One for the techie group. I rely on my DCC whilst travelling on the M way. The other day having set the DCC to 70 the traffic was slowing and my car did likewise. Out of the middle lane a van came into my lane and it felt that my car was not going to stop and I applied the brakes myself in an emergency type fashion.

 

Now this has happened before on an A road with the dcc set to 30 and the traffic stopping at a red light , the car in front changed lanes leaving a gap and I accelerated into a stationary car. I again emergency intervened and all was ok

 

Q. Would my car have stopped or as it felt at the time continued into the back of the vehicle in front. I would assume that all world conditions would have been tested before giving this tech the green light

Edited 20 June, 20187 yr by john999boy
Title typo

change the title of thread
DCC = Dynamic Chassis Control
ACC = Active Cruise Control

 

and yes!!!
ACC makes too many fails in city,
i turn it on only when crossing speed cameras areas

ACC isn't driving the car - you are. 

 

Remain alert at all times,

ACC does need to be treated with care in a city setting. I also use it, especially in the 20mph zones as it allows me to keep my eyes on the road rather than constantly staring at the speedometer. I increase the ACC distance setting to give me more time to react and would recommend you to try it.

 

I too have had occasions when I have intervened to brake the car manually. Whether the car would have stopped on its own I have no idea, but if in doubt, take control. ACC won't be a defence against an insurance claim if you hit the car in front. 

Skoda ACC is a great thing and I use it every day in town and on motorway. I hardly drive without it.

But ACC does not qualify your car as a self driving. It helps but it is not smart enough to understand all situations that occur in traffic and act accordingly. Most common thing is that if a car A in front of you changes the line and there is a car B standing in the same lane as you, ACC will not recognize that the car B exists. 

For such situations your Skoda should have several more sensors and more capable computing skills. 

3 hours ago, MartiniB said:

ACC = Active Cruise Control

 

Adaptive Cruise Control 

The doppler radar used in ACC cannot detect stationary objects.

From the manual:

 

WARNING

■ The general information relating to the use of assistance systems must

be observed » page 212, in section Introduction.

■ The driver must always be ready to take over the operation of the accelerator

and brake pedal.

■ The ACC does not react when approaching a stationary obstacle, such as

traffic jams, vehicle breakdowns or vehicles waiting at a traffic light.

■ The ACC does not respond to crossing or oncoming objects.

■ If the ACC does not decelerate fast enough, immediately apply the vehicle's

foot brake.

WARNING

For safety reasons, do not use the ACC under the following conditions.

■ When driving in turning lanes, motorway exits or construction sites, to

avoid an unwanted acceleration to the stored speed.

■ When visibility is poor, (e.g. fog, heavy rain, thick snowfall).

■ When road conditions are poor (e.g. ice, slippery road, gravel, dirt road).

■ Driving in “sharp” corners or in steep gradients / on steep inclines.

■ When driving through places where metal objects (such as metal buildings,

railway tracks, etc.) can be found.

■ When driving through very divided and enclosed spaces (such as large-capacity

garages, car ferries, tunnels and the like.).

Note

■ The ACC is designed primarily for use on motorways.

7 minutes ago, flumpie said:

The doppler radar used in ACC cannot detect stationary objects.

This is a really important point. If the car in front of the car in front of you (if you see what I mean) is stationary when the car in front of you moves out of your lane, there is no reference for ACC to pick up on.

 

In reality this shouldn't be a problem though. It's the opposite but just as important issue as with ACC and traffic lights. ACC will happily take you through a red light if there is nothing in front of you. So in any city centre, your foot should be hovering over the brake pretty much all the time if you are using it in the city.

 

Whether in the OP's first scenario (cars cutting in to your lane with little spacing at motorway speed) the ACC would react quickly enough is a difficult one. I've rarely if ever felt that it wouldn't stop me (did you get the big red warning - "brake now" in the maxi-dot and the high pitched warning sound?) but as I've said elsewhere on here, 70 to stop on ACC tends to involve very heavy and (IMHO) late braking if doing it automatically. So I take manual control, brake firmly but more gently than ACC does, then re-engage ACC once I'm happy the situation is under control. 

 

Freelunch - yes it is important to remember the limitations shown in the manual. But I have to say ACC and LA has been at least as good as me (and sometimes better) at identifying vehicles and lane markings in some poor-visibility situations. I'm thinking winter, dark, rain-slicked and unlit roads with a million tail lights ahead and the headlights of oncoming vehicles all but removing visual references from lane dividers.

I find ACC fairly useless, most of the time. 

 

I’ve driven over 200 miles today and the only time I used it was to drive half a mile through a rural village with a 30mph  limit, where there is often a speed camera van. 

 

The rest of the time - on motorways and dual carriageways - I didn’t use it at all. 

I'll not have a car now without it. Fantastic system. Use it all the time.

mine is well behaved, and reacts well to impatient/rude drivers who like to cut into the gap it leaves.  it reacts smoothly, however if it doesn't think it can react in time - it will beep the crap at me asking me to "brake now"!!!

 

it works well on motorways, and on highways too.

obviously inside city traffic on congested streets with millions of traffic lights or stop signs - its no good.

combined with TJA, its a breeze.

 

as previously mentioned - its just an aid.  

the Superb is not autonomous, let alone semi or quarter autonomous!!

I personally dislike both ACC and any sort of automatic speed control on the car. It makes me lazy and not 100% aware of what's going on. I use it only when passing speed cameras and even that very rarely. <

Same goes for lane assist, 100% disabled since I bought the car. I feel it makes car dangerous not safer.

Edited 21 June, 20187 yr by JackySi

On 20.6.2018 at 09:32, flumpie said:

The doppler radar used in ACC cannot detect stationary objects.

 

Are you sure about this?

 

I have front assist on my 2016 Octavia and the radar continuously scans for pedestrians and stationary cars.

21 minutes ago, BGB said:

 

Are you sure about this?

 

I have front assist on my 2016 Octavia and the radar continuously scans for pedestrians and stationary cars.

It may scan for them (afaik the scan is constant, whether ACC is set or not) but I doubt it could detect then brake in time to avoid them. Perhaps if you have it on the largest distance setting it might work, but I wouldn't want to rely on it.

I drove a 2017 hired VW Golf GTD the other week with ACC and was keen to try it out to see what all the fuss was about.

 

It didn't take me long to make my mind up. It just makes you look like an idiot.

 

I was in lane 2 of a dual carriageway, 70mph.

 

Two lorries, nose to tail, well ahead of me in lane 1.

 

The second lorry indicates, pulls out of lane 1 into lane 2 and proceeds to slowly overtake the first lorry.

 

Without ACC I'd have reacted as soon as I saw the lorry indicate by easing off the accelerator and closing the gap without having to brake.

 

ACC however, did not notice the lorry until it was fully in lane 2, and therefore maintained the set speed of 70mph whilst the lorry changed lanes. This meant that by the time ACC had detected the lorry it had no choice but to brake heavily. I was a split second from hitting the brakes myself.

 

All the other cars behind me had also seen the lorry's indicator and already gently reduced their speed without drama.

 

All those other road users were thinking the guy in-front of them (me) is clearly a plonker with zero anticipation skills, was on his phone, or is just a crap driver.

 

To make the situation worse, ACC didn't resume the set speed until the lorry was fully back in lane 1, leaving me sat in lane 2 with a clear road ahead of me and a line of cars behind me, being held-up.

 

I suspect those drivers by this point had made up their mind. I was a ****.

 

Perhaps I didn't give it enough of a chance, but ACC was left turned off for the rest of the time I had the car.

 

Edited 21 June, 20187 yr by silver1011

Silver - ACC certainly takes a bit of getting used to. I started the thread on changes to driving style and the first three points related to ACC.

 

It's definitely worth sticking with it though. It's a brilliant system. 

I’m getting a BMW shortly that uses optical tracking for ACC instead of radar so it will be interesting (for me) to see which system is better across all of the different scenarios mentioned above.  Just remember it is an ‘assist’ tool, not a substitute for driving the car yourself.  I got caught out too many times in the first few days of owning my Superb to ever implicitly trust the kit.  Humans programmed it, and it’s algorithms are not infallible (stationary objects, sudden lane changes, randomly losing lock on the vehicle ahead etc).

Edited 21 June, 20187 yr by FelisBengalensis

Perhaps the previous user of the Golf had set the ACC to minimum following distance.  I have it set to normal distance and it usually backs off the throttle well before any braking is needed to slow down in the circumstances you describe.  Radar is a very dumb sensor though, there are any number of reasons why it might not have recognised the overtaking truck until uncomfortably late; doesn't make it a bad system though, the vast majority of the time it works very well.

Top of the range systems have both camera, for direction and lane recognition, and radar for distance measurement.  Camera only ACC I would expect to be slightly worse than radar only because it's judging, not measuring, the distance to the car in front.

Could well be the case.

On 20/06/2018 at 08:32, flumpie said:

The doppler radar used in ACC cannot detect stationary objects.

 

4 hours ago, BGB said:

 

Are you sure about this?

 

I have front assist on my 2016 Octavia and the radar continuously scans for pedestrians and stationary cars.

 

I do not know the details of the VW implementation, but it does state that at high speeds it cannot detect stationary objects, but at low speeds (<30kph) it can. So looks like I was wrong...

 

My guess is that there are two modes for the radar array:

• At high speeds it uses a long detection range (something like 200m). With this range there will be a lot of interference so it will not have the resolution to detect stationary objects, instead it uses the doppler effect to detect moving objects.
• At lower speeds it uses a short detection range (something like 30m). With this range there is a lot less interference so it is possible with additional signal processing to identify stationary objects. However, it will be much better at being able to detect moving ones.

Anyone want to volunteer to stand in front of my car for testing?

A positive note though on the reversing sensors, the sensors detected a cone and I kept reversing a bit too much , hey ho the brakes came on full automatically.

So that's good but a wee bit off topic.

6 hours ago, FelisBengalensis said:

...Just remember it is an ‘assist’ tool, not a substitute for driving the car yourself.  

 

 

Well, I don’t find its assistance particularly helpful, and I wish I could change it to ‘normal’ cruise control, which I used to use all the time in my previous cars. 

I only have CC not ACC but - Skoda can we please have our RH footrest back ? (RHD Octy 2 had it 3 does not) I would consider it a safety issue as it makes it quicker to get back onto the brake or accelerator as appropriate.

Why anyone would want to use ACC in town, in busy traffic or in poor weather conditions is beyond me. In those situations I want to be in instant control and relying on technology can dull your reactions regardless of good a driving god you think you are.

 

With the Superb (and other cars with ordinary CC) we have always restricted its use to M ways, dual carriageways and A roads but only when traffic and other conditions are suitable. As Skoda (and other manufacturers) themselves say "The ACC is designed primarily for use on motorways".

 

It really scares me when other posters declare how little they know about their cars.