I don't mind having a smart car, in fact, I like most of the "smart" features - lane centering, adaptive cruise, emergency braking, TPMS, lane change cameras, auto headlights, auto wipers, etc.
But I want buttons and knobs for everything I use while driving.
I probably wouldn't pay extra for built-in navigation (it generally comes with other options that I do want), but I've found it useful a few times when I was outside of cellular coverage.
> But I want buttons and knobs for everything I use while driving.
My Subaru Impreza has a physical power/volume knob but it won't do anything when you start the car and then shift to reverse (to back out of the garage). It's like it's dedicating its resources to the rear view camera and doesn't have any cycles to handle the input events on the control knob. Also it decides to turn on the radio even if you weren't using the radio when you turned off the car. So, you have to listen to the radio blasting (at whatever the volume was when I got there, which might have been different media with lower volume such as a podcast) while you back up (might be a good time to be able to hear instead) until a few seconds after you shift to D. At that point, it processes the queued up inputs from the knob and will suddenly turn down or off depending on the inputs.
I would prefer it to be a variable (logarithmic, because that's how audio perception works) resistor directly controlling the amplifier or whatever, like radios used to be.
I love adaptive cruise. I use it 90%+ of the time. But this is also one more reason that I hate cars and will probably sell it soon. But I'll still have to deal with similar issues if I rent a ZipCar or something.
It falls into a larger category I've been thinking about a lot lately about how a lot of problems with technology these days is due to the difference in how the desires of software creators and those of users diverges and creates those problems. I'm leaning towards suggesting that everyone needs to write their own software, using shared knowledge, not just use software that other people wrote for you.
If all smart features would work perfectly, I wouldn’t mind either. But.
- lane centering - in some cars for whatever reason drives to close to middle of the lane
- emergency breaking - false positives sometimes. I was overtaking a cyclist, and although I kept lots of distance as the opposite lane was completely free, it made my car slow down a lot. Luckily nobody was behind me
- tmps, it's fine till sensors work or detected properly
- auto headlights - sometimes they are late, and drivers coming from opposite side are made. Hopefully matrix led will be better
- auto wipers - the worst of the worst! Either too slow or too fast. Or not detecting the drizzle. WTF. Really, the best was the old school knob, which just turned right/left and allowed full control over the interval
ACC and LKAS on our 2019 Honda is so awful I simply can't use it.
When someone crosses 3 lanes in front of me ACC will hit the brakes hard to maintain the correct distance. It's jolting and scary.
LKAS only sees about 80% of the lanes. Rather than just driving like normal which I'm experienced with I have to sit there paranoid that something will go wrong and I'll need to react to a surprise event.
I don't know if it's the idea or the just the implementation that I hate. Am considering comma.ai
I love ACC in my 2020 accord (which is the same generation as your 2019). I've never had it hit the brakes hard enough to be jolting, even when a car changes into my lane.
The LKAS is hit and miss, like you said, unless the lines are very clearly visible, it can't stay in the lane. I wish it looked at the car ahead to help with lanekeeping. But it's never surprising when it loses sight of the lane markers (though it does tend to drift to the right at exits, but it doesn't make a sharp move). But even in its current state, LKAS is great for long freeway drives.
Surprised to hear that. The ACC on my 2019 CR-V is the best adaptive cruise control I've used, a lot smoother than ACC I've tried in substantially more expensive cars. I agree the LKAS is pretty crappy (off of highways, it seems closer to 60% of lanes), but I've never experienced anything with it that's caused actual problems. The crappiness just comes from it frequently not knowing where the lane is, but I leave it on at all times for the times where it does recognize them.
I've never tried other ACC so it might just be me.
The specific situation is this: I live in Los Angeles and set ACC for max following distance on the freeway. Inevitably this means that someone will use that space to cut across 3 lanes and, as soon as do, ACC will rapidly slow me down to put distance between me and the new lead car. I'll find myself suddenly under 50 on the freeway as a result. maybe that's just how ACC is but imo the PID controller or whatever could be toned down a bit.
yes. totally agree. I LOVE adaptive cruise control, but also love/need the ability to work the music and environment selection buttons - switch stations, switch cds, change sources, turn heat up down etc - with just an instantaneous glance followed by touch only.
My Honda Accord is pretty good with this -- it has a lot of smart features, but also has buttons for pretty much everything I need (real clickable buttons or knobs, not touch sensitive buttons that give no tactile feedback)
The voice response system is horrible, if I have to use the Honda navigation, I almost always need to stop so I can type in my destination. But since I use Android Auto 99% of the time, it doesn't really bother me.
I don't think they're underrated, they're much more expensive than drawing pixels on a screen, especially now that screens are required, by federal law (back up cameras). I imagine we'll first see them reappear in luxury cars.
"I like most of the "smart" features - lane centering, adaptive cruise, emergency braking ..."
Please drive your car.
I don't care what choices you make wrt bluetooth or heated seats or iphone integration ... but if you can't be bothered to drive the car then perhaps a different transport option would be a better choice for you.
I'm not sure that aviation automation is directly comparable to the current state of driver assistance features.
You should be more concerned with what I'm doing bluetooth than whether or not I let the car keep a safe following distance from the car in front of me since if I'm in a heated discussion with my ex on the phone, I'm paying a lot less attention to the road than I should be, and I'd be better off letting the car do most of the driving.
None of the driver assistance features I listed above allow hands-off driving, if ACC fails, my car will slow down, or maybe get too close to the car in front of me, but since I've already got my hands on the wheel and looking ahead, it's not a big deal.
The poor state of automation for most cars actually ensures better driver attention -- LKAS works around 80% of the time on the freeways. If it worked 99% of the time, I'd be less focused on driving.
But even looking at airplanes, even if automation is implicated in some portion of accidents, is that worse than if pilots have to actively fly the entire time and end up exhausted by the end of a cross country flight when it comes time to land and they need to be at their best.
Please stop driving your car. I don't care what choices you make wrt other ways you like to put others in danger, but if you can't be bothered to use features that can save others lives then a different transportation option would be a better choice for you and the world.
But I want buttons and knobs for everything I use while driving.
I probably wouldn't pay extra for built-in navigation (it generally comes with other options that I do want), but I've found it useful a few times when I was outside of cellular coverage.