Driver Assist Package II - Discussion and Questions

[Dutch77]

I am guessing it depends which version of the MMI you're running - the S3 definitely does have the speed limit displayed in the nav screen.

But I am with you otherwise on lane assist, I have not really utilised it (and not been on many highways where it would hold much value).

[AdamD]

I am guessing it depends which version of the MMI you're running - the S3 definitely does have the speed limit displayed in the nav screen.

That's just the speed limit stored in the navigation maps, not the street sign recognition which uses the assistance package camera. It's disabled in Australia although I've enabled it briefly with VCDS to give it a go (quite the convoluted procedure too); it's a cool feature (displays the speed sign in the MFD) but it's certainly not perfect. Shame that we don't get the choice to enable it in the MMI, however.

[Dutch77]

Agreed - I may have misunderstood Flipper Dog OR the Q3 at some point had a satnav that did not show stored data.

I know the speed limits coming up on my screen are stored, for the most part it is fairly accurate although over time I am sure it will fall away without regular updates as idiot anti-car Governments like Jay Ditherall's current cronies keep dropping speed limits and deliberately make driving hard.. which is ironic given all they are doing is adding to carbon pollution if you are into that stuff.

But I digress..

[mattchuu]

Hi All,


I use ACC a lot, it's proven to be very predictable - however, i had an interesting experience in light traffic at 60kph - i was about 50m behind a left turning car which was slowly clearing my lane, there would have been about 8-10 seconds until a collision (if the car wasn't turning, and if we failed to slow) so it was a long way off.

The frontal collision warning sounded, the instrument cluster showed the foot brake symbol and requested "APPLY FOOT BRAKE IMMEDIATELY", which i did as soon as i heard the warning sound.

the car turned and cleared the radar beam with about 5s to spare, the warning went off and ACC remained activated after i released the brake pedal - which was very unexpected.

has anyone else seen "APPLY FOOT BRAKE IMMEDIATELY"?

It was a very unexpected response given how far away the car was, i think it must have concluded that i was steering us into a stationary object (which i haven't tried yet) it must have been unable to determine what the situation was and that i needed to decide if there was a hazard ahead?

[agentthumb]

I've seen it once, in a very similar situation to what you described.

Cruising along at 60km, slide curve to the left. Car in front gets into the right turning lane to turn right, and I got the "Apply Foot Brake" warning. Obviously given the curvature in the road and the position of the car turning right, the radar thought I was going to rear-end it. (I think this is the limitation of our Australian Golf system where lane-assist camera is not part of the package*.)

I touched the brake and continued around the bend without issue. ACC did deactivate, so I had to hit "RES" on the steering wheel.

I thought about it at the time, and believed had the car not be turning and we were actually on collision course, then the warning would give me sufficient time to stop the car. However, if I failed to do that, it would give ACC sufficient time to sound the proper collision alert tone, then apply the pre-brake jolt, and failing that, it would apply full brake. I think the "Apply foot brake" is just a prevention message to avoid full emergency braking.

*ACC with lane-assist takes emergency braking up to 60km/h from 30km/h, and increases the maximum speed ACC can operate at (up to 230km/h if memory serves me right). It also increases maximum braking from 3m/s to up to 6m/s if I remembered correctly. I'm also assuming it improves lane recognition to reduce false warning from cars slowing in other lanes.


Edit: just did some reading, ACC and Front Assist operates independently. (Tho they share the same components.)

So it sounds like the "Foot on brake" is a function of ACC to let you know there is something happening that is outside the "safe" parameter of ACC.

If you fail to take control, and depending on the situation, Front Assist may then detect a potential collision and sound it's alarm, followed by a jolt, followed by braking etc.

[mattchuu]

That makes me feel better about it.

One thing that may also be of note is that there was a slight curve in the road i was on as well, and the radar wouldn't have seen the car "square on", it was also a 3 lane road so my response would have been to merge into a clear lane, but i would have done that about 5 seconds after the emergency brake tone started.

I guess the action i expected (given the distance to the slowing car) was that the ACC would slow to a stop as it would normally do when you fly up to a red light, rather than have a user intervention conniption with that sound, but due to the curve and the speed difference the software must have just given up..

I wish we could get that camera!

[agentthumb]

That makes me feel better about it.

One thing that may also be of note is that there was a slight curve in the road i was on as well, and the radar wouldn't have seen the car "square on", it was also a 3 lane road so my response would have been to merge into a clear lane, but i would have done that about 5 seconds after the emergency brake tone started.

I guess the action i expected (given the distance to the slowing car) was that the ACC would slow to a stop as it would normally do when you fly up to a red light, rather than have a user intervention conniption with that sound, but due to the curve and the speed difference the software must have just given up..

I wish we could get that camera!

You and I both buddy, I've heard reports that the lane keeping assist (enabled by the camera) can be quite intrusive tho, haven't had the pleasure of trying it myself.

As for the warning coming early, I guess they designed the system to cater for the slower responding, non-attention paying drivers, where they'd hear the tone, and have to figure out what the car is asking them to do. Better safe than sorry

[Fish Jetski]

It's a common issue with EB. My Jeep GC does the same thing and I have learnt when to anticipate it. Often I will use the right part of the lane to avoid it happening. Hopefully the software geeks will find a solution to it in the next generation.


Sent from this tap keyboard thingy on this touch screen flat thingy.

[VRJ]

Mine has gone as far as the jolt twice. On both times the cars were turning left. It doesn't worry me though as I know mine would stop if I for some reason did not respond in time.

[AdamD]

I've heard reports that the lane keeping assist (enabled by the camera) can be quite intrusive tho, haven't had the pleasure of trying it myself.

The lane assist only works above ~65km/h, and only then when you explicitly turn it on (I have it in my S3). It's really only useful on long boring single-lane highways (and even then, dulls the steering feel making it harder to apply small corrections) and I almost always leave it off.

As for the camera, it doesn't make the ACC and EB suddenly smarter - there are still plenty of occasions where it intervenes early and inappropriately because it's unable to determine the severity of a situation (e.g. when a car is turning off some distance ahead).