Adaptive cruise control
Discussion
I have noticed many instances of cars moving fast catching up slower moving vehicles ahead, and then braking hard.
I just read the road and back off the gas to slow down as well as leaving a suitable gap behind the vehicle in front.
So my question is; is this adaptive cruise control in action? Also if a vehicle has this system is it the vehicle or the driver which sets the "safe" gap to the one in front.
If it's driver adjustable this could account for a lot of tailgating
I just read the road and back off the gas to slow down as well as leaving a suitable gap behind the vehicle in front.
So my question is; is this adaptive cruise control in action? Also if a vehicle has this system is it the vehicle or the driver which sets the "safe" gap to the one in front.
If it's driver adjustable this could account for a lot of tailgating
Adaptive cruise does often do that - slow to slow down and slow to speed up.
Meaning it allows the car to get way too close to a vehicle in front before slowing down, and then conversely waits far too long to spend up once traffic clears and your lane speeds up.
I still overall prefer adaptive cruise control to non, it’s good 90% of the time, but you do need to override it occasionally for the above reasons.
The driver does set the gap, but the minimum cruising gap is always at least the safe distance. The issue is slowing down / speeding up, the system does not maintain that gap so even with a big user set cruising gap, the system might still get very close to the car in front when slowing down. What’s strange is that you can see from the dash notification that the system has seen the car in front some time ago, but still can be very delayed in slowing down.
It may also be better / worse depending on car age and brand.
Meaning it allows the car to get way too close to a vehicle in front before slowing down, and then conversely waits far too long to spend up once traffic clears and your lane speeds up.
I still overall prefer adaptive cruise control to non, it’s good 90% of the time, but you do need to override it occasionally for the above reasons.
The driver does set the gap, but the minimum cruising gap is always at least the safe distance. The issue is slowing down / speeding up, the system does not maintain that gap so even with a big user set cruising gap, the system might still get very close to the car in front when slowing down. What’s strange is that you can see from the dash notification that the system has seen the car in front some time ago, but still can be very delayed in slowing down.
It may also be better / worse depending on car age and brand.
It's an issue that have noticed with a few systems, more so in the early days, and to be frank it can make you look like someone driving like a bit of a nob. It's definitely worse the greater your set cruise speed is above the general speed of the traffic holding you up.
Certainly I've had a couple of experiences where in a queue in lane 2, looking to move into 3 which is occupied by a camel train of faster moving traffic. Ahead of you is another car ahead of that another and then a truck elephant racing, say. You have a set speed of 70, lane you're in is at mid 50s or less.
Vehicle ahead of you dives into a space in lane 3 that to be frank isn't really a suitable space which is why you weren't prepared to shoulder your way across. So now you have a space in front of you, system thinks great, opens up gas, accelerates smartly, oh no, traffic! Anchors up. Outside observers think, what an eejit. Not all systems do this, but some do.
In reality in that situation you'd have just used acceleration sense throughout.
One other thing I've noticed odd vehicles doing, they are in the lane 2 train as described, brake lights on continuously. Is that activated by an adaptive cruise?
That's even worse than the random dab of the brakes so beloved of certain drivers, you get to recognise the typical subsets, probably not politically correct to name and shame.
Certainly I've had a couple of experiences where in a queue in lane 2, looking to move into 3 which is occupied by a camel train of faster moving traffic. Ahead of you is another car ahead of that another and then a truck elephant racing, say. You have a set speed of 70, lane you're in is at mid 50s or less.
Vehicle ahead of you dives into a space in lane 3 that to be frank isn't really a suitable space which is why you weren't prepared to shoulder your way across. So now you have a space in front of you, system thinks great, opens up gas, accelerates smartly, oh no, traffic! Anchors up. Outside observers think, what an eejit. Not all systems do this, but some do.
In reality in that situation you'd have just used acceleration sense throughout.
One other thing I've noticed odd vehicles doing, they are in the lane 2 train as described, brake lights on continuously. Is that activated by an adaptive cruise?
That's even worse than the random dab of the brakes so beloved of certain drivers, you get to recognise the typical subsets, probably not politically correct to name and shame.
I don't think this is active cruise - I've driven cars from Mercedes, BMW and VAG with this system and it slows gently. I've certainly never had it steam up and slam on. The range of the sensors is a lot further than I expected, as I found when some people had a prang on the M25 some distance ahead in my lane and the anti-collision warning sounded as I was looking to move over.
Additionally, whilst you can set the following distance to some degree, the minimum distance isn't a tailgating distance but rather the sort of distance that other drivers will slot into on a busy M25.
The behaviour OP describes is more likely to be people not using CC and trying to barge people out of the way.
Additionally, whilst you can set the following distance to some degree, the minimum distance isn't a tailgating distance but rather the sort of distance that other drivers will slot into on a busy M25.
The behaviour OP describes is more likely to be people not using CC and trying to barge people out of the way.
Just to say, two points following above post. This was exactly how an early Volvo system worked, maybe they've improved. Hope so, for sure when get round to test drive this will be something checked.
As for following distances, an Audi A7, it was impossible with the standard settings and the options on the wheel control to get a proper following distance. Furthest was still too close, never got to try the shortest, bottled out at the next to shortest, full on Audi tailgating that was. You had to ferret around in the car settings on the touch screen to ease off the range to max distance. At that point on max range, plus max wheel setting it was a bit too far, knock it down one step and that was OK.
Again may have improved since then. Forget model year being tested.
As for following distances, an Audi A7, it was impossible with the standard settings and the options on the wheel control to get a proper following distance. Furthest was still too close, never got to try the shortest, bottled out at the next to shortest, full on Audi tailgating that was. You had to ferret around in the car settings on the touch screen to ease off the range to max distance. At that point on max range, plus max wheel setting it was a bit too far, knock it down one step and that was OK.
Again may have improved since then. Forget model year being tested.
" You had to ferret around in the car settings on the touch screen to ease off the range to max distance. At that point on max range, plus max wheel setting it was a bit too far, knock it down one step and that was OK".
I fear that if anything like that is required it just won't happen.
Many people either can't be bothered / don't see the need / haven't got the intelligence to turn a switch to put on their headlights in poor visibility.
I also see many people talking on hand held phones in late model high end cars that must have Bluetooth, are they too stupid / lazy to set it up?
In common with a few of my friends I don't enjoy driving in this country any more
I fear that if anything like that is required it just won't happen.
Many people either can't be bothered / don't see the need / haven't got the intelligence to turn a switch to put on their headlights in poor visibility.
I also see many people talking on hand held phones in late model high end cars that must have Bluetooth, are they too stupid / lazy to set it up?
In common with a few of my friends I don't enjoy driving in this country any more
I have had adaptive cruise control on my last two cars.
My Vw Golf - whch was a 2014 model - had an elary version of the system. It followed far too close - even on the maximum distance. I also found it slowed up too late - it was adaptable but not easy.
My Audi A3 - 2021 model - has it - it allows the range to be set a lot further and the range is on the steering wheel - it has it's one stalk. The range is large range - see
My Vw Golf - whch was a 2014 model - had an elary version of the system. It followed far too close - even on the maximum distance. I also found it slowed up too late - it was adaptable but not easy.
My Audi A3 - 2021 model - has it - it allows the range to be set a lot further and the range is on the steering wheel - it has it's one stalk. The range is large range - see
donkmeister said:
I don't think this is active cruise - I've driven cars from Mercedes, BMW and VAG with this system and it slows gently. I've certainly never had it steam up and slam on. The range of the sensors is a lot further than I expected, as I found when some people had a prang on the M25 some distance ahead in my lane and the anti-collision warning sounded as I was looking to move over.
Additionally, whilst you can set the following distance to some degree, the minimum distance isn't a tailgating distance but rather the sort of distance that other drivers will slot into on a busy M25.
The behaviour OP describes is more likely to be people not using CC and trying to barge people out of the way.
Agreed. My Volvo - now 7 years old - has a system that remains very smooth at braking. Our much newer Kona EV works well, but I would say is a little harder on the stopping - perhaps leaves it a fraction longer.Additionally, whilst you can set the following distance to some degree, the minimum distance isn't a tailgating distance but rather the sort of distance that other drivers will slot into on a busy M25.
The behaviour OP describes is more likely to be people not using CC and trying to barge people out of the way.
Either way, I firmly believe adaptive cruise is utterly brilliant as a safety and comfort feature: both for long drives, and also even around town to help deal with people randomly slamming their brakes on!
mawallace said:
I have had adaptive cruise control on my last two cars.
My Vw Golf - whch was a 2014 model - had an elary version of the system. It followed far too close - even on the maximum distance. I also found it slowed up too late - it was adaptable but not easy.
My Audi A3 - 2021 model - has it - it allows the range to be set a lot further and the range is on the steering wheel - it has it's one stalk. The range is large range - see
Clearly they've improved the systems , good job really. Both the Volvo and the A7 mentioned were manufacturer demos for fleet assessment, at the end of the time with us manufacturer reps come in for driver feedback sessions. These were points raised. Certainly Volvo had already picked up that if your set speed was very different from the general flow then responses were a bit rough and ready.My Vw Golf - whch was a 2014 model - had an elary version of the system. It followed far too close - even on the maximum distance. I also found it slowed up too late - it was adaptable but not easy.
My Audi A3 - 2021 model - has it - it allows the range to be set a lot further and the range is on the steering wheel - it has it's one stalk. The range is large range - see
I have this on my now 10 year old Volvo S60, so definitely early days for ACC. I have had to override it on many occasions because it simply wouldn’t slow down early enough. It will slam on the brakes to slow down enough but then needs to speed up to resume the cruise of the flow of traffic. Once it’s latched on to the car in front though it’s perfect, especially on the A1 up to Scotland!
Just got a vehicle with it and for 90 % of the time it’s s
te , obviously it cannot anticipate and slams on the brakes say if you are on the motorway for instance about to overtake a slower vehicle Fortunately you can cancel the adaptive function , I guess it’s ok for MLMs !! Or if you just want to trundle along in lane one .
te , obviously it cannot anticipate and slams on the brakes say if you are on the motorway for instance about to overtake a slower vehicle Fortunately you can cancel the adaptive function , I guess it’s ok for MLMs !! Or if you just want to trundle along in lane one .Ivan stewart said:
Just got a vehicle with it and for 90 % of the time it’s ste , obviously it cannot anticipate and slams on the brakes say if you are on the motorway for instance about to overtake a slower vehicle Fortunately you can cancel the adaptive function , I guess it’s ok for MLMs !! Or if you just want to trundle along in lane one .
What vehicle?te , obviously it cannot anticipate and slams on the brakes say if you are on the motorway for instance about to overtake a slower vehicle Fortunately you can cancel the adaptive function , I guess it’s ok for MLMs !! Or if you just want to trundle along in lane one .As mentioned above, my 7yr old XC60 is superb, as is our Kona EV.
If you are “about to overtake a slower vehicle” on a motorway and it is slamming the brakes on, it sounds like you have come up on them way too fast.
Indicate and move earlier: should solve that one.
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