What happens if you are on AP and fall asleep?

[ponzu]

What will a Tesla do (I really wish there were a forum for common Tesla model questions; I consider posting such questions in the Tesla forum, but it says that forum is for discussing the company) if I engage AP and then fail to respond to warnings, in fact fail to do anything? Say, if I pass out. What will the car do?

First, it will disengage AP, I presume. Then what? Will it slow down and stop in the middle of the road, or will it try to pull over? And if I am in the fast lane, and there is a shoulder, would it pull off left, or try to go across lane of traffic to the right?

And would the outcome differ if I did not have AP engaged in the first place?

Has this happened to anyone? Has anyone passed out or fallen asleep? Or dared to test this on purpose on an empty road?

 

[RyanDe]

A friend tested to see what happened if you didn't put your hand on after it nagged and it just shut it off (and wouldn't turn back on) so I would assume then that the same would happen if you fell asleep.

 

[mtndrew1]

My car came to a complete stop on the freeway with autopilot engaged for a traffic fatality corpse in the road and the car in this situation does not give nag warnings.

After some period of time the hazard lights and repeated horn honking came on accompanied by “take control immediately” on the MCU.

Would have been nice to have any sort of notice beforehand but it seems that’s how it freaks out. I presume it would have also come to a complete stop on its own had the car been in motion.

 

[mknox]

My car came to a complete stop on the freeway with autopilot engaged for a traffic fatality corpse in the road and the car in this situation does not give nag warnings.

Good grief... a corpse in the road, but good that it stopped, I guess. I think it can see "people" because I had mine hit the brakes yesterday when some kids ran out in front of me on a fairly busy (50 MPH) arterial road. I saw them and was ready to hit the brakes myself, but kinda impressed the car saw them and reacted.

 

[ponzu]

A friend tested to see what happened if you didn't put your hand on after it nagged and it just shut it off (and wouldn't turn back on) so I would assume then that the same would happen if you fell asleep.

"It" being the AP or the car?

 

[mspohr]

What will a Tesla do (I really wish there were a forum for common Tesla model questions; I consider posting such questions in the Tesla forum, but it says that forum is for discussing the company) if I engage AP and then fail to respond to warnings, in fact fail to do anything? Say, if I pass out. What will the car do?

First, it will disengage AP, I presume. Then what? Will it slow down and stop in the middle of the road, or will it try to pull over? And if I am in the fast lane, and there is a shoulder, would it pull off left, or try to go across lane of traffic to the right?

And would the outcome differ if I did not have AP engaged in the first place?

Has this happened to anyone? Has anyone passed out or fallen asleep? Or dared to test this on purpose on an empty road?

If you ignore the warnings, it will gradually come to a stop, turn on the flashers, honk horn and other "alerts".
(A very drunk fellow tested this on the Bay Bridge a few months ago. He was on AP and apparently fell asleep. The car came to a stop on the bridge, flashing lights. The police noticed and he was arrested for drunk driving.)

 

[Derek Kessler]

Here's what happens:

After repeated warnings to take control are ignored, Autopilot will assume that the driver has been incapacitated. It will then turn on the hazards, chime loudly inside, honk the horn to alert other drivers, and gradually bring the car to a stop in its current lane.

If you had not engaged Autopilot, then it'll be just like any other car. Side collision avoidance will work a bit to avoid nearby obstacles and the lane departure warning rumbles will rumble, but if the incapacitated driver's not controlling the wheel then the car will just go where it's going to go (depending on the road, terrain, limp body inputs on the steering wheel or pedals) until something stops it.

 

[mtndrew1]

Good grief... a corpse in the road, but good that it stopped, I guess. I think it can see "people" because I had mine hit the brakes yesterday when some kids ran out in front of me on a fairly busy (50 MPH) arterial road. I saw them and was ready to hit the brakes myself, but kinda impressed the car saw them and reacted.

Sorry I should have been more clear; I typed my response while waiting for customs at an airport.

There was a CHP traffic break and my car slowed itself to a stop behind the car I was following, however my car remained stopped with AP enabled for quite some time while CHP dealt with the carnage. My car did not see or respond to the body.

Not long before this I hit a bird at about 85 MPH that flew out from the shoulder perpendicular to my direction of travel and it exploded all over my car.

It was a strange day.

 

[ponzu]

Sorry I should have been more clear; I typed my response while waiting for immigration at an airport.

There was a CHP traffic break and my car slowed itself to a stop behind the car I was following, however it remained stopped with AP enabled while CHP dealt with the carnage. My car did not see and respond to the body.

Not long before this I hit a bird at about 85 MPH that flew out from the shoulder perpendicular to my direction of travel and it exploded all over my car.

It was a strange day.

Strange day indeed. Did the car respond to the bird in any way? Should it have? Probably not.

 

[mtndrew1]

Strange day indeed. Did the car respond to the bird in any way? Should it have? Probably not.

It did not, other than smearing guts all over my windshield with the wipers.

 

[RyanDe]

"It" being the AP or the car?

Yes. It's possible he took over after it came up saying it was disabled but I thought I heard the disabled beep.

 

[mknox]

It did not, other than smearing guts all over my windshield with the wipers.

You're lucky. I met a friend of mine and when I noticed his face was all banged up and cut, I asked what happened. He said a Canada Goose took off right in front of him at freeway speed and went right through his (non Tesla) windshield. Apparently the bird was eviscerated as it went through, and he and the entire interior of his car was covered in blood and guts. In fact, the cops were totally freaked out when they arrived and assumed is was human carnage they were seeing. Not sure of the outcome, but they were debating writing off the whole car due to the bird "exploding" all over the interior.

Now, THAT's a strange day.

 

[N5329K]

This what happens when a turkey vulture meets a Bonanza moving at 150 knots. This photo sold a lot of double thick windshields.
Robin