I Brake for Ghosts

[Mr. LargeCoffee]

Was driving south on 81 out of Syracuse yesterday to go skiing. I was on a straight stretch with a car or two in the far distance, not close enough to be picked up by the cruise yet, when my car started braking for no apparent reason. It lasted for a second or two and then things were briefly back to normal. About a 1/4 mile down the road it did it again. This time on the IP screen I saw the outline of tractor trail make its way across the screen from left to right. Once the tractor trailer left the screen things were back to normal. Only there was no truck to be seen!!

It’s winter up here in the Northeast so my car is currently covered with a coating of salt making some of the sensor act odd, or be useless (backup camera). Unsure if this was the cause, I guess it’s time to give the car a good wash. Not sure what the ghost truck was carrying, lost souls to the underworld?

Any body else experience this phenomenon?

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[Victorofhavoc]

Yep, happens exactly like you're thinking... Sensors.

I've programmed for sensors and camera recognition systems in the past. You have to look at it from the perspective of the recognition systems themselves. Proximity sensors measure distance, so snow, mud, dust, etc can all trip them or confuse them. The camera tracking sensors measures in frames that it sees and with high and low image spots. So bright white lines are a high spot, a dark road is a low spot, and a reflection off a shiny winter road is an absolute mess. A vehicle moving is a frame by frame change in front of you, which is also why around a sharp two lane bend it can pick up the other lane as "your lane" and brake check you into the turn.

They're nice safety net systems, but they're not to be trusted as full autonomous anything. I'm sure you know this, but the average driver unfortunately does not .

 

[nawfoo]

Yes. Its not a true autopilot and the ACC can be too conservative. Sometimes, I wonder if I'm going to get road raged for "brake checking".

 

[Mr. LargeCoffee]

Yes. Its not a true autopilot and the ACC can be too conservative. Sometimes, I wonder if I'm going to get road raged for "brake checking".

Fortunately nobody was behind me when the brakes randomly came on.

 

[creaturemachine]

Happened to me once with ACC, braked and slowed slightly on an empty two-lane road in good conditions. It wasn't an emergency stop at least.

Leave a gap between you and any modern car ahead, especially on highways were people might be using these systems, because they're all prone to this shit. Tesla and Subaru seem to be the worst.

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