Traffic aware cruise control - initial set speed?

[Lobstahz]

I've spoken to Tesla and been surprisingly misunderstood. It seems that the whole interface is misleading as they seem to have inadvertently co-mingled speed warning and cruise control onto the same set of UI controls:

• Speed warning is a feature to help avoid unintended speeding, basically, to avoid a ticket.
• Cruise control is a feature to maintain vehicle speed automatically.

These are not connected however, in Tesla parlance they seem to have inadvertently become one. I think that everyone at Tesla is misunderstanding my complaint/fear* because of this connection.

This is completely accurate from what I've experienced as well. What a terrible decision by Tesla to make these 2 unrelated settings into one. This really surprised me the other day when I got my EAP free trial, and went to turn on cruise and all of a sudden the car was quickly speeding up. I was able to bring it under control in a second, but the mental damage was done as it completely freaked me and my passengers out.

I am also really displeased that the function of my car changed so drastically without telling me. I now dont use cruise as I can't set it at my current speed. I'll have to wait for the EAP trial to expire to get 'normal' functionality back. I've tried to reason my way through why this would be this way, but I can't find an answer other than Tesla was dumb on this one. They need to fix this.

 

[daniel]

Agree! TACC needs to have an option for "Engage at current speed." It actually does this if you are traveling above the speed the car thinks is the limit for the road you're on, but not if you're going slower. Alternatively, they could allow you to change the set speed BEFORE engaging TACC. When TACC is not engaged, the display shows the speed the car will go to if you engage it. But you cannot change that speed until after you engage it.

Sometimes the car thinks the speed limit is much higher than it actually is and this can create a dangerous situation.

 

[Az_Rael]

Yeah, I sometimes try and get up behind another car before engaging TACC or AP when I am going a lot slower than the speed limit. That prevents the acceleration and gives me time to do the quick scroll wheel down to a reasonable speed.

Wish they would fix that. The funny thing is when a few folks complained about this issue early on here (before they added the scroll wheel function), it seemed the responses were more along the “why would you EVER want to travel below the speed limit?!” Which seems to be how Tesla programmed the car.

 

[TT97]

There are times I set TACC while traveling below the speed limit and it will set the current speed (even though the current speed limit is shown on the screen). I am still unsure of the conditions causing this but it is typically if I am accelerating slowly and there is no traffic in front of me.

Touching the speed limit icon will change TACC to the speed limit + set variance.

 

[gregincal]

While I agree it’s strange that you can’t set it at the current speed, my 99% use of TACC is to engage it in stop and go traffic, where I do want it to accelerate as the traffic speeds up, not maintain my current speed. I definitely want to be able to set it at the speed limit, not my current speed.

 

[daniel]

While I agree it’s strange that you can’t set it at the current speed, my 99% use of TACC is to engage it in stop and go traffic, where I do want it to accelerate as the traffic speeds up, not maintain my current speed. I definitely want to be able to set it at the speed limit, not my current speed.

Which is why they should give us the choice. Most of the time I want to go the speed limit. But the car doesn't always know what that is. When the car thinks the limit is 35 mph and it's actually 25 mph, it's not good at all.

I think the best solution would be to make the right-hand scroll wheel active whether or not TACC is engaged. Then we could change the set speed before engaging it and avoid the aggressive acceleration past the speed limit. If you like the speed the car thinks it should be, just engage TACC.

 

[SDKoala]

I hope everyone who has a problem with this is complaining to Tesla through owner feedback through your Tesla account.

TACC may work best in stop-and-go traffic and it's obviously needed as part of Autosteer and other EAP features, but the established way cruise control should work is to set at the current traveling speed. Every other car manufacturer does it that way. Apparently even Tesla does it that way for the S and X, unless I misread. Setting the speed automatically to anything other than the current traveling speed is potentially unsafe because it can lead to unintended acceleration or deceleration. It's preposterous to assume the driver wants to set cruise to the speed limit because: (1) sometimes you don't want to actually travel at the speed limit--the reason why is irrelevant, and (2) sometimes the downloaded speed limit is wrong.

 

[SDKoala]

I think the best solution would be to make the right-hand scroll wheel active whether or not TACC is engaged. Then we could change the set speed before engaging it and avoid the aggressive acceleration past the speed limit. If you like the speed the car thinks it should be, just engage TACC.

While I like this solution, I doubt Tesla would implement it. There's already too much potential for left/right confusion with media controls on the left and EAP controls on the right. Don't underestimate how dumb people can be. I could easily see someone trying to adjust their stereo volume, forgetting it's the left and not the right wheel, and leaving the TACC speed set way too high because there's no immediate feedback telling them they need to turn it back down (like the car surging ahead). It's not dissimilar to how it is now with a potential unexpected acceleration surge, but instead of surging to the speed limit, it could be accidentally set at something far beyond that unintentionally.

The best solution, in my opinion, is to just set it to the current travel speed. If you want to go faster, manually speed up or adjust it. Sorry for the extra step, but safety is not always convenient.

 

[daniel]

While I like this solution, I doubt Tesla would implement it. There's already too much potential for left/right confusion with media controls on the left and EAP controls on the right. Don't underestimate how dumb people can be. I could easily see someone trying to adjust their stereo volume, forgetting it's the left and not the right wheel, and leaving the TACC speed set way too high because there's no immediate feedback telling them they need to turn it back down (like the car surging ahead). It's not dissimilar to how it is now with a potential unexpected acceleration surge, but instead of surging to the speed limit, it could be accidentally set at something far beyond that unintentionally.

The best solution, in my opinion, is to just set it to the current travel speed. If you want to go faster, manually speed up or adjust it. Sorry for the extra step, but safety is not always convenient.

The easy solution to this would be that any speed set while TACC is not engaged would remain for ten or fifteen seconds, before going back to what it was. If you adjust and immediately engage TACC you get the adjusted speed.

Or another easy solution is that while TACC is disengaged you can only lower the set speed, not increase it. Too high a set speed is a real problem. One way or another, they need to address this because it's a safety issue. And while we may disagree on the "best" solution, I will support any solution that avoids the aggressive acceleration that happens when you engage TACC on a road with a slower speed limit than the car thinks it is.

I'd be quite happy with your solution: Engaging TACC sets it to current speed. Perhaps then a second, single downward tap would bring it to whatever the car thinks the limit is, plus your offset. But offsets should be allowed to go negative, also.

 

[SDKoala]

The easy solution to this would be that any speed set while TACC is not engaged would remain for ten or fifteen seconds, before going back to what it was. If you adjust and immediately engage TACC you get the adjusted speed.

Or another easy solution is that while TACC is disengaged you can only lower the set speed, not increase it. Too high a set speed is a real problem. One way or another, they need to address this because it's a safety issue. And while we may disagree on the "best" solution, I will support any solution that avoids the aggressive acceleration that happens when you engage TACC on a road with a slower speed limit than the car thinks it is.

I'd be quite happy with your solution: Engaging TACC sets it to current speed. Perhaps then a second, single downward tap would bring it to whatever the car thinks the limit is, plus your offset. But offsets should be allowed to go negative, also.

This is what frustrates me about this car. A lot of things don't seem to be programmed for real world use, then we rationalize that these things aren't so bad because they can be changed with a firmware update in the future. I'm all for advancing the industry by challenging the established norm, but sometimes things come to a common consensus over decades because it's the simplest solution.

 

[srjinatl]

The easy solution to this would be that any speed set while TACC is not engaged would remain for ten or fifteen seconds, before going back to what it was. If you adjust and immediately engage TACC you get the adjusted speed.

Or another easy solution is that while TACC is disengaged you can only lower the set speed, not increase it. Too high a set speed is a real problem. One way or another, they need to address this because it's a safety issue. And while we may disagree on the "best" solution, I will support any solution that avoids the aggressive acceleration that happens when you engage TACC on a road with a slower speed limit than the car thinks it is.

I'd be quite happy with your solution: Engaging TACC sets it to current speed. Perhaps then a second, single downward tap would bring it to whatever the car thinks the limit is, plus your offset. But offsets should be allowed to go negative, also.

I think that makes a lot of sense - I would like to keep the function of being able to turn it on and set it to the listed speed limit by touching the posted speed limit icon on the screen. That gives the driver the choice of engaging at current speed or a couple of ways to engage at posted speed limit.

 

[swaltner]

it seemed the responses were more along the “why would you EVER want to travel below the speed limit?!” Which seems to be how Tesla programmed the car.

The most common reason is their speed limit database is hosed up and thinks the speed limit is 55 or 65 when it’s actually something like 30 mph. Not a clean way to activate cruise control in that situation.

 

[Zippy114]

The most common reason is their speed limit database is hosed up and thinks the speed limit is 55 or 65 when it’s actually something like 30 mph. Not a clean way to activate cruise control in that situation.

This is an issue that Tesla should fix ASAP. I encounter a pedestrian-laden area in my every day commute with a 25-mph speed limit that is 40-mph in the maps database. Clicking on the cruise control should engage the current speed. Alternatively, one should at least be able to adjust the "proposed" (grayed-out) speed using the thumbwheel prior to engaging the cruise control - currently you can only adjust the speed AFTER engaging which is very unsafe.

 

[SVMike]

I don't think it is a good idea to have a pre-set speed that gets used once you decide to engage the TACC.
People could set it accidentally or not realize they are setting it. Especially if they are new to the car.
The best solution is to engage at the current speed like every other car.
Then, if desired, take a second step to use the navigation database to use the speed limit...this would be done by tapping on the speed limit icon on the display which, conveniently, also shows you the numerical value for what you are doing. A possible second method would be to click twice on the right scroll wheel. First click zooms the speed limit icon to a larger size with a prompt to click again to confirm (must do this within ~5 seconds or it goes away)
If Tesla insists on keeping it the way it is, then they should give a voice and/or screen prompt that says "speeding up to X mph" if you are more than 2 or 3 mph below the setpoint.

 

[daniel]

Reaching over to touch controls on the screen is a distraction that should never be required for safe operation. And clicking on the right scroll wheel already has a function: It opens the microphone to listen for voice commands.

However, your suggestion of engaging TACC at current speed is still a good one, because you can increase speed by scrolling the wheel.

 

[Cpiguy]

I’m a new Tesla Model 3 Performance owner. I’ve put about 100 miles on the car. I have found this TACC issue and several others quite amazing, especially for a technology company like Tesla. I’ve started to compile a list of thing I find quite frustrating. Is there some kind of centralized thread or site where people discuss all of these kind of issues, or do they end up being posted separately as with this TACC issue?

An example of one issues that drives me crazy is when I set my wife and my profile, and I unlock the car with my phone, it doesn’t move the seats to my position without getting in the car and pressing my profile on the screen. It seems like that makes zero sense. My friend says his S doesn’t work that way. Am I missing something?

 

[DR61]

I just submitted feedback to Tesla on this subject. I want to be able to have TACC set at the speed I am currently at when I activate it. I hope there is a solution soon.

 

[sduck]

I have also submitted a similar feedback. I almost hit someone the first time I tried engaging TACC because I wasn't aware of this bug.

 

[SDKoala]

I just submitted feedback to Tesla on this subject. I want to be able to have TACC set at the speed I am currently at when I activate it. I hope there is a solution soon.

I'm still holding out hope that as more new owners come aboard and complain to Tesla about this poorly implemented feature that they will eventually offer an option to always have the TACC set to the current speed.

 

[ratsbew]

This is one of my biggest complaints. It should engage at the CURRENT speed. By jumping to the speed limit it feels like "unintended acceleration" and can be quite scary even for an experienced owner. A quick tap of the speed limit sign on the UI will then set the speed to the limit if you want it to.