How many folk now drive cars with this function feature?

There has been the odd mention of it fairly recently, even from as far afield as Germany I seem to remember, and not in particularly glowing terms

On holiday in Tenerife a couple of weeks ago we hired a Seat 1-litre thing, an Ibiza IIRC, which had the engine cut-out business. I was quite pleased that I found it could be switched off.

On one of our longer journeys - and the main roads are as good as I've encountered anywhere - I noticed I was constantly adjusting the steering, especially on curves and with oncoming traffic; irritating for me and, I thought uncomfortable for my 3 passengers (we went with another couple, a regular event).

Then it hit me, figuratively, that this blasted lane assist must be lurking and on without my asking; I stopped the car after explaining why and kyboshed it after trawling through all sorts of complex settings.

I find this 'punishment' to be one of the most dangerous and intrusive of any 'safety' measures installed in a vehicle

Yes, the wobbly button.

It can scare the living daylights out of you.
Our new car has it. Double press on an illuminated button switches it off.

Paul

I don't mind it too much. It can grab you by surprise, 2 lanes merging to 1 for example. But overall it's fine when I weigh it up with the other driver assist functions like blind spot warning. I think it's all a step in the right direction for safety

I've got it on mine, not had any problems from it, and it can always be turned off.

I dislike it and always turn it off. Although it's compulsory now an all new cars, the implementation does seem to vary a bit between different cars - anything from just a gentle steering wheel vibration to an unwanted lurch for the kerb. The first time I unwittingly encountered it, in a Peugeot, it kerbed the wheel for me on a narrow road. Equally annoying are the autonomous emergency warnings/emergency braking. When I hired a VW recently it suddenly put up a flashing red symbol accompanied by very loud beeping that was intensely distracting and annoying. The danger it was warning me about turned out to be a driver tailgating me! How on earth does an alarm help with that?

That would be me, then.

My terms did not glow in the dark.

I consider it one of the most dangerous things to fit to a car, right up there with alleged autopilot.

If you can't stay between the lines, you shouldn't be driving the car...

I must admit I'm curious to see how it copes at night on a wet road here in Germany: the Germans have eschewed the cats' eye and other road-bed reflectors, and even on a wet dark night on a motorway it can be hard to find the road markings...

/rant

Can't see anything here that I would disagree with!

The French also haven't seen the need to fork out for cats-eyes either so would be a similar issue. It'll probably be a long time before it could be an issue for me however. Our main car is a 2014 Peugeot and since it's only got 130k on the clock, not about to be retired any time soon - and of course the only other car we have is the Coupé.

Paul

No likee and have mine switched off on our 500x. I rarely use my indicators unless there's a clear reason to do so (as per the police system) so when overtaking particularly on a motorway it would keep nudging you back as there's no indication detected. Quite alarming at the start and a bug*er to switch off in the menu - probably deliberately by the manufacturer

Likewise got stop ,/ start deactivated due to excessive wear on engine components with marginal benefits for the environment.

Alan, are you saying that with the right 'tools' these functions can be permantly switched off, rather than having to go through the process every time you restart?

I believe that new legislation requires that you switch it off every time.

Paul L

I'll go against the opinions so far, I have lane assist and autopilot on both of my cars and think its great.
On motorways or dual carriageways you can let the car drive and you can just relax in the car.
Someone I know (but not me) has driven around 15k miles on the motorway without touching the pedals or holding the wheel (except for a gentle tap once every 59 seconds). Its safer, easier and makes journeys more relaxing.
On smaller roads probably not a great idea though because if it gets confused or doesn't like a certain situation or the bend of a road is too great it switches itself off without informing the driver!

I don't think we will get to the fully self driving car anytime soon in this country, but it could happen on a motorway some day closer.

Fully self driving means getting in the car here in Potsdam and driving to the single-lane road to my sister's on Skye, _without_ touching anything as it negotiates both left and right hand drive roads _and_ the Channel Tunnel (or a ferry).

We are nowhere near. Instead we are offered things that can, in perfect conditions, allow us to relax on the safest roads there are.

I remain unconvinced.

I’ve experienced it on my last car ,Peugeot E2008 and now we have a Jaguar I Pace

The Peugeot was crap and randomly tugged the steering wheel for no good reason, and turned it off. Albeit it reset itself every time you got back in the car.

whereas in the Jag it’s genuinely brilliant , it can be turned off indefinitely if needed

I only use it on motorways , but have tried it on back roads where in the Jag I’d say it works but is over cautious in navigating smaller roads

Cheers Jamie

Oh no ... still a definite NO from me for lane-assist or autopilot - if I am in the car then I'd rather it was me that was driving!

The closest I have come to auto-anything is the odd time (auto-route only of course) that I use cruise-control.

The most modern gadget I have used, is the cruise control on the Alfa Took me 10 months to try it out properly and was perfect for my annual trip to Carlisle, but more gadgets, the more to go wrong and don't like the sound of all these things being added to cars now

I too find lane assist horrible but I can understand why legislators have seen fit to mandate it as "Always On" for new cars.

Almost all modern cars have too much information committed to a screen. Add to this the insistence, by designers, that the human interface will now mostly be via a stupid touch screen. An interface that requires the driver to shift position and take their eyes off the road to operate. This Interaction often isn't possible with a momentary glance, it requires more attention thus increasing the distraction.

I absolutely hate that Audi followed this touch screen trend and have got shot of their much better circular interface with touchpad on top. I am also thankful that lane assist is very easy to switch off.

It is also the "Modern" way to soften cars by default. When you get in the Fiat Coupé it swiftly becomes apparent that you are in a quick car, and every time you get in it's the same. Many modern cars default to soft mode, every time you start the car. Stop for fuel in a car set to aggressive mode and when you get back in, it has returned to the default soft mode. If you are lucky you can get back with the press of a button, but often you have to interact with that marvellous touch screen again.

As for the Advanced Cruise Control. On early incarnations it seemed to work OK but manufacturers always warned that YOU are responsible. The warnings remain but the systems seem to have become far more (SAFE) sensitive. I have had the system react to cars in other lanes, and off ramps and brake quite firmly. I mentioned this to friends and several have reported the same issues in their cars, Peugeot 3008 hybrid, Tesla, Porsche Taycan and the BMW I rented recently too!.

Visit a forum for cars that have this feature and they will all have posts regarding Phantom Braking.

I feel that the touch screen is not mandated by the designers - they do what they're told - but by the product managers/coloured pencil brigade.

One thing that a soft touch interface provides is a very cheap and easy way to differentiate 'upscale' models in a range; effectively a zero cost for a five, ten, or twenty grand price differential.

Requiring you to take your concentration off the road to such an extent that you need a robot to keep driving for you while you attend to it is, of course, a mere courtesy detail.

(As an aside; perhaps they should just let the robots take over. I'm sure they wouldn't take offence at me slowing down to a 30kph limit and overtake on a blind bend, across a solid line, and into oncoming traffic, as happened this morning. Well, fairly sure...)

Neil