TACC on AP2 experience

[davinci2017]

Hi folks,

Just wanted to share an experience with TACC on AP2 car on 17.5.28. I've just started using it on my daily commute on a fairly slow (40mph) but well travelled road with lots of traffic, TACC has been quite good at keeping pace, stop and go, and detecting lane changing cars in front of me.

But what impressed me most was yesterday night, I was on a fairly empty stretch of the road with TACC on 40mph, and a truck (Silver toyota) darted across from my right , T'ing across me to reach the left lanes.

While it wasn't exactly an emergency brake situation, it still required a reasonable change in speed to react, and the car did react quickly to it and slowed down appropriately to give enough distance for the truck to cross and then picked the speed back up. I was ready to react, but the car did what it needed to before I had to.

I was expecting only "my lane" speed and avoidance checks so far but was pleasantly surprised that it did pick up a rather dangerous and unusual scenario when it comes to what normal cruise control scenario entails.

Quite liking TACC so far. Hoping full AP2 EAP comes quickly, cant wait.

 

[oktane]

I'm still getting a lot of false braking (overpasses) or during curves, where it picks up the overpass or a car in another lane (during a curve) and tries braking hard. It works a bit worse than my 2002 Mercedes at this point. Hopefully then can integrate the radar info with the cameras to make it better. The currently utilized Tesla technology doesn't seem any better than what was available in 1999 (dumb radar), other than it can bring the car to a stop (available since 2005 in Mercedes as Distronic Plus).

Suffice it to say, at this point I am underwhelmed, especially given the 80MPH speed restriction.

 

[azmodls]

The 17.5.28 TACC is working better for me than the last release. I was getting very hard braking occasionally when I went under a certain overpass, now it just hesitates a bit instead which is an improvement. The 80 mph upgrade let's me cruise at the speed I'm used to (just a bit over 75) for my daily commute. I also had a situation where a car cut in front of me suddenly, and TACC braked correctly.

 

[mookhead]

I've noticed it really doesn't like following certain cars - gets very jerky for me. This is repeatable, I can change lanes to another and things smooth out, then change back to behind the original car and it goes back to jerkiness. Also, the icon for the car seems too far (so maybe it isn't picking it up at all, and is seeing the car in front of it).

This morning the culprit was a older model white toyota Tercel.

 

[Edgewood Dome]

Mine seemed better until today, lots of panic braking from overpasses, cross walks, manhole covers, dark spots on the roadway. Starting to take more vigilance than not using it at all. Almost was rear ended on 405 S (Bothell to Bellevue section) when it braked hard from an overhead sign. Needless to say the other driver was not happy with me for appearing to brake hard for no apparent reason.

 

[oktane]

Agreed, the last firmware was much "smoother" than the current 80MPH version. Still way worse than other cars I have owned in terms of rejecting center dividers, overpasses, and cars in adjacent lanes. Definitely not pleasant to use in its current iteration. The car likes to slow down aggressively, then speed up, then repeat in certain scenarios which I can't figure out.

 

[_jal_]

It seems to work better for me when it's overcast. Bright sun makes everything weird. Today I was on an expressway and went through an intersection. When I just about entered the intersection the light turned yellow, and then I got a warning. That was surprising! I was using just tacc, not autosteer obv

 

[wattsup]

Definitely not pleasant to use in its current iteration. The car likes to slow down aggressively, then speed up, then repeat in certain scenarios which I can't figure out.

Agreed.

For me, TACC seems to speed up aggressively around freeway curves.

Example scenario: TACC set to 80mph, but traffic currently at 70mph. When the freeway is straight, TACC will keep speed reasonably well. But, as soon we hit a mild curve in the freeway (left or right), TACC will start to "surge" through the curve, only to back off (just as aggressively) as it catches up to the car in front (which had NOT actually changed speed).

I have noticed this surging behavior is worse depending how far "offset" TACC is to the current traffic speed. That is, it is more severe when say, TACC is set at 80mph, but traffic is currently 50mph. It often gives me that feeling of, "cruise control running away with the car". As you say... not pleasant.

On non-freeway roads, especially curvy ones, TACC does basically a slower speed version of the same thing. At every curve in the road, with the car in front NOT changing speed, TACC will surge through the curve like a teenager, quickly catching up the car in front and then quickly slowing (sometimes, even the brake lights have been triggered). I'm sure the car in front must think I'm a moron driver. It's a little embarrassing.

Even when this surging isn't occurring, and the road is straight, I think TACC can feel generally "jumpy" -- maintaining speed more like a nervous driver, instead of calm, controlled driver who is trying to smooth out the variances of the surrounding traffic.

 

[OBX John]

Agreed.

On non-freeway roads, especially curvy ones, TACC does basically a slower speed version of the same thing. At every curve in the road, with the car in front NOT changing speed, TACC will surge through the curve like a teenager, quickly catching up the car in front and then quickly slowing (sometimes, even the brake lights have been triggered). I'm sure the car in front must think I'm a moron driver. It's a little embarrassing.

Even when this surging isn't occurring, and the road is straight, I think TACC can feel generally "jumpy" -- maintaining speed more like a nervous driver, instead of calm, controlled driver who is trying to smooth out the variances of the surrounding traffic.

I noticed this for the first time yesterday, following a white van up a 45mph road. I also had a problem with the spacing setting - seemed like switching from 1 to 7 had barely any difference, where before 7 was WAY far back, 7 on this road was almost too close for comfort given the other behavior.

 

[disagree]

Agreed.

For me, TACC seems to speed up aggressively around freeway curves.

Example scenario: TACC set to 80mph, but traffic currently at 70mph. When the freeway is straight, TACC will keep speed reasonably well. But, as soon we hit a mild curve in the freeway (left or right), TACC will start to "surge" through the curve, only to back off (just as aggressively) as it catches up to the car in front (which had NOT actually changed speed).

I have noticed this surging behavior is worse depending how far "offset" TACC is to the current traffic speed. That is, it is more severe when say, TACC is set at 80mph, but traffic is currently 50mph. It often gives me that feeling of, "cruise control running away with the car". As you say... not pleasant.

On non-freeway roads, especially curvy ones, TACC does basically a slower speed version of the same thing. At every curve in the road, with the car in front NOT changing speed, TACC will surge through the curve like a teenager, quickly catching up the car in front and then quickly slowing (sometimes, even the brake lights have been triggered). I'm sure the car in front must think I'm a moron driver. It's a little embarrassing.

Even when this surging isn't occurring, and the road is straight, I think TACC can feel generally "jumpy" -- maintaining speed more like a nervous driver, instead of calm, controlled driver who is trying to smooth out the variances of the surrounding traffic.

The "surge" (great term for it!) is aggravating. In stop and go traffic, when the car in front of me changes lane, my X accelerates dangerously into the empty space.

I think you've described it very well. Would you send that to Tesla: [email protected]

 

[wattsup]

For me, TACC seems to speed up aggressively around freeway curves..

Since the recent update, this is greatly improved for me, if not eliminated.

With TACC on (set to 80 mph), the car now smoothly maintains speed around bends in my regular freeways where it used to "surge" when following slower traffic.

Even on the sleepy, curvy mountain road that I drive every day, TACC (set to about 40 mph) now no longer surges up to the car in front through curves.

Now, AutoSteer... that seems to have gotten worse. On the freeway, it can often end up "ping-ponging" between lane lines, esp. going around curves, and makes abrupt adjustments. Definitely not an enjoyable experience.

 

[dss33]

Mine seemed better until today, lots of panic braking from overpasses, cross walks, manhole covers, dark spots on the roadway. Starting to take more vigilance than not using it at all. Almost was rear ended on 405 S (Bothell to Bellevue section) when it braked hard from an overhead sign. Needless to say the other driver was not happy with me for appearing to brake hard for no apparent reason.

Interesting to hear your experience with overpasses and that overhead sign. I'm on 405 and 5 quite a bit (live in Bothell/Mill Creek) and at least with AP1, it's an almost flawless drive (haven't had any of those issues occur - just one or two phantom car events in six months, but neither engaged brakes) on AP from onramp to offramp and even on roads thereafter (used very cautiously of course). So hopefully AP2 really does catch up to AP1 and soon. I'd be rattled if I'd experienced a lot of what you described.