Torque vs touch sensing for driver involvement.

[Kmartyn]

I expect more than a few of us get a little annoyed at times giving the right amount of resistance to auto pilot’s movement of the steering wheel. My experience is that it does not consistently detect the presence of your hands on the wheel, hence the occasional nags to apply more force.

I read that Volkswagen will use capacitance touch sensing. I am pretty familiar with this technology and expect it would provide a much more consistent experience. Do you think Tesla should change?

 

[DukeofURL]

Indeed a touch sensor would be more accurate, but if they're going to add hardware an eye position sensor would be even better, to ensure you're actually paying attention.

Aside from these possibilities, I've not had any problems with the nag when I rest my left arm and gently hold the steering wheel roughly around the 7:30 position, providing slight resistance when AP adjusts or turns. Never a nag.

 

[Routybouty]

I've noticed it's a torque and time detection. This is why you can quickly shake the wheel back and forth and it won't detect anything, but if you apply torque in one direction only, it detects it. I don't know what the threshold is, somewhere around 1/2 second I guess. I swear the last update make it more sensitive, but I only drove a short amount of time on AP since then.

 

[Atari2600]

Indeed a touch sensor would be more accurate, but if they're going to add hardware an eye position sensor would be even better, to ensure you're actually paying attention.

I think that is a really bad idea as they do not work with sunglasses. As someone who wears dark polarized sunglasses to avoid glare I ask that you reconsider your position.

 

[mongo]

I think that is a really bad idea as they do not work with sunglasses. As someone who wears dark polarized sunglasses to avoid glare I ask that you reconsider your position.

As someone who was rear ended by a driver looking at the the car next to me, I concur.

@Kmartyn General info (in case you were not aware) any steering wheel switch input counts as driver paying attention also.

 

[SalisburySam]

I expect more than a few of us get a little annoyed at times giving the right amount of resistance to auto pilot’s movement of the steering wheel. My experience is that it does not consistently detect the presence of your hands on the wheel, hence the occasional nags to apply more force.

I read that Volkswagen will use capacitance touch sensing. I am pretty familiar with this technology and expect it would provide a much more consistent experience. Do you think Tesla should change?

From my first experience with proving that I was holding the steering wheel, I thought that having to turn the wheel to do so was just very odd, not intuitive, and for me counter-intuitive. Given the large numbers of posters to various fora that think squeezing the wheel was needed at first, I’m not alone. I still think it’s odd even today 14 months later and confused even more by the lane change requirement on NoA and other requirements. I would very much like to see a different mechanism to demonstrate proof of control. The VW touch sensing would be far more to my liking, assuming it worked everywhere on the wheel, worked with a heated steering wheel should that ever come to pass, and work with the driver wearing gloves.

 

[VT_EE]

Tesla needs a video in the manual explaining how to use autopilot and hold the steering to prevent false alarms.

 

[Darmie]

Tesla needs a video in the manual explaining how to use autopilot and hold the steering to prevent false alarms.

i say go one step further and ensure it's watched prior to autopilot acknowledgment.

 

[TWANGnBANG]

How would capacitance sensors work when people are wearing gloves?