Limitations of a Radar Cruise Control System

[The Critic]

More info on the near-accident here:
https://www.reddit.com/r/teslamotor...urrent_ap_is_sometimes_blind_to_stopped/

Note: Disclaimer from the vehicle's owners manual about the system (AutoPilot) not being designed to handle this type of scenario:
https://i.imgur.com/0njnXI6.jpg

I am not trying to turn this into a Tesla bashing thread, but it looks like these systems (for all brands) can have some serious limitations towards certain everyday driving scenarios.

 

[PimTac]

Tesla should have never been allowed to call their system Autopilot to begin with. Until we are there, and we are not, a car is not supposed to drive itself.


I like the radar cruise control in the CX5. It doesn't give me permission to look away or take away my responsibilities on the road. I consider it a great convenience on a long trip but my right foot is at the ready as soon as I sense anything wrong.

 

[fdcg27]

Our newer Accord, the hybrid, has radar cruise control as well as active lane keeping, so the equivalent of the Tesla setup.
If you engage both, it seems to work pretty well hands off, but I wouldn't bet my or my passengers lives on it.
Not there yet even with allegedly fully autonomous vehicles.
Driverless semis?
Yeah, sure.

 

[ekpolk]

I don't care for the system. I'm not knowledgeable on the details of the Tesla system, but "DRCC" (Dynamic Radar Cruise Control) is installed on my new Prius. It's flatly, hands down, my least favorite part of the vehicle. Fortunately, you can activate CC in the good old fashioned "fixed speed" mode we all know and trust.

The DRCC in my car seems to be the opposite of what was shown in the video. It is so "overprotective" that it renders itself nearly useless except on a nearly empty interstate highway -- and how often to any of us see THAT any more? There are three "ranges to car ahead" settings, and even the closest one results in uncomfortable and awkwardly premature slowing, far before reaching the car ahead. I'm no tailgater either. I've already "tuned it out" of my car thinking. Mine might not be properly calibrated, but I don't care. I like old-style CC just fine, and that's what I will continue to use.

I can see some theoretical benefit to the system, but to me, all that is totally outweighed by the unpleasant implementation in my car. DRCC is an answer to a question that I'm certainly not asking. . .

 

[Alfred_B]

I purposefully avoided Distronic on my Merc but got collision avoidance system. It will give me false alerts sometimes for road signs. So yes, I wouldn't bet anyone's life on such systems.

 

[HowAboutThis]

My Corollas radar cruise and lane keeping assist is solid. Auto bright headlights are an absolute joke, however. They're on when they should be off and off when they should be on. Annoying.

 

[Driz]

Originally Posted by ekpolk
I don't care for the system. I'm not knowledgeable on the details of the Tesla system, but "DRCC" (Dynamic Radar Cruise Control) is installed on my new Prius. It's flatly, hands down, my least favorite part of the vehicle. Fortunately, you can activate CC in the good old fashioned "fixed speed" mode we all know and trust.

The DRCC in my car seems to be the opposite of what was shown in the video. It is so "overprotective" that it renders itself nearly useless except on a nearly empty interstate highway -- and how often to any of us see THAT any more? There are three "ranges to car ahead" settings, and even the closest one results in uncomfortable and awkwardly premature slowing, far before reaching the car ahead. I'm no tailgater either. I've already "tuned it out" of my car thinking. Mine might not be properly calibrated, but I don't care. I like old-style CC just fine, and that's what I will continue to use.

I can see some theoretical benefit to the system, but to me, all that is totally outweighed by the unpleasant implementation in my car. DRCC is an answer to a question that I'm certainly not asking. . .

The one in our 18 Camray has 3 ranges and is supposed to learn your driving habits. We only had it a couple weeks but it seems to work pretty well. It even beeps when you lane drift. Pretty neat but I wouldn't get too cozy riding that beam ....

 

[blupupher]

I really enjoy the cruise in my Santa Fe. It keeps a nice distance behind cars and don't have to constantly adjust my cruise speed to traffic conditions, and even in traffic works very well. Still not a reason for me to not pay attention though.
The lane departure warning on the other hand is horrible. Constant false alerts on several intersections around me, and on country road curves (you know the long 90° curves) it kept alerting for no reason. I turned that off.
The auto high beams work amazingly well on it also.
No idea how the automatic emergency braking and pedestrian detection work, but have not had any false alerts or incidents. Hope to never know if it works or not either.
Rear cross traffic sensors work (but it does not have auto braking with it) and the blind spot monitoring works (I actually had to make it work, since I actually check my blind spot when I drive).

We are in a driver assistance phase, not replacement. They are things that help "just in case", not to be something that is expected to take place of the driver.

 

[Alfred_B]

Yeah, on mine, lane departure warning works well but is annoying. It forces you to use the blinker when changing lanes just to avoid the warning.

Who has time for that?

 

[BMWTurboDzl]

Originally Posted by fdcg27
Our newer Accord, the hybrid, has radar cruise control as well as active lane keeping, so the equivalent of the Tesla setup.
If you engage both, it seems to work pretty well hands off, but I wouldn't bet my or my passengers lives on it.
Not there yet even with allegedly fully autonomous vehicles.
Driverless semis?
Yeah, sure.



I spent some time behind an Accord with what I can only guess is this system. There was a 3-4 car length gap between it and the car in front of him and the accord kept hitting the brakes. It was driving me freaking nuts to have this car in the left lane constantly brake as it was trying to maintain speed and simultaneously keep the set distance from the car in front of it. I initially thought the driver was either drunk or texting.

 

[nthach]

Originally Posted by ekpolk
but "DRCC" (Dynamic Radar Cruise Control) is installed on my new Prius.
The DRCC in my car seems to be the opposite of what was shown in the video. It is so "overprotective" that it renders itself nearly useless except on a nearly empty interstate highway -- and how often to any of us see THAT any more? There are three "ranges to car ahead" settings, and even the closest one results in uncomfortable and awkwardly premature slowing, far before reaching the car ahead.

My parents have the predecessor to that called DLCC(Dynamic Laser Cruise Control) in their LS430, Toyota also offered it on the 2004-2010 Sienna XLE Limiteds as well. It too has a overly cautious range, even if you set distance to the closest range. Their car has one option package below the 1st generation Pre-Collision System with DRCC(the Ultra Luxury 2004-2006 LS430s had that standard I believe, their car is a Modern Luxury without PCS?DRCC). Toyota offered a few different versions of Toyota Safety Sense/Lexus Safety System, the cheapest cars use Safety Sense C which is all camera based, Safety Sense P/Lexus Safety System + is camera augmented with radar, the newest version of which now has pedestrian/cyclist and sign tracking.

I was going 72-75 in the fast lane, until a truck entered my lane a few good car lengths ahead of me and I felt the system slowing the car down to 50-55.

I'm itching to try out Subaru's EyeSight if I have to pilot my "adopted" family's Ascent. It seems like Tesla is all in with cameras and sonar, most of the OEMs are using cameras with radar while Subaru is all camera.