wilheldp_PE
PE, LEED AP, SPAM KING
The follow distance in the Tesla is adjustable between 1 and 6 car lengths.
Autonomous Vehicles
- Thread starter Road Guy
- Start date
Help Support Professional Engineer & PE Exam Forum:
wilheldp_PE
PE, LEED AP, SPAM KING
I'm pretty sure that a "car length" is a speed dependent distance. I usually keep it set to "2," and at highway speed, there is way more than 2 car lengths between me and the car in front of me, but it would be uncomfortably close for somebody to merge in front of me like Jeb was saying.
jeb6294
Well-known member
You could adjust it, but there were only three levels. I'm not sure what those levels correlated to car-lengths-wise, but even on the closest setting it would leave a lot of space between you and the car in front of you. It was a nice idea, but it was so annoying that I ended up not using it much.
jeb6294
Well-known member
Instead of putting all these gadgets on cars, cell phone manufacturers should just be required to make phone inoperable above a certain speed without some sort of super annoying override process that couldn't be performed by the person driving. Between the truck and the motorcycle, I am able to get a pretty good look inside the cars around me. I see people weaving all over the road or with their speed going all over the place and almost 100% of the time, I can see it's because they're too busy playing on their phone.
It's a daily occurrence to see at least one person fiddling with their cell phone and not paying attention to the road during my commute. I think the worst I've seen was the woman who had attached her iPad to her steering wheel (over the airbag) and was watching a movie while driving. Maybe we'll read about her one day in the Darwin awards as it's only a matter of time before she rear ends someone and is impaled by her iPad.
jeb6294
Well-known member
This summer I was behind some stupid lady who was on her phone...could see her pecking away clear as day through her back window. I was still behind her as she drove right off the side of the road after making a turn at an intersection. It's kind of a goofy curve there so there's a 4-6" curb along the road before you get to the guardrail. She drove her car right up on to the curb, and it's so close, I would think she hit the guardrail too. If it was my truck a 6" curb wouldn't be a big deal, but she was in a Toyota Camry. While she pulled up to get off the side of the road I could see all kinds of stuff hanging off the bottom of her car. If I had the time, I should have made sure the police were on their way and stuck around to make sure the fact that she was glued to her phone made it into the police report, but I had stuff to do. She was already pissed off enough because we both had our windows down so she could hear me laughing as I drove by.
Last edited by a moderator:
Road Guy
Well-known member
so I never would have thought to have looked at the people driving tesla's before this thread, but twice I have been next to this guy in a tesla, yesterday he was eating either a bowl of cereal while his car drove for him, and today he was holding an ipad and it looked like he was watching a movie.. lol..
wilheldp_PE
PE, LEED AP, SPAM KING
I still keep an eye on the road so I'm ready to take over if I feel there is a situation Autopilot can't handle...but it really is a game-changer for eating on the road.
FLBuff PE
Multi-disciplinary engineer
snickerd3
Taking suggestions
Audi Driver P.E.
Well-known member
- Joined
- Sep 21, 2015
- Messages
- 4,851
- Reaction score
- 1,675
So, I've had much more experience with my car now, and I have to say that for the most part the ACC is pretty nice. But one thing it does NOT do well is use a slip stream to your advantage. Normally, if I want to go around someone on a 4 or more lane hi-way, I come up within one car following distance and accelerate some amount around the vehicle. With ACC, you do the exact opposite. It comes up to one car length and as I would normally then use that momentum to go around, it BRAKES and slows down. That kills the mileage if nothing else.
Do you drive NASCAR and are you trying to slingshot?
You've got 4 or more lanes and you come within one car length before you move out to pass? Sounds rather aggressive.
Do you draft semis to save gas too?
Audi Driver P.E.
Well-known member
- Joined
- Sep 21, 2015
- Messages
- 4,851
- Reaction score
- 1,675
You can keep a car length or more and still get some minimal effect that is TOTALLY negated if the brake is applied. It's not at all aggressive to MAINTAIN speed and not brake. But it is QUITE counterproductive to brake while, or just before you pass.
My ;point on being aggressive is the idea of coming within a car length of the rear of another car at highway speeds. I believe the safe rule of thumb is 10 ft for every 10 mph. Not too many 20 ft cars around that I know of and certainly not 70 ft cars.
