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As a current Tesla owner and frequent autopilot user I can attest to this being a scenario where autopilot has not worked for me - traveling at high speed and a
by jread 9y ago
As a current Tesla owner and frequent autopilot user I can attest to this being a scenario where autopilot has not worked for me - traveling at high speed and approaching a stopped vehicle from a distance. I now always take it off autopilot when this occurs because it will not brake in time.
- davrosthedalek 9y agoI'm actually surprised by this. Isn't this something which the numerous brake-assist systems are supposed to handle easily? The radar should see far enough and Doppler should tell the relative speed.
- nikkwong 9y agoFrom a technical perspective—why would Tesla not have taken more care to address this scenario? It seems like low hanging fruit in comparison to other challenges that autopilot has to be able to handle.
- jread 9y agoI’ve wondered this myself - it’s a great system and I’ve really enjoyed using it once I learned what it’s good for and the limitations, but this does seem like a glaring issue. My best guess based on the AP display, is that it doesn’t see the stopped vehicle out far enough to initiate braking.
- toast0 9y agoThey've previously said they detect stationary objects and purposefully ignore them. I think with the intention of not stopping for foliage or something.
- sf_rob 9y agoI get the impression that these incidents (if this is the case again) are due to Tesla being confident in their camera-based approach (with mid-range radar). Other manufacturers seem to be emphasizing hardware to a greater extend, with Audi even having lidar in the new A8.
- benfar 9y agoThey did address it, starting with software 8.0. See http://www.tesla.com/blog/upgrading-autopilot-seeing-world-radar http://www.tesla.com/blog/upgrading-autopilot-seeing-world-r... . Chances are that evidence will show that the vehicle detected the fire truck, gave audible warning, and then started braking. That's all if the driver had not disabled forward collision warning and automatic emergency braking. They are standard safety features and unless disabled are active during manual driving as well as when Autopilot is active. I don't work for Tesla, but I am very familiar with this type of technology and Tesla vehicles' owner manual descriptions of operation.
- mikerathbun 9y agoSame here. There is rarely a day that I don't have to disengage because of a car moving into my lane a little too close and Autopilot doesn't see it. It's great in bumper to bumper traffic, but at highway speed there are too many blindspots.
- exodust 9y agoJust curious what action is needed to disengage autopilot, is it simply a matter of grabbing steering wheel, or does a button need to be pressed? Is there a "hybrid" mode where it remains in autopilot but with option to manually adjust speed and steering?
- greglindahl 9y agoIf there's something in front of you, slamming on the bakes both slows the car and disables autopilot.
- exodust 9y agoGood they remembered the "slows car" feature. Perhaps fines for autopilot incidents should be greater than if a human makes the mistake. Car maker pays a sort of penalty tax every time their AI screws up. Hitting a fire truck is unforgivable. Emergency brake feature can't detect a big truck? That's back to drawing board stuff right there.