Originally Posted by Anmol Singh Sandhu

I read somewhere that the safety feature that raises the side of the car getting impacted by another car is a stage 3 feature and North American cars just have stage 2. I do not know if my car has that and i don’t have any way to test that as well.
Does someone know if thats something we can mess with and turn it on?

Originally Posted by angrypengu

If you don't have the predictive active suspension on your car this is completely irrelevant.

That said this is the first I'm reading of this. Do you have anything you can include here for perusal?

Originally Posted by Anmol Singh Sandhu

I did some reading again and found out that side impact is feature available to predictive active suspension A8s.
Plus all A8s currently in North America are level 2 autonomous and do not have the hardware for level 3 autonomous driving or in audi's language traffic jam assist.

Originally Posted by angrypengu

That makes sense. Audi AI is what L3 autonomous driving is but it was not approved/has not been approved by the regulatory bodies in North America.

Originally Posted by Anmol Singh Sandhu

Ontario recently allowed cars to have L3 autonomous driving. Lets hope Audi gets it soon enough.

Originally Posted by angrypengu

Random tidbit about the D5:

Earlier in this thread I posted about the ability to enable the function in the MMI to allow the driver to control the seat position of the passenger by going to the MMI setting, choosing the passenger seat, and then using the driver's seat control, he/she can move the seat forward/backwards and enable the massage function.

This feature is not enabled by default but can be turned on through OBD11, which I have done. One can also allow the passenger to do the same thing, although I do not have this enabled as it wouldn't be used and also, it's not a safe thing in case one has a passenger who likes to be a bit of a child.

I have wondered why the heck this feature even exists, and what car this feature would be turned on by default.

I found my answer today.

If you look closely on the brand new A4, at time stamp 4:31 in this review, you can see in the MMI on the right hand side of the screen in the top right (ish) corner, you'll see an icon of two seats. Ta da! Found it. Not sure why it's enabled as default on the A4, but that would be why this setting exists in OBD11

https://youtu.be/de9Yap14mss?t=271

Originally Posted by Anmol Singh Sandhu

Is there a way i can get the auto hold function in my car. I have seen it in European models, just wondering if i can permanently turn it on using OBD since i don't have the auto hold button installed ?

Originally Posted by MorganMay

Angry,

Based upon your very useful and entertaining experiences with OBD11, or any other source, do you have an opinion regarding the current A8's software and hardware capabilities for eventual level 3 autonomous driving and auto self parking abilities? For example, I have read that (at least in the US) the matrix LED headlights are capable of automatically adjusting their beams to avoid shining at oncoming drivers' eyes while still maintaining long range illumination elsewhere. When US regulations are upgraded to allow for this capability, it can be activated for current vehicles. Are the other greater capabilities (hyped in early marketing pieces and reviews) of the A8 lying dormant (again, in the US) and await activation at some future point? Are they active already in some markets such as European countries?