quote:

Originally posted by Bytes:

I would even trust Tesla's self driving capabilities in low visibility. It is pretty amazing.

Be careful about trusting your life on it. Its radar looks down a narrow straight path in the center front of your vehicle. Narrow path because it has to so it does not see oncoming vehicles on that two lane road or that tree on the side of the highway.

So when the vehicle is in a curve it is looking at the guard rail on the side of the road. Yes the guard rail may be close but the distance to your vehicle is not changing so the system does not apply the brakes.

Therefore you could come up on a stalled car or a deer and you would be on top of it before the radar picked it up.

Does the radar turn to match the turn angle? Not on large trucks and I do not know on high-end cars.

Large trucks have been running it as an option for several years and it is becoming mandatory. It was first introduced in Europe with Benz-Daimler Corporation and Bendix / Knorr Bremse Group.

It will actually disengage the cruise at 4 second following distance and then start to apply the brakes at about 3 second following distance for a truck. This is what is called adaptive cruise.

The next thing coming to the large truck market is what is called predictive cruise control. It will use GPS with terrain information and road information to control engine speed and brakes. So you have your foot on the accelerator doing 60 MPH. GPS road information feed info that a 40 MPH curve is coming up. It will decelerate the truck and start to apply brakes all on its own even as you have your foot on the accelerator pedal. GPS and terrain info will feed a signal that a downhill grade is ahead. It will remove acceleration and coast and then will apply brakes and jakes as you start to descend the grade.

quote:

Originally posted by RNshooter:
I'm considering a new Subaru with this system.
I hadn't thought about the possible issue with people cutting in front of you, in heavy traffic.
I wonder if the Eyesight system will recognize that someone is being a rude asshole but not necessarily about to crash you. Having it jump on the brakes just because someone is less than a car length ahead would get annoying.

Bruce

Be aware that on a 2017 Outback, unless you pony up $1600 for this Eyesight system, you don't get Navigation. I purposely omitted the Eyesight and when the car arrived, was surprised to find it had every other option except Navigation .

quote:

Originally posted by ontmark:

quote:

Originally posted by NK402:
Among other annoying things it does is to chirp and blink if you change lanes without putting on the turn signal, even though there is not another car in sight .

That chirping noise when you change lanes without the turn signal on is called lane departure warning. It is to wake you up.

I know what it's called and I know its purpose, I just find it annoying when I'm already awake. I drove a Mercedes SUV the other day. No chirping or flashing. Instead when you change lanes without a signal, the steering wheel vibrates.
Those Germans are a subtle bunch .

You can keep all the fancy crap until we're talking true driverless / autopilot (which I'm certain we'll see on a mass scale in the next 20 years, if not sooner).

If I'm driving, I want to be driving. I don't even like ABS systems.

Glad they seem to save some lives, though.

-Rob

quote:

I drove a Mercedes SUV the other day. No chirping or flashing. Instead when you change lanes without a signal, the steering wheel vibrates.

Recently got a 2014 with that, it's actually pretty nice. The vibration and very quiet noise almost perfectly replicates the sound of just off the white line rumble strips, and it vibrates exactly three short bursts and stops. Very cool. I guess for someone not in the habit of using a signal every lane change it'd be a hassle. Or change their behavior!

quote:

Originally posted by NK402:
[QUOTE]Originally posted by RNshooter:
I'm considering a new Subaru with this system.
I hadn't thought about the possible issue with people cutting in front of you, in heavy traffic.
I wonder if the Eyesight system will recognize that someone is being a rude asshole but not necessarily about to crash you. Having it jump on the brakes just because someone is less than a car length ahead would get annoying.

Bruce

I've got a 2017 Forester with the Eyesight system. I've had it about 6 weeks. The adaptive cruise control brakes gradually and you can choose from three different following distances: 200 ft. 150 ft and 100 ft. The pre collision braking system also operates gradually and immediately cuts out if the driver takes evasive action. Could there be a glitch at some point? Sure. But I wouldn't buy a car that didn't have the latest safety technology. But that's me.