syswei

I'm guessing the Audi systems don't do as much as Tesla autopilot, but how do the Audi driving assistance systems compare to MB's? On a long highway drive, and also in traffic, I find my Tesla and MB systems to be helpful and more relaxing than cars with no driver assistance systems.

critter6835

I had a '16 S550 Coupe and in my experience Distronic worked a little better than the Audi system. It isn't a dramatic difference but I just felt much more confident in the cars ability to drive itself in the MB. The biggest difference is in how well the system keeps the car centered - the Audi is not at good at that part. I have driven the Q8 on long drives though and it has been a very comfortable highway cruiser.

superswiss

I just picked up a '19 C63S about a month ago with the latest driving assistance MB has to offer, and Audi's system is not at the same level, but MB's system back in '15 and '16 is also less advanced than what ships in the latest updated MB models now. I believe the e-tron ships with a new system, but up till now, Audi has primarily focused on full assistance only during traffic jams. 45 mph and below. Above that, the full self steering deactivates and reverts to active lane keep assist which sort of steers the car, but not quite. MB's active steering assist works regardless of the speed. I think there's an upper limit of something like 120 mph, but for all intents and purposes it works at any highway speed. I find even the traffic assistance of MB's system much better. For example it stays ready to resume for 30 seconds after coming to a full stop, where as Audi only stays ready for about 4s, so in really slow going traffic situations you constantly have to notch it to get going again. MB also allows significantly longer periods of no hands on the steering wheel. In fact it's intelligent and depending on the road, traffic etc. it allows longer periods if it's safe. The Audi system starts to annoy the driver after about 12 seconds with pretty annoying beeps. The MB system also initially only visually warns, so it's much less annoying. MB also puts touch sensors in the steering wheel, so it actually senses the hands, whereas Audi relies on detecting minor steering inputs from the driver which can result in annoying situation on long straights where you have to wiggle the steering wheel for it to detect that your hands are on it. The MB system just feels overall more thought through, and more usable and practical. I was not impressed with the Audi system, but I'm very impressed with the MB system. I love my new C63S on long highway trips and don't mind being stuck in traffic.

SoundsoftheSuburbs

I love the system in my Q8, but the lane keeping is very poor. It would quickly sideswipe another vehicle if I wasn't paying enough attention.

syswei

Thanks for the replies, everyone. Disappointed in Audi.

SoundsoftheSuburbs

I forgot to mention the annoying need to jiggle the steering wheel to prevent it from thinking that I am dead. I'm glad a previous poster mentioned it.

superswiss

I also forgot to mention that MB's system can autonomously change lanes on the highway by simply turning on the indicator left or right to signal for the lane change. It's quite cool actually. If navigation is turned on, it also knows where you need to exit and automatically starts slowing down for the exit. Even if navigation is not turned on it does the same if you turn on the indicator signaling that you want to exit. Using the map data it also knows when approaching roundabouts, sharp curves and intersections and slows down, then speeds up again afterwards. Really cool system and far ahead of what Audi currently offers. I think they have some of it like the predictive driving assistant, which I think slows down and speeds up on its own as well using the map data, but Audi seemed to have focused on their Level 3 Traffic Pilot in the all-new A6,7,8 but are having major difficulty to get legislation in place to actually start selling it even in Germany, and again this will only work in stop&go traffic on divided roads below 45 mph. I think it's a major miscalculation on their part. What MB and Tesla are doing makes much more sense in the meantime and I'm pretty sure they are ready to go Level 3 once legislation is in place. I would call Audi's current system Level 2, whereas MB and Tesla are more like Level 2.5. That's not an official level, but their capabilities clearly put it between Level 2 and 3.

Also, not that I'm using it much, but MB has full self parking capabilities. I tried it out a couple of times and it really works. Parallel parks perfectly and can also drive you out of the parking space again afterwards. Helpful if you got boxed in for example, but I still mostly park it myself. The best aspect is that it looks for parking spaces and alerts if it found one big enough for the car. Helps with judging if the space is big enough even if I decide to park it myself afterwards.

jmike52

Agreed. Drove mine cross country on I40 and was not thrilled with lane keeping - no better than the Q7.

Ron.S

I thought the Q8 was level 3 capable not turned on in the US because of inconsistency among state laws. May never happen unless someone figures out a workaround with something like OBD11. Nothing like that available for Mercedes.
I had a detailed post almost finished when my page crashed, Grrr. I have a 2018 SQ5 and a 2020 GLE 450. I love the Mercedes but it has it’s share of issues with Distronic and related safety features. It’s a little better than Cruise Control and decent until you hit Freeway speeds of 70-80, legal in Idaho & Utah. It might be software related but it’s like the system processor can’t act fast enough. I still find it useful but it can scare the crap out of you, ask my wife. If I lived in LA or Seattle I might feel differently since it does well at slower speed.
Mercedes requires pressure on the wheel but gives you about 20 seconds instead of 10 with our Audi. Mercedes crosses lanes, fails to negotiate some curves and gets confused with trucks in adjacent lanes. On gentle curves it confuses some irregular objects for a car and starts to brake for a split second.
ill continue in a new post....don’t want to get another crash.

Ron.S

The Distronic can be very jerky braking hard and then accelerating hard. Example- set at 80 and see a Semi pull out to pass a truck 1/4 mile ahead. With the follow distance at the factory setting my car gets very close and then brakes hard to slow for the truck. When the lane clears it accelerates at the max sometimes shifting down several gears and lots of engine roar. I now run at maximum follow distance an improvement but still jerky jerky at times. More and more I tap the brake like with Cruise and then hit resume after getting back to speed.
It confuses trucks or RV’s in adjacent lanes at times on a gentle curve....starts to slow for a few seconds and then back to normal. Same thing with irregular objects near the Freeway. Solid walls no problem and does great with off ramp recognition or splitting lanes from one to two.
It crosses lanes at times on curves and turns off. Freeways don’t have sharp corners and it handles sharper curves at slower speeds so it’s like it doesn’t have enough processing power or the firmware needs tweaked. Our Audi handles the same curves hands free but is inferior in most other ways. It’s an early build and I activated Lane Keep with OBD11 but at least I can turn it off or on. Mercedes ticks me off with Lane Keep....it turns back on every time you restart the car. I hate the braking if you cross a solid line- at 60 mph it is too aggressive. Wide shoulder and a vehicle driving too close to you so crowd the line and be prepared for a surprise jolt. My wife refuses to drive the GLE. I have adapted and hope for future improvements. Ironically with Distronic on Lane Keep is Disabled. Even when Distronic is turned on but inactive Lane Keep is still off.
Some overpasses will trigger braking but maybe only one in 25 or more with no apparent reason.
I would buy the Mercedes again but just wanted to point out it’s not perfect either. Mine is not an aberration others report similar issues.