foot, so 2 feet from my car. I wonder what it takes to make the car move.

I've also seen a large truck turn into two cars on my screen. So I don't have tremendous confidence at this point. Maybe in release 10.