The most recent user's manual has had the following information added, indicating that we might soon see an Assisted lane change feature in the Octavia. Will be interesting to see if, when and how existing cars get this feature added. Will it be a visit to the workshop or through a future OTA update, time will tell.

 

 

Another small step to autonomous vehicles.   👍(I think!)

Probably fail in UK on last category (the demarcation lines are clearly visible)

Far to many seem to have residue from previous roadworks, so have multiple lines, or poorly painted lines

 

The driving speed range is 90-210km/h. (56-130 mph) so won’t work on some Welsh motorways where they now have 50mph restrictions 

 

 

1 hour ago, SurreyJohn said:

Far to many seem to have residue from previous roadworks, so have multiple lines, or poorly painted lines

 

 

A very good point. On the M27 near me it's a nightmare - joints in the concrete surface, old white lines blacked out, remains of roadworks marking blacked out, and new (and wearing quickly) white lines. Enough to confuse any driver (and lane assist) in the best of conditions, but then add damp surface and low sun angle. I can sense a disaster waiting to happen...

I would not want that on my car... I could never trust it if the issues with ACC and the rest of the software are anything to go by, I do like the 'forced' use of the indicator though, I wish more cars indicated when they changed lanes, and even better if it would force the return to the inside lane when clear!!

10 minutes ago, matrix2020 said:

I would not want that on my car... I could never trust it if the issues with ACC and the rest of the software are anything to go by, I do like the 'forced' use of the indicator though, I wish more cars indicated when they changed lanes, and even better if it would force the return to the inside lane when clear!!

It's a comfort feature that can be permanently disabled if you don't like it. Personally, I've had no problems with the ACC/travel assist so far when using it as intended 🙂

Edited 19 July, 20223 yr by Jorgeminator

4 hours ago, Jorgeminator said:

It's a comfort feature that can be permanently disabled if you don't like it. Personally, I've had no problems with the ACC/travel assist so far when using it as intended 🙂

Glad some have had no issues with ACC/Travel assist, but I can assure you my issues with both... plus many other 'safety and comfort systems' where when they were being used 'as intended'. 

4 hours ago, Jorgeminator said:

It's a comfort feature that can be permanently disabled if you don't like it. Personally, I've had no problems with the ACC/travel assist so far when using it as intended 🙂

The problem is if it is added, or part of a package with other things you want, you end up buying it then not using it.  so might be paying hundreds of pounds for nothing.   
 

2 hours ago, matrix2020 said:

Glad some have had no issues with ACC/Travel assist, but I can assure you my issues with both... plus many other 'safety and comfort systems' where when they were being used 'as intended'. 

I don't doubt it, I've just been lucky with mine, I guess. What I meant by "as intended" was e.g. not using it on winding and undulating roads, from my own experience 🤪

 

2 hours ago, SurreyJohn said:

The problem is if it is added, or part of a package with other things you want, you end up buying it then not using it.  so might be paying hundreds of pounds for nothing.   
 

This is true when buying a car, IF the price is incremented due to the feature, which I doubt. For those already owning a car, it's another feature added for free. Many will find it useful, but obviously some won't.

4 hours ago, matrix2020 said:

Glad some have had no issues with ACC/Travel assist, but I can assure you my issues with both... plus many other 'safety and comfort systems' where when they were being used 'as intended'. 

Have you tried to visit dealership for radar and camera calibration?

12 hours ago, Felix2021 said:

Have you tried to visit dealership for radar and camera calibration?

As has been stated many many times it's got sod all to do with 'calibration' but everything to do with **** poor coding from the VAG drones who wrote the software.

The car thinks it's in a left hand drive environment and refuses to overtake on the right as it believes you to be undertaking.

The cars appear in their correct positions on the display it's just the car is badly programmed. And they've not yet sorted it.

So how come it's working for others, or at least some?

Just wondering... Maybe your car been coded incorrectly in factory? Don't really know.

Have you visited dealership at all about this issue? What did they say? Have you tried another dealership?

If it was only about **** poor coding, everyone in UK would be affected, isn't that right?

Just now, Felix2021 said:

So how come it's working for others, or at least some?

Older deliveries have older hardware and not all have had the latest firmware updates - which seem to be what has fixed the problem for most owners of older cars, and seems to no longer be a problem on the most recent deliveries?

 

As has been said often here, Skoda started deliveries while the firmware was still not properly tested (especially in RHD countries) - but VW did the same with the Golf 8 too, so it's a wider VAG problem.

Sure, i get that. I know about earlier software issues.

Thing is, that by now it should be possible to book a car for firmware upgrades, or HW replacement if needed, otherwise car is not fit for purpose.

Hence i'm asking:

27 minutes ago, Felix2021 said:

Have you visited dealership at all about this issue?

It's just as if some people preferred to moan about "**** poor coding", instead of getting it fixed.

Did VAG mess this one up? Yes, a big time. But by now most issues been solved, and it's up to user to book it for upgrades.

26 minutes ago, Felix2021 said:

Sure, i get that. I know about earlier software issues.

Thing is, that by now it should be possible to book a car for firmware upgrades, or HW replacement if needed, otherwise car is not fit for purpose.

Hence i'm asking:

It's just as if some people preferred to moan about "**** poor coding", instead of getting it fixed.

Did VAG mess this one up? Yes, a big time. But by now most issues been solved, and it's up to user to book it for upgrades.

Yes, done the lot (may times!), had loads of software upgrades and hardware upgrades (all in the main dealer), I have the latest Hardware and Software, but even now it occasionally goes mad. With the latest software it is 90% better but still not totally fixed for mine. Dealers across the country have been dealing with this for at least a year, well ever since the car came out!.... they hoped the latest software would fix it, and it has gone a long way to improving it, but its not right yet. Now its no worse than say Front Assist not working message or Emergency Brake message when nothing is around.... There are soooooo many threads and issues running with this that the Main dealers are as frustrated as we all are.... It is definitely not the case the user is just moaning..... look back at the threads and see how bad it really is and how many users have rejected their cars and had them in the dealers for days on end. They need the car in all day just for a software update its that bad! Skoda UK have admitted the problem for at least the last 9 months to me but said they can do nothing about it until the software gets sorted by Skoda... 

And that's something i don't understand. After upgrades and replacements it's better, but still not 100% good.

How is it possible, that 90% of a time car "thinks" it's RHD, and 10% of the time it "thinks" "hey, i'm across the pond, let's switch to LHD"? Doesn't make any sense to me. Especially, that still there are at least SOME, for which it works ok. If it was a software bug, it would affect everyone.

It's either something wrong with GPS in some cars (i guess it can switch to LHD based on GPS data) every now and then, or it's radar and camera calibration. I'm not sure if visualization can be a proof, that calibration is ok. 

1 hour ago, Felix2021 said:

And that's something i don't understand. After upgrades and replacements it's better, but still not 100% good.

How is it possible, that 90% of a time car "thinks" it's RHD, and 10% of the time it "thinks" "hey, i'm across the pond, let's switch to LHD"? Doesn't make any sense to me. Especially, that still there are at least SOME, for which it works ok. If it was a software bug, it would affect everyone.

It's either something wrong with GPS in some cars (i guess it can switch to LHD based on GPS data) every now and then, or it's radar and camera calibration. I'm not sure if visualization can be a proof, that calibration is ok. 

Yep it is mad... definitely nothing to do with calibration or radar, Skoda UK and dealers know its software but they cant find out exactly why or where the glitch happens. Luckily the display proves the car know exactly here the traffic is so it is not possible it is calibrated wrong. Calibration would always be wrong, not intermittent, and the car would appear in the wrong position to real on the dash, which it never has. They just don't seem too interested in spending the time and effort (money) to fix it. The problem is that although everyone has the same 'boxes', software is not tested (by car manufacturers because its not deemed as safety) on every 'box' configuration that the cars have, supply companies change elements of their hardware but the box is deemed the same. When cars become driver-less this issue will be deemed as a safety issue and more rigorous testing will have to be done to ensure there is either system resilience to failure or failure rates are in the 1 per millions of hours, more in line with aircraft software testing. Its probably only a RHD issue as well so again, low priority for Skoda/VAG to fix. Sadly they absolutely know what the issue is, and have told us, but they cant fix it. Its only one of many software issue/bugs the cars have so its just time before they fix it.... its only been two years so far!! Look how many OTA updates we have all had in the last few months, all of them say that they are software issue fixes and updates, none have given my car any 'upgrade' just slowly fixing the plethora of bugs. 

They had my car for 2 and a half days for software updates which didn't contain a fix for the ACC.

 

I have asked for the latest updates which are 'supposed' to fix it but the dealer doesn't appear interested.

 

I will never ever again buy another car from the VW group and i've had a few in the past.

To bring the thread back on-topic, here's a video of the Assisted Lane Change feature being tested on the Golf 8 last year.

 

 

Edited 20 July, 20223 yr by Jorgeminator

9 hours ago, matrix2020 said:

Calibration would always be wrong, not intermittent, and the car would appear in the wrong position to real on the dash, which it never has.

Not really. I know of few cases of erratic emergency braking, that was fixed by calibration.

One was my friend's Kodiaq. Everything was working perfectly, except for the fact, that every now and than car would emergency brake on an empty road. It was fixed with radar re-calibration, and issue never came back.

3 hours ago, GreenlineIIEstate said:

I have asked for the latest updates which are 'supposed' to fix it but the dealer doesn't appear interested.

And i believe this is real issue here...

35 minutes ago, Jorgeminator said:

To bring the thread back on-topic, here's a video of the Assisted Lane Change feature being tested on the Golf 8 last year.

So it looks to be kind of a gimmick anyway. Since you anyway have to keep your hands on the wheel (which one should always do ), what's the point of that really? You still have to have side assist to have this system, and side assist itself will help to avoid any mishaps. Or maybe it's so that driver will not get tired by turning the wheel?

At current status seems more like gimmick to me, like a marketing thing "look what tech we have!". But there will probably be some, that will like it, so better to have options, than not to have them

Edited 20 July, 20223 yr by Felix2021

33 minutes ago, Felix2021 said:

So it looks to be kind of a gimmick anyway. Since you anyway have to keep your hands on the wheel (which one should always do ), what's the point of that really? You still have to have side assist to have this system, and side assist itself will help to avoid any mishaps. Or maybe it's so that driver will not get tired by turning the wheel?

At current status seems more like gimmick to me, like a marketing thing "look what tech we have!". But there will probably be some, that will like it, so better to have options, than not to have them

I use Travel Assist and find it useful. Having to take over the steering just to make a lane change when the car does the rest of the driving feels awkward, so having this feature is definitely not a gimmick for those driving with Travel Assist a lot.

I also use travel assist, and i like it. But for me there's seems to be a big difference between those systems.

On the other hand i haven't driven with this assisted lane change, so maybe i would change my mind after testing it live? For now i'm just judging based on info and one short video, and that's why i haven't said " it is a gimmick", instead i said "it seems to be a gimmick"

10 hours ago, Jorgeminator said:

To bring the thread back on-topic, here's a video of the Assisted Lane Change feature being tested on the Golf 8 last year.

 

 

 

Having watched this I feel it’s something I would quite like to have on a future car. However, I suspect it’d be like ACC only more so - works best on motorways which aren’t too busy. I’d like to see VAG do a repeat of that test done on a busy fast moving stretch of motorway (e.g. on the M6 north of Birmingham or the M25).

 

Over time the technology will improve and we’ll all wonder how we ever managed without it. In a few generations people will look back with incredulity that we had drive these things ourselves!

 

I’m excited for developments like these, and wish my driving time was starting now not 45+ years ago.

You can still get 45+ year old cars now and drive them about.

 

There are cars being sold just now with the newest of tech some which becomes compulsory now in the EU with new Type Approved models that i would not want to own in 5 years when out of warranty. 

30 minutes ago, roottoot said:

You can still get 45+ year old cars now and drive them about.

 

 

Indeed. But I’d rather drive my 2020 Octavia Mk4 than the Singer Chamois I had in 1976!

 

33 minutes ago, roottoot said:

There are cars being sold just now with the newest of tech some which becomes compulsory now in the EU with new Type Approved models that i would not want to own in 5 years when out of warranty. 

 

That’s a very good point. I’m only too pleased that the tech issues I had in the days of my Octy4 were sorted in it’s first 12 months.