What is the max speed difference which AP1 will detect a car

[erickulcyk]

Hello,

I have a 2015 AP1 and we all know that autopilot won't see a car if the other car is going too slowly and you are going to fast. Like it will not see a parked car if you are going 60 mph. I was wondering if this speed differential was documented anywhere. I am having a tough time finding it in the manual. Also, I was wondering under what circumstances the auto emergency brake would kick in if autopilot didn't. Is it the case that if autopilot didn't see the car, then the auto emergency brake wouldn't either?

 

[Tam]

Hello,

I have a 2015 AP1 and we all know that autopilot won't see a car if the other car is going too slowly and you are going to fast. Like it will not see a parked car if you are going 60 mph. I was wondering if this speed differential was documented anywhere. I am having a tough time finding it in the manual. Also, I was wondering under what circumstances the auto emergency brake would kick in if autopilot didn't. Is it the case that if autopilot didn't see the car, then the auto emergency brake wouldn't either?

Your Autopilot works up to 90MPH. Your radar can detect everything fine. The issue is to make it useful, the stationary obstacles are ignored and your Tesla is free to collide with stationary obstacles on the freeway. It's the programming, intentional purpose, intended design.

For radar-equipped Tesla cars, both AEB and Autopilot heavily rely on the radar. The trick in using radar in the auto industry is to ignore stationary obstacles. Radar works best if obstacles have a speed and move in the same direction as your Tesla. Most of the time, freeways don't have stationary obstacles such as a big tree is grown right in front of your driving lane or a stop sign... So the trick works well until there's a stationary obstacle such as parked police cars, firetrucks, the concrete divider in front of your Tesla...

Why Tesla's Autopilot Can't See a Stopped Firetruck

Semiautonomous driving systems are designed to ignore unmoving obstacles because otherwise, they couldn't work at all.

www.wired.com

That's the rationale for Tesla to start to delete radar from North America Model 3 and Model Y.

 

[DerbyDave]

AP likely won't see a parked car. This is why even the newest Teslas hit stationary objects like police cars, construction barriers, and wrecks that obstruct the road. The ultrasonic sensors may see the object and take action, but then it is usually too late. My 2020 doesn't show parked cars or cars on the side of the road, ever -- no matter how slow I am going. It also never shows pedestrians, animals, etc. on the side of the road unless they are crossing in front of the car.

 

[erickulcyk]

The thing is, autopilot didn't see the vehicle, yet the other vehicle claims they were going roughly full speed on the highway. I suspect they were speeding up from a dead stop, and were going too slow for autopilot, but the beeping sound definitely went off. Therefore I am trying to figure out an upper bound on how fast the other car may have been going.