jerrya

I had the opportunity the other day to try the Traffic Jam Assist feature when I was stuck in a 20-minute traffic jam on I95 in Florida. The feature worked flawlessly except for lane keeping and moving forward. In creeping along in the traffic the lane keeping kept pulling the car left so that the driver side tires were almost on the lane markers. I kept pulling the car right but it would insist on moving back. The second problem occurred during a longer still time in which the car would not follow the car in front once traffic moved. In most cases the car did a good job of stopping and starting and keeping a tight distance with the car in front. Has anybody else experienced the traffic jam assist?

ribeye

Yes, I used it when I went to Disney World a few months back. There was stop and go traffic every day. I was impressed. I did not have the lane assist issues you had. Where I live now, there is not too much stop and go traffic, but If I lived where there was stop and go traffic all the time, this would be on my must have list for a new car.

edwyun

I've tried traffic jam assist with active lane assist. No problems in stop and go traffic (did you have active lane assist on when you tested?). It works well but does leave enough room for someone to sneak in from another lane (at least hear in NY/NJ). Also, like you, I have found that, if the stop and go traffic stops for a longer period of time, the traffic jam assist stops working and I have to gas it to stay in contact with the care in front of me.

jerrya

Yes I did have on active lane assist, I think it is required for traffic jam assist. I will ask my dealer about the lane keeping on my next car wash.

mirekmal

Lane assist is not required for traffic jam assist... disadvantage is that you just need to take care of steering wheel :-) This is the configuration I have.
For traffic jam assist deactivation - it disengages 3 seconds after car goes to full stop. You can activate it again by pressing accelerator pedal or by pulling the cruise control arm towards you. I prefer this method, since it puts system in stand by mode for 15 seconds, so you do not need to be precise and can activate it in advance, just seeing that few cars ahead traffic started to move...

Wires

Does it hug the line when driving at highway speeds? If it doesn't, then it could be sun load on the camera (top of windshield) or poor lane markings. Second issue isn't as issue as others have said.

jerrya

I have only had the car for a month and I am still trying to figure out all the features. Lane keeping is always a little puzzling as it is confusing as to when it is in full control. At highway speeds it appears to be pretty centered but have had not much opportunity to let go of the wheel and see what it does.
I also own a Tesla model S, comparing the two is almost like apples and oranges. The Tesla is in firm control and always centered in the lane, even in stop and go traffic.
I don't think the sun or lane markings was the problem.

Wires

You cannot compare Tesla to Audi. Tesla's mandate was to make a true "autopilot", Audi is just done to keep in "about in the lane" as a safety feature. Tesla runs 13 cameras to pull theirs off, we have one.

I have found driving into sun causes it issue, and on other cases, I think when it starts notifying me to "keep my hands on the wheel" alot (even though I do), then it gets progressively worse in the lane keeping. Perhaps it's a means to prevent the user from relying on it to be "like Tesla". At least that's my subjective observation....

jerrya

You are selling the Q5 short. mine has 4 cameras and front and rear radar. The Tesla has 8 cameras and only one forward radar. They both are well equipt with ultrasonic sensors. Granted that the Tesla and its ability to continuously upgrade software provides a distinct edge. Two years ago my Tesla could not do anything that it does today. My Audi will have no new capabilities in two yeaars.

Wires

Yes, it has 4 cameras, only the top windshield with a single focus lens is used for lane keeping / traffic jam assist with the addition of the radar. Telsa is compiling video imagery from around the car to make those "autopilot" decisions. The newer versions of autopilot come with the 13 camera setup (model 3 has this).

Ultrasonic has no use for active use for this since it only deals with close proximity objects.

Regardless, Audi is "substantially primitive" in comparison -- which is most likely done for legal reasons.