Tesla Model 3 Vs Heavy Fog: Will Autopilot Work In No Visibility?

Winter is here and the inevitable “Tesla Model 3 vs Heavy Fog” is here. This time popular Tesla YouTuber ‘DirtyTesla’ tested a Model 3 in dense fog with zero visibility conditions to prove whether it is safe to use Autopilot or not.

He did his testing on different types of roads including the residential street, the main road and also on the highway, to extensively check the Tesla Autopilot’s capability during heavy foggy conditions.

In the end, he found that his Tesla Model 3 performed flawlessly during this condition. His eyes weren’t able to see as far as the cameras in his car were able to.

Here’s how the “Tesla Model 3 Vs Heavy Fog” test went down:

Tesla Model 3 Vs Heavy Fog: Everyone Agrees Autopilot Is A Lifesaver

Chris, the channel owner of ‘DirtyTesla’, began his testing in the residential streets. He appears to be surrounded by heavy fog while driving in a semi-wilderness area. Right off the bat, he says “My biggest fear is deer.”

“The interesting thing about fog and cameras is its not that bad when you look at it through a camera.” Chris further said.

He wasn’t able to see more than 20-feet around him while the Tesla Autopilot was successfully detecting stuff all around him. According to Tesla, the performance of the Autopilot could be reduced severely during fog, snow, etc. However, we have seen in earlier testing that it happens only when snow or other particulate matter covers important systems like radar or cameras.

While driving through a busy road, the Autopilot in Chris’ Tesla Model 3 was able to brake and navigate without any trouble. Even though Chris was seeing cars only as they appeared out of the mist, the Autopilot was easily detecting every vehicle around him and braking very safely.

Commenting on the Autopilot, Chris said, “I feel perfectly confident using Autopilot in these situations.”

As the video progressed, we saw Chris encountering even thicker fog, which made the rear camera especially blurry. “The cameras are of course affected, but not to the extent the human eye is,” said Chris as he still struggled to see very far ahead of him.

At a stoplight, Chris said that he could see 12 cars in one direction even though his Gopro was showing more cars than that on the screen, it shows how dense the fog was.

Chris then took his Tesla Model 3 on the highway, which is the recommended place to use the Telsa’s Autosteer function. In his situation, the Tesla Autopilot performed very well as it identified every nearby vehicle in zero visibility conditions and helped Chris in carefully maneuvering through heavy traffic.

“It’s pretty fascinating that this system exists and it’s just getting better every day,” said Chris about the Tesla Autopilot. On the highway, the Autopilot drove the Tesla Model 3 on its own for a long stretch of distance without any mistakes.

At the end of testing, Chris was quite satisfied with the performance of Tesla Autopilot. “It’s (Autopilot) is even better than a person, I’d say,” commented Chris.

“But a person combined with Autopilot is the Ultimate way to drive,” Chris concluded.

Autopilot In Model 3: Peoples Thought?

Several subscribers of Chris’ YouTube channel also seemed to be agreeing with him. One of his subscribers commented “One of the best safety features is that radar can “see” the car in front of you, and Tesla Autopilot absolutely reacts to it regardless of what the car in front of you is doing.”

While another of his subscribers said: “I would use Autopilot all the time if I can. It never hurts to have more sensors looking out for you while driving. It should not be fully relied upon at this time, but it certainly serves as a great supplement.”

Therefore it seems like a lot of people, just like Chris, are more confident when they’re driving with the Autopilot. It will only improve the system even more as it will keep getting a lot of data visual data for its training.