Self-Parking? - 2016 Tesla Model X Long-Term Road Test

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Self-Parking? - 2016 Tesla Model X Long-Term Road Test

Our long-term 2016 Tesla Model X is equipped with a Self Parking feature, but just how good is it?

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longtimelurker

Reign - what a king or queen does

Rein - what you do to guide a wagon, cart, etc. pulled by animals.

You hand the Tesla the reins. Don't feel too bad...the entire internet does not know this.

kirkhilles1

That's pretty disappointing given how you'd think that something like this should be scientifically perfect. Its a fixed spot. The car knows its size and steering capabilities and such. Presuming that it accurately determine the lines of the parking spot, it should be able to quickly calculate the ideal trajectory. Looking at the top picture, it should know to backup X feet which will then put it in a position where an Y angle will perfectly park it in the middle of the spot.

I don't understand why this seems to be so hard in comparisons to the complex realities of partially self driving. Its like the calculations are off and then it re-calculates off again from the recalculations and recalculations off again and finally just gives up. I don't get the problem.

csubowtie

I think this is probably one of the most difficult tests of a system like this. The car has to deal with low ceilings, pipes, sprinklers etc. that it is presumably trying to avoid, and to a radar system, a concrete pole could be mistaken for a wall, which causes confusion when the car backs up and said wall vanishes. It was probably using the car behind it to judge back up distances, not the parking curb. It is very difficult to make sensors that can see everything in a moving 3D world and recognize what they are. Is that thing hanging down a leaf you can drive the roof into, or a fire sprinkler that you can't? You and I can tell easily, to a computer they are both solid objects. In 2D it would be a very simple problem.

tlangness

The pipes hanging down in my garage are over seven feet high. I doubt the Tesla even considered them when it was backing up.

longtimelurker

csubowtie said:

I think this is probably one of the most difficult tests of a system like this. The car has to deal with low ceilings, pipes, sprinklers etc. that it is presumably trying to avoid, and to a radar system, a concrete pole could be mistaken for a wall, which causes confusion when the car backs up and said wall vanishes. It was probably using the car behind it to judge back up distances, not the parking curb. It is very difficult to make sensors that can see everything in a moving 3D world and recognize what they are. Is that thing hanging down a leaf you can drive the roof into, or a fire sprinkler that you can't? You and I can tell easily, to a computer they are both solid objects. In 2D it would be a very simple problem.

Also, it can't make a value judgment - the concrete pillar will be level with the front of the vehicle when it's fully backed-in...so it will be OK if the front fender is close to the pillar, because you'll be able to open the right-side doors with no problem - they'll be past the pillar. Now, you, the driver, know this before you even back in...but the vehicle does not know until its rear sensors are activated how far back you can go, or how far back you WANT to go...so it defaults to keeping the vehicle equidistant between the pillar and the car on the left.

It's like an auto transmission...in an urban setting, I have to turn left, then right into an alley or driveway halfway down the block. The transmission upshifts into third, fruitlessly, a split second before I start to decelerate to turn right. In my manual-transmission car, I know I'm turning right, so I just keep it in second. Enabling the car to do things better than a person can do them is pretty easy...having the car know the driver's intentions and do a better job of managing those things is a way different question, and in some cases impossible.

Can't we at least start by making it tougher to get a license, so we can keep the total inepts off the road and stop making gigantic investments of time and money to enable the vehicle to do these dismayingly difficult-to-robotize things that a good driver doesn't need any help with?

clambertson

"Supposedly, you let go of the wheel and the Tesla's cameras will guide you into a parking spot."

First off, cameras plural?? As in a surround viewing system (birds eye view) that is not an option on any Tesla? Or the backup camera and forward facing camera?...

Second, the system uses ultrasonic sensors only. No cameras or radars involved.

prndlol

Haha, it parks like an [non-permissible content removed].