Lane Assist Poll (just out of interest)

[cortina63]

Tried it on the first mway run,switched it off for return journey,seems pointless to me,its just another gimmick thats going to reduce the driving skills of futre drivers,relying on technology not their own roadcraft,

[jtypecav]

Started out as a no way. One massive motorway trip and it's bedded in nicely. It only beeps if you keep your hand off the wheel for too long. It doesn't really offer anything, but for the other half, it doesn't hurt! 

[alancha]

Hope it's OK to revive this thread after a couple of months?

 

Having recently got my vRS TDI, I was curious to try Lane Assist, which seems a worthwhile safety option.  Of course, one shouldn't ever need it but I can imagine a rare situation where the driver is distracted or losing concentration and starts to drift out of lane on a motorway and LA could be thing that saves the day.  I also like and admire clever gadgetry, which this definitely is.

 

On the other hand, I also value good clean steering feel and really don't like the way LA keeps nudging the steering even when I'm well within my lane - especially on non-motorway roads.  On winding single-carriageway roads, one often crosses the centre-line to "smooth-out" bends, or to gain better visibility when approaching left-hand bends, neither of which LA understands, so on such roads it can be quite annoying.

 

So for me the jury's out.  I definitely prefer the feel of the car without LA but I like the idea of it being there.  As others have said, I'd like to be able to switch it on or off with a simple switch or button click that didn't require me to navigate menus or take my eye off the road;  then I'd probably enable it on and off as I drove according to the type of road.  I suppose I'll probably end up making a decision at the start of each journey, based on what mix of road types I'm going to be driving on.

[decuk]

I tend to switch it on when on a long dual carriageway/motorway journey. Also found good when going to the airport at stupid 04-00 when concentration is hardest, It takes going round a few curves to get used to it as its obviously seeing slightly ahead of where the wheels are. But for the times above I like it. Its easy to steer through it.

[V6Jules]

I quite like it on the motorway it means I don't drift into another lane whilst playing with the stereo (not being serious) it does guide you round bends too which is pretty clever but I find if you relax your steering inputs it will slowly oscillate between left and right until it messes itself up enough for it to need you to take control

[neiln]

Like decuk I do a fair bit of motorway driving late at night (eg last night, depart Chester at 2300 ish and drive to south London). Really knew I was tired for the last 20 mins on the m1 as lane assist was much more evident.   I didn't get the cars fatigue warning though.... God knows how fatigued i'd need to get for that to appear!  BTW, how does that fatigue warning manifest? Audible alarm or 6000 volts up the rear?

 

And in all seriousness v6, I am still new to the car and felt lane assist make a big input to the steering when i'd been concentrating on driving the radio/saving favourites for a moment to long. I'm not excusing my driving, but glad la stepped in early, in another car I may have drifted out of lane.

 

Currently I like lane assist.  

[bletch]

I am unsure about it. Sometimes I love it and it keep the car in centre of lane. Other times its annoying bouncing in the lane. However, I don't understand when it should shake the steeringwheel... Its done it only twice. Both times when in middle of lane but with some lets say strange markings on road. If I let car drift towards side of road it never warn me. Ideally I would have turned the auto-steering of and only let it warn me when drifting off road. But since it don't give a warning I could never trust it. For now I keep it on anyway. Maybe because the gadget and modern car feel the auto-steering gives..

Almost like the car drive itself.

[Matty70]

Turned LA off when I picked my VRS up back in November coming up to 9k miles never been turned on since.

[BjornP]

On, most of the time, I commute on mixed roads, country lanes and motorway to work. I don't fint it too intrusive and it's quite relaxing on the motorway. Have it set to adaptive lane driving, or whatever it's called.

[alancha]

Hope it's OK to revive this dormant thread...

 

I took delivery of my VRS TDI at the end of June and one the features I was pleased to have was LA.  It seemed like a worthwhile safety feature that could one day save me if in a momentary lapse of concentration I were to drift out of my lane on a motorway.  

 

I do use it on motorways for this reason but have several reservations about it:

1. I'm really disappointed that it seems to intervene, even when I'm well within my lane but just not in the exact position it would like. 
2. I don't like the way it intervenes with "nudges" to the steering, rather than a gentle pressure drawing the car back in.  The noticeable nudges would be appropriate as a reminder if I were actually drifting over the the line, but to do this just because I'm slightly off-centre is annoying.
3. I drove recently on a very wet motorway in the dark, where I'm always concerned to maintain good grip, avoid standing water, etc..  Obviously in such conditions I'm watching the road surface very closely but also taking input from what I can feel through the steering.  I found the nudges from LA very distracting, feeling at times almost like momentary loss of grip. I found the mixed messages from the steering unnerving to the point of being potentially dangerous, so turned it off.
4. Almost from the start, I've always turned LA off when on normal roads - especially rural A-roads - where its interference is pointless and spoils the purity of the otherwise beautifully precise and responsive steering on the VRS.  Everytime I turn it off it's a relief - once again I feel fully in control.
5. To be honest, I prefer it off when driving on motorways too, but I feel that if I've got this safety feature it's slightly irresponsible not to take advantage of it.  Of course, if the car didn't have LA I wouldn't feel that way, so I almost wish I didn't have it.

 

So, in summary, if I were in charge of the design of LA I would make it work as follows:

• As the car moves a little out of the perfect position in its lane, very smooth and gentle pressure would be applied to pull the car back.  The feel would be exactly the same as if the self-centring had moved slightly off-centre, so the driver would be barely aware of it at all. 
• If the car gets close to crossing the line into the next lane, then some warning in the form or vibration or "nudges" could be applied through the steering to more assertively bring it back into lane and warn the driver that something is wrong.
• I'd provide a single click button, preferably on the steering wheel, to make it very easy to switch LA on and off.  As it is I can swicth it on and off with the controls on the steering wheel but it take quite a complicated series of clicks and selector-wheel interactions to change its state and then return to the display setting I want. Only fairly recently have I learnt to do this without taking my eyes off the road.

 

In summary then, I find this feature a little disappointing in that most of the time it's annoyance value exceeds its possible benefit to safety.

[GordonH]

i use it on Mways.  Find it very good at keeping within narrow lanes at roadworks/contraflow.

 

Don't use it on single carriageways and in town.

[Yogi-Bear]

I'm really disappointed that it seems to intervene, even when I'm well within my lane but just not in the exact position it would like.

 

Do you have Adaptive Lane Assist turned on (you can't tell through the Maxidot - look in the Car settings on the infotainment screen)?  I've tried it a few times and found it to be a bit annoying, but turn the 'adaptive' bit off and it becomes a much better system, IMHO.

[kiruji]

I only use it when driving on a motorway with a hangover.  Or to freak new passengers out.  Otherwise, I find it irritating and it feels like I'm out of control which is not a nice feeling at 80mph.

[decuk]

I initially only put it on for motorways/ dual carriageways. Now its on All the time. I turned it off last week when heading to Whitby over the moors roads, and it felt strange, so put it back on. I drive quick but within the law round bends, so could be why I just let it do its thing, whilst realising on certain roads it may not operate due to bad markings. Overall I dispose its a gimmick, but a useful one.

[cortina63]

Turned it off,a car pulled onto the motorway in front of me out of a junction,and I had to move quickly into lane2,as I didnt get a chance to indicate,the car thought I was wondering and tried to correct me,so it went off,shame it cant be a switch for it next to the mode switch,then it would be easier to switch on and off

[Yogi-Bear]

Turned it off,a car pulled onto the motorway in front of me out of a junction,and I had to move quickly into lane2,as I didnt get a chance to indicate,the car thought I was wondering and tried to correct me,so it went off,shame it cant be a switch for it next to the mode switch,then it would be easier to switch on and off

 

It's really not hard to override it and change lane anyway... but you should really be aware of other vehicles joining the motorway before it gets to that stage anyway (fair enough if someone changes lane right in front of you, but it's obvious when someone gets to the end of the slip road they're going to be pulling into lane 1).

[decuk]

Often I don't indicate if changing lanes when there is nothing in my mirrors or up front, and don't find it hard to steer through it. If it was that bad it would be dangerous

[cortina63]

It's really not hard to override it and change lane anyway... but you should really be aware of other vehicles joining the motorway before it gets to that stage anyway (fair enough if someone changes lane right in front of you, but it's obvious when someone gets to the end of the slip road they're going to be pulling into lane 1).

wOw your so clever,i would not have worked that out in a million years,some brainless moron comes out of a sliproad 3foot in front of you,actually if you cant enter motorway by the end of the slip road you are meant to stop, not push in which is probavly what you do by the sounds of it, I put a post up about a negative of the system,

[Yogi-Bear]

wOw your so clever,i would not have worked that out in a million years,some brainless moron comes out of a sliproad 3foot in front of you,actually if you cant enter motorway by the end of the slip road you are meant to stop, not push in which is probavly what you do by the sounds of it, I put a post up about a negative of the system,

 

If someone comes bolting up the left side of you down the slip road and joins the motorway, then you don't need to change lane as they're going faster than you and will pull ahead anyway.  If someone is coming down the slip road and is going slower than you, then you must be behind them and surely can see that they are 1) about to come down to the end of the slip road and 2) are going slower than you.  Therefore, the kind and considerate thing to do is be nice and pull out or adjust your speed in plenty of time to let them join the motorway.  If you're not paying attention and have to change lane suddenly without indicating, how can you be sure that you're not about to commit exactly the same 'sin' and pull into the next lane right in front of someone?  If there wasn't time to indicate, I'm guessing there also wasn't time to check your mirrors and the blindspot over your shoulder (the lack of a curved mirror to reduce/remove the blindspot is a bigger issue to me than lane assist doing its job).

 

And no, I don't push my way in... I look at the traffic on the motorway and judge my speed so that I get to a gap at the end of the slip road.  Surprisingly enough, the vast majority of people will also pull out if they can to make a gap for me, because they're concentrating on what's coming onto the motorway.  On the odd occasion that there isn't a gap, it's because the traffic is queueing, at which point I drive to the end of the slip road slowly and wait for someone to let me out.  I would never claim to be a perfect driver, but if people drove proactively rather than reactively, and understood that driving a vehicle means concentrating on the road and other road users as well as yourself, then there would be far fewer accidents.

[73henny]

 

In summary then, I find this feature a little disappointing in that most of the time it's annoyance value exceeds its possible benefit to safety.

 

Agreed. I find the adjustments to the wheel distracting to be honest.

[ArvidG]

Hi

I have the designated ACC-stalk, and multifunction steeringwheel, and out of memory I turn LA ON/OFF very easy:

 

1: push the end of the turnsignal-stalk: A menu pops up in the MFD

2: push the right scrollwheel on the steeringwheel: LA is activated/deactivated

3: push the end of the turnsignal-stalk again: menu disappears!

 

Three small clicks !!!

 

ArvidG

[toni8b]

This:

[Neily03]

Hi

I have the designated ACC-stalk, and multifunction steeringwheel, and out of memory I turn LA ON/OFF very easy:

 

1: push the end of the turnsignal-stalk: A menu pops up in the MFD

2: push the right scrollwheel on the steeringwheel: LA is activated/deactivated

3: push the end of the turnsignal-stalk again: menu disappears!

 

Three small clicks !!!

 

ArvidG

 

Pretty the same process if you don't have ACC, just use the controls on the steering wheel.

[alancha]

Pretty the same process if you don't have ACC, just use the controls on the steering wheel.

Yes - but it's a lot more clicks and turns, especially the Maxidot is displaying something else at the time and you want to return to it after changing the LA state.  Again from memory, assuming it's on one of the Driving Data display modes to begin

1. Click the back button
2. Down on the wheel one click to Assist 
3. Press wheel to select:  LA display shows 
4. Up or down on wheel to show LA on/off checkbox
5. Press wheel to check/uncheck the checkbox
6. Press back button twice
7. Up on click on wheel to return to Driving Data
8. Press wheel to show driving data

 

I can do all that without taking my eye off the road but it still requires more attention than I would like.  A single button somewhere would be so much better.

[alancha]

Do you have Adaptive Lane Assist turned on (you can't tell through the Maxidot - look in the Car settings on the infotainment screen)?  I've tried it a few times and found it to be a bit annoying, but turn the 'adaptive' bit off and it becomes a much better system, IMHO.

 

Thank you very much for that - I confess I'd never noticed that option in the Car settings.  From what you say and the description in the handbook, I suspect that will suit me a lot better - sounds like it will save me from a real drift-out-of-lane issue without interfering in normal driving.