Honda ADAS
John Lambert tries Honda's Advanced Driver Assist System. Do you really lose control?
Honda Accord with ADAS
What annoys you about other drivers’ behaviour on the motorway? Tailgating, panic braking, failing to signal, drifting out of lane and failing to keep left must be somewhere near the top of the list.
If more people had Honda Accords with Honda’s Advanced Driver Assist System (ADAS) then the first of four of those five might be greatly reduced. If it could remind a driver to keep left, then it would practically cure motorway bad manners. ADAS consists of two complementary systems, Lane Keep Assistance System (LKAS) and Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC); designed to help drivers with motorway driving.
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Stay in lane
Of the two it is LKAS that is more interesting and, according to Honda, the Accord is the first car on sale in Europe with such a system. A sensor at the top of the windscreen looks down for the white lines on the road and, if the road speed is greater than 40mph, the system will start monitoring the car’s position relative to the white lines. A dashboard display indicates whether the system can see the lines.
If the driver tries to cross the lines without first indicating then a warning beep will sound. This of course is nothing new, as some Citroëns will warn you by vibrating the seat but Honda goes further: it'll gently try and steer you back into your lane. LKAS will even steer the car around gentle motorway bends on its own. If you try to drive hands off for more than 20 seconds, however, the car will give a warning beep. If no input is detected the system will shut down as a reminder that the driver must remain in charge.
According to Honda, LKAS is even more effective at night when the contrast between the white lines and the road is greater. Heavy rain can confuse the system, especially if the wipers are on full speed as the wiper blade passes over the sensor. But if LKAS cannot get a fix on the lines you are no worse off than if you were driving a car without the system.
Keep your distance
Adaptive Cruise Control -- systems that over-ride the pre-set cruise control speed -- have been seen before, notably on Mercedes-Benz cars. On an empty road it will maintain the speed set by the driver; should the system detect a slower vehicle ahead it will gradually reduce the cruise control speed to match the car being followed. When the road clears, the cruise control accelerates the car back to the pre-set speed.
Honda's ACC has three, driver-selectable distance settings. If you get too close to the vehicle in front -- the system remains subservient to the driver at all times -- the system beeps to remind you that you should be braking. You will also be warned if the system detects that the car in front is slowing more quickly than the ACC can reduce the car’s speed -- but you should notice this anyway!
On the road
The only way to determine whether the systems work in practice was to get out on the motorway and try them out. Instincts suggested that these were more unnecessary safety systems which removed a degree of control from the driver. I was certain that I would not like LKAS as anything that interfered with the steering had to be a bad idea.
Driving out onto the M62 on a bright Saturday morning, LKAS picked up the white lines without problem. Although it will beep at you if you try and steer over the white line, the amount of resistance it applies to the steering is never sufficient to overpower the driver. If you had to swerve to avoid an obstacle in your lane it would not stop you. That it beeps to remind you to indicate should serve as a handy reminder.
Of course the party piece of LKAS is that it can keep the car in lane while the driver takes his hands off the wheel. It is spooky to sit there watching the car gently steering itself -- drivers of a certain age might remember KITT -- just remember that LKAS won’t steer the car indefinitely.
In practice, if you hold the steering wheel lightly it becomes practically impossible to tell whether you or the car are steering and keeping the car on course; it feels natural rather than artificial. When you leave the motorway you should turn off the system -- there is a button on the steering wheel to do this -- but even if you don’t, you can drive normally.
Adaptive Cruise Control is more impressive because it is easier to see it at work. Set the cruise at your desired speed and as you approach a vehicle in your lane a car-shaped icon on the dashboard illuminates. If their speed is lower than yours the cruise control seamlessly slows you down until your speed matches theirs. If you pull round them (remembering to indicate to avoid being beeped at by LKAS) the cruise control will take you back up to your preset speed if the road is clear.
It makes motorway driving much more relaxing – rather than watching the speedometer you can concentrate on the road ahead and on your mirrors. You can see how, if it was more widely adopted, ACC would reduce instances of tailgating; it might even reduce those annoying instances where traffic brakes to a standstill for no obvious reason.
No excuses
All this technology is no excuse for driving if you are too tired or otherwise unfit to do so. Honda is keen to stress that these systems do not allow the car to drive itself; the ADAS package is simply there to assist the driver. It does nothing that the driver would not do anyway but, if your concentration lapses for a moment, the system is there as an extra pair of eyes and hands.
It is easy to be sceptical, even horrified about what Honda has done but, only when you try it, do you realise the benefits that could accrue if it were more widely adopted.
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Along those lines, now you can roll onto the motorway, pick your lane of choice, flick a switch and start reading your newspaper, scoffing that take-away bacon roll, shave or do your make-up.
Maybe sounds stupid, but people will do it... You see people doing it now in rush hour traffic when they've got no cruise control at all.
But maybe its a benefit. While they hog the middle lane constantly speeding up and slowing down, then the outside lane will be more clear for those who can actually think beyond "must follow car in front, must follow car in front".
One of the things I find mildly irritating on the motorways is when you sit at 70 in the inside, someone speeds past in the middle, then they catch something so slow up and follow them till the blocker moves over. Meanwhile you've kept your steady 70mph, safely moved into the middle lane, safely moved into the outside lane, past the original overtaker, then safely returned two lanes to the inside. Then the whole process starts again, over and over and over again.
But if it squeals at you fot not using indicators then I like it.
ing annoying. At the end of the day - why?
If you're fit to drive and alert enough to deal with unexpected situations, then the mental and physical effort to steer a car round a motorway bend is so miniscual its not worth contemplating.
Why dont they use the technology slightly differently, the adaptive cruise cuts in to stop the tail gating morons by ensuring a safe!! gap and the lane scanner monitors ahead and gently steers the middle lane hoggers into the 'clear' left lane (preferably hooked up to the drivers seat that sends an electric shock up the drivers backside if they try to over-ride and stay in the wrong lane)
I'd like to see the inside of the Honda Accord in the U.S. just to see where they are going to fit all the warning labels needed for our simple neighbours.
AND...
Did anyone else see the footage of the S Class ploughing into the back of another (plus an E class) during the official press demo of the avoidance system! They should have combined it with the Elk Test as well...
There. Fixed it for ya.
And one which has two steering devices fitted - the round thing in front of the driver's seat, and the right hand pedal (if the round thing isn't enough, tread on the right pedal some more).
All these "toys" are going to do is bring about more people driving like Jim Kerr's brother Wayne
I wonder if it's designed to make up for the complete lack of common sense that seems to prevail far too many people these days.
Rob.
PS: loved the one about the Winnebago. I'm glad that I haven't tried to fix the cruise control on my 33ft Fleetwood, just in case I'd been tempted to try it out.....
Definitely.
In my experience, the drivers who extol the virtues of safety systems usually play down the role of the driver in road safety. If I had a pound for every time I hear someone say 'Airbags/traction control/EBD/ESP/ACC/this is more important than knowing how to handle your car in an emergency because the computer knows better than you and the driver will just make a mistake' I could buy their car off them and push it off a cliff for the good of everyone else.
It's all very well trumpeting these safety systems, but it all seems to be to the detriment of mechanical sympathy and awareness. The 'average' driver seems to be able to tell you that 'ESP will stop me skidding', but not how it works, or the dynamics of a car in a slide, or even whether their car is front or rear wheel drive and how this affects it.
There was a time - back when the majority of cars on the road were RWD - when the average motorist would have at least some inkling as to how and why their car behaved the way it did. We run the risk of bringing up a generation of drivers who see travelling by car as like travelling by train but with a steering wheel and your own carriage. Accidents are on the up - I wonder why.
Also - I don't want to put my faith in these systems as I have absolutely no idea whether they really will work in an emergency. Think about it - when you get a new computer program, you test it out using files that aren't important. You don't feed the only copy of three year's worth of vital research through it in case it gets deleted or scrambled. In a car, I don't know whether a computer programme really will protect me if I get broadsided by an artic on a greasy motorway unless I test it first - and I can't do that without writing the car off. I can put my faith in good handling, strong feedback from the control surfaces, a low centre of gravity and a strong chassis and impact-protection bars.
Fact - a Mercedes, Volvo or Saab from the '80s will protect its passengers better in a crash than most superminis half their age (as proved on 5th Gear ad infinitum).
I'll be in the market for that, but until then halfway-house systems like this are a recipe for inattention and dangerous driving.
About as useless as automatic headlights and wipers, and probably just as unreliable.
Takes all the stress out of driving, and makes driving a pleasure.
A car without ADAS isn't worth owning.
I actually work for Honda and know far too much about future models....mainly the civic. Can't say anything though lol
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