Scary incident at an HOV entrance

[WECinNC]

On day 3 of owning my Tesla Model Y (June 25), we were driving north on I95 just south of the DC area. I was using NOA with “ use HOV lanes” engaged. It was late afternoon and the HOV Express lanes were being used for southbound traffic only. At each potential entrance onto the Express lanes multiple barrier gates were down.

When my Tesla approached one the entrance lanes, it signaled and began to move into the entrance lane. Before I was fully aware what was happening (I was looking at the traffic on my right to override and steer the car back to the regular lane), my wife started to scream that we were going to collide with the gate barriers. She was right and I quickly steered away and nothing happened except to scare us both. As a result, I immediately turned off the HOV option so it could not possibly happen again. For the rest of the drive, I was hyper aware of each upcoming HOV entrance. Fortunately nothing happened after that.

I wish I would have had camera footage to share showing what had taken place but alas I’m still very much learning to use my Tesla technology. Does anyone understand why the Tesla cameras did not see the barrier gates and avoid trying to enter the HOV lanes when they were closed? Did I do something wrong while driving in this area of I95? Any suggestions on what to do in the future? When the HOV lanes are open, I do want to use them but until I understand how NOA handles this, especially when the lanes are closed, I don’t want this feature enable. I look forward to your community advice. Thank you.

 

[drift]

On day 3 of owning my Tesla Model Y (June 25), we were driving north on I95 just south of the DC area. I was using NOA with “ use HOV lanes” engaged. It was late afternoon and the HOV Express lanes were being used for southbound traffic only. At each potential entrance onto the Express lanes multiple barrier gates were down.

When my Tesla approached one the entrance lanes, it signaled and began to move into the entrance lane. Before I was fully aware what was happening (I was looking at the traffic on my right to override and steer the car back to the regular lane), my wife started to scream that we were going to collide with the gate barriers. She was right and I quickly steered away and nothing happened except to scare us both. As a result, I immediately turned off the HOV option so it could not possibly happen again. For the rest of the drive, I was hyper aware of each upcoming HOV entrance. Fortunately nothing happened after that.

I wish I would have had camera footage to share showing what had taken place but alas I’m still very much learning to use my Tesla technology. Does anyone understand why the Tesla cameras did not see the barrier gates and avoid trying to enter the HOV lanes when they were closed? Did I do something wrong while driving in this area of I95? Any suggestions on what to do in the future? When the HOV lanes are open, I do want to use them but until I understand how NOA handles this, especially when the lanes are closed, I don’t want this feature enable. I look forward to your community advice. Thank you.

It didn't see the barrier because it's not programed to. FSD has not been released yet and the driver is still driving the car. NOA is a driver assist system. Please pay full attention and be ready to take over control when using these systems.

 

[Jashev]

Drift has it right. You have to treat this no differently than if you were driving your car with cruise control. It's driver assistance, not self-driving. One day that may change but we are not nearly there yet. While I like NOA, I don't completely trust it to make the same decisions I would which is why I set it so I have to confirm all lane changes. I've never forgotten what my flight instructor told me many years ago. He said it's good to be monitoring all the technology but don't forget the most important thing, remember to fly the plane

 

[WECinNC]

Here is a sample picture of an HOV lane. The barrier gates are up in this photo unlike when my incident happened. I hope to learn and understand why the navigation system did not recognize these barriers and react to avoid them. I do understand NOA is “ beta” so at a minimum I hope Tesla is aware of programming for such situations.

 

[dgstan]

I hope Tesla is aware of programming for such situations.

I've never seen bi-directional HOV lane entrances like that. Out here, we have pillars that come out of the ground to block the entrances. It's possible Tesla has never seen these either. It wouldn't hurt to let them know.

 

[captanzuelo]

Very fortunate that you had an extra pair of eyes(your wife's) to alert you! The roads in the Northeast U.S. are designed all wonky like that. Part time HOV lanes, Turn right twice to make a left turn, miss your exit and you're forced to drive 15 mins to do a turn around... Some of those roads around New England look like they just paved over 1700's sheep paths. I suspect that region of the U.S. will be the biggest hurdle for any self-driving tech.

 

[Tam]

...I wish I would have had camera footage to share showing what had taken place but alas I’m still very much learning to use my Tesla technology. Does anyone understand why the Tesla cameras did not see the barrier gates and avoid trying to enter the HOV lanes when they were closed?...

Many people don't realize that Autopilot / FSD is still in a very infancy stage and it's called "beta" on your disclosure screen when you first enable its function.

Some would argue that it is not even deserved the "beta" status and it should be demoted to "alpha" as it still has so many unaddressed scenarios just as you just encountered.

All of these issues will have to be solved in order for "real" FSD to function without a driver.

In the meantime, Tesla uses human driver as the busy problem solver to look out for unresolved issues and overtake the system as needed.

My guess is it will be a very long time to solve the issue of time-dependent bidirectional HOV.

 

[Puddles]

Stay alert to the possibility that even turning HOV off in the settings will not make a difference to whether or not the car will try to use HOV lanes. Mine still does, and it's an issue that has popped up in threads for quite a while now.

 

[CyberGus]

On day 3 of owning my Tesla Model Y (June 25), we were driving north on I95 just south of the DC area....

The exact thing happened to me within 30 minutes of my first Tesla drive, except I was southbound on I95. Normally the SB gates would be open at that time of day, but it was a holiday. I was wondering why it kept bugging me to move to the left lane, and saw the gates just in time to swerve and swear, lol.

I agree that you should disable the HOV option until FSD is functional. If it can't see the gates, I've no idea how it would know which HOV direction is active.

 

[WECinNC]

Stay alert to the possibility that even turning HOV off in the settings will not make a difference to whether or not the car will try to use HOV lanes. Mine still does, and it's an issue that has popped up in threads for quite a while now.

Thanks, I have been concerned this might be the case. I’m expecting my Tesla to treat the entrance as if it is a passing lane so I am being super alert now that I had this experience.

 

[babbit]

I've never seen bi-directional HOV lane entrances like that. Out here, we have pillars that come out of the ground to block the entrances. It's possible Tesla has never seen these either. It wouldn't hurt to let them know.

I agree. Tesla builds data from Tesla owners as well as their own engineers and test drivers. That is why NOA works extremely well in California (and probably near perfect around Fremont) but isn't nearly as good in other countries.

 

[dgstan]

NOA works extremely well in California (and probably near perfect around Fremont) but isn't nearly as good in other countries.

Actually, Tesla HQ is in Palo Alto, but your point is the same. A lot of their demonstration videos are shot in the hills around Palo Alto/Stanford.

 

[Puddles]

I agree. Tesla builds data from Tesla owners as well as their own engineers and test drivers. That is why NOA works extremely well in California (and probably near perfect around Fremont) but isn't nearly as good in other countries.

I think this is probably true to some extent, but the car tries to muscle its way into HOV lanes in the Bay Area despite having "HOV Lanes" turned off nonetheless. I keep shouting "This is your BACK YARD and you still don't know your way around?!?" I should probably be more supportive.