# Autopilot Steering Wheel Sensor?



## Dan Detweiler (Apr 8, 2016)

So this falls more under curiosity than anything else. Just wondering...when autopilot is engaged are there "hotspots" on the steering wheel you have to touch to keep autopilot engaged (thinking maybe 10 and 2 o'clock?) or can you touch the wheel anywhere to keep it engaged? I wonder because I am one of those terrible drivers that tend to keep their hands on the bottom half of the wheel. Just wondering if I can just leave them there and not be worried about autopilot disengaging.

Thanks,

Dan


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## Guest (Oct 27, 2017)

Terrible you are  Hands should be kept at 9-3. 10-2 is extra "half-optimal" option some wheels have bumps for.
Thumbs can be around the wheel. Try out 9-3 - it's pretty easy to rest hands there. Wrap your thumbs.

There are no sensors inside the steering wheel.
There is a sensor that detects torque.
Even if you grab the wheel like mad but do not apply any torque, Tesla will not detect that.
Later on we can expect Tesla to look at the driver


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## Dan Detweiler (Apr 8, 2016)

When you say "torque" do you mean a twisting action?

Dan


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## Guest (Oct 27, 2017)

Correct. It can be "turning the wheel when AP doesn't want to" or "not allowing it to turn when AP does the turning".
In both cases sensor can feel something.
Some self-steering vehicle torque sensors could be fooled with a weight strapped on the steering wheel.
But software can understand that (at least I think Tesla can) torque is constant all the time, therefore not human.

Actually, there might be no stand-alone sensor. All self-steering vehicles have electric motor that operates steering rack
and steering shaft position sensor (required for ESP). Using those two it is possible to detect human action.


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## Rusty (Sep 9, 2017)

My experience with EAP is that you have to wiggle the steering wheel every so often. It may not detect your hands just sitting on the steering wheel.


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## Insaneoctane (May 10, 2017)

How often?


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## Petra (Sep 12, 2017)

Rusty said:


> My experience with EAP is that you have to wiggle the steering wheel every so often. It may not detect your hands just sitting on the steering wheel.


I've found applying unequal load to the wheel usually works better than wiggling


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## Rusty (Sep 9, 2017)

Insaneoctane said:


> How often?


I would guess every five minutes.


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## stlgrym3 (Nov 4, 2018)

i've been using EAP for over a month now and really liked it. the only thing i'm kind of confused on is the hand on steering wheel thing when using EAP. is there a specific area of the steering wheel my hands supposed to hold on to? sometimes i can get by putting my hands on lower half of the steering wheel and apply pressure, but other times i had to move them to 10 o'clock and 2 o'clock position. how much pressure we supposed to apply? sometimes the warning disappear very quickly, other times i had to really squeeze the steering wheel hard to get rid of it. Today it turned off the auto-steer on me despite i tried all kinds of maneuvering with my hands on steering wheel. i know it's a safety concern on Tesla's part to place that warning feature in EAP, but it's kind of annoy due to the sensitivity of the steering wheel sensor.


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## BigBri (Jul 16, 2016)

The wheel actually has no pressure sensors in it. The system is looking for a bit of downward torque on the wheel. I've found that if I rest my hand at 3 oclock it's enough force.


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## stlgrym3 (Nov 4, 2018)

BigBri said:


> The wheel actually has no pressure sensors in it. The system is looking for a bit of downward torque on the wheel. I've found that if I rest my hand at 3 oclock it's enough force.


So just one hand at 3 o'clock position? Do you have to apply pressure?


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## BigBri (Jul 16, 2016)

stlgrym3 said:


> So just one hand at 3 o'clock position? Do you have to apply pressure?


Don't push as you'll disengage AP but let enough weight from your hand push downwards. It's pretty forgiving.


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## TWRWu (Sep 26, 2018)

I find it easier to just tap down on the autopilot/right stalk to let the system know I'm paying attention. That seems to have the same effect as wiggling the steering wheel.


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## Flashgj (Oct 11, 2018)

I think of the torque as more of a slight resistance. If I rest my hands anywhere on the steering wheel that is comfortable and just very slightly resist the movement as it is steering the car I do not get the nag.


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## Ed Woodrick (May 26, 2018)

BigBri said:


> The wheel actually has no pressure sensors in it. The system is looking for a bit of downward torque on the wheel. I've found that if I rest my hand at 3 oclock it's enough force.


Upward torque also works, but then again, up and down don't apply to torque, clockwise and counterclockwise do.


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## Ed Woodrick (May 26, 2018)

Dan Detweiler said:


> So this falls more under curiosity than anything else. Just wondering...when autopilot is engaged are there "hotspots" on the steering wheel you have to touch to keep autopilot engaged (thinking maybe 10 and 2 o'clock?) or can you touch the wheel anywhere to keep it engaged? I wonder because I am one of those terrible drivers that tend to keep their hands on the bottom half of the wheel. Just wondering if I can just leave them there and not be worried about autopilot disengaging.
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Dan


The nagging is satisfied by one of two conditions. The newest is button pushing, any button should do.

The historic is rotational force, aka torque. You know the force that it takes if the car is driving and you want to force it to go left or right? That's rotational force. You need more than 0 and less than the amount to take the car off of autopilot. Resting only one hand on the wheel is a common solution, sometimes I wedge a finger between my leg and pushing up on the wheel. Keeping both hands on the wheel tends to create a balanced effect, that's not what you want. You want to push the car slightly to one or the other direction.

Tesla is not the only car to require this, most other cars that provide "between the lanes" guidance require the same thing, except the Cadillac which has an eye sensor.


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## FRC (Aug 4, 2018)

I find down on right stalk is one easy way, but I have transitioned to left scroll(volume wheel). Up or down one click works every single time.


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## masto (Nov 11, 2018)

Everybody’s saying this in such a complicated way. You need to turn the wheel a tiny bit once in a while. Just a nudge. There’s no sensor to tell you’re holding it.


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## Rick Steinwand (May 19, 2018)

Petra said:


> I've found applying unequal load to the wheel usually works better than wiggling


THIS^^^^ just rest your hand on one side of the wheel. I rest my right had on the wheel and it works great.


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## ADK46 (Aug 4, 2018)

The Tesla tutorials show a driver holding the wheel at 5 and 7, palms up. Works OK for me. 3 and 9 puts my arms up in the air, too much force, which is not relaxing and/or causes disengagement.

I find putting just one hand on the wheel doesn't work so well - the weight of my arm is too much, and if I have to hold my arm up, it becomes tiresome. Elbow resting on armrest or leg? Not enough force to convince the car I'm paying attention. But this has become my favorite position when combined with occasional wiggles which are slowly becoming automatic.

When I initiate a lane change, I let go of the wheel until it's done - my instincts interfere.

An unintended disengagement can be dangerous on a curve. Whatever technique you develop, it must not cause this. 

While eating a big cinnamon bun that required two hands, I discovered that one knee held against the wheel works pretty well. You should not do this, of course. Big cinnamon buns are bad for you.


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## wings (Nov 5, 2018)

Interesting find... I drive long open stretches across Wyoming in AutoPilot. The nagging get irritating. Experimenting I found, simply turning the volume control on the steering wheel up or down a notch does it. . That takes care of it, easy and fast.


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## FRC (Aug 4, 2018)

wings said:


> Interesting find... I drive long open stretches across Wyoming in AutoPilot. The nagging get irritating. Experimenting I found, simply turning the volume control on the steering wheel up or down a notch does it. . That takes care of it, easy and fast.


Move anything on the steering wheel will do it. But, I also use your method and like it best. One notch up this time, one notch down next.


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## Dan Detweiler (Apr 8, 2016)

Yes, they have made numerous ways to satisfy the nags and each user can do what feels best to them. For me just resting my hand so there is a bit of torque on the wheel eliminates the nags in total. That way I don't have to be as aware of the screen and can focus my attention outside the car. To each his/her own.

Dan


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## HappyDad (Jul 14, 2018)

I have to say the need to assert slight 'force' to wheel so car knows you are holding the wheel takes away the pure joy of autopilot for me. Resting hand right on top of the wheel doesn't cut it as it is a straight down force with no rotational torque so car doesn't know your hand is on the wheel. 

I am also at times uncomfortable of holding one side of the wheel or apply uneven force so car can sense rotational torque. My slight fear (little voice in my head) of one sided rotational torque is that in case the 'torque' high enough to disengage autopilot, or that autopilot disengages for other reasons, that my car would veer to the side (of the applied torque hand) and hit something if I am not quick enough to counter. E.g. big semi on my right, while my right hand is on wheel applying slight torque, fear is autopilot disengages and my car pulls to the right with no much margin of error to semi. Just me or anyone else shares this fear?


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## Dan Detweiler (Apr 8, 2016)

HappyDad said:


> I have to say the need to assert slight 'force' to wheel so car knows you are holding the wheel takes away the pure joy of autopilot for me. Resting hand right on top of the wheel doesn't cut it as it is a straight down force with no rotational torque so car doesn't know your hand is on the wheel.
> 
> I am also at times uncomfortable of holding one side of the wheel or apply uneven force so car can sense rotational torque. My slight fear (little voice in my head) of one sided rotational torque is that in case the 'torque' high enough to disengage autopilot, or that autopilot disengages for other reasons, that my car would veer to the side (of the applied torque hand) and hit something if I am not quick enough to counter. E.g. big semi on my right, while my right hand is on wheel applying slight torque, fear is autopilot disengages and my car pulls to the right with no much margin of error to semi. Just me or anyone else shares this fear?


Worried a little at first resting my hand on the side of the wheel. Then I purposely disengaged autosteer by rotating the wheel. I takes A LOT of force to disengage that way! Not concerned about it any more. If I get into a situation that makes me nervous, like passing a semi, etc. I just use that as an opportunity to switch hands, thus taking the torque off the wheel for the few seconds it takes to get by. Not long enough to create a nag.

Dan


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## nonStopSwagger (May 7, 2018)

I've had my car since September, but wish I had the joy of owning it sooner, before the constant nag update. Those earlier reports of AP1 cars going for almost an hour without a nag were a thing of beauty.


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