My DCC got a little nervous today

One word. Freeway.
Is downtown Oakland a freeway? If not, DRCC was not designed for that situation.

 

Yes

 

I never use DRCC in heavy traffic conditions, particularly urban interstates like in the Bay Area, it's just wholly inadequate to account for the type of driving and the density of cars.

 

Thanks, Tideland, for the Toyota CRCC video and the Prius chat link. Very interesting... I met the owner of a Tesla model X (license plate Solar X) and the owner showed me around the features of the car. Already has self driving capacity. And gull wing doors with three rows of seating. that thing is a monster of a car!

I want to go back to the DRCC and brake lights in urban traffic. So every time the car slows as cars ahead slow or another vehicle moves in front of me my brake lights will activate.. I can't see my brake lights, but I had surmised this is indeed the situation. In urban traffic with lots of slow and go and stop and go the DRCC brake lights may be confusing to other drivers. I've noticed brake lights flickering on Lexus / Toyota vehicles for several years. Could not figure out why the driver keep tapping their brakes.. now I know why.

I usually change lanes and go around them.

 

"The MacArthur Maze" is a confluence of 5 major highway arteries, built over a densely populated urban area, at the foot of the main bridge into San Francisco. Probably the worse traffic jams in the country. Thank your stars if you don't have to navigate this nightmare on a daily basis.

 

My commute is through Los Angeles which is pretty bad and DRCC has been great especially in HOV lane. I am still kicking myself for not waiting on the Prime to take advantage of the HOV sticker. I find disengaging DRCC by pulling in the cruise control stalk is smoother comparing to stepping on the gas pedal. If you can anticipate what is going on in front of you (mostly the idiots that try to change lane to gain an extra 5 ft), DRCC could be pretty smooth.

 

I have a similar system on my 16 Civic. It is called Low Speed Follow and works pretty much like the Toyota system. The disclaimer in the owner's manual states that it is meant for use on the freeway. I have used it in suburban driving and it works very well. In areas where there is heavy congestion, I drive myself. One day in the not too distant future we will laugh at these posts. I envision a time when all cars will be self driven and us drivers will just be there for the ride (no fun!).

 

Quite. Using the brake solely as a way to disengage DRCC is unnecessary and a bad idea.

Also the manual clearly states that the DRCC should not be used in heavy traffic.

DRCC is a very useful tool but it is driver assist not autopilot. If used properly I find it is a huge improvement on non adaptive Cruise.

No fail of the car or DRCC is described in this thread in my opinion. A tool is only as good as the person using it. Use DRCC well and it works very well indeed in my experience.

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

I've found that auto braking feels much smoother at the 3 bar maximum range setting.

 

And less spare underpants you need when approaching standing traffic.

 

I would ideally like the car to see ahead further than the 3 bar setting and I too have learned to cancel DRCC and slow the car myself when I see cars slowing down a lot some distance ahead, to avoid the car braking more harshly than I would when it gets closer.

Once I am closer and matching their approximate speed I then push the control up to resume and let DRCC take over again.

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

Just another occasion when less certainly doesn't mean more.