Why does the AI crash when UNdocking?

[user1679]

Often when people talk about their AI pilots doing stupid things, the reason given is the "low star" rating. That may be true but wouldn't a basic course in flight school include "How to undock: Amaze your friends with this simple trick"? This happened in 5.10 but since 6.0 it seems to be happening more often. This is with a 3-star pilot:

1. I buy an "Elite Sentinel" small fighter
2. I hire a pilot
3. I give her a couple seminars to get her to 3 stars (maybe 2.90?)
4. I get on the ship as a passenger
5. I right-click in empty space and select "Fly and wait"
6. She undocks, turns 45 degrees and slams full-speed into the side of the station

#6 happens more often on the open roof docks than it does in the enclosed ones, but more frustratingly she often ends up stuck inside the station's geometry. It's become so frequent that I find myself quicksaving before undocking because if she gets stuck, I don't want to wait for her to figure out how to "unstuck" herself.

I'm not suggesting the devs. plot specific paths for the AI to follow because that can cause traffic jams and it detracts from immersion withou having random flight paths. What I think would solve this problem is to make the AI aware of the height of the dock's geometry. If the pilot isn't going to fly straight out or turn 180 degrees and fly straight out then they need to know how high the walls of the dock are and lift the ship at least 1 km above that.