Lane Assist - How good

[hulahoop7]

Is Lane Assist worth the money? I have fantasies of the car almost being self driven in the motorway (with active cruise control). Is it that effective?

[philsmith]

Yes it works very well, it will almost drive itself on the motorway but you must make some input into the steering or it will turn itself off, a safety feature I guess.

Will also follow the road on single carriageways as long as there is clearly defined white lines on both sides.

[RickTT]

i had a Octy 3 Vrs on a long demo (did 700 miles in it) which had lane assist and while it was a good feature keeping the car in lane, if you don't provide any steering wheel input (like pressure weight) input for what felt like 5 seconds it triggers an alarm.

 

Its an odd feeling when you feel the car wandering on its on devices... would i have it... yes, i would if it was free or bundled as part of the spec... would i pay for it, probably not.

[Sagalout]

You have to keep your hands on the wheel, otherwsie it does disengage, and then trust the system! Easier soad than done for me!

 

It seems to work well but you still need to be fully engaged in the driving as it is not infallible. Poor road markings, oncoming vehicles with lights on etc do seem to impact sometimes. Another gadget really designed for use only on motorways or dual carriageways and even then only when road conditions allow safe use.

[cnc]

I found I got a very uneasy feeling when I tried it on a demo car. Its like there is an invisible person sitting beside you just gently moving the steering wheel back and forth slightly when you weren't expecting it, so I found myself fighting against it, so defeating the point in having it. I had the demo car for a week and never quite felt it was for me, but given more time I may have got used to it and liked it.

I can see it could have its good points especially for long motorway journeys, but it may take some getting used to it.

[FelisBengalensis]

It's only an 'assist' function, not one that will drive the car for you. Same with the radar assist on the cruise control.

Google 'self drive' it isn't! Slightly unnerving when first used until you understand what the system is up to. Not sure yet if I like it or not. It certainly doesn't like lane changes without indicating!!

The Light Assist system isn't that convincing either in my experience. Like many 'assist' devices the human driver is much better.

I've driven with some of these systems on BMWs and the VW equivalent is nothing like as good which given Skoda use the Audi system - which competes directly with BMW - I would have expected better.

[blahde2]

I found I got a very uneasy feeling when I tried it on a demo car. Its like there is an invisible person sitting beside you just gently moving the steering wheel back and forth slightly when you weren't expecting it, so I found myself fighting against it, so defeating the point in having it. I had the demo car for a week and never quite felt it was for me, but given more time I may have got used to it and liked it.

I can see it could have its good points especially for long motorway journeys, but it may take some getting used to it.

In my Octavia VRS there are three settings for Lane Assist in the infotainment:

1. Lane Assist - will only nudge you back into your lane if you start drifting towards the lines on either side of your lane, it will not (depending on how sharp the corner is or how quickly you start to drift) keep you in your lane. You should feel a slight tug on the wheel in the right direction which should alert you to your changing lane position so YOU the driver corrects the drift. This in my eyes constitutes as a sensible assist function. I like it even if it does interfere once in a while (complicated road markings) and in wide lanes.

2. Adaptive Lane Assist - This is much more interfering. As long as there are lines on both sides of your lane, the system it will try and keep you in between them by gently shuffling the wheel left to right to keep you central. It is not smooth and does not inspire confidence but is effective. It does however make you look somewhat drunk to the person behind you so I generally leave this function turned off except on wide clearly marked motorways where it works OK only.

3. Off.

I suspect the Superb's system will behave in the same fashion. So the question is, do I want it? Yes, do I rate it? Yes....as it does provide a worthwhile assist safety net function, but would I pay £850 for it if not standard? No, not in your nelly! Tis good, but it's not that good.

Edited 16 December, 2015 by blahde2

[muddyboots]

Remember it relies on the camera being able to see the white lines. If for any reason it can't - maybe there's a gap in the line markings, a patch of road that's been resurfaced, worn out lines or just poor visibility for the camera - it'll stop working, so IMHO not a good idea to rely on it for normal driving.

A lot of roads where we drive are single carriageway A roads where there's just a grass verge to the left and no line. So it can stop you veering across the road, but doesn't stop you veering into the verge...

 

There's a light in the dash that switched from yellow to green when it's active, plus there's also a display you can choose in maxidot that shows which lines it can currently see (left, right, or both).

[Jaytip]

Judging by these replies, lane assist could open up a whole can of worms regarding bad drivers. I can just see it now, the thoughtless, braindead, dangerous idiot texting or checking mail on his mobile because he believes his lane assist will keep him from wandering out of lane.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[dcm49]

I have a 205kw top spec (for NZ) model and 6 days old, I have used the lane assist a few times and generally leave it on, mainly to show people it driving round corners gently. What is confusing is you think it is on and expect it to do something but for some reason it has turned itself off so you are gently veering off the road and realise that its actually not engaged - this is not the intention I know.

Where is has been really good is with it engaged and I am looking at the main screen (8" Canton) for music or navigation and hand still on the wheel it will pull me back into line or I will feel the force feedback and realise I am not quite centre.

[Brockysuperb]

It's an 'assist' programme. Not an 'auto-steer'...and I really like it.

[stever750]

The Light Assist system isn't that convincing either in my experience. Like many 'assist' devices the human driver is much better.

In what way did you find the light assist disappointing?

I've got the smart light pack coming on mine, looks a good idea on paper....

Sent from my D6603 using Tapatalk

[stever750]

Here's my two pence worth after 24 hours ownership. Smart lighting on the bi xenon works really well. Lane assist is pointless, utterly useless fail to see what benefit it brings other than forcing you to you use indicators when changing lanes, which you don't always have to do. ACC brilliant, but that's not unique to skoda, though what on earth is sport mode on active cruise?? I'm guessing how quickly the car accelerates back to target speed, but I couldn't detect any difference between that and normal mode.

Sent from my E6653 using Tapatalk

[blahde2]

Lange assist is only active above 60kph and only if the road markings are decent. It will only steer for you if you have a hand are on the wheel / or briefly (5 sec approximately with no hands on wheel) before disengaging. It dings and displays "put hands on steering wheel" / words to that effect.

I like it set in non adaptive mode, so plain old nudge in right direction only. For long drives and motorways I turn on the adaptive lane assist function which is annoying but can compensate for crosswinds before you have even noticed, so helpful in that respect.

Edited 21 January, 2016 by blahde2