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I test drove a Volvo S90 recently. The Pilot Assist feature almost feels like a gimmick due to the attention required. If you don't give steering input in five

I test drove a Volvo S90 recently. The Pilot Assist feature almost feels like a gimmick due to the attention required. If you don't give steering input in five seconds, Pilot Assist disables itself. It basically requires enough of your attention that there's little difference between using it and not using it. It seems pretty clear to me that Volvo only has Pilot Assist in the first place as a method to gather data via telemetry for the next generation of self-driving vehicles, because it otherwise doesn't seem to add anything useful to the driving experience. Consequently, I haven't heard of any notable incidents where Pilot Assist caused an accident. I haven't test driven Enhanced Autopilot but I see people on YouTube taking their hands off the wheel completely for much longer than the Volvo let me do. Tesla seems like they're pushing something half-baked out and representing it as something it isn't.

MBCook 8y ago
I’ve found lane keeping assistants to be fantastic, but you have to think of them as ASSISTING. It’s not going to drive for you. But it does an amazing job of basically canceling out crosswinds when you find yourself driving down the highway. It makes a huge difference, it makes it much less tiring/frustrating. Going slow on a windless day? Straight street? Not that useful. For helping with very gentle curves or very annoying crosswinds it’s quite nice.
- intortus 8y ago
  And for basic station keeping in relatively predictable stop and go traffic. It relieves you of some unnecessary micromanagement but it's not autonomous.
vsl 8y ago
> Consequently, I haven't heard of any notable incidents where Pilot Assist caused an accident. It may be, but is not necessarily “consequently”. That Volvo is not cool to write about plays a role. You don’t read about boring daily crashes either.

MBCook 8y ago

I’ve found lane keeping assistants to be fantastic, but you have to think of them as ASSISTING. It’s not going to drive for you. But it does an amazing job of basically canceling out crosswinds when you find yourself driving down the highway. It makes a huge difference, it makes it much less tiring/frustrating. Going slow on a windless day? Straight street? Not that useful. For helping with very gentle curves or very annoying crosswinds it’s quite nice.

intortus 8y ago
And for basic station keeping in relatively predictable stop and go traffic. It relieves you of some unnecessary micromanagement but it's not autonomous.

vsl 8y ago

> Consequently, I haven't heard of any notable incidents where Pilot Assist caused an accident. It may be, but is not necessarily “consequently”. That Volvo is not cool to write about plays a role. You don’t read about boring daily crashes either.