Tesla Quietly Disconnecting Radar in Customer Cars During Service Visits

https://www.thedrive.com/news/tesla-quietly-disconnecting-radar-in-customer-cars-during-service-visits

by clouddrover • 3 years ago

46 23 3 years ago

thedrive.com

m463• 3 years ago

I wonder what autopilot versions this applies to.

AP1 only has one camera, and then has sonar and radar.

vba6162• 3 years ago

The article mentions as a drawback of non-radar-based cruise control:

"They also can't follow other vehicles quite as closely, with the following distance kicked back from one car length to two, meaning that it is easier for other vehicles to sneak ahead of them in traffic."

I'm not sure exactly how to interpret this, but at highway speeds, like from 55-85 mph, Honda's adaptive cruise control allows the following distance to be set from roughly 100 to 300 feet.

An "average" car length seems to be about 15 feet, so that converts to 7-20 car lengths.

If Teslas really do allow following other cars at 1-2 car lengths at, say, 75 mph, that's a bit startling. I can't say I've seen one doing it though.

kadoban• 3 years ago

I assume they mean at low speeds, in stop and go traffic.

mgrund3• 3 years ago

That’s not what the number means. From the manual:

“Each setting corresponds to a time-based distance that represents how long it takes for Model 3, from its current location, to reach the location of the rear bumper of the vehicle ahead of you”

I think it might have been in the past, at least I was told the same thing years ago.

That said, it is actually an issue that it now keeps too much distance under some conditions on the lowest setting.

vba6162• 3 years ago

Two car lengths doesn't mean two car lengths? What is the conversion formula then?

IncandescentGas• 3 years ago

meaning that it is easier for other vehicles to sneak ahead of them in traffic

Changing lanes is "sneaking" now? Does somebody really think we need autonomous driving trained to block other cars from safely switching lanes?

ekux44• 3 years ago

Forced software/hardware downgrade to receive vehicle repair is such tyranny.

Do owners that bought a car with a radar-based safety system have any recourse if they don't consent to the software & hardware disable of the radar system?

mgrund3• 3 years ago

I actually filed a legal complaint about this. Ultimately the claim was rejected so no law in Denmark to protect against this [1].

Tesla was sentenced to pay me a small compensation ($800) for not getting proper consent for the update, but refuse to do so. I’ll have to take them to court to get it.

[1] https://www.bilklage.dk/CMS/Upload/1/Documents/Anonymiserede... (in Danish)

Symbiote2• 3 years ago

Do I understand that correctly, that the Tesla can be set to follow 2-7 car lengths behind the preceding vehicle?

At what sort of speeds is this available?

The British driving exam and driving code says a distance of 6 car lengths is appropriate for ~50km/h (30mph), in dry weather. Anything faster, wetter or at night needs more distance.

justinclift• 3 years ago

I’ll have to take them to court to get it.

Hopefully that works out well. :)

It sounds like it could establish a precedent for others to follow in response to Teslas' behaviour.

mft_• 3 years ago

Best of luck to you.

Having failed to find an avenue to even get a reply from Tesla’s customer services when they overcharged me (luckily for a relatively trivial amount) I’d like to donate any Tesla karma I’ve built up to you

rlpb• 3 years ago

This is interesting. Thank you for spending effort on this!

I was curious so I followed your link. Google Translate says this: "Since there is no information available that provides a basis for assuming that the car is defective after the update full, the complaint cannot be upheld."

So it seems that the requirement would be to prove that the change is actually a defect. This sounds reasonable to me in principle, though I wonder if the burden of proof should actually be on the other side if the consumer has no choice but to accept the update.

It looks like the fine issued was a default judgement on the basis that you weren't adequately informed of the change and that they didn't try to contest that?

fattire• 3 years ago

"Tyranny"? Really?

scotty79• 3 years ago

If they can make up new meanings for words like "Piracy" and "Theft" I think we can make up "Tyranny".

TheLoafOfBread2• 3 years ago

It is logical when you have service monopoly. You want to milk your customers and what customers can do against that? That's right nothing.

rvnx• 3 years ago

If the radar is not used anyway, then when you are disconnecting it, you are going to save a little bit of power. Isn't it an improvement for power consumption ?

TheLoafOfBread2• 3 years ago

When I am not using my bike, is it fair to steal it from my shed?

bzzzt• 3 years ago

You didn't pay for the rader, you paid for the detection of objects. If the manufacturer finds a way to accomplish this by other means you don't lose anything.

Tesla Quietly Disconnecting Radar in Customer Cars During Service Visits

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