We crashed our R1S--would Autonomy + have prevented it?

[tpberding]

A few days ago, on an otherwise uneventful drive at 60 mph, I lost control of our beautiful R1S, hit the median, crossed three lanes, and ended up on the shoulder after hitting a parked car. The Riv is likely totaled — it gave itself up, with airbags, seatbelts, crumple zones, and its heft to save us. Our injuries are minor. We will be eternally grateful to the engineers at Rivian. Cruise control, as it exists on a Gen 1, was not activated, nor do I think that would have mattered. The automatic braking system activated and slowed the car somewhat. But the accidental lane change nudges were not enough to keep us going straight. The point is not why or how this happened; it's whether the forthcoming Autonomy+ might have intervened to prevent this in some way had it been on the car and activated. This is a safety point that hasn't been much discussed in this forum, and Rivian hasn't promoted it that way, so I'm curious if it would have kept us in our lane or helped stop the car before we hit something. If anyone on this forum (or Rivian) has any knowledge of whether Autonomy+ would have helped in that situation, I would love to hear it.

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[mkg3]

Scary. Glad you and everyone are well enough to share what has happened.

The answer to your question is maybe. Without knowing why it happened, the only thing anyone can say is speculative and guessing.

Regardless of the cause, once the vehicle trajectory departs its lane, it may possible stopped the vehicle from the event. That said, if a tire failed catastrophically or hydroplaned in rain it may not be able to control it.

Anyways, vehicles are replaceable so great that you are here to talk about it.

 

[Nixapatfan]

No way to tell if the crash was related to mechanical failure or bad tires then probably not, if the crash was driver error then I would assume Autonomy+ wouldn't have made that specific error but automated systems are still prone to make errors, there is no such system today that is 100% crash proof.

 

[iamnid]

Do you have a video of the incident you can share with us?

 

[CrazyOne]

https://kk.org/thetechnium/the-march-of-nines/

Every step to make the autonomy will become harder and harder. There is no system that is perfect today, not even the largest robo taxi operator (Waymo) can(should) claim to work everywhere.

 

[MountainBikeDude]

Really, unless the system is active prior to and during the incident, then no, nothing would really change. Just for comparison sake, Tesla's similarly need FSD to be active to mitigate a crash, as in avoid it with more than just AEB (Automatic Emergency Braking).

Also if it was due to reckless driving, then the user is ultimately in control, and neither system would really intervene in a meaningful way.

 

[UnsungZero_OldTimeAdMan]

Without any info on what caused the accident and how you lost control, rather strange to ask people to blindly speculate what could have happened in an alternate universe. Autonomy+ and UHF require activation and still need supervision from an alert driver. If you are asking because you are wondering if life would be easier if you could just relinquish driving to tech, then Rivian’s tech is simply not there yet. And as more developed as Tesla’s FSD is, it is still not perfect—as it continues to be involved in incidents. Even if LiDAR enters the equation, we know from various autonomous ride share platforms, that too is not perfect.

 

[KBabione]

Glad to hear that you and your family are okay. Seems pretty simple to me:

• If the accident was caused by the driver then Autonomy+ probably would not have done the same thing, thus preventing the accident. This is especially true if the driver was distracted and didn't notice a changed road condition (like traffic in front of you coming to a stop). In this case Autonomy+ would have slowed or stopped the car for you.
• If the accident was caused by something else (i.e blown tire, another vehicle hitting you, etc), then Autonomy+ probably would not have prevented the accident

 

[ElGuano]

Wow, glad you and your family are OK!

I lost control of our beautiful R1S, hit the median

Here's the crux of the question. I don't know or think that the subsequent "crossing three lanes after hitting the median" is worth discussing as it's a consequence of the accident and likely a partial/full loss of control at that point that is 100% non-reproduceable from accident to accident. But the key issue here is whether Autonomy+ could have prevented the initial "loss of control" resulting in hitting the median.

And of course, it's unanswerable without knowing details of the incident (and even if you had perfect video, we'd all still be guessing). But I think it's fair to say if you dozed off or became distracted in the instant, that's something Autonomy+ would not have done, and it may entirely and uneventfully have avoided the situation. If you had to swerve to avoid road debris or another car, or hit a patch of oil on the road, or another car entered your lane abruptly, it's anyone's guess.

 

[CharonPDX]

The point is not why or how this happened...

So you fell asleep at the wheel.

No, Autonomy+ would not have prevented this, as it has "disables itself if it doesn't detect you awake and paying attention to the road".

If it was something other than "fell asleep at the wheel", we'd need far more detail as to exactly what happened.

 

[KBabione]

No, Autonomy+ would not have prevented this, as it has "disables itself if it doesn't detect you awake and paying attention to the road".

Yes - but it beeps to let you know that it's disabling itself - hopefully getting your attention.

 

[s4wrxttcs]

There is not enough info as to what caused the accident.

Things like Autonomy+ and FSD can actually cause accidents because they give people a false sense of confidence in the system either consciously or unconsciously. Consciously in doing things like texting while driving or unconsciously like falling asleep or day dreaming while driving.

Personally I want these systems to augment my own driving. To see things I can't see but so far no car I've ever owned has lived up to this desire.

Maybe the R2 with Autonomy+ will or maybe I'll skip over that and get the R2 with Lidar.

 

[shandering]

"disables itself if it doesn't detect you awake and paying attention to the road".

Surely it doesn't just shut off? Even FSD/autopilot never did that

now it pulls off to the side of the road but even years ago it would just slow and put the car into park

 

[CharonPDX]

Surely it doesn't just shut off? Even FSD/autopilot never did that

now it pulls off to the side of the road but even years ago it would just slow and put the car into park

Strangely, @OutofSpecKyle has listings for Gen 2 Rivians in their "Hogback Challenge", but no videos that I can find. https://outofspecstudios.com/hogback

Neither shows any of their "add points" tallies for driver unresponsiveness. Does it really pull to the side of the road?

Edit: Aha! Found the video. Of course it isn't in the playlist for their ADAS challenge videos, nor does it have "Hogback" in the title…

They say it comes to a stop in the lane of traffic. Doesn't specify if it continues to follow the road curve. They've had vehicles that will slow to a stop but *NOT* follow road curves!

That said, these systems can still disengage with no notice in certain road conditions, just "BLINK ALL THE THINGS AND YELL AT YOU!" - which if you were falling asleep and are startled awake by might lead you to jerk the steering wheel and crash. An example I've seen in multiple lane-centering vehicles is coming around a curve to face into the rising/setting sun at the horizon, system keels over and gives up, insisting the driver take over immediately. I always anticipate these, knowing the sun is about to come around a corner, so am not surprised. But if you *ARE* surprised, that can cause a crash.

 

[shandering]

Strangely, @OutofSpecKyle has listings for Gen 2 Rivians in their "Hogback Challenge", but no videos that I can find. https://outofspecstudios.com/hogback

Neither shows any of their "add points" tallies for driver unresponsiveness. Does it really pull to the side of the road?

yes. FSD pulls off to the side of the road and puts the hazards on. FSD also detects accidents and automatically pulls off the road too. FSD also performs minimum risk maneuvers and pulls off to the side of the road if you don't take over and cameras are blinded. It's all level 4 behaviors from robotaxi

These are v14 behaviors which are not tested

Even when it didn't do that it also just stopped in the middle of the road with the hazards on

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