Now that I own a car that has any of these features…
25.9 percent of owners whose cars have adaptive cruise control never switch it on
Why? Lack of knowledge? With mine, I use it regularly on the highway outside of heavy traffic. It’s very nice, actually.
Nearly 18 percent steer clear of lane-keeping assist
Mine, I keep on for the most part. Theres an easy access button to turn it off when it becomes annoying though, which is only really when dealing with lanes merging.
I couldn’t tell you from memory where this setting is. It has only triggered once for me, which was when parking on a weird hill. I was only moving about half a mph though so whatever, and it let me override it.
Voice assistants go unused by 17.8 percent.
Well, yeah. My options are fucking Gemini, Siri (but I have no iPhone), or Alexa. Fuck those all.
Augmented reality head-up displays fare no better: 17.1 percent of drivers who have one refuse to turn it on, and a further 7 percent don’t know how to operate it.
I’m sorry, what?
Having the current speed and relevant traffic signs in the windshield is amazing. It makes it so much easier and less dangerous to check the speed. Sure, you can eyeball it while driving, but there are times where knowing the exact speed is important, like when driving past speed cameras. Also, quick access to the speed limit is incredibly useful when driving in new areas.
The rest of the listed features are just as confusing to me. You bought a car with massage seats. You don’t use them? Seriously?
Remote start, I don’t use either, but I haven’t had a use for it yet. To begin with, there’s no benefit to idling the engine, and the weather here has been great so no need to ventilate the car or run the AC/heater.
45.7 percent of respondents say they regularly use reversing cameras
At least in the US, every new car has them. So are people going out of their way to ignore them? Or only that many people have cars with these cameras?
While almost all new cars have them, just 27.3 percent of respondents say they regularly use their vehicle’s driving mode. Those aged 25 to 34 were more likely to use them, at 38.3 percent.
… as opposed to what? The parking mode? Or is this automatic vs manual?
Adaptive cruise control generally sucks, it slams on the brakes when someone merges.into your lane and gets you going 20 under regularly. I’m shocked by the claim that 75% of people use it.
Very much vehicle dependent. Mine does fine with both, but my partner’s car sucks at lane assist. It feels like it is bowling with the bumpers on. Just bouncing in the lane between the lines
Well, yeah. My options are fucking Gemini, Siri (but I have no iPhone), or Alexa. Fuck those all.
Yea, gemini is fucking useless compared to Google Assistant - it takes for fucking ever (god forbid you try to send a text message right before something interesting is on the radio) and it refuses to work if your signal isnt the best (I cant actually close it when it loses signal - super annoying).
Why? Lack of knowledge? With mine, I use it regularly on the highway outside of heavy traffic. It’s very nice, actually.
Huh? Regular cruise control works just fine for that. Where adaptive shines is heavier traffic and off-highway driving. I basically use it everywhere: just set it to the speed limit and let it go.
Mine, I keep on for the most part. Theres an easy access button to turn it off when it becomes annoying though, which is only really when dealing with lanes merging.
it is highly impractical every time some moron decides that the gap between you and the car in front of you is there waiting for him… if you are in control of your speed, you will react much more smoothly that the automatic (may depend on the car)
I think Toyota’s cruise control handles that situation nicely. It detects that situation (shows it on the display) and smoothly adjusts your distance and speed so you’re at a safe distance for the merger. I have it turned on probably about 90% of the time when driving.
But that the best cruise control I have experienced so far. I’ve used other cars that would be very slow to react and adjust the distance after the merging, and also one that would just automatically slam the brakes whenever someone merged in front of you. Both situations are not something you’d want to happen in heavy traffic, when there might be someone driving close behind you.
well my skoda detects the obstacle and brakes aggressively to increase that gap as fast as possible. if i do it manually, i see our speeds and how much of that distance i can sacrifice to make the breaking smoother, but the computer just brakes hard. it is probably better from the safety standpoint, but it is very uncomfortable - esp. if you have passengers who don’t follow the traffic so they don’t understand what is happening.
By heavy traffic, I’m referring to bumper-to-bumper traffic. I’ve found that I can’t get it to stop anywhere near the car in front of me, always preferring to leave several cars of space. Sure, it’s safer that way, but it’s annoying when the person behind you is laying on the horn while people constantly cut you off.
Driving myself in those situations is generally just less stressful.
Why? Lack of knowledge? With mine, I use it regularly on the highway outside of heavy traffic. It’s very nice, actually.
unusable in city, highly situational outside. very annoying when someone merges just in front of you.
Mine, I keep on for the most part. Theres an easy access button to turn it off when it becomes annoying though, which is only really when dealing with lanes merging.
sooner or later it will stop working, because it will have trouble reading the lines. people are terrible at monitoring automatic system, that is the lesson we learned from airline cockpits, and i will rather drive my car, than anxiously wait for the moment what the half-assed system stops working.
on top of that, my car start obnoxious alarm once it decides i am not holding the steering wheel tight enough, which is about 20 seconds after activation of this function.
which is only really when dealing with lanes merging.
it actually surprises me that 82% of people uses it.
I’m sorry, what?
Having the current speed and relevant traffic signs in the windshield is amazing
windshield is for looking out of the car. if someone cannot tell speed of their car without checking, or is unable to glance at the dashboard when needed, they have no business to operate potential murder weapon in public. (i admittedly don’t have personal experience with such system)
At least in the US, every new car has them. So are people going out of their way to ignore them? Or only that many people have cars with these cameras?
i guess not everyone drives new car, and it depends on the situation a lot. the camera is great for estimating the distance to the bumper of the car behind you, but for evaluation situation around the car when parking or reversing on street, mirrors are much better.
which is only really when dealing with lanes merging.
unusable in city, highly situational outside. very annoying when someone merges just in front of you.
I agree with this, which is why I find myself mostly using it on long stretches of highway.
sooner or later it will stop working, because it will have trouble reading the lines. people are terrible at monitoring automatic system, that is the lesson we learned from airline cockpits, and i will rather drive my car, than anxiously wait for the moment what the half-assed system stops working. on top of that, my car start obnoxious alarm once it decides i am not holding the steering wheel tight enough, which is about 20 seconds after activation of this function.
Maybe I’m missing something here, but at least on my car, lane keep assist only corrects you when you’re drifting out of the lane. The system that keeps you centered in the lane is called “active lane keep” which is only enabled for me when I also have cruise control turned on.
I rarely use active lane keep, but when I do, it’s on a mostly empty highway. Also, I’m not the kind of driver who does shit while driving, so it’s quick at least for me to correct it if it’s wrong (and it occasionally is).
ehm, are you using your turn indicators?
When another lane merges into mine? No. The car still has no idea where my lane is though because the line on my right (for the US - I assume left in the UK?) disappears for a short time.
(i admittedly don’t have personal experience with such system)
Maybe some experience would do some good then? All it shows me is a number for my speed, a speed limit sign, and sometimes it’ll pick up school zones or no passing zones. It’s tiny and at the very periphery of my vision.
For HGVs and buses, the law changed to prevent drivers from deactivating them so they can driver closer to the vehicle in front.
Those changes were raised after crash inquiries which found some lorry drivers regularly switch off their AEB systems to drive closer to the vehicle in front. The regulation change will limit system deactivation to 15 minutes with automatic re-engagement after 15 minutes. - Wikipedia
I don’t know about their quality and false-positive rate in cars, and maybe car usage is simply different, but I’m sure automatic emergency braking prevents many accidents.
Now that I own a car that has any of these features…
Why? Lack of knowledge? With mine, I use it regularly on the highway outside of heavy traffic. It’s very nice, actually.
Mine, I keep on for the most part. Theres an easy access button to turn it off when it becomes annoying though, which is only really when dealing with lanes merging.
I couldn’t tell you from memory where this setting is. It has only triggered once for me, which was when parking on a weird hill. I was only moving about half a mph though so whatever, and it let me override it.
Well, yeah. My options are fucking Gemini, Siri (but I have no iPhone), or Alexa. Fuck those all.
I’m sorry, what?
Having the current speed and relevant traffic signs in the windshield is amazing. It makes it so much easier and less dangerous to check the speed. Sure, you can eyeball it while driving, but there are times where knowing the exact speed is important, like when driving past speed cameras. Also, quick access to the speed limit is incredibly useful when driving in new areas.
The rest of the listed features are just as confusing to me. You bought a car with massage seats. You don’t use them? Seriously?
Remote start, I don’t use either, but I haven’t had a use for it yet. To begin with, there’s no benefit to idling the engine, and the weather here has been great so no need to ventilate the car or run the AC/heater.
At least in the US, every new car has them. So are people going out of their way to ignore them? Or only that many people have cars with these cameras?
… as opposed to what? The parking mode? Or is this automatic vs manual?
Adaptive cruise control generally sucks, it slams on the brakes when someone merges.into your lane and gets you going 20 under regularly. I’m shocked by the claim that 75% of people use it.
Lane assist is great though.
Very much vehicle dependent. Mine does fine with both, but my partner’s car sucks at lane assist. It feels like it is bowling with the bumpers on. Just bouncing in the lane between the lines
Yea, gemini is fucking useless compared to Google Assistant - it takes for fucking ever (god forbid you try to send a text message right before something interesting is on the radio) and it refuses to work if your signal isnt the best (I cant actually close it when it loses signal - super annoying).
Huh? Regular cruise control works just fine for that. Where adaptive shines is heavier traffic and off-highway driving. I basically use it everywhere: just set it to the speed limit and let it go.
it is highly impractical every time some moron decides that the gap between you and the car in front of you is there waiting for him… if you are in control of your speed, you will react much more smoothly that the automatic (may depend on the car)
I think Toyota’s cruise control handles that situation nicely. It detects that situation (shows it on the display) and smoothly adjusts your distance and speed so you’re at a safe distance for the merger. I have it turned on probably about 90% of the time when driving.
But that the best cruise control I have experienced so far. I’ve used other cars that would be very slow to react and adjust the distance after the merging, and also one that would just automatically slam the brakes whenever someone merged in front of you. Both situations are not something you’d want to happen in heavy traffic, when there might be someone driving close behind you.
well my skoda detects the obstacle and brakes aggressively to increase that gap as fast as possible. if i do it manually, i see our speeds and how much of that distance i can sacrifice to make the breaking smoother, but the computer just brakes hard. it is probably better from the safety standpoint, but it is very uncomfortable - esp. if you have passengers who don’t follow the traffic so they don’t understand what is happening.
By heavy traffic, I’m referring to bumper-to-bumper traffic. I’ve found that I can’t get it to stop anywhere near the car in front of me, always preferring to leave several cars of space. Sure, it’s safer that way, but it’s annoying when the person behind you is laying on the horn while people constantly cut you off.
Driving myself in those situations is generally just less stressful.
unusable in city, highly situational outside. very annoying when someone merges just in front of you.
sooner or later it will stop working, because it will have trouble reading the lines. people are terrible at monitoring automatic system, that is the lesson we learned from airline cockpits, and i will rather drive my car, than anxiously wait for the moment what the half-assed system stops working. on top of that, my car start obnoxious alarm once it decides i am not holding the steering wheel tight enough, which is about 20 seconds after activation of this function.
ehm, are you using your turn indicators?
false positives
it actually surprises me that 82% of people uses it.
windshield is for looking out of the car. if someone cannot tell speed of their car without checking, or is unable to glance at the dashboard when needed, they have no business to operate potential murder weapon in public. (i admittedly don’t have personal experience with such system)
i guess not everyone drives new car, and it depends on the situation a lot. the camera is great for estimating the distance to the bumper of the car behind you, but for evaluation situation around the car when parking or reversing on street, mirrors are much better.
I agree with this, which is why I find myself mostly using it on long stretches of highway.
Maybe I’m missing something here, but at least on my car, lane keep assist only corrects you when you’re drifting out of the lane. The system that keeps you centered in the lane is called “active lane keep” which is only enabled for me when I also have cruise control turned on.
I rarely use active lane keep, but when I do, it’s on a mostly empty highway. Also, I’m not the kind of driver who does shit while driving, so it’s quick at least for me to correct it if it’s wrong (and it occasionally is).
When another lane merges into mine? No. The car still has no idea where my lane is though because the line on my right (for the US - I assume left in the UK?) disappears for a short time.
Maybe some experience would do some good then? All it shows me is a number for my speed, a speed limit sign, and sometimes it’ll pick up school zones or no passing zones. It’s tiny and at the very periphery of my vision.
For HGVs and buses, the law changed to prevent drivers from deactivating them so they can driver closer to the vehicle in front.
I don’t know about their quality and false-positive rate in cars, and maybe car usage is simply different, but I’m sure automatic emergency braking prevents many accidents.