What's the forums verdict on…..Driver aids?

Folks don’t use indicators these days, it’s only those of my age and older that seem to have any consideration or mindfulness to use them, hence my request.

Amen to that. Just a sign of the ignorance and arrogance that is prevalent these days.

Of the cars that *didn’t* have lights on my perception was that they were ‘high end’ vehicles – Mercs, Range Rovers etc. My guess was that these had auto headlight systems which had decided it was bright enough that they weren’t needed?

Our new car has auto lights, I did a little driving last week in the fog down here taking L to work and back, and I ended up manually forcing the main front & rear lights on as the auto lights wouldn’t come on, so just using DRL at the front.
It also has a proximity sensor which seems pretty good at warning of cars in front braking, but will only physically brake the car when below 15km/h.
The parking assist is quite handy, although it always leaves the wheels about 30cm from the kerb which is too far away where we are if you want to return to door mirrors.

everyone i know with reversing sensors has managed to reverse it into something the sensors didnt pick up at somepoint.

Complacency is an issue.

How ever i do like cruise and autoboxes on the open road (i have neither mind just hire car experiance)

my biggest realisation was that drivings so much more relaxing if you leave more time and travel at a slower speed with the trucks – rather than the need to do 100mph fannies in the outside lane. – but i have a car with big tires and non sporty suspension so the tramlines and washboard surface dont bother me 😀

All good but you still have to drive it carefully.

and the downside is?

as someone already said I fear for the transition between properly driverless cars and cars with features that…I won’t say “are conducive to not concentrating”, but I reckon it’s a certainty that some will let the driver aids pick up the slack and let their attention wander – off course people already don’t concentrate whilst driving so maybe these features can only improve things….dunno tho.

driver aids are a nightmare when you go back to a normal car

Just been driving a Tesla for a week……nearly crashed my car up the back of another one this morning because it didn’t warn me (then auto stop) that the car in front hadn’t pulled out into the massive gap I though she would have gone into.

Its amazing how quickly you get used to these things!! It only took a week to unlearn things I have been doing for 25 years – scary

Not a fan. (not that I’ve used anything other than auto boxes and cruise control, oh – and ABS, which I do quite like).

a) if I’m going to be legally responsible for the actions of the vehicle I’m driving, then I want to be fully in control of it, not delegating some of the work elsewhere.

b)Anything that makes cars “easier” to drive is a bad thing in my book. I want to be constantly reminded that I’m in control of a 1.5T missile going at 70mph. Its part of the reason I like my rubber band tyres and sports suspension – comfortable, no – but there’s constant feedback through the steering wheel and my arse reminding me that I’m not driving a video game.

(I’m reminded here of an Audi A4 auto, base-spec pool car I had on loan a few years back. 70 on the motorway, and it felt like I was sat in front on the telly with the sound turned down. No sense of movement at all. I could have happily put my feet up on the dash and gone to sleep. Terrifying)

Driver aids? Big FO shite-covered spike on the steering wheel instead of an airbag. That’ll make you concentrate.

driver aids are a nightmare when you go back to a normal car

Actually, that’s one of my major concerns.
The car I buy next I’ll get to drive rarely as the SO will be using it the vast majority of the time and if I need to drive, I generally use a Car2Go or if Im away on business, then whatever is the cheapest rental car available….

driver aids are a nightmare when you go back to a normal car

This is noticeable switching from a 6 yr old Skoda to a 20 yr old camper.

Can’t imagine the jump is any less with a newer car.

😕

driver aids are a nightmare when you go back to a normal car

I wonder if we’ll end up with another category of Driving Licence – like auto v manual?

Its amazing how quickly you get used to these things!! It only took a week to unlearn things I have been doing for 25 years – scary

Did your eyes stop working?

There’s an even simpler option than auto lights, as fitted to our 10-year-old Volvo. The lighting switch has two settings, O and I. Despite what you might think, the switch has no effect on the headlights whatsoever, they’re always on – the only difference is that high beam won’t latch on in O mode.

Makes life a lot easier 😉

I’m really confused by this perception that having these driver aids automatically means that you disconnect your brain and settle into a virtual coma! Why? I don’t recall seeing a listing in the user manual for a jar in which to place your brain by your bed before getting into your whizzy toy-filled car.
Using cruise control, for example, means when doing long motorway/dual carriageway runs my foot doesn’t cramp up holding it in one place to maintain a steady speed, and I can apply my full attention to what everyone else is up to, in front and behind.
I’ve done more miles on major roads, motorways since September than in the entire previous two years, (just shy of 11,000 miles, plus another two months that wasn’t logged by the satnav I was using), and I’ve yet to notice any loss of attention because the car I’m driving has some handy doodads fitted; if there are issues with loss of attention while driving, the fault lies with the muppet driving.
Having said that, I would express my concerns about the increasing complexity of car instrument panels, there are so many little buttons and illuminated labels scattered right across the dash and steering wheel that it’s really difficult to actually look for a particular control when doing 70mph in traffic, and that in itself is possibly more responsible for attention being taken away from what’s going on outside than just dozing at the wheel because of the labour-saving devices.
As much as a mobile?

Cruise control – tick
Speed limiter – tick
Parking sensors – tick
Auto dimming mirror – not sure
Gangster privacy glass – useful in daylight, less than useful in the dark
Auto lights & wipers – tick

Self cancelling indicators – tick tick tick

Autolights are a no brainer

In my Toyota they come on and off when I drive through the shadow of a tree. Still leave them in auto though,

Assisted Cruise Control is brilliant, had it on the old motor and miss it.

Especially with more and more Avg speed areas… flip the switch, relax your right leg/foot and check your FB feed …. brilliant … 😉

Folks don’t use indicators these days, it’s only those of my age and older that seem to have any consideration or mindfulness to use them, hence my request.

They seem to be an afterthought on many cars, tucked into the only spare place in the light sculptures that are becoming more prevalent.

This is noticeable switching from a 6 yr old Skoda to a 20 yr old camper.

On our last camper the switch for the full beams was a pedal on the floor next to the clutch 😀

And if you put them on while the wipers were going then it blew a fuse. 😯

I’m really confused by this perception that having these driver aids automatically means that you disconnect your brain and settle into a virtual coma!

As D0NK says, it’s not drivers like you (I’m guessing here!), but those morons that already drive around in a daze, not aware that other people are waiting for them to indicate, get in the correct lane, steer round cycle lanes, move out of the middle lane on the motorway, change speed when the limits change, etc etc etc…

My wife has a Fiat 500, we were coming back from Newcastle in the dark last week. I had the dash lights dimmed to help night visibility.

Until the outside temperature reached 3c. Then the whole dashboard lights up at max brightness to tell me that it’s 3c and there may be ice on the road. It shocks you and removes all your night vision for a good few seconds. Really safe.

Then it warmed up a bit to 5c. Got closer to home and cooled down, so it did it again…..

winston – Member

driver aids are a nightmare when you go back to a normal car

That’s probably a pretty good test of usefulness/value tbh. I didn’t think I’d ever trust the auto headlights but then I jumped in my dad’s car and instantly missed them. And driving distance without cruise control feels like barbarism now- if I could add adaptive to mine I would like a shot, that seems like a win/win for safety and convenience so why not?

I kind of miss flipping the little lever on the rear view mirror though.

thought this was a good article about the dangers inherent in transitioning from ‘not very automated’ to ‘very automated’: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/oct/11/crash-how-computers-are-setting-us-up-disaster

Some of these toys sound amazing though. If I actually drove my car and had cause (and means) to get a new one, I would definitely have all this cool stuff in it.

I kind of miss flipping the little lever on the rear view mirror though

Yeah! I do to – the electronic version doesn’t work half as well (especially as it’s needed more and more with all these stupidly bright led headlights).
It also felt like a bit of a gesture to the person dazzling you.

I kind of miss flipping the little lever on the rear view mirror though.

Now I have a pretty close relationship with my Passat as you will be aware, and I have come to care deeply about it, but one thing that really gets on my tits is that the flippy lever moves the mirror too far, and once you’ve dipped it you can’t see in it properly and have to adjust it – which defeats the purpose 🙁

But – if they can make auto dimming rear view mirrors, can they also make auto-dimming door mirrors too? Cos that’d be amazing.

My opinion is that driver aids are nice but not for me*. On a long motorway journey I find that modulating my speed, distance, brakes etc keeps my mind on the task at hand and not say, listening to my wife.

It certainly seems that most of the drivers who post on car threads are all conscientious drivers to one degree or another it seems there’s just no end to the nobs out there who aren’t. In a few short years the upper end of driver assistance and car autonomy will have filtered down quite a bit. Imagine how many people will be checking facebook, tweeting, making calls, vaping, eating etc when it seems about 1 in 5 people are doing this now with no driver aids to speak of.

*I’d really like a heads up display of my speed projected on the windscreen, that would be super handy.

*I’d really like a heads up display of my speed projected on the windscreen, that would be super handy.

Not that hard it seems. This popped up as an ad on a page I was looking at in the last few days..

After Market HUD

But – if they can make auto dimming rear view mirrors, can they also make auto-dimming door mirrors too? Cos that’d be amazing.

They do, my last four cars have all had this.

Wife’s Golf has ACC which is great.

I want Lane Assist on my next car, though there are various videos of idiots wedging pop bottles into the steering wheel so the car drives itself…

When a vehicle has to change lanes frequently, at speed, to progressively advance through traffic, it’s not so bloody hot.

Fire engines, for example.

I can imagine, but seeing as I don’t have lights or sirens on my car…