Does autopilot know about bicycles and the 3 foot rule? This is the second time I've had a closer than desired slow-speed encounter with a Tesla. Morning traffic is slow and I often see the same cars each morning as we play leapfrog along Leesburg Pike. I noticed this one Tesla where the driver is always using two hands to scroll on his phone. I assume he has autopilot engaged as he doesn't appear to be using his elbows to steer or bothering to look up to monitor stop & go traffic. Several times I've been slightly ahead when the shoulder narrows or a trash can is in the way and I cross over the white line and take a small part of right lane. Most drivers will adjust by sliding a little to the left or even slowing down and waiting until I pass the obstacle and return to the shoulder before passing. The Tesla stays right in the middle of the lane and at a constant speed buzzes slowly past me as though it doesn't see me. Maybe it doesn't? I plan on being more aggressive about taking the full lane in the future. But, is there a way to report a "incident" to Tesla and have them pull the sensor logs for a particular location and time and review the response to improve the AI?
I really need to log off the internet and go for a ride.
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How close is close? I’m wondering if it’s passing you with the same spacing that it uses for cars which wouldn’t feel close and awful if you were in a car but does when you’re in the bike car.
I unfortunately don’t know if there’s a way to report the issue.
That's a difficult one. What if the traffic to my left is stopped, while I can freely move on the right. I can leave one foot clearance, which technically forces every driver to break the rules when they start to move. I would report it to Tesla, but the driver or Tesla are responsible, depending on what aggreement the driver has with Tesla as to who is responsible in the event of a crash.
I will put in a trouble ticket this weekend for solarbikecar via the car's bug reporting system. New versions of autopilot do see and recognize cyclists and pedestrians but I don't know if it's been programmed yet for the 3-ft rule. The earlier versions (version 1 and AP1 hardware) do not care for sure. I recently switched from version 1 to the most recent version in the Raven LR Model S. Wife has a new 3 with the most recent version. Glad you brought this issue up.
Tesla monitors the forums but there's so much stuff there that a suggest or complaint is easy to miss. Sometimes using Twitter to chat up Musk works as well. Will say that Tesla autopilot in general is better than 75 percent of the drivers in our area and I'm excited about the way it will save cyclist lives in the long run.
Last edited by VikingMariner; 10-18-2019 at 06:00 PM.
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