Hi, just waiting for my 1st Edition to arrive but have a question about lane keep assist. I'm coming from an XC90 with Autopilot which did a very good job of lane keeping. I was unable to test drive a VW with the lane assist so the question I have please, is the LKA basically semi autonomous or does it just wait for you to cross the white lines and then correct itself with a beep. Obviously if it's the later then not a very relaxing experience on long journeys.

Anyone, particularly in the UK, have any input on this please?

Assuming it's the same as the ID.3 LKA, then you will now get a range of responses from "it's lethal and will try and kill you and other road users - I am going to reject my car as it's dangerous and demand compensation for it scaring me", to "it's a vital / legally required safety feature that could save your life, stop bitching and moaning".

Based on my ID.3 experience - it's vaguely annoying on occasions, but barely noticeable most of the time, unless you're really not paying attention and it's trying to help you, and can be turned off with little hassle. It's not in any sense "autonomous", but then neither is any LKA - some are just better / more cleverly implemented than others.

Could it be better? Yes
Is it worth affecting your decision about whether you like / keep the car? Probably not (and definitely not for me), but there's no accounting for personal preferences.

 

Oh dear, thanks for the reply firstly. So all I really need it to do is keep in the centre of the lane (appreciated this won't happen 100%) whilst on a motorway. Assuming it's straight roads and gentle bends, does it do a good job of keeping it central or is it more of a 'go outside the lane and I'll make a loud noise and correct the steering' system?

 

I have an id3, and a base one at that so don’t have the fancy travel assist stuff. The basic lane keeping has a couple of different levels of input. It will first beep and throw a message on the screen to stay in the centre of the lane. It will wiggle the wheel a bit too. If you go a bit further out the lane then it steers into the lane for you to correct. It won’t actively follow the lane for you, with no input from the driver it sort of pinballs from one side of the lane to the other like bowling with the kiddy bumpers up. For motorways and a roads it’s fine. Obviously it gets spooked by odd line markings sometimes and it did one time start steering in to a runner but it’s very easy to steer through it and correct.

 

So with the XC90 on the motorway, if I was happy to stay in lane I hardly ever had to adjust the steering, other than wiggle it to show I was alive. Are we saying the LKA (not the Travel Assist) isn't capable of doing that? It will make annoying noises (and therefore ruin and comfort gain from not steering) and I'll be bouncing between white lines and other road users will think I'm drunk?

 

That's not what it is, or what it's for, or what VW advertise it as.
LKA is a safety, last-resort feature.
If you want to drive along the motorway, "hands-free", you'll need the Travel Assist.

 

OK so this video shows the difference...

Lane assist basically notifies you as you leave the lane (LKA)... I've turned off vibrate so basically it is just a visual indicator for me, ive not noticed it do anything with the steering. The video shows it doesnt controll the steering.

Travel assist does steer the car and keep it in the lane (LFA)

Quote from elsewhere... LKA is a basically a warning system and is only activated when you cross a lane line while LFA is an assistance function that is only active during smart cruise operation.

 

The basic VW Lane Assist is designed to mitigate a moments inattention and possibly save you from leaving the road or having an offset head-on collision.

Travel Assist is what you need if you want the car to be more proactive and keep you in the centre of the lane, as well as have additional features like bringing the car safely to a stop should there be no response from the driver.

Both have their place on a car, but as others have said, even the latter doesn’t replace steering tasks entirely which is quite right if you think about it.

 

Thanks for the reply. Scratching my head really, in no way do I think this replaces the wheel, I've driven many miles with Volvo Pilot Assist, it's hardly new technology. One dealer said it keeps it lane centred, another one said Travel Assist is just a link button for ACC & LKA and not its own technology in its own right, more a link system for the two. Can't even find a ID4 with LKA to test drive, very annoying may just cancel the car for the moment.

 

So that to me, which is a ID4 1st Edition is doing what the Volvo Pilot Assist does...

 

So that to me, which is a ID4 1st Edition is doing what the Volvo Pilot Assist does...

Yes, and that’s the VW Travel Assist system.

The basic Lane Assist won’t do that, it would steer you away from the edge of the lane the first time or two, then beep a lot and tell you to take over steering before disabling for 10s or so.

 

@MrMe I was just reminded by someone, the following might be of interest to you..,
The 5 Levels of Autonomous Vehicles

(there are many others which might be a better read)

We are barely in level 2, it wont be until level 4 we can get to our dream of geting in the car and saying 'take me to xxx'
It will happen, just a few years away for now.
I may not be around for it, but Im sure you will be

 

@MrMe I was just reminded by someone, the following might be of interest to you..,
The 5 Levels of Autonomous Vehicles

(there are many others which might be a better read)

We are barely in level 2, it wont be until level 4 we can get to our dream of geting in the car and saying 'take me to xxx'
It will happen, just a few years away for now.
I may not be around for it, but Im sure you will be

😘

 

Thank you all for the replies! I just did my first trip with my first car with lane assist and was puzzled with how it worked, as it would sometimes make the steering wheel havier or lighter without much notice

And during the endless roadworks it was not fun as it woul fight me to go back to a lane that was now shared with a wall!

 

Try indicating when you change lanes

 

It does deactivates the system

It is off while the blinkers are on, the problem is when due to road works the "old" lane is in the middle of the new lane