Motoring Discussion > Adaptive cruise control re-calibration. Miscellaneous
Thread Author: henry k Replies: 78

 Adaptive cruise control re-calibration. - henry k
i am on a learning curve re the subject and the joys of evermore complex features on"modern" cars.
The ACC on his S/H Audi has a fault. ( This was known when he bought it privately.)
When a fault is detected the whole cruise control, not just the adaptive part disabled.
The fault code indicates a re-calibration is required.

From a forum (an unedited) reply
"When they calibrate the sensor they set up a reflective board (looks like a big domino piece)
in front of the car usually when the car sits on the alignment rack which is level and they hang paddles of the front wheels that this board has to be squared up with so it sits perfectly square and perpendicular in front of the car.
Then with their VAS 5051 they activate the sensor that now learns its readings reflecting of this board."

A DIY attempt.
www.audi4ever.com/v2/blog/details/25254/ACC-Calibration--Adaptive-Cruise-Control--A4-A5-Q5--Distronic/index.html

I note that at least one company, in the North West, is now offering ( to the trade) a mobile facility to do the job.
"The Hella unit gives us the ability to work with Audi, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Lexus, Mazda, Nissan, Renault, Subaru and Toyota."

Anyone else had experience with ACC faults?
 Adaptive cruise control re-calibration. - Dog
My 'new' car has ACC, but being the owners handbook is 550 pages long, and I'm only on page 3 at the moment,
it'll be a looooong time before I even attempt to reply to this thread ;)
 Adaptive cruise control re-calibration. - carmalade
Very involved set up procedure,including 4 wheel alignment and windscreen calibration(on cars fitted with camera/sensors here).VAG dealers charging upwards of £350 for the job.More info here;hella-gutmann.co.uk/news/thatcham-chooses-hella-gutmann-solutions-for-adas-calibration-and-diagnostic-tools/
 Adaptive cruise control re-calibration. - henry k
>>Very involved set up procedure,....

beissbarth-online.com/fileadmin/user_upload/Beissbarth/Home/Download-Center/OEM/VAS_Prospekt_6430-8-Seiter_2014_EN_140326.pdf

Or try retrofitting ?
forums.ross-tech.com/showthread.php?3295-DIY-Audi-Q5-Active-Lane-Assist-Retrofit-DONE
 Adaptive cruise control re-calibration. - Manatee
Gawdelpus. I love useful tech but I really don't want one those.
 Adaptive cruise control re-calibration. - CGNorwich
Don't really get cruise control of the normal sort let alone the adaptive type. My car has CC and I checked it out when I bought it and then switched it off. In the 45,000 miles I've done since I've never once thought keeping my foot on the accelerator or indeed maintaining station on the car in front was a problem.
 Adaptive cruise control re-calibration. - Old Navy
My car has two speed limiters, one adjustable, one intelligent which is linked to the cars speed sign reader. Some owners think they are a brilliant bit of kit. I have never used them and prefer cruise control. It takes all sorts and often depends on the cars use, mainly city or long distance open road in light traffic.
Last edited by: Old Navy on Sun 5 Feb 17 at 16:46
 Adaptive cruise control re-calibration. - Manatee
I use cc all the time, set to the speed limit.

Of course you still have to know what speed limit you are in.
 Adaptive cruise control re-calibration. - Old Navy
My humble motor reads the signs and displays the speed limit and other "red circle" signs on one of the dashboard displays. I use CC much like Manatee.
Last edited by: Old Navy on Sun 5 Feb 17 at 17:32
 Adaptive cruise control re-calibration. - R.P.
AAC on my oldVolvo was brilliant. Set a speed (say 80ish) and let the car sort it all out, even in queueing traffic.
 Adaptive cruise control re-calibration. - CGNorwich
Now this is the bit I don't get. Only on a virtually empty road can you maintain an absolutely constant speed. In most conditions there are vehicles and you have to constantly adjust your speed even following another car down the motorway. What effort do you save by using CC in these condition ?

I guess it just me as it seems to be a popular device. I just don't understand why.
 Adaptive cruise control re-calibration. - spamcan61
>>
>> I guess it just me as it seems to be a popular device. I just
>> don't understand why.
>>
Not just you, I very seldom used the CC on my last few cars.
 Adaptive cruise control re-calibration. - rtj70
You can adjust speed when on cruise control. On my VW it was in 5mph increments if you pushed the stalk up or pressed it down. And in 1mph increments if you pushed it away or pulled towards you. (Could have been the other way round for 1 and 5 mph increments).

On the Audi you can do similar. So reading the road ahead you can slow down and speed up using the stalk.
 Adaptive cruise control re-calibration. - henry k
CGN
You are right re a basic CC like I have.
I can use the speed adjust like a hand throttle as I have a thumb wheel on the steering wheel .

ACC continuously adjust your speed to match the vehicle in front, up to the max you have selected.
IIRC there are three settings for the distance you prefer between you and that vehicle.
 Adaptive cruise control re-calibration. - CGNorwich

>>
>> ACC continuously adjust your speed to match the vehicle in front, up to the max
>> you have selected.
>> IIRC there are three settings for the distance you prefer between you and that vehicle.
>>

Yes but I just do that sort of automatically without really thinking about it. Just doesn't seem a problem that needs sorting.
 Adaptive cruise control re-calibration. - R.P.
It was part of the option pack on my ex-Volvo car.I never thought it would be used, its linked to the brakes and will slow down and stop the car in an emergency - try a car with it and you will be impressed. I miss it on my BMW.
 Adaptive cruise control re-calibration. - CGNorwich
I will if I get a chance. I guess it's got to better the standard CC I have on the Golf .,
 Adaptive cruise control re-calibration. - R.P.
The standard CC in my 2015 BMW feels neolithic in comparison. The Volvo's was remarkable as I mentioned linked to the semi autonomous braking a phenomenal safety aid - you can vary the distance the car will keep from the "target" from close enough to stop to a more relaxed distance. Brilliant bit of kit
 Adaptive cruise control re-calibration. - Manatee
Releasing the speed hold is just a thumb press. Resuming is another one. Minor speed adjustments of approx 1mph per press if gradually catching vehicle in front and don't want to pass.

Once it becomes as natural as changing gear then it doesn't matter if it needs frequent adjustment or knocking off, within reason. I often pick up the accelerator manually for bends, especially in poor conditions, and resume cc afterwards. I barely notice that I'm doing it.

The main benefit is in preventing speed drifting up and reducing the number of times that I have to check the speed indication.

It also prevents me getting cramp in my right leg.

I'm sure it isn't what it was designed for but it works for me. I think a lot of people do the same especially now that so many speed limits are stupidly low (most of rural Oxfordshire's open road is 50mph).

Good thing most 20 limits aren't enforced though as it won't work below 25. Fortunately they don't usually last long (for now) and frequently the deliberately placed obstacles in such places mean I am doing no more than 15mph anyway.
 Adaptive cruise control re-calibration. - R.P.
I guess it just me as it seems to be a popular device. I just don't understand why.


Reduces driver workload, ultimately safer than a human driver as it reacts quicker. Superb bit of kit especially on a Motorway.
 Adaptive cruise control re-calibration. - rtj70
The thing that surprises me most about most of my recent cars with cruise control... there's nowhere alongside the accelerator to rest your right foot. I had that in the Golf MkIV and Passat. But not in a Mondeo, Mazda6, Passat CC nor this Audi A3.

Maybe it's a RHD conversion thing. But surely there ought to be somewhere to put your foot apart from on the floor. Because moving it back to the pedals ought to be quick and easy.
 Adaptive cruise control re-calibration. - PeterS
>> Now this is the bit I don't get. Only on a virtually empty road can
>> you maintain an absolutely constant speed. In most conditions there are vehicles and you have
>> to constantly adjust your speed even following another car down the motorway. What effort do
>> you save by using CC in these condition ?
>>
>> I guess it just me as it seems to be a popular device. I just
>> don't understand why.
>>

Well we live in what is, ostensibly, the crowded south-east and I still use it every day. On Saturday late morning I drove from home in W Sussex to Smithfield market, via Portsmouth. That's around 85/90 miles I reckon. I'd guesstimate that the majority of the distance was covered using cruise control. The dual carriageway bits (A27 and A3) are easy - set it to 74mph and you just have to worry about the odd roundabout or junction. Overtaking slower moving traffic is hardly a hardship - if necessary I'll accelerate a bit to sped up and overtake, but it'll revert to the preset speed when you take your foot of the accelerator. The bit round Guildford means turning it off, and then again as you approach Surbiton. Even after that it's useful in the 50 limit.
 Adaptive cruise control re-calibration. - rtj70
I had cruise control (not standard kit) on the Golf GTI MkIV and Passat. It was used a lot and the control was intuitive and used a switch type controller on the indicator stalk. The Mondeo used button on the steering wheel and you'd have to look at the wheel to use them... I used them very infrequently. Mazda6 still had buttons on the steering wheel but they were better.

Back to VAG cars and they have a separate stalk for the cruise control. Ergonomically a lot better and used more than I used cruise control on the Mondeo and Mazda6. I do a lot fewer miles these days mind.
 Adaptive cruise control re-calibration. - Old Navy
As I said above, it depends on car use. For example, over 100 miles of average speed cameras on the A9, I have done the south of Carlisle to Glasgow (or reverse trip) without coming off cc, likewise many miles of road north of the central belt of Scotland, not bad scenery either. :-)
 Adaptive cruise control re-calibration. - rtj70
And when you're maintaining a steady 50mph in the roadworks, an idiot behind not understanding how average speed cameras work is sat on your bumper wanting you to go faster.
 Adaptive cruise control re-calibration. - Old Navy
The ones who go flying past and then slow down for the average speed cameras amuse me. Yes I am easily amused.:-)

The local press reported over 500 speeding tickets issued in the first couple of weeks of the Forth bridge roadworks. Things calmed down after that!
Last edited by: Old Navy on Sun 5 Feb 17 at 19:27
 Adaptive cruise control re-calibration. - Old Navy
>> The local press reported over 500 speeding tickets issued in the first couple of weeks
>> of the Forth bridge roadworks. Things calmed down after that!
>>

The roadworks are almost complete, signs and lights up and working. Just a small diversion of traffic required to access the new bridge. Due to open in May.

www.fifetoday.co.uk/news/transport/in-pictures-final-link-goes-in-on-queensferry-crossing-1-4357551
 Adaptive cruise control re-calibration. - CGNorwich
I drove from Norwich to the Languedoc last spring. Miles and miles of open auto route. Never even thought about using CC . As I said just don't see the point.
 Adaptive cruise control re-calibration. - Old Navy
Do you also you prefer foot operated tyre pumps to electric ones? :-)
Last edited by: Old Navy on Sun 5 Feb 17 at 19:34
 Adaptive cruise control re-calibration. - mikeyb
My use of CC depends on how busy the motorway is - I only tend to use if if its fairly quiet.

The Lexus has a separate stalk so its pretty easy to adjust with a flick up on down, but no limiter which I miss from other cars. Having had adaptive on a few hire cars will be looking for it on my next purchase
 Adaptive cruise control re-calibration. - CGNorwich
Not really analogous ON. An electric pump saves work. C C doesn't. I have to put my right foot somewhere. Might as well be on the accelerator.
 Adaptive cruise control re-calibration. - Old Navy
>> Not really analogous ON. An electric pump saves work. C C doesn't.
>>

You don't consider the mental effort of maintaining a speed for long periods tiring or "work" then. Makes you wonder why cc was invented or is fitted to so many cars, could it be to reduce the effort of driving long distances? Lorry drivers have restricted driving hours to reduce tiredness, (and cc).
 Adaptive cruise control re-calibration. - CGNorwich
I suppose I don't find it a particularly tiring element of driving ON. As far as I am concerned it is of no practical benefit to me, certainly on most of the UK's roads.

Of course if you find it somehow helpful that's good.
 Adaptive cruise control re-calibration. - Old Navy
>> Of course if you find it somehow helpful that's good.
>>

I have done the London / Edinburgh round trip over 100 times in cc and non cc fitted cars, I know which is less tiring. Not that it matters to me these days, being over retirement age I don't drive for more than two hours without a break or four hours in a day.
 Adaptive cruise control re-calibration. - CGNorwich
You know which is less tiring for you ON. Not necessarily for others.
 Adaptive cruise control re-calibration. - Old Navy
>> You know which is less tiring for you ON. Not necessarily for others.
>>

If you know the secret of non tiring driving bottle it and sell it, you will make millions, the commercial vehicle operators will beat a path to your door.
 Adaptive cruise control re-calibration. - CGNorwich
Not really sure what your are talking about ON. I never said driving wasn't tiring, it's just that for me standard CC does't make it it any less so. You like the gadget : I don't
 Adaptive cruise control re-calibration. - smokie
Having had cars with CC for quite a few years it took me quite a while to adapt back to one which didn't, and I still miss it.

For me, it's one of those things you don't think you need but when you get used to working with it it is a real boon.

I don't really find driving without one tiring or in any other way harmful but it makes life so much easier in terms of sticking to speed limits and maintaining a constant speed rather than drifting up and down 10 mph like some motorists do.

I used to also like the light which came on to show the brakes were working correctly, and went off when you touched the brakes. A favourite trick of mine was to see how far I could get without putting out the light. Needed real concentration and anticipation to knock off the cruise control at the right time to avoid hitting the bakes. I can't remember the distance but my record was somewhere towards or into in three figures once after leaving Newcastle heading South.. I did have "personal rules" which allowed me to go off in the services to stop the engine to restart the car and reset the light once on the m'way.
 Adaptive cruise control re-calibration. - Dave_
>> Now this is the bit I don't get. Only on a virtually empty road can you maintain an absolutely constant speed.
>>In most conditions there are vehicles and you have to constantly adjust your speed even following another car down the motorway.

That's part of the challenge ;) As a lorry driver covering hundreds of miles a day, I have honed the skill of watching the ebb and flow of the traffic so I can change lanes to maintain my progress without coming off cruise, or inconveniencing any other drivers.

Motorway traffic in the working day can behave like perfectly choreographed ballet; the M40 outside of rush hours is a good example. I can usually travel from the M42 to the M25 without knocking the cruise control off at all.
 Adaptive cruise control re-calibration. - CGNorwich
I would say that being prepared to vary your speed to suit the conditions and level of traffic is actually a key part of good driving. Whilst maintaining constant speed on an empty road is a good ideas once the traffic density increases seeing the maintenance of a constant speed as a priority can be a problem for other road users.

I am sure that a good proportion of cars sitting in the centre and outside lanes travelling at an unvarying speed and failing to pull over are on cruise control.
 Adaptive cruise control re-calibration. - commerdriver
>> I would say that being prepared to vary your speed to suit the conditions and
>> level of traffic is actually a key part of good driving. Whilst maintaining constant speed
>> on an empty road is a good ideas once the traffic density increases seeing the
>> maintenance of a constant speed as a priority can be a problem for other road
>> users.
>>
>> I am sure that a good proportion of cars sitting in the centre and
>> outside lanes travelling at an unvarying speed and failing to pull over are on cruise
>> control.
>>
CGN You don't like cruise control, fair enough. I do and I see no basis for the assumption of the last paragraph of the above. Lane hogging is caused by lack of awareness and lack of courtesy.

Good driving involves an awareness of the traffic and other conditions around you, agree totally. I do not see any disadvantage, and a lot of advantages, to using an adaptive cruise control which does not slavishly maintain speed at all costs, it maintains distance, adapting the speed as the speed of cars around you changes. It is much more usable on modern roads than old fashioned fixed cruise controls, although those are also, I find, a useful tool to modern driving, on and off motorways.
 Adaptive cruise control re-calibration. - CGNorwich
I think we are talking at cross purposes. It is conventional cruise control to which am referring. As I said a few posts back I have never used adaptive cruise control. I will when I get a chance to drive a car so equipped. It does indeed seem to resolve the major problem that I have with conventional cruise control i.e the slavish addiction to driving at a constant speed no matter what the road conditions.

Conventional cruise control to my mind should only be used on roads with comparatively little traffic when it can be useful although personally I find it just as easy to drive without.

As regards the centre lane users and cruise control I can offer no proof of my theory except the fact that many I have been behind maintain a suspiciously unvarying constant speed for miles on end.
 Adaptive cruise control re-calibration. - Pat
>>That's part of the challenge ;) As a lorry driver covering hundreds of miles a day, I have honed the skill of watching the ebb and flow of the traffic so I can change lanes to maintain my progress without coming off cruise, or inconveniencing any other drivers.
<<

...and I, and most other lorry drivers can tell just when you're doing that.

You get closer to the vehicle in front while watching the mirrors intently for the one overtaking you to get by before you have to knock the CC off.

Recipe for disaster.....certainly in an HGV carrying 44 tonnes and limited to 56mph.

I'm with CG on this one and know exactly what he means.

Pat
 Adaptive cruise control re-calibration. - RichardW
Watch what's going on 1/2 mile down the m-way and move out in time; no need to change speed. Use CC all the time on the m-way - drove Glasgow to Manchester and back at the weekend, CC on all the way from getting on the M74 to getting off the M60 and same in reverse; only had to drop it out a couple of times to let the speed drop off slightly to get a gap in the OS lane, then back on again.

It's amazing just how much most other people's speed varies on a mway when you are on constant CC and have to keep re-passing them!
 Adaptive cruise control re-calibration. - Bobby
I think I mentioned on here a while back of a story I heard re a small bump on the entrance to a golf course between an A7 and an old Focus. No visible damage so both just got on their way again. When A7 driver got back in car after his game, lots of error lights and it turns out the small bump had damaged the adaptive cruise control radar thingy under the bumper.

Was apparently going to be well into 4 figures to get fixed!
 Adaptive cruise control re-calibration. - Roger.
My right leg and thigh aches a lot after an relatively short time driving on a road such as the M1.
I would bless a cruise control and greatly miss, in that respect, our SEAT Alhambra which had one.
I even use my left foot on the throttle for short periods (where safe) to let me ease my right limb.
Oh - and I always brake with my left foot, just to confound you nay-sayers. (Our car has an auto CVT box).
Right foot on right pedal to go: left foot on left pedal to stop.
 Adaptive cruise control re-calibration. - zippy
>>well into 4 figures to get fixed!

That's ridiculous but believable!

A radar unit costs about £350 but dealers will charge over a £100 an hour for labour.

I can't find the article at the moment but someone was quoted over £1,000 to replace the plastic lens for the rear light on a run of the mill SUV I believe.
 Adaptive cruise control re-calibration. - Dog
>>Right foot on right pedal to go: left foot on left pedal to stop.

But you don't need to stop and go at the same time, unless you don't know whether you're coming or going of course.
 Adaptive cruise control re-calibration. - Roger.
:-)
 Adaptive cruise control re-calibration. - CGNorwich
It sound as though you need a hand throttle rather than cruise control. I'm not sure how safe driving with your left foot on the accelerator can possibly be.
 Adaptive cruise control re-calibration. - Manatee
>> I'm not
>> sure how safe driving with your left foot on the accelerator can possibly be.

As Roger appears to be ambipedal perhaps it's OK. He brakes with his left foot so it might be no different to me moving my right foot from accelerator to brake.

Fair observation about hand throttle. That is really how I use cruise control, supplemented by the foot when it needs to be modulated as in cornering - I find cruise control isn't very good at that.
 Adaptive cruise control re-calibration. - CGNorwich
Possibly but It doesn't sound safe to me. Admitting to that in the event of an accident certainly would not help your case.
 Adaptive cruise control re-calibration. - smokie
While not massively common I don't think it is as uncommon as you may think. Anyone who has raced proper race cars is likely to brake with left foot. If that's the way you have trained yourself I don't see why it would be any less safe.
 Adaptive cruise control re-calibration. - CGNorwich
I wasn't referring to the left foot braking, I was referring to operating the accelerator with the left foot.
 Adaptive cruise control re-calibration. - smokie
Ahh OK.
 Adaptive cruise control re-calibration. - Roger.
>> I that's the way you have trained yourself I don't see why it would be any less safe.
It does take a while to acclimatise oneself to the correct pressure for left foot braking. Initially it tends to be far too fierce.
After having our Jazz CVT for three and a half years now, I'm pretty OK with left foot braking.

BTW - when circuit racing my 970 Cooper S I always used to heel & toe when going down thru' the gears when approaching, say, the hairpin on the Brands shot circuit.
It's a pity I haven't got any photos of me and my Mini in race trim, happily drifting round Paddock Bend. Ah - the days of my far, far, distant yoof!

Last edited by: Roger. on Mon 6 Feb 17 at 12:08
 Adaptive cruise control re-calibration. - Roger.
>> It sound as though you need a hand throttle rather than cruise control. I'm not
>> sure how safe driving with your left foot on the accelerator can possibly be.
>>

"I even use my left foot on the throttle for short periods (where safe)"

 Adaptive cruise control re-calibration. - sooty123
>> "I even use my left foot on the throttle for short periods (where safe)"
>>
>>
>>

I never even thought of anyone doing that. I'll have to try it next time I'm driving. Does sound uncomfortable though. Cgn does make a point though, who knows what may spring out into the road?
 Adaptive cruise control re-calibration. - Old Navy
>> It sound as though you need a hand throttle rather than cruise control.
>>

Cruise control has a speed + & - function so it can be used as a hand throttle, try it you might figure out how it can improve the driving experience.
 Adaptive cruise control re-calibration. - commerdriver
Fancy cars will always cost fancy prices to fix when they go wrong.
The Audi driver should probably have the bumper checked as well as any bump will have damaged the padding etc behind the bumper even though it doesn't show on the outside.

To get back to the main thread subject, the longest and probably most expensive part of the repair after a lorry backed into my Golf when it was about 3-4 months old was getting the radar re calibrated and I was informed at the time that the cruise control would not work at all without the radar working properly.

Adaptive cruise control, love it and miss it when I drive cars without it, yet another contribution to road safety.
 Adaptive cruise control re-calibration. - henry k
commerdriver.

All your points are spot on.
IIRC sons Audi previously had had a cosmetic urban scrape when parked so I feel sure that was the cause of the radar being nudged. VAG feature is to totally disable CC if at all faulty.
He had noticed the radar in a photo but the ACC was deliberately not included in the description so he was aware of things.
It will be resolved without costing stupid money
 Adaptive cruise control re-calibration. - henry k
commerdriver.

All your points are spot on.
IIRC sons Audi previously had had a cosmetic urban scrape when parked so I feel sure that was the cause of the radar being nudged. VAG feature is to totally disable CC if at all faulty.
He had noticed the radar in a photo but the ACC was deliberately not included in the description so he was aware of things.
It will be resolved without costing stupid money
 Adaptive cruise control re-calibration. - Crankcase
For me:

Volvo has adaptive radar cruise control and a speed limiter. I often use the adaptive cruise control but almost never use the speed limiter. Adaptive cruise control is much better than a speed limiter.

Zoe has ordinary cruise control and a speed limiter. I often use the speed limiter but almost never the ordinary cruise control. A speed limiter is much better than ordinary cruise control.

I would go out of my way to make sure adaptive cruise control was on a car before purchase, whether speccing it from new or discarding secondhand cars without the option, where that is feasible. I like it that much.
 Adaptive cruise control re-calibration. - movilogo
I do fancy ACC in my next car.

I regularly use CC though never used (except for experimenting) speed limiter.

Some cars have no lower speed limit for ACC. So you can pretty much use them in crawling traffic too.

The other feature I fancy is Autonomous Emergency Brake (at any speed - with an option to override it).

IIRC, AEB is likely to be mandatory requirement by EU from 2020 (any Brexit impact?) Opponents say robbers can jump in front of your car to stop it and then you become sitting duck.

 Adaptive cruise control re-calibration. - Crankcase
AEB is taking its time to be implemented on some makes, but when it works, it works.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ridS396W2BY

 Adaptive cruise control re-calibration. - Duncan
>> AEB is taking its time to be implemented on some makes, but when it works,
>> it works.
>>
>> www.youtube.com/watch?v=ridS396W2BY

The youtube clip failed to demonstrate that the emergency braking was automatic. The driver could have had his size 9s very firmly on the brake pedal, for all we know!
 Adaptive cruise control re-calibration. - Crankcase
True. I have the system in the S60 and it's very automatic, not that I've ever needed it in such extreme circumstances (yet). But it has triggered automatically and you certainly know about it when it does.

 Adaptive cruise control re-calibration. - mikeyb
www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNi17YLnZpg
 Adaptive cruise control re-calibration. - smokie
T-Cut.
 Adaptive cruise control re-calibration. - Fursty Ferret
Had two cars with the system now, would never have another without. Same with the AEB, blind spot information, and lane keeping assist.

Makes long distance driving easy as you can shift your attention much further down the road. The ACC gets thrown on at the start of the journey as I pull onto the main (and slow) road through town, comes off 200 miles later.

On a fast A-road I tend to use the speed limiter feature more than the cruise control as slowing for corners knocks it out. If there's someone to follow, though, it works fine. The limiter is really useful as many camera vans in North Yorkshire.

The collision avoidance once stopped me going into the back of what I'm pretty sure was a crash-for-cash scam in Aylesbury. It takes a moment or two to figure out what's happened as you sit there dumbly with your foot on the accelerator and the car stalled in gear about six inches from the car in front.

The City Safety feature is a little over-enthusiastic if you go rocketing up to car park barriers as the laser sensor picks them up approaching the windscreen and panic-brakes the car, which is embarrassing.

Requirement for the next car is that it'll drive autonomously in traffic jams, and that's already fitted to 2017 models of VAG design and the V90 etc.
Last edited by: Fursty Ferret on Thu 9 Feb 17 at 09:21
 Adaptive cruise control re-calibration. - R.P.
"The collision avoidance once stopped me going into the back of what I'm pretty sure was a crash-for-cash scam in Aylesbury. It takes a moment or two to figure out what's happened as you sit there dumbly with your foot on the accelerator and the car stalled in gear about six inches from the car in front."

Had a similar experience (not in Aylesbury) - making progress in the V40 a car in front of me braked in front to turn right, I missed the indicator and a moment's slight inattention was resolved by the collision avoidance software, slamming the brakes on and the car screaming its distress.
 Adaptive cruise control re-calibration. - Crankcase

>> Requirement for the next car is that it'll drive autonomously in traffic jams, and that's
>> already fitted to 2017 models of VAG design and the V90 etc.


Is that cleverer than the "queue assist" I have in my 2011 auto S60? (Adaptive works down to zero, stops the car in a jam, moves you on again when traffic starts to move).
 Adaptive cruise control re-calibration. - Fursty Ferret
>> Is that cleverer than the "queue assist" I have in my 2011 auto S60? (Adaptive
>> works down to zero, stops the car in a jam, moves you on again when
>> traffic starts to move).

Yeah, but you still have to steer. In the new V90 you just have to rest a hand on the wheel and it works up to 120 mph. The Tesla radar can see two cars ahead, which is really clever.
Last edited by: VxFan on Thu 9 Feb 17 at 14:02
 Adaptive cruise control re-calibration. - Crankcase
Interesting. Thanks for that.

Here's a thought for everyone.

If we were able to invent a matter transporter - some sort of cubicle you walked into and it got you to your destination immediately, would you use it, or would you still want a car of whatever sort?

 Adaptive cruise control re-calibration. - Manatee
>> Here's a thought for everyone.
>>
>> If we were able to invent a matter transporter - some sort of cubicle you
>> walked into and it got you to your destination immediately, would you use it, or
>> would you still want a car of whatever sort?

That's an interesting one. I would have found it very handy just now when I realised we have run out of bleach, and the shop a mile away closed in 4 minutes.

I think I would want a car, I like them, but who knows? Without the necessity to own one, I might think it an expense worth sparing.
 Adaptive cruise control re-calibration. - CGNorwich
The nearest thing we have to a matter transporter is air travel.. Unlike all forms of surface travel here you are aware of the landscape you are travelling through you just get in in one country and get out in another. No real sense of distance travelled, just time elapsed.

I don't think anyone flies for fun, just to get somewhere else.

I guess your matter transporter would be the same. Handy for getting to work or the cinema but I think you would still want some means of travelling through a landscape. The need to actually travel rather than just being somewhere else is an inate desire in human beings.
Last edited by: CGNorwich on Thu 9 Feb 17 at 15:46
 Adaptive cruise control re-calibration. - rtj70
>> The Tesla radar can see two cars ahead, which is really clever.

I think the latest model Tesla Model S (but not the earlier ones) have two forms of radar and they all have a load of cameras. The video of a Model S driving a decent distance on a variety of roads is worth a look.

youtu.be/Q14tkD5__dE

This one shows how the cameras recognise things:

youtu.be/VG68SKoG7vE

This is what they call level 4 autonomy so the cars don't have this enabled (yet). And when it's available it will be an option. Two reasons why it's an option: (1) reduced car price and (2) it can probably be added later and in the US road tax is paid on the purchase price - so add it later and it won't increase the road tax.... that's why you can upgrade a Model S 60 to a 75 later ;-)
 Adaptive cruise control re-calibration. - Fursty Ferret
www.youtube.com/watch?v=FadR7ETT_1k

The Tesla triggers emergency braking and a collision warning before the car in front has even started to brake.
 Adaptive cruise control re-calibration. - Crankcase
Nice find. That's seriously impressive. Want.

The following compilation video has some eye-widening ones too.
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