Side Swiped a Taxi on Autopilot

[Gasman23]

I’ve tried driving with AP on roads like this but felt it positioned itself too far left and was smashing through all the drains

In your case I’m surprised it didn’t stop. That’s a fault with the system imo. If it’s not willing to cross the centre line the car should be able to work out whether it can fit the gap and stop if it can’t. Looks like the car hasn’t detected the taxi. Quite a large object to miss. Like others have said what chance has a cyclist or pedestrian got?!

 

[UrbanSplash]

I’m still baffled Tesla get away with calling it Autopilot. Why do folks use this feature on unsuitable roads when they probably wouldn’t use the same feature on the same road in an Audi for example. Tesla’s are nothing special

This system is years away from being an ‘autopilot’. Just drive the car properly. Folks will get killed. If I was that taxi owner I would be extremely pissed that you thought the ‘car would handle it’. In fact, I wouldn’t post anything in the public domain regarding this incident as the insurer will question this as might others.

 

[Durzel]

Reminds me of this:

Saw that one a while back, again inappropriate "hands off" use of AP.

 

[UrbanSplash]

I’ve tried driving with AP on roads like this but felt it positioned itself too far left and was smashing through all the drains

In your case I’m surprised it didn’t stop. That’s a fault with the system imo. If it’s not willing to cross the centre line the car should be able to work out whether it can fit the gap and stop if it can’t. Looks like the car hasn’t detected the taxi. Quite a large object to miss. Like others have said what chance has a cyclist or pedestrian got?!

Please explain why you think this is the systems fault? It’s not designed for this situation as pointed out above.

This could of been a person

 

[Gasman23]

Please explain why you think this is the systems fault? It’s not designed for this situation as pointed out above.

This could of been a person

My understanding is that AP detects objects in your lane and takes action, as long as that action means you remain in your lane, so essentially it just speeds up or slows the car down. In this case it seems the parked car just hasn’t been detected. Worst case, if the parked car was obscured by the vehicle in front and became visible very late, perhaps AP couldn’t avoid the collision based on its protocol, but I would expect it to emergency brake at least.

I’m willing to be corrected if my interpretation of AP is incorrect, but it’s designed to detect objects in your lane as far as I was aware

 

[UrbanSplash]

It’s as the manual explains. Autosteer isn’t designed to steer around partial lane blockages. I guess the fact it didn’t emergency brake is linked to this.

My own option is that this system is years away from dealing with this occurrence properly. It’s not really satisfactory that the car emergency brakes in this situation, when a human driver would slow down and assess if it’s clear to move past the object, and leave a appropriate gap to the object.

 

[Gasman23]

Here is a more clearcut example of a lane blockage not being picked up by the system. For me it highlights that the AP system is no where near ready....

It seems there’s a limitation in the car’s ability to detect stationary objects

 

[GeorgeSymonds]

AP is rubbish at spotting anything stationary (except shadows when it might decide to slam the brakes on). There's more than one case of cars running into fire trucks and police cars. I think by design it filters out most stationary objects as being of no interest. If it can't spot them I wouldn't bank on it spotting a vehicle parked at the side of the road.

 

[Shnee8]

O

I'd probably use AP on a road like that, if I felt like it.

That being said, it's not designed for it so you would have to be on the ball to deal with exactly this sort of occurrence.

In fairness to the OP I can see why the car would lull you into a false sense of security if it handles things like this pretty well 99% of the time. Unfortunately, all you need is one of those exceptional events like this - a vehicle partially occluding the lane - for it to go wrong badly. As far as I know the car will not straddle the line so it will not take avoiding action that would do so. I'm not even sure it will do anything more than emergency braking.

Incidentally OP - the side view video doesn't show anything? What was the damage?

Oh I’ve grabbed the wrong video will change later you can see the wing mirror cover bouncing down the road.... Damage is pretty minor tbh largely just a long scratch and minor dent and

Here is the correct video

 

[GRiLLA]

While AP makes mistakes, so do drivers, and in pretty much every accident we will all assume we wouldn't have made that error.

 

[pdk42]

It's time Tesla stopped calling the system "Autopilot" since it encourages its capabilities to be overestimated with results like the example here. I'm sort of amazed that there hasn't been a class action suit brought against them. Truth is, not only is it not "Autopilot", but it's lagging behind competitors' systems who only make claims to be steering assist/ lane following on highways. Ford's system in the USA will only activate if it detects the car is on a known-good highway.

 

[Strategium]

O

Oh I’ve grabbed the wrong video will change later you can see the wing mirror cover bouncing down the road.... Damage is pretty minor tbh largely just a long scratch and minor dent and

Here is the correct video

As others have commented - and I am sure you are aware - it was entirely your responsibility to be in control of the vehicle and not rely on autopilot. Certainly none of the current self driving / driver assist technologies on any cars I know of (Tesla or others) can reliably avoid this sort of situation. That said, it also looks to me from your videos that the taxi was parked completely illegally and in such a way as to create a potential hazard, likely to cause an accident exactly as you experienced. I could easily see this type of minor accident happening without autopilot (or a Tesla) involved, for example if a car was driving on the opposite side of the road to the taxi and the driver judged/misjudged the clearance caused by the parked taxi narrowing the lane width to be just enough to get past. The solid white line that the taxi was parking on is surely indicating that this is not a place to park.
Never mind autopilot, people parking illegally and in stupid places is already a significant cause of accidents. Unfortunately this is only going to complicate further the difficulty of delivering a reliable self-driving system. I have FSD on my M3 and seeing the number of people parked blocking narrow local roads is the main reason I presently make little use of it. Hope springs eternal however and I am looking forward to seeing whether the long promised 'rewrite' will deliver a quantum leap in capability - otherwise the FSD rewrite could end up a write off!

 

[hgmichna]

I've got to say it's a pretty dumb idea using AP on a road like that. The car is bound to balls it up sooner or later.

I regularly use autopilot on such roads, as long as they are not too narrow, not too curvy, and have a dividing line in the middle. A Tesla can manage that very well. Sometimes I manually reduce the speed before going into a curve.

However, I have some rules. If anything sticks into the lane even just a little, like parked cars or construction stuff, I immediately cancel the autopilot.

Another rule is, if the visibility gets poor, like at night and in rain, or just heavier rain, I either cancel autopilot or at least I grab the steering wheel firmly, ready to take over at the slightest hint of a problem.

Those are also my recommendations to all Tesla drivers.

 

[Adopado]

The solid white line that the taxi was parking on is surely indicating that this is not a place to park.

The solid white line merely defines the edge of the carriageway. However if the taxi was even slightly over the line then he was surely parked causing an obstruction.

 

[hgmichna]

It's time Tesla stopped calling the system "Autopilot" since it encourages its capabilities to be overestimated with results like the example here.

Why would that be? The word autopilot is almost entirely derived from and defined in aviation. It is a system that steers the aeroplane under constant supervision of a pilot and often also a copilot. There is no example in reality for an autopilot that allows unsupervised flying or driving. How could anybody reasonably assume anything like that? On what grounds?

 

[dhrivnak]

Very sad that AP frequently does not see stationary objects. I can unfortunately see how this can happen.

 

[Gasman23]

Why would that be? The word autopilot is almost entirely derived from and defined in aviation. It is a system that steers the aeroplane under constant supervision of a pilot and often also a copilot. There is no example in reality for an autopilot that allows unsupervised flying or driving. How could anybody reasonably assume anything like that? On what grounds?

I think Tesla’s terms are misleading also. FSD is FULL self driving which infers the stages below that are self driving to a degree. The legal disclaimers when you engage the system are to be expected and don’t really give you a hint at how capable the car is or isn’t at driving itself. Of course common sense says you should stay aware at all times but when the system has successfully worked for so long it’s easy to get complacent.

if it hadn’t been for forums like this and YouTube videos I would have expected the car to stop when faced with a stationary object. It’s a failure of the system that it doesn’t and until this is sorted the functionality should be redefined/renamed, or withdrawn till it is safer

 

[Electroman]

I’m still baffled Tesla get away with calling it Autopilot. Why do folks use this feature on unsuitable roads when they probably wouldn’t use the same feature on the same road in an Audi for example. Tesla’s are nothing special

This system is years away from being an ‘autopilot’. Just drive the car properly. Folks will get killed. If I was that taxi owner I would be extremely pissed that you thought the ‘car would handle it’. In fact, I wouldn’t post anything in the public domain regarding this incident as the insurer will question this as might others.

The system is absolutely 'Autopilot'.

And I would use AP on that road with some reservation, and I will never get into this kind of situation. Why? Because I use commonsense when I use AP. I have patiently learnt the strengths and limitations of autopilot, and so I know when to reduce the speed, when to be extra alert, when I can relax, when to disengage and when to engage back again. I have driven close to 70k miles in AP with nary an issue.

That road - which is a single lane, NO SHOULDER and with opposing traffic is the one that needs most attention. Especially I would be extra careful when there are curves. If it is too stressful for you on those conditions, then don't use it. Rest of the 90% of your drive you will have plenty of opportunities to use AP and get to relax.

Driving with autopilot is a contract between the man the machine. The man has to do his part - which is watch the damn road - and the machine will do its part. And then everyone can be happy and you will have a fantastic relaxing drive.

And those who say it is more stressful with AP - spend some time and learn how AP works, and gradually use it in more and more challenging conditions. Yes it may take a few weeks or a few months for some to get a hang of it. But then you will realize even on roads like these it is no more stressful then driving on your own. On other roads with nice shoulders it is bliss. Just watch the damn road.

 

[rincewind]

I've got to say it's a pretty dumb idea using AP on a road like that. The car is bound to balls it up sooner or later.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ This. I would absolutely not be using AP on that road. Dual carriagways (maybe) and M ways only.

 

[bhav]

Any thoughts on what caused this and how to prevent in the future - Slightly surprised it didn't see the taxi.

Also now it's going in for work what do I handover to the repair service? Do I give a key or can I put in Valet mode?

Front -

Side -

Thanks,

The cause is obvious: you used autopilot on a road it's expressly not designed for. Read the manual.