Today’s cars have a wide variety of active safety and driver assistance systems that do much of the work for the driver. They can be annoying at times, but even seasoned travelers can’t live without some. How and where to use technologies to maximize their potential?
Driving in the suburbs has become especially easy
When presenting the new models, the manufacturers are proud that their technologies allow you to simply let go of the steering wheel and delegate the care of steering to the machine itself. Unfortunately, in the European Union, autonomous driving is not defined in the legislation, so the driver of the steering wheel cannot be dismissed permanently – he himself is responsible for everything that happens. On the other hand, various active safety technologies make this measure much easier. For example, the lane keeping system holds the trajectory, so the driver often only has to hold the steering wheel.
Most of the stress on suburban roads is taken off the driver’s shoulders by adaptive cruise control. Some time ago, it could only maintain the speed set by the driver, but now it maintains a safe distance from the vehicle in front. That is, the car brakes itself if the car in front slows down, and reaches the set speed again if it gives off the gas. The first adaptive cruise control, like most technologies, was introduced more than 20 years ago in the Mercedes-Benz S-Class. But today it is no longer a luxury attribute. Now it can even be ordered for the compact Hyundai i20 hatchback.
Technology keeps getting better
Little by little, all driving assistance systems are getting smarter. When the destination is set in the navigation, the car itself “looks” at the map and reduces speed before sharp turns and intersections. The system respects speed limits and selects the driving speed accordingly.
Hyundai has recently introduced Lane Change Assistant. Now, if a car with adaptive cruise control is driving on the highway, it is enough to indicate a turn, and the car will assess the surrounding situation and change lanes if it is safe.
“Well, to many people it would seem strange to control the speed with your foot all the time during a long journey. Now adaptive cruise control does it for us. True, adaptive systems do not always work as harmoniously as we would like. Sometimes they start braking faster or pick up speed later than they should the driver himself would do. However, with each next generation of technology, the situation improves,” says Raimonds Zandovskis, editor of Delfi Auto.
However, modern cruise control systems tend to work differently. Some decide and do everything themselves, while others, when they think they should change the set speed, ask the driver if he wants to do it. If you receive approval, then you also make changes.
Can cruise control be used in the city?
Modern adaptive cruise control can facilitate the driver’s work not only on suburban roads and highways, but also on city streets. For example, a Hyundai with such a system will come to a complete stop in heavy traffic if necessary, and when the car in front resumes movement, it will do the same.
“However, traffic in the city is too complicated to entrust everything to automatic systems. For example, if the car maintains a safe distance to the car in front, then a fairly large gap is created between the two cars. Unfortunately, in Riga, in such a case, someone will always sneak in between you. Adaptive cruise control is most effective in the suburbs, where the roads are not so busy – in such an environment, the systems work really well,” says Māris Gaugers, Kursors.lv car expert.
There is another important aspect – cars do not yet “see” traffic lights and pedestrians waiting at the crossing, so they are not yet able to fully drive independently in the city.
However, at certain times these systems even help a lot. For example, if there is a traffic jam on the street. “Probably everyone knows what it’s like when you get stuck in a traffic jam on your commute from home to work. Now is the time to use automatic assistants. Yes, you may not get ahead faster with them, but it will certainly be less stressful.” Maris adds.
Other systems also help in the city
But some other safety systems in the city are much more useful, such as blind spot monitoring. In the mirrors, we see what is happening behind. Turning our head, we see what is happening next to us. However, between what the driver sees in the mirror and what he sees through the side window, a so-called blind zone is formed. Most new cars have a system that warns of objects in this area by signaling in the mirror.
Hyundai, meanwhile, has gone a step further and started installing cameras in the mirrors of larger models. As soon as the turn signal is activated, the blind spot view of the relevant side appears on the instrument panel.
At one time, this South Korean manufacturer was one of the first to install a system in the Santa Fe that warns of obstacles approaching from the side when reversing. Now the system recognizes not only passing cars, but also cyclists and pedestrians. It not only warns of danger, but also stops the car itself if the driver does not react.
“The electronic assistant, which warns of dangers from the side when reversing out of a parking space, is very useful. The driver himself may not notice them until he has completely left the place. And it’s also nice that the video cameras are also getting better and better,” adds Māris Gaugers.
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2023-07-11 08:18:08
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