DJVoorhees
Member
What the heck was OP doing?, on the phone or sleeping? Easily avoidable had the 3 driver been looking at the road.
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So much of how to drive defensively in traffic depends upon the density of that traffic. Typically, my first priority is to avoid overlaps. Cyclists know what I'm talking about, since you don't want to overlap wheels while riding in a group. A slight bobble from the other cyclist, can knock you over. The same applies to cars. If you are overlapped, that is, part of your car is overlapping with another, the other car only needs to make a small move into your lane to hit you.
Second priority goes to avoiding riding in blindspots. If you're in a car's blindspot, you do have a little time to react to any actions of the other driver, so it's better than driving when overlapped, but not by much. Sometimes you can't avoid being in a blindspot, particularly at slow speeds, ie stop-n-go traffic, when cars are packed up, but try to avoid overlaps. At those slow speeds, you have more time to react to blindspot cars moving into your space, but when you're overlapped, you may not have any room to maneuver.
Can you use your distance control to move in an out of blindspots? Sure, but if you have to do it alot, you'll find perhaps just driving the car is easiest. And if all this defensive driving preparation is causing alot of unnecessary stress, try driving in an outside lane, left or right side, that way you've eliminated half your concern, and you have a bailout lane if someone wanders into your path.
Lastly, so much depends upon your speed and the density of the traffic. What works for you may vary.
Second priority goes to avoiding riding in blindspots. If you're in a car's blindspot, you do have a little time to react to any actions of the other driver, so it's better than driving when overlapped, but not by much. Sometimes you can't avoid being in a blindspot, particularly at slow speeds, ie stop-n-go traffic, when cars are packed up, but try to avoid overlaps. At those slow speeds, you have more time to react to blindspot cars moving into your space, but when you're overlapped, you may not have any room to maneuver.
Can you use your distance control to move in an out of blindspots? Sure, but if you have to do it alot, you'll find perhaps just driving the car is easiest. And if all this defensive driving preparation is causing alot of unnecessary stress, try driving in an outside lane, left or right side, that way you've eliminated half your concern, and you have a bailout lane if someone wanders into your path.
Lastly, so much depends upon your speed and the density of the traffic. What works for you may vary.
KenC - great breakdown above. As for adjusting following distance I would say that if you are in someone's blind spot or overlapped for more than a few seconds then that means you are going the same speed as them. If traffic is not very dense, like in the case of this post, you can click your speed down to 1 mph less than you are currently going which will move you out of this spot. Then you can click it back up again to regain your previous speed. Now you are out of the danger zone and still in AP. Changing speed is easier for me then following distance and more precise I have found.
Knightshade
Well-Known Member
Uh, let's not confuse "driving slow" with leaving space. I can still drive at the same speed as other cars and still leave some space to not be in anyone's blind spot. It isn't a binary decision for me.I don't recall anyone passing me up or almost rear-ending me because of this pattern. If they want to pass, they can. I don't care.
But if you're driving on AP and you leave a big gap, other cars will cut in front of you. Which will then slow you down further to get back to the set gap. Which will cause more cars to cut in front of you. And slow you down further.
So leaving a lot of space on AP turns into driving slow if there's any reasonable amount of traffic going on.
It's why adaptive cruise on nearly every other brand sucks, because it can't be set to follow close enough to avoid this happening as it can on a Tesla.
(at least the half a dozen other branded cars I've tried it on all worked like that)
Silicon Desert
Well-Known Member
That has not been my experience in 50 years of driving
I'll just continue driving that way and everyone else can drive the way they want Adding an edit: Hopefully to explain why your above mentioned note hasn't happened to me. I don't leave huge distances to the car in front. I just position my car so I am not in a blind spot of another car. So if that happens to leave a bigger gap and someone pulls in, that is fine. I am still in my same position behind a car to the left or right and still traveling the same speed.
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Knightshade
Well-Known Member
You have 50 years of experience driving on AP (the actual thing I specifically said I was talking about)?
Can I borrow your time machine? I only need it for a minute?
...Until the person who just pulled in in front of you slows down to have any reaction distance themselves, forcing you to slow. That's a pretty routine happening on the freeways near major cities in my experience.
AlanSubie4Life
Efficiency Obsessed Member
Clearly an impossible programming problem to both have an approximate following distance and avoid blind spots.
In many ways it would be wonderful if the following distance was not adhered to so precisely - it would lead to a smoother drive when following a binary-throttle driver.
Just a little bit more rubber-banding and soft snapping to the grid of open “safe” spots is all that is needed and then AP will be super awesome!
And as mentioned ad-nauseum in this thread, a slightly modified algorithm once the traffic gets heavy enough, where a different set of driving behaviors applies. There, there is room for improvement in terms of being more aggressive about following the movement of the car in front in stop and go traffic...often I am sitting there wondering why the car is not creeping forward....
In many ways it would be wonderful if the following distance was not adhered to so precisely - it would lead to a smoother drive when following a binary-throttle driver.
Just a little bit more rubber-banding and soft snapping to the grid of open “safe” spots is all that is needed and then AP will be super awesome!
And as mentioned ad-nauseum in this thread, a slightly modified algorithm once the traffic gets heavy enough, where a different set of driving behaviors applies. There, there is room for improvement in terms of being more aggressive about following the movement of the car in front in stop and go traffic...often I am sitting there wondering why the car is not creeping forward....
Silicon Desert
Well-Known Member
Of course you know I haven't been driving 50 years on AP. You know what I mean. I certainly agree that AP isn't smart enough for what you mention. I'm talking about manual driving styles. I don't use AP in these situations.
Not sure what you guys think you're disagreeing with.
It looks to me like you're trying to tell me that people don't squeeze into my reaction space and then slow down regularly, which I assure you they do outside Phillly, and I've seen it in several other cities.
Would you like me to record videos of it and upload them or something?
It looks to me like you're trying to tell me that people don't squeeze into my reaction space and then slow down regularly, which I assure you they do outside Phillly, and I've seen it in several other cities.
Would you like me to record videos of it and upload them or something?
Totally agree. I adjust my speed setpoint for a few seconds to get my car out of blindspots. AP should be smart enough to avoid sitting in blindspots.
Ok, the total bill from the Tesla body shop looks like it will be $3,995. The other guy’s insurance has accepted 100% liability. I’m driving a rental Model S 75D while MORPH3US is in the shop. The Model S is way better than going back to a gas car, but I can’t wait to get my 3 back. The rental has AP(including cruise control) disabled and has creep permanently turned on. I was worried that I might fall in love with the S, but not all. The only things I like more about it are the turn signal and the trunk.
A few folks asked for photos of the damage. It’s really hard getting good photos of a black car (or maybe I don’t know what I’m doing). Here are some shots I took before handing it over to the body shop.
A few folks asked for photos of the damage. It’s really hard getting good photos of a black car (or maybe I don’t know what I’m doing). Here are some shots I took before handing it over to the body shop.
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Depends on the traffic. I generally find it does an amazing job at keeping a smooth distance, except for stop and go.
Daniel in SD
(supervised)
Yes, it works well when there isn't much traffic and the person in front of you is a smooth driver.
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