Sentry Mode Annoying to use

[drtimhill]

I would expect to be alerted for both someone brushing up against my car and keying the car because both made contact. The issue with sentry mode is that it alerts you when anyone is within 2 feet of the car...why does anyone need to know that? Allowing the user to have the option to adjust the alert "distance" threshold should not be difficult.

How do you know it's not difficult?

 

[Nichigo]

How do you know it's not difficult?

Because a) I'm a software engineer and b) it's evident they are already using distance information since you do not get flagged for objects moving in the distance. Scaling those factors should be relatively straightforward.

Why are we even having this discussion? OPs main point was to voice concern over a feature that is not optimized, which it definitely can be, and most replies were basically telling him to deal with it. My only reason for piping in was to state that, with all the other software optimizations Tesla has made, this should be doable.

 

[drtimhill]

Because a) I'm a software engineer and b) it's evident they are already using distance information since you do not get flagged for objects moving in the distance. Scaling those factors should be relatively straightforward.

Why are we even having this discussion? OPs main point was to voice concern over a feature that is not optimized, which it definitely can be, and most replies were basically telling him to deal with it. My only reason for piping in was to state that, with all the other software optimizations Tesla has made, this should be doable.

But distance information at several feet is a very different problem from judging a few inches away. It's reasonably easy to train a NN to "see" a person from various angles at a distance, but it gets much harder to figure out that its a person based on some some random fluttering of a bag or article of clothing close to the camera (pigeons, anyone?).

We're discussing it because you asserted it was easy to do, it's not that simple.

 

[Nichigo]

But distance information at several feet is a very different problem from judging a few inches away. It's reasonably easy to train a NN to "see" a person from various angles at a distance, but it gets much harder to figure out that its a person based on some some random fluttering of a bag or article of clothing close to the camera (pigeons, anyone?).

We're discussing it because you asserted it was easy to do, it's not that simple.

You are also assuming I want a flawless system that can detect someone doing something nefarious to the car. The last 2% is always the hardest to design for, but I'm not asking for that. I'm just asking to cut out grandma unpacking her trunk in front of my car and give me alerts that are reasonably close to someone touching my car. I work in a business park and 90% of my alerts are people that are walking on the sidewalk in front of my parking space. There is alot of scope/distance that can be cut out before we need to talk about Neural Networks. The annoyance of the current system is the sheer volume of notifications we get that are useless. If it was 1 or 2 instances on any given day in my work parking lot, that's one thing. But when it's 10+ of people going about their normal business, the diminishing returns of checking the alerts are overwhelming.

 

[Nayston]

But distance information at several feet is a very different problem from judging a few inches away. It's reasonably easy to train a NN to "see" a person from various angles at a distance, but it gets much harder to figure out that its a person based on some some random fluttering of a bag or article of clothing close to the camera (pigeons, anyone?).

We're discussing it because you asserted it was easy to do, it's not that simple.

I’ll ask you the same question, how do you know it’s not that simple?

 

[drtimhill]

I’ll ask you the same question, how do you know it’s not that simple?

I dont need to prove it .. the poster asserted several times that there was no reason that Tesla could not improve Sentry Mode because it was an easy change to make, without providing any rationale for that assertion.

 

[Nayston]

I dont need to prove it .. the poster asserted several times that there was no reason that Tesla could not improve Sentry Mode because it was an easy change to make, without providing any rationale for that assertion.

Lulz. You were getting into a debate with a person who said they are a software engineer, as if your position of knowledge is better. Which it isn't. So since you don't believe him, or think he's just wrong, I think it's fair to ask what your position of knowledge is. If you're standing behind the assertion that you don't need to provide any evidence to your opinion, then it's just that. An opinion. It's just an opinion with less rationale than his.

 

[zecar]

How many Sentry Mode users have actually tracked down someone who keyed their car? I also think it’s a waste of power.

You don't need to have sentry mode active for it to be effective. People who might prey on Tesla specifically now know it has cameras recording.

Alarm stickers on house windows work about as well as stickers plus a working alarm system.

I haven't seen a new video of a Tesla being keyed in a long time.

 

[Dr_RWM]

I picked up my new M3 LR AWD on June 10th. During a long trip on June 14th, I turned on sentry mode for the first time when we stopped to eat lunch at a Cracker Barrel restaurant. We were there about an hour. When I returned to the car, it said I had 52 sentry events! I looked at one and it was just a car passing behind me. So I didn't look any further and we resumed our trip.

Here's the problem. When I returned home I went back to look at what triggered some of the other sentry events and could not find ANY of the sentry events. Since then, I have left sentry mode on (except when at home) and there have been NO more sentry events triggered, even though I have parked in some busy places.

Anyone have any ideas what's going on?

Thanks.

 

[dmurphy]

I’ll argue that Sentry Mode is useful for events that don’t necessarily involve a direct impact to your vehicle.

For example, capturing a hit & run in a parking lot — even if it’s not yours.

Or, someone throwing a rock at the car (yes I’ve seen that) … would sentry pickup the rock in motion? Maybe, maybe not. Detecting small objects moving is much harder than a person.

How about the guy who got shot at in their Model 3? Think the camera has the resolution and frame density to detect a bullet?

I’ll argue the right approach is close to what we have. Record any motion but tag the triggering event.

Of course there’s plenty of room for improvement in the tagging - there always is - but better to have the data than not.

 

[Shelburne]

I don't really need sentry mode where I live, but when I first got my 2020 M3 I thought I'd tty it out. I parked diagonally in front of a store in our small downtown shopping area, activated sentry mode and ran a few errands. When I got back about 15 minutes later there were over a dozen sentry alerts. Each one of the alerts was triggered by a pedestrian harmlessly walking by on the sidewalk a few feet from the nose of my car. So, based on my experience, expect a lot of false alarms with sentry mode. Now I only use it when parking in higher density urban areas

 

[sduck]

I picked up my new M3 LR AWD on June 10th. During a long trip on June 14th, I turned on sentry mode for the first time when we stopped to eat lunch at a Cracker Barrel restaurant. We were there about an hour. When I returned to the car, it said I had 52 sentry events! I looked at one and it was just a car passing behind me. So I didn't look any further and we resumed our trip.

Here's the problem. When I returned home I went back to look at what triggered some of the other sentry events and could not find ANY of the sentry events. Since then, I have left sentry mode on (except when at home) and there have been NO more sentry events triggered, even though I have parked in some busy places.

Anyone have any ideas what's going on?

Thanks.

Congratulations on your new car! That 52 event thing - that's the occasional fluke trigger thing that we all get - some reflection, or a water drop, or maybe a bug or bird, was triggering sentry falsely. I get these a lot if the car is parked outside at night and it's raining.

Not triggering since then - it's possible you have one of the new radarless cars, with the corresponding software issue - sentry won't trigger at all unless someone actually touches the car (maybe just the door handle, there have been varying reports on this). I presume this will get fixed in a "future software release" - teslaspeak for "maybe we'll fix it, maybe we won't".

 

[drtimhill]

I picked up my new M3 LR AWD on June 10th. During a long trip on June 14th, I turned on sentry mode for the first time when we stopped to eat lunch at a Cracker Barrel restaurant. We were there about an hour. When I returned to the car, it said I had 52 sentry events! I looked at one and it was just a car passing behind me. So I didn't look any further and we resumed our trip.

Here's the problem. When I returned home I went back to look at what triggered some of the other sentry events and could not find ANY of the sentry events. Since then, I have left sentry mode on (except when at home) and there have been NO more sentry events triggered, even though I have parked in some busy places.

Anyone have any ideas what's going on?

Thanks.

How much room do you have on your flash drive? If you had that many it may have filled up.

 

[Gasaraki]

Nothing.

Sentry mode was a bolt on software feature because teslas were getting broken into at a high rate in san francisco. Its a video type alarm, but keeps the car awake (so uses a lot more energy) and since it senses motion, you will have a lot of recordings if people pass your car or do innocent things around it.

Not sure why that would be surprising though (motion sensing cameras capturing motion, whether its nefarious or not).

Yeah, I don't know what people want/expect. The car has motion activated cameras, not mind-reading cameras. It doesn't know if a person approaching the car is going to damage it or not.

 

[Gasaraki]

This. Not sure why everyone is getting on the OP when Tesla has proven they can do more with what they have. It is annoying, and there is definitely something Tesla can do about it to make it more useful. Impact sensing is one, but they can also use better video processing to determine whether someone or something actually made contact with your car (similar to how they sense lines and immiment impact for FSD). It is definitely not outside the realm of possibility for Tesla to come up with better algorithms and even provide sensitivity settings for sentry mode to only alert you for the level of severity you want.

Interesting that the community gives grief to Tesla about so many other things, but something like this that can easily be improved in software is being treated as "what you see is what you get".

Impact sensing is NOT good enough.

 

[Gasaraki]

I’ll ask you the same question, how do you know it’s not that simple?

Because there are NO motion cameras on the market that allows you to adjust "distance" where the motion cameras don't activate. I have multiple brands of motion cameras and they all record once stuff moves in to range more than 5 feet away (even with sensitivity on low levels). It's already amazing the Tesla system doesn't record cars driving by or basically anything more than 3 feet away.

 

[roblab]

Man, I'm glad I don't live near you guys. People key your cars? Why? I don't even know how to turn on Sentry Mode, don't know what it does. And that's after owning four Teslas. Never had any damage done, even living in Napa Valley or driving to Frisco. I did have a big dually truck rip my front end off while trying to park in front of me once, but that's not the same.

I sure wish people were nice. Personally, I don't know why Tesla hasn't figured out how to remotely turn on a switch that would supply high voltage to the body of the car. A key would make a nice conductor in that case. I've read that in South Africa some folks have hooked up flame throwers to their car door locks, just to remind people to keep their hands to themselves, but I have used high voltage cattle prods and they do a nice job without the butane. We've definitely got the batteries for it.

 

[drtimhill]

Lulz. You were getting into a debate with a person who said they are a software engineer, as if your position of knowledge is better. Which it isn't. So since you don't believe him, or think he's just wrong, I think it's fair to ask what your position of knowledge is. If you're standing behind the assertion that you don't need to provide any evidence to your opinion, then it's just that. An opinion. It's just an opinion with less rationale than his.

First, if someone makes an assertion, then it is for them to defend and/or prove it, not for others to disprove it. That's basic science, and nothing to do with qualifications or opinions. Second, you assert my knowledge isnt better than his because he is a "software engineer". Since you dont know anything about my knowledge on this subject, how can you assert such a thing? Third, the poster provided no rationalization at all for his opinion .. he just made an assertion. So how can my opinion have less rationalization, since his has none at all?

 

[Knightshade]

Man, I'm glad I don't live near you guys. People key your cars? Why? I don't even know how to turn on Sentry Mode, don't know what it does. And that's after owning four Teslas. Never had any damage done, even living in Napa Valley or driving to Frisco.

What's funny here is, San Francisco in particular, and Teslas being broken into there, is why sentry mode was created after a huge rash of such break ins from them essentially decriminalizing breaking into cars.

Breaking down San Francisco's car break-in epidemic

How bad is the auto burglary problem in San Francisco? We mapped every one of thousands of reported incidents from 2017 – and the relative handful of arrests. Here's what we found.

projects.sfchronicle.com

So be glad for your apparently excellent luck.

 

[timk225]

I use Sentry Mode at night and turn it off when I'm at work to save battery power. It'd be nice if Tesla would put its on/off slider in a more accessible location at the top of a menu, so I don't have to press the car icon, THEN the Safety & Security words, THEN scroll down to turn it on or off. That's 4 movements each time! Let's get that down to 2!

I typically put stuff in on the passenger side, walk around the back, and get in, so I would see if something were damaged, so most of the time when I get in and see the "X" number of alerts message, I don't look at the videos.