Tsport18

I totally agree that driving without holding the wheel is risky and something I never do. The function isn't activating most of the time anyway because of poor or missing markings.

It's typical that some assume the worst. My point was simply to find out if this is moddable or not.

As a side note.. In my opinion having for instance VIM isn't exactly adding to safety but people praise that mod. Or not to mention lowering the car beyond reason. But that's peoples choise regardless.

gatorguy7

Obviously that is a problem as well. I'm surprised that even in my area which has newly paved streets with good markings it still doing fully pick up the lanes or only picks up half the lane. However, when I was talking about testing the lane assist it was with full markings. It isn't programmed to react quick enough to a turn if you are going a certain speed. Basically it just isn't designed to drive the car yet.

snagitseven

While I'm not a fan of too many intrusive systems that take over the driver's control (brake guard might be an acceptable exception), my understanding of the purpose of lane assist is to act as a reminder/aid if a driver looses lane integrity focus and not a "drive by wire" replacement. Its intent is similar to the side assist - it isn't a substitute for driver awareness but a tool to help enhance it.

DeerHunter

Well, which is it?

jdong

Yes, that's exactly the point. Lane assist is designed as a courtesy aid to the driver by giving suggestive nudges to keep the car centered, and suggestive yanks of the steering wheel when you've really drifted far off course.

It is NOT, in the Audi implementation, designed to be a self steering system, so I'd highly recommend the OP to reconsider. Its ability to track a lane is not extremely robust, and sometimes it simply picks the wrong lines on the road to consider lane boundaries. I've had on two occasions where lane assist suddenly jerked the wheel because it decided that pavement grooves were the lane, instead of faded out lane markers. Now, since I had at least one hand on the wheel, I easily overpowered it just by gripping the wheel a bit harder, but that got my attention back onto the road.


And that's just it. It's designed for if you "zoned out" for a second and the car thinks it sees you drifting out of your lane. It's not designed, and frankly is dangerous, to try to use as an air hockey self steering system bouncing you between lane boundaries like a drunk driver. The force of the corrective action is often:
- flat out wrong and will steer you into a car next to you
- Too strong
- Too weak

And it's meant only to hint to the driver to consider applying a steering correction in that direction.

Superfly_A6

Use your knee

Tsport18

I can see that some of my statements may have sounded contradicting.

The thing is that I once was in a situation where my daughters hair got stuck to the chair while I was on a highway. I could not just pull over right there and then. She sat in the back screaming for help. After some fumbling I helped her but that was stressfull and scarry. In that particular situation I wish the car could steer for a few seconds on its own. The lane markings were practically new.

That being said. This doesn't happen every day and YES the system is not good enough in many cases. So I do not rely on it on a daily basis or expect magic from it.

I am however into modding with VAG and am curious about tweaking possibilities. This was an idea, nothing more.

Anyway. It's obviously not doable so let's move on

snagitseven

Wow. Your daughter in the back seat being in distress was bad enough. Turning around at highway speed to disentangle her while the car was moving is just unfathomable. Were you on a long bridge or in a tunnel that you couldn't find a spot to pull over?

Tsport18

It's a few years back so I don't remember all details. But there was heavy traffic, cars on both sides and I may have been approaching a tunnel. I just had a few seconds to think / react. I believe any one with a little kid will recognize the situation.

My friend experienced a chocking son while driving. He could eventually pull over and I don't think acting while driving would help anyway but these are the unforeseen situations I was referring to.

Getting back on topic, If I was to design a safe "lane assist" function, I would probably combine it with tracking of other references on road. The way is now is more of a gimmick IMHO.

dicktahoe

Good point--it's a tool to help the driver stay in lane, not a substitute for driver-steering. I just recently drove for over 1,500 miles on I-40 heading to Memphis, about 10hours/day for a couple of days. It's difficult to maintain attention for hours on end to stay in lane and once in a while I would drift near the line, and a little nudge by the lane assist helped keep me in my lane. Nice Feature for sure. BTW, Adaptive Cruise control also was a fantastic aid, as are the little lights on my side-view mirrors that warn me if someone is in my blind spot. These aids help me stay safe and help me be more attentive.