https://electrek.co/2019/03/23/tesla-autopilot-red-light-warnings-lane-changes/
Tesla Autopilot now gives red light warnings & right of way for lane changes
Mar. 23rd 2019  Jameson Dow

[images  
https://i2.wp.com/electrek.co/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2019/03/Screen-Shot-2019-03-23-at-10.30.53-AM-e1553362292298.jpg

https://electrek.co/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2019/03/image_from_ios_720-e1553359623442.jpg
]

Tesla is continuing to improve Autopilot’s abilities in both documented and
undocumented ways.  Just recently the system has gained two new
capabilities: detecting stop lights and detecting lane change intention from
other cars.

Lane change detection

In the last few weeks, some drivers have noticed that Autopilot seems to be
detecting lane change intention from other cars, then slowing down to let
other drivers change lanes in front of it.

This was a hard thing to pin down, because in traffic it’s hard to tell if
your car is slowing because of the car ahead, because another car is
encroaching on your lane, because autopilot got overzealous and detected
something that wasn’t there, or some other reason.  Autopilot does
occasionally have “phantom braking” events where the car detects something
and reacts surprisingly.

But now we have video evidence that this is happening, thanks to reddit user
privaterbok.  He posted a video showing his Model 3’s display and dashcam
footage side-by-side which indicates that Autopilot saw a car intending to
change lanes then applied brakes to make room for said car.  His Model 3 is
on software 2019.5.15, which started rolling out about two weeks ago.

The footage shows a Mercedes, with turn signal on, changing lanes into the
lane to the Tesla’s right, stopping briefly and then continuing to change
lanes in front of the Tesla.  When the Tesla notices the Mercedes, the car
turns darker on the Model 3’s in-car display, indicating that Autopilot is
paying attention to it.  Shortly after that, the Model 3 applies the brakes,
slowing to a crawl and giving the Mercedes room to get into the lane.  This
happens despite the car in front of the Model 3 pulling away.

So this definitely looks like an intentional lane change detection on the
part of Autopilot.  Whether it was responding to the turn signal or the
movements of the car we can’t say for certain, but since drivers have
suspected for a couple weeks that their Tesla was detecting turn signals, it
seems likely that Autopilot is now capable of this.

Stop light warning

Just a couple weeks ago we learned that Autopilot started detecting lines at
intersections.  We also recently heard from Tesla CEO Elon Musk that
Autopilot would be able to handle traffic lights “soon”.

With the new 2019.8.3 update, Tesla added an update note about an “Autosteer
Stop Light Warning” feature.  Here’s how it works:

    Your car may warn you in some cases if it detects that you are about to
run a red light while Autosteer is in use.  This is not a substitute for an
attentive driver and will not stop the car.

It’s not exactly a self-driving feature yet.  It sounds like the language
Tesla (and other manufacturers) use to describe an Automatic Emergency
Braking system.  This feature helps apply the brakes when a slowing car or
other object is detected ahead.  Rather than promising to eliminate actions
entirely, these systems aim to reduce the severity of an accident.

So you still have to pay attention while driving your Tesla.  But in the
event of a small distraction, your Tesla may have just gotten a little
safer.

Electrek’s Take

It looks like Autopilot might have the effect of not just making people
safer drivers, but more courteous ones as well.  We’ve all encountered the
type of person who will speed up when they see your turn signal and not let
you in.  Fisker even made an April Fool’s Joke to this effect, stating their
(joke) “Level 6” autonomous system would be able to aggressively nudge other
autonomous cars out of the way.  That was just a joke – but Tesla’s software
here is real.

We also just got a demonstration of “Enhanced Summon” a few days ago, a
feature which allows limited autonomy in parking lot situations.

For those familiar with Musk’s Autopilot pronouncements, sometimes they’re a
little optimistic.  But this time, “Elon Time” must have switched over to
Daylight Savings, because it seems like the Autopilot improvements are
coming pretty quickly these days.  Between enhanced summon, stop light
detection and lane change detection, Autopilot has seen a lot of improvement
over the course of less than a month.

I’m still not optimistic about “full self-driving at the end of this year,”
particularly since it seems to have been coming “this year” for the last few
years now.  Tesla has continually stated their intention to take a car on an
autonomous coast-to-coast trip.  They first planned to do it in 2017, but
that year passed by, as did 2018, without event.

But Tesla has surprised us in the past.  Before Autopilot came out, the
Model S had zero autonomous or driver-assist features.  At the time, Musk
stated that he thought Tesla would be the leader in autonomous driving by
the end of the year.  Many scoffed at this, but when Tesla showed off
Autopilot for the first time, sure enough they were catapulted from the back
of the pack to the front.  Early Autopilot tests ranked it ahead of other
manufacturers’ driver-assist packages in terms of capability and ease of
use.  Tesla continues to maintain this lead to this day, with other
manufacturers coming close to matching their capabilities but Tesla holding
at or near the front of the pack at all times.

So maybe, with this quick succession of improvements, we’re going to start
seeing more deadlines get hit instead of missed.  Just don’t fall asleep in
your car, though, because we’re not quite there yet.
[© electrek.co]


https://www.teslarati.com/tesla-dynamic-brake-lights-model-3-software-update/
Tesla pushes Dynamic Brake Lights that warns other drivers of rapid braking
March 26, 2019  Part of Tesla’s release notes for 2019.8.3 showcasing three
new features for its electric cars. (Photo: DutchDeity/Reddit) Dynamic Brake
Lights represents yet another step that Tesla is taking to ...
https://cdn.teslarati.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/tesla-mad-max-torture-test-la-traffic-1-e1541787279109.jpg


+
https://www.teslarati.com/tesla-autopilot-hardware-3-model-s-x/
Tesla Model S, X spotted with Autopilot “Hardware 3” codes for Full
Self-Driving
March 23, 2019  Tesla has begun producing Model X and Model S vehicles with
the latest Autopilot hardware to support Full Self-Driving capabilities.
Dubbed “HW3”, the new hardware is Tesla’s next iteration of its
semi-autonomous driving-assist feature ...
https://www.teslarati.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Tesla-autonomous-self-driving-vision-sensors.jpg




For EVLN EV-newswire posts use:
 http://evdl.org/archive/


{brucedp.neocities.org}

--
Sent from: http://electric-vehicle-discussion-list.413529.n4.nabble.com/
_______________________________________________
UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub
http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org
Please discuss EV drag racing at NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)

Reply via email to