Lane Assist

[Delaide]

I’m in Australia, and yes, I apologise for Steve Smith. But in addition to that I’ve got Lane Assist on my Scout but it doesn’t work the way I think it should. I’ve driven 1000s of kilometres, sorry, miles, and, apart from the icon in the Multi-Function Display changing from green to yellow when I mimic inattention and allow the car to drift across my lane (under safe conditions), which helps not a bit, it does zip. Skoda have told me that for Lane Assist to affect the steering you have to have your hands off the wheel, and indeed, if I let go of the steering wheel things do happen. But, unless you are a sleep apnea sufferer, who is going to let go of the wheel? Is this the way Lane Assist functions in the UK? And if so, are you ok with that?

[ahenners]

There's two levels to lane assist, one is less proactive in taking over and adjusting steering. First thing would be to check both are enabled.

 

I haven't actively tested drifting between lanes; I tend to commute in rush hour so it wouldn't generally be safe to do so. However I have noticed that if I forget to indicate and start to change lanes I have to overcome resistance from the lane assist function to do so. If I let go of the steering wheel then it definitely adjusts steering and warns me after about 10 seconds.

 

I'd say the way it works is fine by me and I haven't any cause for complaint, but like most safety assist features I'd hope to never really need it.

[SashaGrace]

As above, there’s lane assist and adaptative lane guidance. The adaptative guidance is almost semi autonomous, but I wouldn’t trust it at all. I only have the lane assist on and I have it set to late reaction so it doesn’t nag me. If you ignore 12 autonomous steering inputs it throws a wobbler and bails out anyway. It is effective at taking the stress out of the long motorway commutes, that’s for sure

[Delaide]

Thanks guys. There are two levels of Lane Assist? That being ‘Lane Assist’ and ‘Adaptive Lane Assist’? And they can be independently set? Ahenners, your description of what happens when you forget to indicate is what I expected my car to be doing. So is that ‘Lane Assist’ or ‘Adaptive Lane Assist’? And SachaGrace, you can modify the Lane Assist setting? How do you do that?

 

If I go into Car-Set Up - Driver Assistance, this is what I get (see photo). Am I missing something?

[ahenners]

1 hour ago, Delaide said:

Thanks guys. There are two levels of Lane Assist? That being ‘Lane Assist’ and ‘Adaptive Lane Assist’? And they can be independently set? Ahenners, your description of what happens when you forget to indicate is what I expected my car to be doing. So is that ‘Lane Assist’ or ‘Adaptive Lane Assist’? And SachaGrace, you can modify the Lane Assist setting? How do you do that?

 

If I go into Car-Set Up - Driver Assistance, this is what I get (see photo). Am I missing something?

 

Excuse the dusty screen - it's in direct sunlight (rare for NW UK!)

 

I have two options under lane assist; Active and Adaptive Lane Guidance. Looks like you might not have the ALG which does the bits I described that you expected yours to do.

 

Edited 9 April, 2018 by ahenners

[Delaide]

That’s very interesting ahenners. Mine is a newer model (2016, I’m pretty sure) but it seems it may not have the functionality of yours. If ‘Adaptive Lane Guidance’ is what causes your steering wheel to react when you forget to use your indicators, what exactly does ‘Lane Assist’ do?

[GoneToBeemer]

19 minutes ago, Delaide said:

That’s very interesting ahenners. Mine is a newer model (2016, I’m pretty sure) but it seems it may not have the functionality of yours. If ‘Adaptive Lane Guidance’ is what causes your steering wheel to react when you forget to use your indicators, what exactly does ‘Lane Assist’ do?

 

Normal lane assist will correct your steering to keep you in your lane if it thinks you’re going to veer over the white lines.

 

Having the adaptive lane guidance enabled will actively monitor your position in the lane and make small adjustments to the steering constantly to keep you in the correct position - this is more semi autonomous driving and will feel more intrusive.

 

Even without this activated you should still feel strong steering input from the vehicle should you start to veer out of lane.

[Delaide]

Thank you GoneToBeemer, that’s what I expected my Lane Assist to do. And I’m sure you don’t need to have your hands off the steering wheel to for this effect to take place, as Skoda have advised me.

[SashaGrace]

2 hours ago, Delaide said:

Thanks guys. There are two levels of Lane Assist? That being ‘Lane Assist’ and ‘Adaptive Lane Assist’? And they can be independently set? Ahenners, your description of what happens when you forget to indicate is what I expected my car to be doing. So is that ‘Lane Assist’ or ‘Adaptive Lane Assist’? And SachaGrace, you can modify the Lane Assist setting? How do you do that?

 

If I go into Car-Set Up - Driver Assistance, this is what I get (see photo). Am I missing something?

Yeah, that’s not how it appears on mine. Mine is like ahenners car with adaptive lane guideance seperate to lane assist. You should feel the wheel resist you when you try to pull out of lane without indicating. You can change the sensitivity on VCDS or OBDEleven.

[Delaide]

Thanks SachaGrace, but I have to ask you to elaborate ... VCDS or OBDEleven? I have no idea what they are. [As an aside, Im pretty sure I don’t have Adaptive Lane Guidance because it’s not permitted by Australian vehicle design rules. ]

[Gabbo]

Does the Octavia not "vibrate" the steering Wheel when you are drifting towards the next lane?

The Australian version maybe rubs your left or right knee with some coarse sandpaper as well.

 

I don't have it on the Octavia but on our volvo there are also 2 levels.

The first just vibrates the steering Wheel when you drift towards the line & provides a very very mild assist to try to convince you to keep the lane.

The 2nd level, called PilotAssist will actively keep you in the lane & provides very firm steering inputs (I don't say middle here because I'm sure I could follow the middle better after 10 pints!)

 

The level 2 is too intrusive for me & makes me feel like I'm constantly fighting against the car.

[Russ77]

35 minutes ago, Gabbo said:

Does the Octavia not "vibrate" the steering Wheel when you are drifting towards the next lane?

The Australian version maybe rubs your left or right knee with some coarse sandpaper as well.

Well played Sir.... Well played!!!! 

[Delaide]

Very good Gabbo ... I hope the Australian cricket team appreciate how much they are making the rest of us suffer.

But on more serious matters, no, there is no vibration of the wheel when drifting to the next lane. Why is it so? I don’t know and I don’t think Skoda in Australia know. But I’m wondering now if it’s a sensitivity adjustment issue, as SachaGrace has mentioned. I’ve Googled those terms she listed and now appreciate she is referring to diagnostic software; but I suspect that’s beyond me. Getting late now ... tired. Thanks everyone so much for your help. Learned more here in a couple of hours than I’ve managed in a year from other sources. Will consider further tomorrow. 

[SashaGrace]

1 hour ago, Delaide said:

Thanks SachaGrace, but I have to ask you to elaborate ... VCDS or OBDEleven? I have no idea what they are. [As an aside, Im pretty sure I don’t have Adaptive Lane Guidance because it’s not permitted by Australian vehicle design rules. ]

VCDS is the genuine VW group diagnostic system and you will need a cable from RossTech (who make genuine cables) for full dealer level diagnostic capabilities. OBDEleven is a small Bluetooth dongle powered by an Android app from a company called Voltas in Italy. It does much the same things including coding and fault code reading. I have coded and adapted all sorts on my car including the sensitivity of the lane assist system. Clearly this system differs between the UK and AUS spec so I’m not sure how it’s meant to work on your car.

[xman]

28 minutes ago, SashaGrace said:

VCDS is the genuine VW group diagnostic system

 

No it isnt.

[SWBoy]

39 minutes ago, SashaGrace said:

VCDS is the genuine VW group diagnostic system

VCDS is independent of VAG and is developed by a company called Ross-Tech who have no link with VAG.

 

VAG have their own in-house diagnostic systems that have more functionality than VCDS (such as updating the firmware in modules, clearing component protection, etc.).

[Gabbo]

2 hours ago, Delaide said:

Very good Gabbo ... I hope the Australian cricket team appreciate how much they are making the rest of us suffer.

But on more serious matters, no, there is no vibration of the wheel when drifting to the next lane. Why is it so? I don’t know and I don’t think Skoda in Australia know. But I’m wondering now if it’s a sensitivity adjustment issue, as SachaGrace has mentioned. I’ve Googled those terms she listed and now appreciate she is referring to diagnostic software; but I suspect that’s beyond me. Getting late now ... tired. Thanks everyone so much for your help. Learned more here in a couple of hours than I’ve managed in a year from other sources. Will consider further tomorrow. 

 

If I understand the replies above there should be no vibration but as you drift towards the line there should be some "mild" input from the steering system you need to overcome to continue moving lanes.

 

When you drift lanes, you dont feel any resistance from the system trying to push you back into your current lane?

[SashaGrace]

1 hour ago, xman said:

 

No it isnt.

 

1 hour ago, SWBoy said:

VCDS is independent of VAG and is developed by a company called Ross-Tech who have no link with VAG.

 

VAG have their own in-house diagnostic systems that have more functionality than VCDS (such as updating the firmware in modules, clearing component protection, etc.).

Do you know, I knew that and I still typed that out, god knows why!! I love my little OBDEleven because it’s much cheaper and the only really useful thing VCDS can do that OBDEleven can’t do is adaptation channel mapping which is a bit of shame but for the price difference, one can’t conplain!

[Delaide]

Attached is the reference from the Skoda dealer’s workshop: Lane Assist is active when “hands are not on the wheel.” This is absurd on so many levels. Additionally I have email records from Skoda Australia (head office) and a transcript of a conversation with a local dealer which both state that Lane Assist is meant to work the way it functions in the UK. The local dealer is adamant that he is correct. In contrast, the service centre associated with that same local dealer borrowed a new car to see for themselves and said, ‘yes, I had to have my hands off the wheel.’ I’m beginning to feel that I’m being gaslighted.

 

 The icing on the cake is that that local dealer and service centre have been ‘de-authorised’ by Skoda Australia, so now I’m dealing with a new mob (the photo is from their service report)  who have no history in servicing Skodas. It’s a nightmare.

 

The other piece of information I can add is that on one occasion, possibly two, when I changed lanes to exit a freeway, sorry, motorway, I did get a very noticeable tug on the wheel. So that’s once, maybe twice, and at the same location(!), that there was steering wheel feedback in the two years I’ve been driving the car. Going back to SachaGrace’s comment that, with diagnostic software, the sensitivity can be adjusted, is it possible that that is all it needs? That at the moment the sensitivity is dialled right down? And Skoda are unaware of that? I don’t see myself working with VCDS but presumably the new dealer’s workshop should be able to check that? 

 

[KevC_Derby]

Mine works how I’d expect it to, what is the point in increased steering effort/pull if your hands aren’t on the wheel?

[Delaide]

Could be useful if you had a heart attack - which I’m quite likely to have if Skoda don’t get this sorted for me soon.

[bouff34]

Is the icon normally green? It will only work in that situation...if it is amber it isn't picking up the lane markings but is switched on and trying to look for them.  Maybe the roads you use don't have decent markings that the system can pick up?

Could this be why it has only worked a couple of times and both times in the exact same location?

[Delaide]

Yep, definitely green. And it changes to amber as you cross the lane.

[mumphie]

Just a slight aside from the OP's topic - anyone have any idea how the Lane Assist actually steers?? Does it just use ABS to brake a wheel to affect steering?

[Gabbo]

40 minutes ago, mumphie said:

Just a slight aside from the OP's topic - anyone have any idea how the Lane Assist actually steers?? Does it just use ABS to brake a wheel to affect steering?

 

It physically turns the steering wheel so I assume theres a motor connected to the steering column or steering wheel.

I guess its the same system used for automatic parking control.