Why the MME advanced cruise control system is not reacting on stationary objects ahead?

[Rt1AWD]

Here are a couple of pictures of Tesla camera's vision. Resolution is low, and things about part way down the block are small and grainy. Humans could see 1/4 to 1/2 mile down without much issue (a few miles on open road). Camera system cannot clearly determine what it is looking at further out, so at highway speed down the road that won't be very obvious, especially if non moving objects are generally ignored.

https://driveteslacanada.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Tesla-Auopilot-camera-view.png

https://nerdist.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Tesla-Autopilot-Vision-body-image-02052020.png

The autopilot clearly Identifies a stationary object ahead on the second picture

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[Rt1AWD]

It would be nice if Ford releases some visualization of radar sensing and image recognition of its system. That would give an idea what to expect from it.

 

[Scooby24]

The autopilot clearly Identifies a stationary object ahead on the second picture

It's going 23 mph.

 

[ChuckA]

I don’t know if my car will stop at traffic lights since I don’t use BlueCruise or Cruise Control on local roads. On a expressway with lights, BlueCruise slowed to a stop and then started moving along with traffic. But there were cars in front of me. I’ll need to test it for traffic lights.

I like the intelligent cruise control, works great.

 

[Rt1AWD]

I don’t know if my car will stop at traffic lights since I don’t use BlueCruise or Cruise Control on local roads. On a expressway with lights, BlueCruise slowed to a stop and then started moving along with traffic. But there were cars in front of me. I’ll need to test it for traffic lights.

I like the intelligent cruise control, works great.

I absolutely love it. I'm just curious about this little issue with stationary obstacles

 

[kltye]

So because I thought Someone Was Wrong on the Internet™️, I figured I'd record the outlined scenario to prove the person wrong. Boy, my girlfriend and I were in for a surprise. Here are a couple of notes:

1) We had to try this test on a stupid road just outside of Chicago - the Skokie Highway, aka Route 41. It has a speed limit of between 45-50 mph, depending on the stretch of road, but also has lots of "traffic control devices" (read: traffic lights) at random spots.​

2) We had to take a lot of time to properly time this test. We spent 30+ minutes studying traffic flow, light timings, etc etc to make sure we hit this exact scenario.​

3) The scenario: We wanted to make sure we came up to a stopped car at >50mph. We also wanted to make sure there were no cars behind us. We wanted a "turnoff lane" to make sure we could safely avoid the stopped car in case BlueCruise didn't stop the car in time. We made sure there were no cars in that particular lane while conducting the test. Finally, I would abort the test once we came within a reasonable distance of the stopped car where I could safely apply hard braking and come to a stop safely.​

4) Results: As can be seen in the video, at 55mph, the car did not even "see" the stopped vehicle in what I felt was a safe distance.​

5) We gathered more data while trying to capture this video:​

• As mentioned in some replies above, once BlueCruise "captures" the target in front of the car, it slows down perfectly well.
• Trying this test at 30mph gave the car enough time to "see" the stopped car, but it initiated the braking relatively late, but it was by no means an emergency braking situation.
• It is absolutely difficult to hit this scenario even on a stupidly designed road like this. We had to pull over on the shoulder, wait a few minutes to time the various lights, gun it to our target speed, and so on.

Bottom line: Yes, coming up against stopped vehicles at 50+mph will probably not allow the system to brake in time. While the situation for this test was contrived, I can imagine the car not reacting quickly enough to emergency/stopped traffic in the middle of a highway. Always keep your eyes on the road when BC is active.

 

[Rt1AWD]

Wow! Thank you for your efforts on doing that test, kltye. You are right, that is exactly what is happening - the BC doesn't even "catch" the car ahead. If it catches then everything works perfectly fine
I'm usually experiencing this problem at around 37-40 mph. I think I'm going to start testing this on lower speeds to find the max speed that is safe.
Every time I see the car stopped at the traffic light far ahead i will reduce the speed to a certain level and see how BC behaves.

 

[devmach-e]

Wow! Thank you for your efforts on doing that test, kltye. You are right, that is exactly what is happening - the BC doesn't even "catch" the car ahead. If it catches then everything works perfectly fine
I'm usually experiencing this problem at around 37-40 mph. I think I'm going to start testing this on lower speeds to find the max speed that is safe.
Every time I see the car stopped at the traffic light far ahead i will reduce the speed to a certain level and see how BC behaves.

Or you could just use the car in the manner in which it was actually designed for.

 

[Scooby24]

Wow! Thank you for your efforts on doing that test, kltye. You are right, that is exactly what is happening - the BC doesn't even "catch" the car ahead. If it catches then everything works perfectly fine
I'm usually experiencing this problem at around 37-40 mph. I think I'm going to start testing this on lower speeds to find the max speed that is safe.
Every time I see the car stopped at the traffic light far ahead i will reduce the speed to a certain level and see how BC behaves.

This is just...bizarre.

Why are you obsessed with this? It's never safe to rely on the vehicle to avoid a stationary object instead of you. It's a safety system designed to react if it can, when it can, when you're not paying attention like you should be.

It shouldn't be relied upon. There are caveats, those caveats have been well explained as to why it cannot always reliably pickup stationary objects to attempt to avoid them if you're not paying attention. That's why you need to pay attention.

Beyond this...I am just baffled why this is still being discussed.

 

[devmach-e]

This is just...bizarre.

Why are you obsessed with this? It's never safe to rely on the vehicle to avoid a stationary object instead of you. It's a safety system designed to react if it can, when it can, when you're not paying attention like you should be.

It shouldn't be relied upon. There are caveats, those caveats have been well explained as to why it cannot always reliably pickup stationary objects to attempt to avoid them if you're not paying attention. That's why you need to pay attention.

Beyond this...I am just baffled why this is still being discussed.

This is the internet. We love beating a dead horse…

 

[alexgorod]

This is the internet. We love beating a dead horse…

Yes we do.

Here is my experience on a local road, about an hour ago. Speed set on the ACC - 46.

I didn't touch the brakes until the car in front of me moved away and my Mach-E tried to accelerate to the set speed.

 

[RedStallion]

That I consider a weird situation recognizable only by a human based on its common sense thinking capabilities

Actually, MME does break for stationary objects. Maybe not always, but sometimes it does. I regularly drive on a street that turns left while the cars are parked on the right side. So if you were driving straight you would hit the parked cars. That place is also close to the intersection and the road lines disappear. Every time I drive on cruise that portion of the street, the car suddenly and significantly slows down.

 

[Rt1AWD]

This is just...bizarre.

Why are you obsessed with this?

Not obsessed.... Curious

 

[Rt1AWD]

Why are you obsessed with this? It's never safe to rely on the vehicle to avoid a stationary object instead of you. It's a safety system designed to react if it can, when it can, when you're not paying attention like you should be.

It shouldn't be relied upon. There are caveats, those caveats have been well explained as to why it cannot always reliably pickup stationary objects to attempt to avoid them if you're not paying attention. That's why you need to pay attention.

I don't want to be able to rely on the system, I just want to use it.... It just seems a little annoying that I have to intervene in a straightforward situation that should be handled by BC in my opinion

 

[Rt1AWD]

Actually, MME does break for stationary objects. Maybe not always, but sometimes it does. I regularly drive on a street that turns left while the cars are parked on the right side. So if you were driving straight you would hit the parked cars. That place is also close to the intersection and the road lines disappear. Every time I drive on cruise that portion of the street, the car suddenly and significantly slows down.

I agree. It does catch a stationary car ahead, just not all the time

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