Cruise control will kill you!

Stallingrad · 22-02-2021 10:01am #1

Excuse the click bait title, but after owning a car with Adaptive Cruise Control, and driving a car with normal cruise control again, normal cruise seems like archaic madness. Unless you have miles of traffic free roads you have to fiddle with it endlessly, you can never relax, it will literally drive you full tilt into something in front of you, seems like an incredibly dumb device to have on car.

ACC makes CC what it was always meant to be.

micks_address · 22-02-2021 10:04am

Stallingrad wrote: »

Excuse the click bait title, but after owning a car with Adaptive Cruise Control, and driving a car with normal cruise control again, normal cruise seems like archaic madness. Unless you have miles of traffic free roads you have to fiddle with it endlessly, you can never relax, it will literally drive you full tilt into something in front of you, seems like an incredibly dumb device to have on car.

ACC makes CC what it was always meant to be.

even with acc i tend to drive with my foot hovering over the brake...

FileNotFound · 22-02-2021 10:04am

Stallingrad wrote: »

Excuse the click bait title, but after owning a car with Adaptive Cruise Control, and driving a car with normal cruise control again, normal cruise seems like archaic madness. Unless you have miles of traffic free roads you have to fiddle with it endlessly, you can never relax, it will literally drive you full tilt into something in front of you, seems like an incredibly dumb device to have on car.

ACC makes CC what it was always meant to be.

No matter what driver assist you have active it is fully expected you pay full attention to the road while driving a 1 tonne + metal ram.

Kind of a ludicrous comment - you are complaining that you have to pay attention while driving.

I think maybe the issue is with your concept, not the tech.

Stallingrad · 22-02-2021 10:18am

FileNotFound wrote: »

No matter what driver assist you have active it is fully expected you pay full attention to the road while driving a 1 tonne + metal ram.

Kind of a ludicrous comment - you are complaining that you have to pay attention while driving.

I think maybe the issue is with your concept, not the tech.

Predictable boards response. What makes you think I am not paying attention? And like the above poster my right foot is always sort of hovering. When you set a generous gap you can feel the car slowing or speeding up, that makes the driving experience much more relaxing and reasuring than normal CC.

FileNotFound · 22-02-2021 10:25am

Stallingrad wrote: »

Predictable boards response. What makes you think I am not paying attention? And like the above poster my right foot is always sort of hovering. When you set a generous gap you can feel the car slowing or speeding up, that makes the driving experience much more relaxing and reasuring than normal CC.

Because if you are paying attention - there is nothing to complain about.

Its an assist not a drive for you mode. No need to get pissy as someone pointed out the obvious.

The reality is Driving assist can only go so far - using it to "Relax" behind the wheel is a dangerous concept.

I have standard CC in one car and ACC in the other, have no real preference as only use CC when on motorway or clear roads. I personally find some of the newer driver aids annoying. So I suppose i am the other end of the spectrum.

GreeBo · 22-02-2021 10:27am

Stallingrad wrote: »

Excuse the click bait title, but after owning a car with Adaptive Cruise Control, and driving a car with normal cruise control again, normal cruise seems like archaic madness. Unless you have miles of traffic free roads you have to fiddle with it endlessly, you can never relax, it will literally drive you full tilt into something in front of you, seems like an incredibly dumb device to have on car.

ACC makes CC what it was always meant to be.

I think its really designed for use in the US or AUS where you might have an 8 hour journey and not meet another car.

22-02-2021 10:28am

ACC linked to traffic sign recognition is the dogs bolloçks altogether.

vandriver · 22-02-2021 10:29am

I use cruise control in the port tunnel because of the average speed cameras.Other than that one special usage case,i don't see the point of it.

km991148 · 22-02-2021 10:34am

It's kind of an interesting point and I wonder if it means we may inadvertently see a slight rise in accidents.

Of course everyone is paying attention and should be, but if you are driving around for years with the new features, subconsciously knowing that you are covered, and then get into another car (with older cruise) will there be a second of delay in the panic of something unexpected?

Probably won't see anything statistically relevant as I guess it's only going to cause a potential issue with those going from new to old and with an unexpected event happening.

I find the way that technology modifies behaviour very interesting.

Isambard · 22-02-2021 10:38am

i use it all the time (or did when I could go out) and don't have a problem. If your brain says you're closing on another vehicle or a hazard, you can switch it out at the touch of a button or just touch the brake pedal. Much the same as your brain would tell you to lift off the throttle .

beauf · 22-02-2021 10:40am

vandriver wrote: »

I use cruise control in the port tunnel because of the average speed cameras.Other than that one special usage case,i don't see the point of it.

That's how I use it, bit not just there any long journey where I'm constantly sitting at the speed limit.

Stallingrad · 22-02-2021 10:41am

km991148 wrote: »

It's kind of an interesting point and I wonder if it means we may inadvertently see a slight rise in accidents.

Of course everyone is paying attention and should be, but if you are driving around for years with the new features, subconsciously knowing that you are covered, and then get into another car (with older cruise) will there be a second of delay in the panic of something unexpected?

Probably won't see anything statistically relevant as I guess it's only going to cause a potential issue with those going from new to old and with an unexpected event happening.

I find the way that technology modifies behaviour very interesting.

Great post and worthy of its own thread. I had no interest in using the CC on the car I borrowed, precisely because it was not going to do what I was used ACC doing. Jumping between generations of cars does throw up some issues for sure and you do have to be alert to them.

steinbock123 · 22-02-2021 10:41am

I use cruise all the time, in town and out of town, as well as making for a more relaxed drive, it is also more economical on fuel as a result.
Although I suppose it depends on the make of car, I have driven cars where the cruise control is very fiddly to operate, so that might be a discouragement to use.

beauf · 22-02-2021 10:41am

Stallingrad wrote: »

Excuse the click bait title, but after owning a car with Adaptive Cruise Control, and driving a car with normal cruise control again, normal cruise seems like archaic madness. Unless you have miles of traffic free roads you have to fiddle with it endlessly, you can never relax, it will literally drive you full tilt into something in front of you, seems like an incredibly dumb device to have on car.

ACC makes CC what it was always meant to be.

You're not meant to use CC in close traffic. Whereas ACC is designed to be used in traffic. Kinda of a fundamental difference there.

slipperyox · 22-02-2021 10:43am

interesting read here giving abs brakes as an example..

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Risk_compensation

TheWonderLlama · 22-02-2021 10:45am

ACC is a right pain in the behind.
It leaves too much of a gap to the car in front, (and yes, I have tried adjusting it, but its never quite enough) resulting in joxer in his white van diving into the gap between you and the car in front and all hell breaking loose in the warning system. Full anchors on, red alert, you're all going to die! type of effort. Which is probably slightly disconcerting for they guy following you.

Feck that.

WacoKid · 22-02-2021 10:47am

CC was developed before ACC. CC would have been an expensive option when first introduced due to the R&D costs, now it is pretty much standard.

ACC will become standard in a few years when the cost to manufacture it reduces but at the moment it is an optional extra.

Stallingrad · 22-02-2021 10:51am

beauf wrote: »

You're not meant to use CC in close traffic. Whereas ACC is designed to be used in traffic. Kinda of a fundamental difference there.

The fundamental difference is in the technology, one maintains a gap, one doesn't. If you used CC between Dublin and Cork, you would be engaging with it countless times, with an automatic car could do that drive with ACC without touching the throttle or brake. It is a game changer in that regard.

Kintarō Hattori · 22-02-2021 10:51am

I only have a car with regular cruise control and find it great on a relatively quiet motorway. I'm sure ACC is better but I find cruise control very useful on the sort of journey up and down the motorway where it was intended to be used.

km991148 · 22-02-2021 10:52am

WacoKid wrote: »

CC was developed before ACC. CC would have been an expensive option when first introduced due to the R&D costs, now it is pretty much standard.

ACC will become standard in a few years when the cost to manufacture it reduces but at the moment it is an optional extra.

Think acc is mandatory from end of this year?

colm_mcm · 22-02-2021 10:52am

The issue is when you then drive something that doesn’t have it.

FileNotFound · 22-02-2021 10:52am

WacoKid wrote: »

CC was developed before ACC. CC would have been an expensive option when first introduced due to the R&D costs, now it is pretty much standard.

ACC will become standard in a few years when the cost to manufacture it reduces but at the moment it is an optional extra.

Like most things, take ABS for example and power steering.

Guess the evolution tends to go one way, most advances make me a poorer driver.

I could park my old car in the tightest spot - now i struggle to be confident without sensors/camera etc.

Literally I have become a worse driver haha.

The backwards compatibility of the human mind is a good topic to raise alright.

km991148 · 22-02-2021 10:58am

FileNotFound wrote: »

Like most things, take ABS for example and power steering.

Guess the evolution tends to go one way, most advances make me a poorer driver.

I could park my old car in the tightest spot - now i struggle to be confident without sensors/camera etc.

Literally I have become a worse driver haha.

Yeah exactly, these are small signs of how collectively driver behaviour is changing.

'back in my day' power steering was optional and abs was something you needed to have a practical knowledge of. These days people wouldn't know what you are on about really. Now this is obviously good in one sense as everyone has it. ABS obviously works very well in most scenarios.. but people are less connected. A lot of people loose the awareness around why you mustn't jam on and loose an awareness around general road handling (and that's before you get onto the effects of risk perception as someone else posted).

Del2005 · 22-02-2021 10:59am

WacoKid wrote: »

CC was developed before ACC. CC would have been an expensive option when first introduced due to the R&D costs, now it is pretty much standard.

ACC will become standard in a few years when the cost to manufacture it reduces but at the moment it is an optional extra.

ACC will be standard from next year for all new, cars sold in the EU, along with lane assist and a few other features.

CC and ACC are just like all the other features on a vehicle handy when used correctly dangerous when not, but all current features on cars are still only driving aids so the driver still needs to be in control.

I'd be more worried about the other safety features that someone driving a car equipped with ACC would be missing in a car without ACC, especially if they can't judge distances now it's been automated.

Stallingrad · 22-02-2021 11:00am

FileNotFound wrote: »

The backwards compatibility of the human mind is a good topic to raise alright.

Drifting OT but the decision has been made that humans cannot be trusted. Even us die hard petrol heads will have to concede that. All the new driver aids will only make driving safer in the long term, to the point where full autonomy will take over.

How may fender benders would so see in a years commuting on the M50, eejits on their phones or fiddling with the radio, every one could have been avoided with a front radar, brake assist/ACC, etc.

BrianD3 · 22-02-2021 11:12am

I drove 60k kms per year up until recently and never had either type of CC. The biggest danger for me was getting drowsy at the wheel. This would generally happen while driving at a steady 80 km/h in line of traffic after dark with no possibility to overtake. Whereas it was never an issue with varying speed, driving faster, overtaking etc.

This issue is mentioned in the below paper - "cognitive underload"
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5893797/

Would adaptive CC result in cognitive underload while "dumb" CC could result in cognitive underload or cognitive overload depending on conditions.

mickdw · 22-02-2021 11:27am

Having used active cruise in a passat a fair bit, i can see the the op is talking a fair degree of sense.
When using these active systems, even on the safest distance setting, there is often a brief moment where you are actually waiting for your car to do its thing when the car in front slows. You know its going to react and its still welk within safe distances etc.
If you jump into another car with standard cruise, you could easily expect your car to slow down by itself and robbing you of valuable stopping distance in the process.
The answer is not to use basic cruise system if more used to active cruise. Its pretty useless anyway while active cruise works brilliantly even on small twisty roads.

theoneeyedman · 22-02-2021 11:42am

Stallingrad wrote: »

you can never relax,

Exactly, you're sitting in a steel tube at 100km per hour, you shouldn't be relaxed.

beauf · 22-02-2021 11:46am

FileNotFound wrote: »

Like most things, take ABS for example and power steering.

Guess the evolution tends to go one way, most advances make me a poorer driver.

I could park my old car in the tightest spot - now i struggle to be confident without sensors/camera etc.

Literally I have become a worse driver haha.

The backwards compatibility of the human mind is a good topic to raise alright.

I'm not sure the relevance. ABS out performs most drivers in the vast majority of situations. It hasn't made anyone a worse driver as its doing something most people can't do. It can't replace a skill drivers never had.

Ignoring ABS. Braking in general is much better in modern cars. Better tyres, brakes, etc. Someone might be a late braker and drive on the brakes as they say. But if you are triggering abs regularly that's anti skid. Without it you'd be skidding and sliding that's just dangerous driving.

beauf · 22-02-2021 11:48am

Stallingrad wrote: »

Drifting OT but the decision has been made that humans cannot be trusted. Even us die hard petrol heads will have to concede that. All the new driver aids will only make driving safer in the long term, to the point where full autonomy will take over.

How may fender benders would so see in a years commuting on the M50, eejits on their phones or fiddling with the radio, every one could have been avoided with a front radar, brake assist/ACC, etc.

Not that we can't be trusted. But that the computers do it better more often. They still make mistakes, just less often.

Comhrá · 22-02-2021 11:50am

Deleted User wrote: »

ACC linked to traffic sign recognition is the dogs bolloçks altogether.

Have both in my Passat and they're great working in unison, especially with DSG.

Cruise control will kill you!

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