TACC/Autopilot discussion moved from general thread

[neroden]

The driver of the Tesla is my dad's friend. He said that he was behind a pickup truck with AP engaged. The pickup truck suddenly swerved into the right lane because of the firetruck parked ahead. Because the pickup truck was too high to see over, he didn't have enough time to react.

Following Too Close

He hit the firetruck at 65mph and the steering column was pushed 2 feet inwards toward him. Luckily, he wasn't hurt. He fully acknowledges that he should've been paying more attention and isn't blaming Tesla.

I'll tell you what Tesla should do here: it should eliminate the tailgating following distance options (which are, sadly, available on the TACC) and enforce actual safe following distances when using Autopilot.

 

[bambam4171]

Yes, it adds up. The entire system is programmed to ignore stationary objects, to avoid false positives from signs and parked cars and so on. The radar might easily have detected the fire truck and ignored it. The other examples we've seen were all vehicles that had been moving before.

Ok, that makes sense. However, what does not make sense is to have the system ignore it even though the car is travelling fast in exactly that direction. It does not matter if a car strikes a pole at 60 MPH or a car, the result will be extremely bad anyway.

 

[bdy0627]

Following Too Close



I'll tell you what Tesla should do here: it should eliminate the tailgating following distance options (which are, sadly, available on the TACC) and enforce actual safe following distances when using Autopilot.

This is true but man does it get annoying when other cars constantly merge in the space in front of me even when I have it set to the smallest space available.

 

[DurandalAI]

This is true but man does it get annoying when other cars constantly merge in the space in front of me even when I have it set to the smallest space available.

I don’t have TACC, but I’ve found making sure I go 3 miles under the prevailing speed makes little difference in my commute time but reduces my stress level tremendously. People pass by, they cut ahead, but they’re gone a second later so I don’t mind. I’m launching at the green lights and grandpa on the freeway. (Disclaimer: No Tesla yet, I’m one of those mythical poor soon to be Model 3 owners that will order the base version and add EAP.)

 

[bdy0627]

I don’t have TACC, but I’ve found making sure I go 3 miles under the prevailing speed makes little difference in my commute time but reduces my stress level tremendously. People pass by, they cut ahead, but they’re gone a second later so I don’t mind. I’m launching at the green lights and grandpa on the freeway. (Disclaimer: No Tesla yet, I’m one of those mythical poor soon to be Model 3 owners that will order the base version and add EAP.)

I think you are going to love how TACC lowers your stress level even further. It's amazing how little you have to worry about your speed and the car ahead of you. Just watch out for the occasional stopped vehicle in your path!

 

[Richgoogol]

I think you are going to love how TACC lowers your stress level even further. It's amazing how little you have to worry about your speed and the car ahead of you. Just watch out for the occasional stopped vehicle in your path!

This is the part of the recent incident I just don't get. So if in stop and go traffic, and if the car in front of you completely stops due to traffic jam, TACC won't break the car for you?

 

[Yggdrasill]

This is the part of the recent incident I just don't get. So if in stop and go traffic, and if the car in front of you completely stops due to traffic jam, TACC won't break the car for you?

In that situation it will stop, provided you have been following the car in front, rather than approach already stopped traffic. The car basically locks onto the moving cars in front with radar, and adjusts the speed accordingly. Stationary objects are not locked onto and the car generally won't stop for them.

 

[Dennisj00]

TACC will even brake heavily if the SECOND car in front of you is braking or turning and the car ahead isn’t braking yet.

I don’t understand ignoring the stopped one.

 

[Richgoogol]

In that situation it will stop, provided you have been following it. The car basically locks onto the moving cars in front with radar, and adjusts the speed accordingly. Stationary objects are not locked onto and the car generally won't stop for them.

Ohhh! I see the difference now. Thank you for that! But how does stationary objects differ from a car that cuts between you and the car you've been following? The camera seems to be picking up on those cars pretty well and breaks if necessary. Not sure why Tesla made the system this way, seems like its something really easy to implement.

 

[Lessmog]

This is the part of the recent incident I just don't get. So if in stop and go traffic, and if the car in front of you completely stops due to traffic jam, TACC won't break the car for you?

Guessing here: The radar probably has noticed that the car in front was moving, so not a bridge or other fixed object that it will select out in order to avoid a lot of false alarms. Not so if the fixed object is a stopped fire truck. Although it would of course be better if it avoided all dangerous objects in our path!

 

[kbM3]

This is the part of the recent incident I just don't get. So if in stop and go traffic, and if the car in front of you completely stops due to traffic jam, TACC won't break the car for you?

In that situation it will stop, provided you have been following the car in front, rather than approach already stopped traffic. The car basically locks onto the moving cars in front with radar, and adjusts the speed accordingly. Stationary objects are not locked onto and the car generally won't stop for them.

Apparently the cause was a sudden swerve by a pickup that was in front of the Tesla. The cameras and radar did not have time. The user manual even has a warning about this particular situation if the car is going faster than 50 mph.

 

[Yggdrasill]

Ohhh! I see the difference now. Thank you for that! But how does stationary objects differ from a car that cuts between you and the car you've been following? The camera seems to be picking up on those cars pretty well and breaks if necessary. Not sure why Tesla made the system this way, seems like its something really easy to implement.

A car that cuts in front of you is necessarily moving. It will be picked up on radar and autopilot will adjust speed to the new lead vehicle.

The radar can be used to judge distance to stationary objects, but it's an intentional feature that stationary objects are filtered out. There will be lots of false positives from lightposts, signs, bridges, traffic cones, potholes, etc.

Tesla has talked about using the radar more actively to track stationary objects, where you have a list of expected false positives along a given stretch of road. This would allow for determining that the fire truck is a new object, and slow down/stop for it. But I don't think this has been implemented to any real degree yet.

 

[bdy0627]

Apparently the cause was a sudden swerve by a pickup that was in front of the Tesla. The cameras and radar did not have time. The user manual even has a warning about this particular situation if the car is going faster than 50 mph.

I could definitely see how this would catch you off guard since we are so used to having TACC slow the car down as needed. If the car in front of you suddenly moves over and there is a stationary car, I might struggle to immediately recognize that the car is not going to slow down for the stationary car. I hope I would be ready to catch that situation but I'm not so sure. Fortunately, it doesn't happen often.

 

[ggr]

I could definitely see how this would catch you off guard since we are so used to having TACC slow the car down as needed. If the car in front of you suddenly moves over and there is a stationary car, I might struggle to immediately recognize that the car is not going to slow down for the stationary car. I hope I would be ready to catch that situation but I'm not so sure. Fortunately, it doesn't happen often.

This has happened to me even without any kind of cruise control; it's the cause of many rear-end collisions.

 

[RobStark]

Weekend O.T.

The veggie burger to convert carnivores. Not meant to conquer the vegan/vegetarian market.

 

[JRP3]

The veggie burger to convert carnivores. Not meant to conquer the vegan/vegetarian market.

I haven't had the Impossible Burger, since it's almost impossible to get outside of specific restaurants, but the Beyond Burger is really good and you can actually buy it. Similar technology I believe. I suspect as technology progresses eating animals will make as much sense as driving an ICE

 

[JRP3]

Perhaps my comment was in reference in general. Not every driver can handle properly a car faster than a McLaren race car.

People wreck slow cars every day. I think there are many larger safety issues than the ability to accelerate a few seconds faster, hopefully all eventually mitigated by advanced active safety features in the not too distant future.

 

[Reciprocity]

People wreck slow cars every day. I think there are many larger safety issues than the ability to accelerate a few seconds faster, hopefully all eventually mitigated by advanced active safety features in the not too distant future.

Death rates per million registered car years (odd way to count but that's what they use) for sports cars are always higher but I wonder if it's more the size and shape or the speed. In some ways, the sports car can get you out of trouble that you wouldn't otherwise be able to.

 

[dc_h]

Perhaps my comment was in reference in general. Not every driver can handle properly a car faster than a McLaren race car.

Elon?

 

[sundaymorning]

This post is not put GM down, but more of these type of news will undoubtedly occur as the market shifts towards autonomous.. it would be unwise to sell base on these types of “news”.

GM sued by motorcyclist injured in crash involving self-driving car