Driver assistance features, radar cruise, lane keep, etc.

Here's what I do.

I keep LDA off most of the time. In the city especially, it's annoying. You're always crossing lines making turns, getting into turn lanes and so forth.

Out on the open road, I turn it on whenever I've either been driving a while or start to feel the least bit tired. Between LDA, the sway warning and the hold the steering wheel warning, it does a great job of keeping an eye on your lane-holding performance. If it starts to degrade, you get beeped at.

I though the stick-shaker was the "you're about to stall - push forward and add power, dummy", not the "go take a nap and get the reserve crew" warning.

 

What the LDA has done for me is make me a better driver. It beeps at me if I purposefully change lanes on a freeway without making a turn signal which I typically do if there is no one behind me. Make a turn signal, no LDA.

 

Yep, or by analogy, "Wake up and react NOW - don't get out the manual and start the checklist response."

Once upon a time, I fell asleep driving and woke up after going through a stop at a Y intersection of two highways (the highways from my right and from the leg of the Y had no stop) and almost hitting a barrier on the other side. That was in 1971, in Germany, with too much fun the night before, and too little sleep, and too long a drive in the morning on roads I thought I knew too well.

I think what woke me up was a change in the feeling of the pavement under the car, felt through the steering wheel. which made a sudden jerk to the left, avoiding the barrier and keeping me on the road and going the direction I needed to go. Close enough to stick-shaking for my purposes

I swore it would never happen again, but except for the Germany and intersection aspects, it did, three or four years ago. Since then, I have pretty much been unable to convince myself that lengthy solo trips are a good idea. I've done a few - safely - but it required a lot of stars to be in alignment. And solo trips have always been a mental health benefit.

I have some mental disabilities. They don't make me unsafe to drive when I'm rested and alert, but tend to make me be hyper-aware until I am too tired (too soon) or my diabetic control has lapsed and blood sugar has dropped. One of the first things to go is my common sense - I think to myself, 'geez, it feels like my blood sugar is getting low, I should stop and get something to eat,' when I should be immediately popping a glucose tablet or eating a trail bar. At some point, I shift from being hyper-aware to being nonchalant and oblivious. Audio and visual tends to degrade first: some vibration or such thing not feeling right would wake me right up and make me vigilant and able to focus again, for the few minutes it would take me to pop a glucose tablet get off the highway, get my blood sugar back up, exercise, cat-nap, or whatever.

The other thing that would really work for me is the smell of overheated electronics. Decades of work and hobby experience have made me hyper-sensitive. But somehow I don't think anyone making or selling PHEVs, HEVs, EV, or probably ICEVs, would want to try to sell 'the smell of overheated electronics' as a feature.

After decades of technical troubleshooting, I am very suspicious of all these driver assist features, but I appreciate how they can help me stay able and safe longer, and I am very eager to have them alert me if I am being less able and safe than I demand of myself. A gentle reminder would be fine for reminding me to use my turn indicator - I don't often fail, and when I do, I need to think about why did I do that. If the technology can't tell the difference between me being forgetful and me fading, I want something dramatic all the time - I'll take my punishment humbly ;}

 

It's lacking in the steering assist. It doesn't hold you in the lane, it only nudges you gently but still exits the lane. It gives some false warnings, but it's better to give more warnings than no warning. It recognizes cracks in the road and sometimes registers them as lane markers.

 

It will finish pointing you back into your lane about when the center of your car is over the line. It doesn't keep going into the next lane.

 

Hmm, it isn't that aggressive on my car. However, I steer using my hands before the car does it for me. A lot of traffic limits me from testing the feature too often.

 

I tested mine this morning, on a deserted road.

 

I drove extensively for the first time with LDA. When I made a lane change without signaling, I felt extra resistance going over the line as though the car was trying to push me back into the lane. Pretty interesting.

 

Ever since my first drive on PRIME on highway (that's only 10 days ago), I am a big fun of DRCC. It held my car perfectly situated on two lane interstate going 70mph for well over 200 miles. LDA, on the other hand, I was not so impressed with. The beep was so low I hardly noticed it with music on. I just read in this thread that there is option of changing that beep to vibe, but I haven't figured out how. Besides, I didn't notice the "nudge" when going on the lane. I will be more careful next time I am on two lane roads.

 

Everyone is impressed with DRCC - I wonder how it compares with other manufacturers 2017 models... eg Honda, Ford, Mazda, etc? has Toyota got the best ACC/DRCC on the market? I heard that in other cars it can be jerky...

 

We have a 2016 Prius and a 2016 Subaru Crosstrek. The Subaru "Eyesight" systems based on a stereoscopic video camera actually works a bit better than the Toyota system based on a standard video camera plus radar.

JeffD

 

Oh interesting... what makes it better? is it smoother? detects the road better, etc? I always thought that the Toyota implementation was at the highest end of the spectrum, but I also heard good things about the latest Honda models and their driver-aid features.

 

Subaru's system was the first to get the IIHS approval stamp, and I think it is still the benchmark for best.

 

I have never driven Subaru, so I can't comment on Subaru's cruise control system. What I wonder is what system does Toyota 86= Subaru BRZ use? They are basically the same cars aren't they? Toyota being a major stockholder of Subaru, some of Camry built in the US were produced in Subaru factory in the US. So, I wonder if they share some of key technologies as well.

 

I wish there was an article out there on the web that compared the "driver assist" features of various manufacturers and came up with a ranking... yes, of course we know Tesla is #1, but who is #2? Toyota? Honda? Subaru? German cars? I am on this forum and I see how happy everyone is with ACC/DRCC, but I also am on a Honda forum and I see folks admiring the Honda CR-V 2017 ACC/DRCC+LKAS system, where the car "practically drives itself"... then someone has a video of a Hyundai, which also "practically drives itself".... I saw a video once that compared DRCC in Toyota Rav4 to a Honda CR-V and it said that DRCC in the Rav4 is Jerky and doesn't slow down or speed up gracefully and that the Honda implementation was better, especially as lower speeds.

 

OK, here are my perceptions of Subaru's "Eyesight" vs Toyota's TSS-P

• Subaru uses a 3-D video camera (stereoscopic) and Toyota uses a standard video camera plus a radar unit behind the plastic hood emblem.
• A dirty windshield will affect the Subaru (They warn your not to use Rain-X! It may affect system calibration.) , whereas dirt on the plastic hood element will cause Toyota's system to shut down with a "your on your own!" message (Very scary alarms and messages. Clean the plastic emblem with a damp cloth and cycle power to regain use of the safety features.)
• Toyota's lawyers are in charge so their system gives up whenever it is unsure of the situation, Subaru tends to try to keep working in more situations.,
• Both tend to slow you down excessively when the car in front of you is exiting the highway. The Subaru can actually come to a complete stop on the highway! You need to override both in this situation by stepping on the accelerator.
• In general, Subaru's system operates more smoothly than Toyota's, but both are more than worth any added cost.

JeffD

 

Thank you - interesting to see that the Subaru DRCC operates more smoothly than the Prius... I guess they have more experience with this type of technology and as a result, a more solid system.

 

What is your opinion of TSS-P?

 

Read the last bullet in my post.

JeffD