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I have one of the cheaper cars that has some of the newly standard assistance tech, and after about six months, I think the best of it is the adaptive cruise co

I have one of the cheaper cars that has some of the newly standard assistance tech, and after about six months, I think the best of it is the adaptive cruise control. I didn't think it was more than a gimmick at first, but I've started using it, and it transfers a significant mental burden so that I feel more relaxed on the highway, almost as if I was a passenger. It complements a hybrid very well; somehow it's psychologically easier to follow someone slow when the car automatically keeps its distance. However, the lane keeping assist does not seem like a good idea to me. It sort of works, but I never know if it will lose track of the lane suddenly. When there is an exit or something that breaks the lines, I think of the Tesla crash I read about. When there is a curve in the road, it seems like there is a threshold beyond which it doesn't try to follow. So it amounts to an unpredictable resistance of the power steering, and doesn't reduce the driver's workload at all, in my opinion. Maybe it's supposed to be used on straight highways, but if it worked without attention for a while, that seems even more hazardous. I wonder if that could be a direction to go in - future cars could let the driver steer, but mostly figure out going and stopping on their own.

j4yav 6y ago
I don’t think I could feel relaxed enough to be like a passenger after seeing the crash videos. The failure state seems to be suddenly doing something completely insane, and I’m not sure if I was relaxed I could assess and correct the situation quickly enough.
sunsipples 6y ago
I have a 2020 Hyundai, top spec but still just a Hyundai. It has great lane departure warning and it's very accurate. It picks up the difference between solid/double/broken white lines and lane changing/merging/splitting. We took it around a local race track and it followed the track markings on everything but a hairpin which it applies brakes and took us to a complete stop. If it wasn't for the driver attention settings (no steering wheel feedback from driver, the car will also stop) it could have almost been an unassisted drive. Still won't trust it though
- mahkeiro 6y ago
  I have a Kia so I suppose same system and it’s working flawlessly on highway in Switzerland and France. But like you I won’t trust it too
gnicholas 6y ago
My experience with a road trip rental of a 2020 RAV4 is exactly the same as what you describe. The ACC was great, and very useful in both high-speed traffic and stop-and-go traffic. But the lane-center tech was useless, regardless of the road conditions. Even with full sunlight and freshly-painted lines, it didn't work reliably. When I was test driving a RAV4, the dealer told me not to use the lane-centering when in the slow lane, allegedly because people are coming and going a lot. But it was clear that the real problem was that it would keep you centered even as the line on the right veered off for an exit, which would drive you right into an overpass.
- alasdair_ 6y ago
  I have a 2014 (so, very old) tesla and the lanekeeping continues to work extremely well. I have literally never had this issue and I live in a rainy area.
  - ganafagol 6y ago
    "Continues"? Why would it get worse? So sad that we live in an era of tech where basically everything is expected to severely degrade after 2 years and be essentially unusable after 5.
    - alasdair_ 6y ago
      Roads change over time. The information about those roads gets updated. It continues to be updated well.
      - bosie 6y ago
        What do you mean the information about roads is updated? Does Tesla require info about specific roads?
        alasdair_ 6y ago
        It can read the street signs, but it also uses published information about the road in the absence of a sign (e.g. you turn on to a new road - what is the speed limit if there is no visible sign?)
_trampeltier 6y ago
The lane keeping assistant from an rental Audi (2019 model) tryed to crash me several times to a tunnel wall. Suddenly the car tryed to turn hard right into the wall. It was very scary.
- dawkins 6y ago
  In my Kia (2020 model) it works most of the time but it also tried to crash me a couple of times. Of course it is disabled now.
- abandonliberty 6y ago
  I had the same experience. However, rather than tried to crash, I think of it as an awareness aid. Blindly following it a bad idea. I hate blind spot assist. It just makes me concerned that I'm missing something. I adjust my mirrors in accordance with SAE guidelines from 1995 that eliminates blind spots. https://www.caranddriver.com/features/a15131074/how-to-adjust-your-mirrors-to-avoid-blind-spots/ https://www.caranddriver.com/features/a15131074/how-to-adjus...
benhurmarcel 6y ago
But adaptative speed control is something relatively basic that is available on many brands since years. It's absolutely great, but nothing remarkable.
m463 6y ago
Telsa has actually had several models of autopilot. The first one by mobileye is actually pretty decent at automating the boring stuff. "traffic aware cruise control + autosteer". It was actually better than the next one for a little while until features caught up. Some folks with the pre-autopilot tesla cars were able to retrofit a mobileye device on the dash somehow. I don't know if it still works to do that.

j4yav 6y ago

I don’t think I could feel relaxed enough to be like a passenger after seeing the crash videos. The failure state seems to be suddenly doing something completely insane, and I’m not sure if I was relaxed I could assess and correct the situation quickly enough.

sunsipples 6y ago

I have a 2020 Hyundai, top spec but still just a Hyundai. It has great lane departure warning and it's very accurate. It picks up the difference between solid/double/broken white lines and lane changing/merging/splitting. We took it around a local race track and it followed the track markings on everything but a hairpin which it applies brakes and took us to a complete stop. If it wasn't for the driver attention settings (no steering wheel feedback from driver, the car will also stop) it could have almost been an unassisted drive. Still won't trust it though

mahkeiro 6y ago
I have a Kia so I suppose same system and it’s working flawlessly on highway in Switzerland and France. But like you I won’t trust it too

gnicholas 6y ago

My experience with a road trip rental of a 2020 RAV4 is exactly the same as what you describe. The ACC was great, and very useful in both high-speed traffic and stop-and-go traffic. But the lane-center tech was useless, regardless of the road conditions. Even with full sunlight and freshly-painted lines, it didn't work reliably. When I was test driving a RAV4, the dealer told me not to use the lane-centering when in the slow lane, allegedly because people are coming and going a lot. But it was clear that the real problem was that it would keep you centered even as the line on the right veered off for an exit, which would drive you right into an overpass.

alasdair_ 6y ago
I have a 2014 (so, very old) tesla and the lanekeeping continues to work extremely well. I have literally never had this issue and I live in a rainy area.
- ganafagol 6y ago
  "Continues"? Why would it get worse? So sad that we live in an era of tech where basically everything is expected to severely degrade after 2 years and be essentially unusable after 5.
  - alasdair_ 6y ago
    Roads change over time. The information about those roads gets updated. It continues to be updated well.
    - bosie 6y ago
      What do you mean the information about roads is updated? Does Tesla require info about specific roads?
      - alasdair_ 6y ago
        It can read the street signs, but it also uses published information about the road in the absence of a sign (e.g. you turn on to a new road - what is the speed limit if there is no visible sign?)

_trampeltier 6y ago

The lane keeping assistant from an rental Audi (2019 model) tryed to crash me several times to a tunnel wall. Suddenly the car tryed to turn hard right into the wall. It was very scary.

dawkins 6y ago
In my Kia (2020 model) it works most of the time but it also tried to crash me a couple of times. Of course it is disabled now.
abandonliberty 6y ago
I had the same experience. However, rather than tried to crash, I think of it as an awareness aid. Blindly following it a bad idea. I hate blind spot assist. It just makes me concerned that I'm missing something. I adjust my mirrors in accordance with SAE guidelines from 1995 that eliminates blind spots. https://www.caranddriver.com/features/a15131074/how-to-adjust-your-mirrors-to-avoid-blind-spots/ https://www.caranddriver.com/features/a15131074/how-to-adjus...

benhurmarcel 6y ago

But adaptative speed control is something relatively basic that is available on many brands since years. It's absolutely great, but nothing remarkable.

m463 6y ago

Telsa has actually had several models of autopilot. The first one by mobileye is actually pretty decent at automating the boring stuff. "traffic aware cruise control + autosteer". It was actually better than the next one for a little while until features caught up. Some folks with the pre-autopilot tesla cars were able to retrofit a mobileye device on the dash somehow. I don't know if it still works to do that.