Tesla Model 3 Autopilot Crash Avoidance Maneuver

Recently a Tesla Model 3 driver ("Tesla Canuck's" YouTube channel can be found here) was in a close call incident while using the Autopilot feature. He posted a dashcam video of the incident on his YouTube channel. We were able to perform an analysis of his video using basic kinematics, along with the help of Virtual CRASH, to estimate the Tesla driver’s ground speed and the aggressive driver’s ground speed. Using Virtual CRASH, we were able to produce an animation that illustrated how the Autopilot system quite likely prevented a sideswipe collision due to its lane intrusion and collision prediction algorithms. Had Tesla Canuck been directly in control, he probably would have taken at least twice as long to react to the lane intrusion event. While the impact forces directly exchanged between the vehicles (had they collided) would not have been life-threatening as it would have been a side-swipe type collision, the post-impact vehicle trajectories certainly could have been redirected toward other vehicles or objects in the environment, potentially increasing the severity of the event. Again, this was a close call.

Since we originally posted the video on our YouTube channel, it has received worldwide attention. It has been posted on sites such as CNN News 18, Inside EVs, Mandatory.com, forococheselectricos.com, and Popular Mechanics Russia (see below).