Tesla Full Self-Driving Beta Detects & Avoids Deer After Dark

Name: Tesla Full Self-Driving Beta Detects & Avoids Deer After Dark
Uploaded: 2020-12-04T14:07:44Z
Description: Deer crossings should be right up near the top of the list when it comes to terrible road hazards that are difficult for human drivers.

It's often difficult for human drivers to avoid a deer, even in daylight.

tesla autopilot avoids deer

Steven Loveday

By: Steven Loveday

Dec 4, 2020 at 9:07am ET

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Tesla Full Self-Driving Beta tester Dirty Tesla wasn't making an FSD video, but he had his camera on, just in case. It's dark, there are no street lights, and he's driving on a snowy dirt road. How does the technology handle a sudden deer crossing?

Advanced driver-assist systems are designed to save lives. Sure, Tesla's Full Self-Driving Beta is designed to eventually completely drive the car without intervention. While semi-autonomous technology and eventual self-driving systems will work to make driving easier and less stressful, the primary purpose here is to save lives. In order to do that, these systems must "see" and react to obstacles more quickly and safely than a human driver.

Just about anything can happen on the road, and while experienced human drivers are aware of this and can often handle situations remarkably well, there are always exceptions. In fact, most car crashes are a result of human error (and stupidity). Is it human error when a deer runs out in front of your Tesla Model 3 on a snowy dirt road after dark?

It all depends on how you handle the situation. First, you need to actually see the deer before it's too late. Next, you need to make a quick decision about how you're going to react. It's often people's reaction rather than the deer that results in an accident. If you're driving on a rough or slick road, the situation becomes even more complicated.

As you can see in the video above, Tesla's FSD Beta system "sees" the deer (as a pedestrian) as soon as it enters the roadway, even though it's a great distance away. Despite the dark dirt road with no lights, you can see the deer pretty well in the video due to the Model 3's headlights. However, if you were actually driving the car, you may or may not have seen the deer so quickly. It's hard to tell on video, and since we're all looking for a deer and it's pointed out to us, it's impossible to know what would have happened in reality.

What do you think?

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At any rate, the Tesla uses regen to begin to slow down. Then it plans a path around the deer. As it's executing its plan, the Model 3 reroutes around the deer in the opposite direction.

Check Out More Tesla Full Self-Driving Beta Coverage:

Tesla's Full Self-Driving Beta Makes Impressive 'Decisions' In Many Cases

First Inner-City Drive In Tesla Model S W/ FSD Beta: Is Autonomy Coming?

Check out the video for more information. Dirty Tesla also drives on a private dirt road at night to demonstrate what happens with FSD Beta when you turn off the headlights. Once you've watched, leave us a comment below.

Source: Dirty Tesla (YouTube)

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