Views on the Driving Assistance Package?
Discussion
I'm looking for a W222 S-Class or a G10 7-series to make my long commute to work and back more relaxing and safer.
If I get an S-Class, I'd like to have the Driving Assistance package, which is, essentially, the Mercedes equivalent to Tesla's Auto Pilot and will steer to keep the car in-lane and maintain a safe distance to the car in front via adaptive cruise.
Has anyone got a car equipped with the Driving Assistance package? If so, I'd be very interested in any feedback on how useful it's been (or not) and the limitations. I'd like to use it on the motorway and would hope I could leave it enabled for most of that time.
If I get an S-Class, I'd like to have the Driving Assistance package, which is, essentially, the Mercedes equivalent to Tesla's Auto Pilot and will steer to keep the car in-lane and maintain a safe distance to the car in front via adaptive cruise.
Has anyone got a car equipped with the Driving Assistance package? If so, I'd be very interested in any feedback on how useful it's been (or not) and the limitations. I'd like to use it on the motorway and would hope I could leave it enabled for most of that time.
I have the Driving Assistance Pack on my motorway hack - E220d estate.
I travel the M6 & M62 so traffic hold ups, stop start and mad undertaking manoeuvres all normal on these routes.
The DAP is excellent. Blind spot assist works well, distronic is pretty much set and forget. In stop start traffic it will trail the car front down to zero mph then turn off the engine. When the car in front moves off the engine fires up and follows it.
Steering assist is good but I’m not sure I ever properly use it. The later models have lane change assist as well.
I have the older version on my 2012 E500 which is pretty good but the 2018 version is quite a bit smarter. Slows up and down as speed limits change - even temporary ones.
I reckon it’s a must have for a motorway Merc.
I travel the M6 & M62 so traffic hold ups, stop start and mad undertaking manoeuvres all normal on these routes.
The DAP is excellent. Blind spot assist works well, distronic is pretty much set and forget. In stop start traffic it will trail the car front down to zero mph then turn off the engine. When the car in front moves off the engine fires up and follows it.
Steering assist is good but I’m not sure I ever properly use it. The later models have lane change assist as well.
I have the older version on my 2012 E500 which is pretty good but the 2018 version is quite a bit smarter. Slows up and down as speed limits change - even temporary ones.
I reckon it’s a must have for a motorway Merc.
For what you get for package price, it's one of the best option. Think it's about £1.6k roughly on most cars and worth it's weight in gold. People spend half of this on bigger alloys - what a waste IMO.
I have a new 19MY year with this and works incredibly well. Keeps you in the middle of the lane well (a lot of cars I've tried, Volvo in particular) hug one of the lines which doesn't often feel too safe.
The only real fault can be sometimes reading the speed limit and adjusting the cruise control accordingly. It's 95% accurate, but some of the "smart" motorways don't put the speed in a red ring and it struggles reading that speed. The cars also braked from 70 down to 30 on the motorway as I got overtaken by a highway maintenance truck, who had a 30mph in the back of the truck and the car read this as a sign.
Also struggles with finding the lane on the M4 roadworks of narrow lanes because they haven't stripped the only lines well enough, the car can't handle about 6 lane lines. Understandable
100% flawless abroad. Our road and signs aren't quite as clear as Europe, but on the most part makes a 2 hour commute each way pretty relaxing.
I have a new 19MY year with this and works incredibly well. Keeps you in the middle of the lane well (a lot of cars I've tried, Volvo in particular) hug one of the lines which doesn't often feel too safe.
The only real fault can be sometimes reading the speed limit and adjusting the cruise control accordingly. It's 95% accurate, but some of the "smart" motorways don't put the speed in a red ring and it struggles reading that speed. The cars also braked from 70 down to 30 on the motorway as I got overtaken by a highway maintenance truck, who had a 30mph in the back of the truck and the car read this as a sign.
Also struggles with finding the lane on the M4 roadworks of narrow lanes because they haven't stripped the only lines well enough, the car can't handle about 6 lane lines. Understandable
100% flawless abroad. Our road and signs aren't quite as clear as Europe, but on the most part makes a 2 hour commute each way pretty relaxing.
I’d echo everything said above. I haven’t tried the latest version with speed limit awareness but had it the previous version on my 2011 CLS and have it on my 2018 AMG GTC. Also got it on my Audi SQ5 2016. I always look for it when buying cars, which can make finding the right car quite difficult. As said above it a very good value option (imho) but probably only specified on 10% of cars and cannot be retrofitted.
The Audi system is not as good as the Merc as it doesn’t work below 20mph. When traffic in front of you goes below this speed it beeps at you and switches off so not great in stop start traffic.
It does take a little bit of getting used to and you have to appreciate what it can’t and cannot do. If you are following a good driver who anticipates well and regulates their speed without hammering the brakes every five minutes it’s very relaxing. Get behind a driver that is tailgating and constantly on the brakes then your car will become the same (mirroring the car in fronts behaviour at a configurable distance). The system will also happily undertake slower traffic at high speed which is not ideal. I’m slowly getting my wife to use it with confidence which is requiring some patience!
The Audi system is not as good as the Merc as it doesn’t work below 20mph. When traffic in front of you goes below this speed it beeps at you and switches off so not great in stop start traffic.
It does take a little bit of getting used to and you have to appreciate what it can’t and cannot do. If you are following a good driver who anticipates well and regulates their speed without hammering the brakes every five minutes it’s very relaxing. Get behind a driver that is tailgating and constantly on the brakes then your car will become the same (mirroring the car in fronts behaviour at a configurable distance). The system will also happily undertake slower traffic at high speed which is not ideal. I’m slowly getting my wife to use it with confidence which is requiring some patience!
mako111 said:
probably only specified on 10% of cars and cannot be retrofitted.
It's sadly way less. A dare say less than 1% uptake. And it's the same across all manufactures, certainly the German ones at least. I was looking at getting a 530d and simply couldn't find any nationwide with that option. Cannot fathom why this isn't one of the go to options.Not to get in an EU debate, but I travel over to France and Germany 5/6 times a year. Almost all modern cars have blind spot assist and you see radar's on the front of cars far more often. They'll choose these options on a basic spec model. The UK customer demands bigger wheels, sportier body kits etc., where other countries specify safety. The latter being more important to me too.
Too much 'relaxing' in this thread. Snooze drivers? Car driving is about paying attention and concentration on the road.
I don't buy or switch all that electronic aid stuff off. Instead I maintain a stimulating work load and enjoy the drive. Never rammed another car up the arse, snoozed out or accidentally changed lane.
Well there must be sufficient demand for the manufacturers to develop these products. I just find the electronic gizmos all a bit meh, and prefer driving myself. Then if I need a relaxing drive home from the pub or have a snooze, I get one of the kids to drive.
I don't buy or switch all that electronic aid stuff off. Instead I maintain a stimulating work load and enjoy the drive. Never rammed another car up the arse, snoozed out or accidentally changed lane.
Well there must be sufficient demand for the manufacturers to develop these products. I just find the electronic gizmos all a bit meh, and prefer driving myself. Then if I need a relaxing drive home from the pub or have a snooze, I get one of the kids to drive.
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