Dynamic Radar Cruise Control might be my favorite thing on my Gen 4!

Indeed. Was thinking on my first drive that my steering wheel was working against me.

Yes I want to change lanes WTFO. Use turn signal! Oh! I usually don't use the turn signal on a clear road.

Like Pavlov's dog we are teachable.

 

Well, I have the "inferior" GIII DRCC, which cuts out at 40 km/hr as you slow. The car goes "beep" when that happens, which I translate to "OMG, I'm not programmed to go that slow! You take over!"

I was amazed until this year at how reliable it is. Then, last month, I "engaged" it at 70 km/hr and the car gave me all kinds of warnings, beeps, messages flashing on the screen, and braking (not really hard but hard enough to really slow me down). Nothing in front of the car. Pearl S is kept in a garage, so it wasn't water on/in the grill. Did it twice in a row, then worked properly, and hasn't happened again. I was wondering if some animal had climbed in there between the radar device and the grill. It's pretty well closed off though. Probably just an oxidized contact I suppose.

Anyway, glad you G4 guys are discovering how nice DRCC is. I use it all the time, -especially- in heavy traffic. That way I can concentrate on avoiding the morons and not on the speed I'm going.

 

They should still have LKA with the feature to turn it into the current feature in the Prius, a little less intrusive. It makes the car feel more autonomous and some people have long commutes and like it steering itself.

 

LKA's switchable though? I like to take advantage of lane width on curves, particularly when there's no one else about. Straighten them out a bit. On really windy roads, if there's nothing oncoming and visibility is perfect, I'll even go over the centreline some.

 

Amen!

I went with a German version, BMW i3-REx, and it took seconds to fall in love with it. Unlike human eyes, the sensor measures distances and rates and handles everything. On the trip home, it kept perfect pace at a safe distance from trucks in the climbing lane. In Charlotte rush hour it easily handled the 'cut in' drivers. On the highway at night in the dark, perfect distance and speed control. The lack of TSS-P in the 2016 Level 2 ECO played a major role to my switching.

Bob Wilson

 

What kind of adjustment, if any, is available in the DRCC? In the Mercedes version, called Distronic, you set a following time (not distance) with a thumb wheel. At higher speeds, the delay corresponds to a larger following distance, and at lower speeds, the following distance is reduced. Yes, if you set the delay too large, it will create a gap in front of you that cars will try and fit into, but I find that with the shortest delay set, it keeps the car in front about the right distance such that no one will try and crowd in.

About the only negative thing I have noticed is if you are going around a bend with a guardrail, the system will lock on to the guardrail and slow you down, because you are closer to the guardrail than the car in front. This is because the narrow beam of the radar is looking straight ahead of the car, which is pointed at the guardrail in a turn, and doesn't "turn its head" to see the car ahead which is at an angle from the nose of the car.

 

There is an adjustment and I think it is distance. Left mine on factory settings.

 

Yes there is an adjustment and it is distance. Three choices, selectable on the steering wheel.

 

I'm thinking it's actually time, ie: as speed increases, following distance increases. Commonly called the "xx second rule". This is immensely more practical and sensible than a fixed distance, irregardless of speed.

It's not that well explained, but the highlighted bit is a clue:

 

In practice, the travelling speed does not seem to have an effect on the distance between cars. If it does, it is very subtle.

 

If they are, in fact, using time interval between your car and the one in front (and this is precisely what radar measures directly (it bounces energy off the car in front and measures the round trip time to leave your car, bounce off the car in front and return to your car based on the speed of light)) then it will definitely alter the following distance based on vehicle speed. In the Mercedes Distronic implementation, there is a display on the dash that shows the distance in feet, and you can definitely see if vary as the vehicle speeds change. It's pure rocket science...

 

There is a three stage sensitivity switch for this however it depends on what it senses for it to work therefore I find it the least trustworthy of all the gen4 auto drive features

 

You can override the auto brake if you are happy to continue by pressing the accelerator, but don't look for a way to try it out. Best wait till you need to before you put it to the test.

 

I'll have to try that.