Source: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn%3Ali%3Ashare%3A6895031818869891072
#Tesla drivers report a surge in ‘phantom #braking’: Owners say their cars are suddenly slamming the #brakes at #high #speeds, nearly causing #crashes in many cases: #Teslas are unexpectedly slamming on their brakes in response to #imagined #hazards — such as oncoming #traffic on two-lane roads — which has prompted their terrified owners to lodge a surge of complaints with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration #NHTSA over the past three months, according to a Washington Post analysis of federal #auto #safety #data. The phenomenon, known as “phantom braking,” has been a persistent issue for Tesla vehicles. The automaker was forced to recall a version of its #FullSelfDriving #FSD #software in October over #false #positives to its #automatic #emergency-#braking #system that it said were triggered by the #software #update. Complaints soared after the recall and remain elevated, signaling continued owner concern. Owner reports of phantom braking to NHTSA rose to 107 complaints in the past three months, compared with only 34 in the preceding 22 months.
In addition to the #safety #recall in late October, the timing of the #complaints coincides with a period in which Tesla has stopped using #radar #sensors in its vehicles to supplement the suite of #cameras that perceive their surroundings. Tesla announced last year that it would stop equipping Tesla #ModelY and #Model3 vehicles built in North America with radar beginning in May 2021. Tesla’s new approach is known as “#TeslaVision.” Tesla vehicles are equipped with eight surround-view #cameras that the automaker says “provide 360 degrees of #visibility around the car at up to 250 meters of range.” It also leverages 12 #ultrasonic #sensors to detect objects around the vehicle. Tesla eventually wants to transition its fleet to Tesla Vision, and some owners have been left wondering whether their cars’ #radar #sensors will be disabled. Drivers and safety experts said they believe the #systems began acting erratically after the changes.
Several of the owners who filed complaints with regulators said their cars seemed #overly #sensitive to trucks in the opposite lane. One owner described how around noon on a straight road, the car lurched from 50 mph to a #near-#stop seemingly in response to a large truck. “Phantom braking is what happens when the #developers do not set the #decision #threshold properly for deciding when something is there versus a #false #alarm,” said Philip Koopman, a Carnegie Mellon University professor who focuses on #autonomous #vehicle #safety. “What other companies do is they use multiple different #sensors and they cross-check between them — not only multiple #cameras, but multiple types of sensors,” such as #radar and #lidar, a type of sophisticated sensor that uses laser lights to paint a dot matrix mapping the environment.
