Featured CR on Driver Assist Systems

I have used AP extensively in a Model S P100DL and Model 3 LR RWD. Autopilot at level 2 is still dangerous. Tesla has not fixed phantom braking to this day.

 

If that is all that Ford's Blue Cruise can do, my Toyota has been doing that since 2019. The difference between Toyota's version and Tesla's is it isn't named Full Self Driving and it requires hands on the wheel. What it doesn't have is any monitoring of driver's attention. Saw a car drive off into a ditch today while the driver had his eyes on his phone. 25 MPH speed and not curved at all. Not saying the driver was using any assists. Just that there is no substitute for driver attention.

 

He could also have been trying to adjust cabin temperature on the touch screen, about as distracting...

 

maybe he was flying low

 

Even reaching for a seldom used physical button can be distracting. My Toyota has a series of about 6 buttons low and to the left where the steering wheel hides them. Things like heated steering or auto headlights. I've caught myself drifting while seeking to adjust them. Even visible buttons you use semi-frequently (think which of the two defrost buttons you want to press and do it) drag your eyes to them and away from the road for a second.

 

Yup, uniform buttons in a row, some you need to push multiple times while watching LCD display, how we “progress”.

 

There are degrees to how well these systems can do things.The Outback will sometimes get into pig ponging between the lines on even a straight road. It will also chide me even if I'm holding the wheel too lightly. Sounds like the Bluecruise is Level 3. The new Prius might also be. That's the first step out of driving aids, and into automation. Hands off wheel is okay with Level 3, though I think it is a bad practice until you get to Level 5, full automation.

 

Yea ... our Hi-Tech Chrysler minivan tends to ping pong us back and forth between the dotted line and the side marker / shoulder lines. My favorite version of Lane assist was the original Tesla mob eye lane system that could adequately keep us going down residential streets. Got no clue why Tesla decided to give up on their mobile partnership. Perhaps liability?
Looking it up, it appears geely still uses it with relatively decent success.
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Lane Assist works well on our 22 Rav4h. Quite a bit better than the older 17 CRV that did ping pong. The downside on the Rav is ultra sensitive steering. An effective lane assist combined with blindside and rear traffic alert would save a lot of accidents if universally used. Its not about how good a driver one of us may be; its about the attention span and skills of virtually everyone over 18.

 

I bought my tesla after that, but the reasons are simple. They wanted to own the software, but they should have done a parellel development instead of changing it out completely. NVidia had better hardware at the time. Intel bought mobile eye to get in the game for hardware and software. Tesla doesn't even want to pay nvidia and have their own staff designing the hardware (next version will be in a taiwan semiconductor fab because the original plan for samsung couldn't be met because samsung can't make enough chips for tesla without pissing off other customers.

Current tesla implementation does well now on city streets (not mine where cars park on both sides and its narrow), but it gets fooled when the lane gets wider and wants to drift to the center instead of keeping it straight.

Self driving works very well for my cousin in florida with easier streets. I have to take over a lot here because of construction and scooters and bicycles. I have my foot ready to take over the accelerator from phantom braking which normally occurs if it thinks the car to the right or left of me may go in my lane.

Agree with the comment that with any of these systems the driver should get to know it and be ready to take over.

 

I guess I don't understand the desire/need for driver assist on city streets.

Yes on collision prevention by watching your back and blind spot and even front collision avoidance. But I go into town many times a week at 35 miles an hour and I want to control the darn car. I don't want to feel I can get away with answering a text under the varying conditions of city traffic.

Where I like the keep it in the lane by automation help is on the long stretches of the interstates.

In '19 Toyota did all that if you ordered the right packages and they weren't 5 figure costs.

 

They are near standard in some segments now. Haven't checked on the more advanced systems, but I think it's standard with the new Prius. Others are just pulling a money grab.

 

Ironic how the car prevents us from programming in destinations on the GPS but we're allowed to look at the 11-in screen to adjust the climate control.

 

Surprised they didn't have a Subaru to test.

Even though the full ADA suite can work in traffic, I don't use it with my daily driving. I do have the Eyesight set to assist, so it has a basic LCA function on all the time. It'll give a nudge to the wheel when the car gets close to a line. The strength of that seems to be speed sensitive; more nudge at higher speeds.

Now, I have the alarms set to on, but the car gives a chime and pop up when it loses sight of the lines. There is also set of colored LEDs at the base of the windshield; double yellow, double red, green, double red. They mimic the messages in the driver's display. The yellow is warnings; both sides for system pause, and corresponding side to lane departures. Red is for alerts; hands off wheel, automatic braking engaged, etc. The green lets you know the ACC is following the car ahead.

I have the driver monitoring camera, but it is an option. The steering wheel sensor is sensitive. I regularly hold the wheel light enough to trigger it.

I only have used the car's full ADA on freeway trips. Didn't have any issue figuring out the steering wheel controls for the ACC and LKA. You can select the level of acceleration in the menu. The LKA only works while the ACC is on. I have had ping ponging happen, but rare, could of been windy at those times. Otherwise it stays well centered. Actually, that means it doesn't give trucks the slight extra space I do when passing them.

The system can handle stop and go traffic. It just won't start from a stop on its though. It'll give you a warning the car ahead moved, you tap the accelerator, and the system starts driving again.

Need to check the manual on what the system does if the hands off wheel and eyes off road alerts are ignored while the full system is engaged.

 

These are the ratings. The number in parenthesis is the score (out of 10) for capabilities and performance.

Toyota Safety Sense 3.0 did fairly well.

Ford/Lincoln: 84 (9)
Chevrolet/GMC/Cadillac: 75 (8)
MB: 72 (10)
BMW: 69 (9)
Toyota/Lexus 3.0: 65 (9)
VW/Audi: 62 (8)
Tesla: 61 (9)
Rivian: 59 (8)
Nissan/Infiniti: 58 (7)
Honda/Acura: 58 (8)
Volvo/Polestar: 53 (7)
Hyundai/Kia/Genesis: 49 (6)
Mazda: 0 (0; no active driving assistance at parameters tested)
Jaguar/Land Rover, Lucid, Porsche, Stellantis (Alfa Romeo, Chrysler, Dodge, Fiat, Jeep, Ram), and Subaru: 0
(0; no active driving assistance)

@bwilson4web, like it or not, Consumer Reports is the best out there. You can't trust Car and Driver and sites like that much.

@Trollbait, you purchased a Subaru without a modern driving assist system. When are you coming back to Prius?

“After all this time, Autopilot still doesn’t allow collaborative steering and doesn’t have an effective driver monitoring system. While other automakers have evolved their ACC and LCA systems, Tesla has simply fallen behind.”

Tesla Autopilot sounds really awful if it does not allow collaborative steering. This would be a deal breaker for me. I think the problem with Tesla and SpaceX is that Elon Musk has pretty much lost his mind, and all he can think of is Twitter and twitting. It is self-destructive for him. He needs to sell Twitter, delete his account, and go to rehab. I expect much worse times for Tesla in the years ahead. It will fall behind—far behind.

 

Arguably, keeping the river engaged is more important than basic performance, and only Ford and GM seem to get that right.

CR has its flaws that need to be considered.

It's better than what Toyota had when I was buying.
https://data.consumerreports.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/consumer-reports-active-driving-assistance-systems-november-16-2020.pdf

Prius needs to lose the engine before I'll consider it again.

 

That is exactly why I want to trade in my 2021 Prius Prime Limited with TSS 2.0 to a 2023 Prius Prime SE with TSS 3.0+. TSS 3.0 seems to be much improved over TSS 2.0.

I did get used to the LTA with ACC on TSS 2.0 quite a bit. However, I don't have confidence in it when cars cut in front of me—it seems to be following too closely and the reaction time is about two seconds when a car cuts in front of me. It does not always seem to reduce speed to increase the distance. Moreover, there is no curve detect, which can be scary when you are approaching a curve with the system turned on. I also expect the LTA on TSS 3.0 be more precise and less jittery. It is OK in TSS 2.0, but there is slight ping–pong at times.

 

... what - I haven't kept up - but does that mean you have to buy a new Toyota car to get a new system? or like Tesla (+ a few others) - which does it via OTA software?
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