Audi active lane assist.
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I've got both and they do what they say on the tin.
I've not had much of a chance to really test the high beam assist, but the one time I did it reacted quicker than I did.
Lane Assist I use daily, set ACC to 70, turn on Lane Assist then it's just a case of watching the other vehicles etc and anticipating any hazards.
The car will stay in lane, if the motorway curves the lane assist will follow the curve, you must indicate to change lanes otherwise Lane Assist will fight you.
I've not had much of a chance to really test the high beam assist, but the one time I did it reacted quicker than I did.
Lane Assist I use daily, set ACC to 70, turn on Lane Assist then it's just a case of watching the other vehicles etc and anticipating any hazards.
The car will stay in lane, if the motorway curves the lane assist will follow the curve, you must indicate to change lanes otherwise Lane Assist will fight you.
I've not got it on my A3 but had it on my previous car a Leon FR Mk3 so I'd imagine a lot of common components. I found I didn't use the Lane Assist much as very little m/way driving and the A/B roads that I use had poorly marked white lines so just went for High Beam Assist on this one so it has the camera build into the interior rear view mirror. I have to say that it reacted quicker on the Leon and required no manual override at all like I've had to on occasions with this one. I put this down to the camera tech used the LA camera on the windshield being much more effective.
Interestingly we enabled HBA on my mates 14 plate Octavia VRS using VCDS as that came with only LA so he got that for free. Don't take this as gospell for the Audi though. On the Leon using VCDS you could also change the number of times LA would kick in before deactivating (3 I think) which was useful.
Interestingly we enabled HBA on my mates 14 plate Octavia VRS using VCDS as that came with only LA so he got that for free. Don't take this as gospell for the Audi though. On the Leon using VCDS you could also change the number of times LA would kick in before deactivating (3 I think) which was useful.
Abrown
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Do you need to have your hand on the steering wheel? I have heard if you don't it de-activates? I do a lot of motorway driving. I don't think I will pay extra for the ACC I feel the normal Cruise control should be adequate?
Blackwhite
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With HBA that's correct.
Can't remember for LA as it was some time back you got a warning on the dash and the steering wheel vibrated on the Leon so I guess that would make sense.
WeeDram
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Yes, active lane assist gives you a warning and then deactivates if you aren't making the normal small corrections to keep the car centered in the lane. It's intended to prevent unintended lane departure if you are distracted or fall asleep, it's not a self-driving function. I have it since it was part of a tech package with ACC, which is great, but I don't use it much.
High Beam Assist is absolutely brilliant. Got it on mine. Just remember to leave your light setting on Auto for it to work LOL (yes guess which numpty was cursing it then realised he had switched the lights to manual - duh!).
If you don't go for Active Lane Assist, I would highly recommend ticking the High Beam Assist box.
If you don't go for Active Lane Assist, I would highly recommend ticking the High Beam Assist box.
I have High Beam assist and it works great on motorways and major roads. Where I live, there are lots of country lanes with high hedges and, understandably it gets confused there and keeps to dipped. I guess it is getting backscatter from the hedges? I would specify it again (and indeed have)
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on the motorway acc works well as if you are approaching a vehicle going at a slower pace it will slow you down as you get close and how you at a set distance behind the vehicle.
Same again when driving in rush hour traffic, even more so in stop start traffic. The car will stop when the car in front stops, start and follow if the car in front moves, it takes all the hassle out of stop/start and rush hour traffic. If the vehicle in front stops for more than I believe 3 seconds you have to pulled the ACC leaver like you would your headlights to flash someone, to resume.
Abrown
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I would imagine this would only be really good with S-Tronic in stop start situations?
Had the full monty "Drivers Assistance Package the same as Audi's".........Dont bother with it,spend your money/spec on something else.High beam assist/Blind spot Assistance are the ones to have,as they can be used on a daily bases
No you can have it separately. Just had a look on the configurator, and if under "5 Equipment", you go into Expert mode to show all the options (I actually only got into expert mode by selecting it under "6 Genuine Audi Accessories" and then going back to "5 Equipment" by clicking on that tab - all options then show in Expert mode) - just over halfway down under Assistance Systems, you will see High Beam Assist as an option - cost £100
RichardT
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I don't find this at all. It works fine on country roads around here. Of course it will sometimes dip when it sees a car coming round some bends in the distance, then go onto full again if it drops behind a hedge. But it always seems to do what I would do manually.
RichardT
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ACC and LA are great!!! I do a lot of motorway miles and regularly commute the M25 (to and from the office) so they both get lots of use. As for HBA I can't comment as my standard LEDs are more than bright enough 
.....so far anyway
.....so far anyway
I personally found lane assist a pain in the neck,if not indicating during lane changing,it would shudder the steering wheel,then intervention mode was never needed,so for the 2 years that l had my car,it was switched to off
Why would you not indicate when changing lanes? It's a good habit to keep to even if no-one is around.... (it soon becomes second nature)
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+1!
The system only knows you want to change lane when you indicate, otherwise it thinks you are drifting, granted it could be more intelligent. But this way its a very simple system, rather than attempting to workout that the driver has turned the wheel rather than something on the road causing the wheels to turn among other possible scenarios.
The system only knows you want to change lane when you indicate, otherwise it thinks you are drifting, granted it could be more intelligent. But this way its a very simple system, rather than attempting to workout that the driver has turned the wheel rather than something on the road causing the wheels to turn among other possible scenarios.
Good roadcraft (Police, IAM etc) practice is that you only indicate where there is someone to indicate to, or where it is of benefit to someone else.
Hence in the UK if you were sitting an advanced test, you would be marked down for unnecessary indicating when moving back into Lane 2 from Lane 3 on a motorway, after an overtake (if there were no benefit to any other road user). Or indeed unnecessary indicating from Lane 1 to Lane 2 if there were no one behind you, or ahead of the car in Lane 1 that you are going to overtake.
Hence in the UK if you were sitting an advanced test, you would be marked down for unnecessary indicating when moving back into Lane 2 from Lane 3 on a motorway, after an overtake (if there were no benefit to any other road user). Or indeed unnecessary indicating from Lane 1 to Lane 2 if there were no one behind you, or ahead of the car in Lane 1 that you are going to overtake.
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I believe it's only if the driver is *absolutely certain* there is no one to benefit from the signalling - as it's often possible to miss someone, I still believe it better to always indicate your intentions meaning you never run into the situation of missing another road user who may have benefited rather than trying to pick and choose when to indicate. Clearly I'm wrong if you get marked down for this in an advanced test, but I will continue to do so.
It is not IAM, Police, Roadcraft, ROSPA, ADI Cardington etc. procedure to indicate when moving back into your own lane. And only indicate to overtake where it is of benefit to other drivers, or where there is someone to indicate to.
Even in the Highway Code (s163, s267) it doesn't mention indicating after an overtake.
If you're not absolutely certain about other drivers, then you are not aware of your own surroundings
Even in the Highway Code (s163, s267) it doesn't mention indicating after an overtake.
If you're not absolutely certain about other drivers, then you are not aware of your own surroundings
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It is not IAM, Police, ROSPA, ADI Cardington etc. procedure to indicate when moving back into your own lane. And only indicate to overtake where it is of benefit to other drivers.
If you're not absolutely certain about other drivers, then you are not aware of your own surroundings
was waiting for someone to say that - mind you, I think I may have misunderstood - I don't ever indicate when moving back into my own lane following an overtake - does lane assist force you to do this? If so I can see the complaint!
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Yes any movement in or out of a lane must be preceded with an indication, otherwise the lane assist will fight you, it does give in, but it is a fight before it does.
I don't remember IAM telling me not to indicate when changing lanes on a dual carriageway at all. And in today's (south east) traffic, the traffic density is such that every manoeuvre on a dual carriageway would normally be treated as independent from the last, so it really "depends" on the situation. You certainly wouln't fail your IAM test for it. However, the point is, by indicating before manoeuving (Mirrow - signal - manoeuvre), you are not likely to miss the vehicle that you didn't spot. Returning to your lane after a single lane overtake is slightly different though.
I think you can set the level of intervention on LA
I think you can set the level of intervention on LA
I specified it, but mainly so I could get the Speed Limit display in the DIS.
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Haha thats why I got it too, I never expected to use it so often, but as I currently do a lot of motorway miles, it's been very helpful
High beam assist is great. I had no idea I had it until it started turning the high beams on and off on the way home one night!
Adaptive cruise control is a life-changer. I had heard people say it before and thought they were exaggerating, but the first time in bumper to bumper traffic I understood.
I don't really use lane assist, but something that's worth mentioning is that a replacement windscreen is almost double the price if you have the lane assist functionality.
My S3 is just over a month old and cracked the windscreen on the highway the other day. The new windscreen has to be OEM and go back to Audi to recalibrate the assistance.
Hopefully not taking the thread OT, but thought it was worth mentioning if you're considering optioning it
Adaptive cruise control is a life-changer. I had heard people say it before and thought they were exaggerating, but the first time in bumper to bumper traffic I understood.
I don't really use lane assist, but something that's worth mentioning is that a replacement windscreen is almost double the price if you have the lane assist functionality.
My S3 is just over a month old and cracked the windscreen on the highway the other day. The new windscreen has to be OEM and go back to Audi to recalibrate the assistance.
Hopefully not taking the thread OT, but thought it was worth mentioning if you're considering optioning it
I have the Lane Assist and use it a fair amount (motorways). It does a good job, but does occasionally think that you've let go of the steering wheel when you haven't (on straight smooth parts of road for example). I had my own fight with Audi about this as I considered it to make the option pretty self-defeating, but they ended up refunding me the cost of the option as they couldn't fix it / make it behave reliably. Having said that, when it works it does work pretty well.
I always indicate when moving back into lane after overtaking (not on a single carriageway, but I mean on multi-lane carriageways). I don't car what the police/IAM/whatever do, if it's unambiguous and easy to do, why would you not do it? It's far far better to be in the habit of doing something and do it every time than have to make another decision each time and risk not doing it when you should as a result. And I don't buy the "not aware of surroundings" either. Anyone (and I mean ANYONE) you pick will not be 100% aware of their surroundings, there will always be something or someone they haven't noticed. Trying to decide things like that makes you complacent and dangerous, whereas accepting the risk is always there that you haven't seen someone and being aware of your limitations as an observer is a much better and safer way to operate. I indicate out of habit everywhere whether I think the road is empty or not.
I always indicate when moving back into lane after overtaking (not on a single carriageway, but I mean on multi-lane carriageways). I don't car what the police/IAM/whatever do, if it's unambiguous and easy to do, why would you not do it? It's far far better to be in the habit of doing something and do it every time than have to make another decision each time and risk not doing it when you should as a result. And I don't buy the "not aware of surroundings" either. Anyone (and I mean ANYONE) you pick will not be 100% aware of their surroundings, there will always be something or someone they haven't noticed. Trying to decide things like that makes you complacent and dangerous, whereas accepting the risk is always there that you haven't seen someone and being aware of your limitations as an observer is a much better and safer way to operate. I indicate out of habit everywhere whether I think the road is empty or not.
You know better then
Because doing something that is repetitive and out of habit would never make you complacent and dangerous, and never mislead other road users and give the wrong signals, as each situation is identical to the previous, eh
Because doing something that is repetitive and out of habit would never make you complacent and dangerous, and never mislead other road users and give the wrong signals, as each situation is identical to the previous, eh
Point is, I'm not making the assumption that my checking and lookout is perfect every time, which you clearly are! Getting into the habit of doing things the safer way every time is nothing to do with complacency, it's the opposite! Complacency is "I got away with doing the more dangerous thing enough times, that must mean its fine". Being aware of human limitations and doing the safer thing out of habit every time mitigates complacency, not adds to it. There is a large "human factors" push in aviation these days when accident investigators and authorities realised that these kind of complacent attitudes were contributing to quite a lot of accidents in the aviation world.
Clearly though, the Highway Code, Police Roadcraft, IAM, ADI etc. have all determined that its safer for all concerned if one was more alert and aware of indicating where only necessary, and of benefit, and not just "out of habit" ..............
I would say it was complacent to just indicate "out of habit" and not actually pay attention to whether it was actually needed or not.
In addition, the rationale for not just indicating every time is that there is more chance of other drivers mis-reading your signals and causing an incident. There are plenty of examples of spurious and ill-timed signals on the road, leading to confusion. The less amber flashing lights on the road, the better
I would say it was complacent to just indicate "out of habit" and not actually pay attention to whether it was actually needed or not.
In addition, the rationale for not just indicating every time is that there is more chance of other drivers mis-reading your signals and causing an incident. There are plenty of examples of spurious and ill-timed signals on the road, leading to confusion. The less amber flashing lights on the road, the better
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. The less amber flashing lights on the road, the better
In some cases yes, but for instance I'd appreciate a lot more (correct) indication at roundabouts where I've had a couple of surprise moments in the last few weeks (one car not indicating, one indicating the wrong way...)
I remember an old article in Performance Car that put forward the (same) idea that if you are only indicating to some local sheep then you are not really driving the vehicle any more. This made me think and since then I try to practice the same approach. But in my busy part of the world there are not many opportunities to show this observational skill (by not indicating), but at least I'm thinking about it and only occasionally catch myself lapsing into automatic mode.
However, at the end of the day driving for a large number of people is being performed largely on auto-pilot, so I think on the whole I'd rather have them indicating by rote than not at all. A harder driving test, specific motorway training.more traffic police and driver skills refreshes/updates would be a start, but its not going to happen. All we can do to protect ourself is always assume every other car is driven by an idiot until proven to the contrary.
In addition, the rationale for not just indicating every time is that there is more chance of other drivers mis-reading your signals and causing an incident. There are plenty of examples of spurious and ill-timed signals on the road, leading to confusion. The less amber flashing lights on the road, the better
Yeh, I think I said "where it's unambiguous" above. If not, I meant to
Attitudes are changing - aviation is leading the way in human factors related things like this, but some people won't be educated and think they are an expert at deciding when something is needed and when it isn't... and the argument just doesn't wash. There is no harm done when signalling unnecessarily (as long as it's unambiguous, as mentioned), but potentially far more done by not signalling when you should. People not signalling their exit on a roundabout for example is one that annoys the hell out of me...The rationale of "Signalling when noone is there shows that you don't know what is going on" is bogus, dangerous, and adds to the attitude of the driver that thinks they know it all and are infallible. Like I say, attitudes towards this sort of thing have really changed in aviation recently to great effect, and it will catch up with driving too eventually, even if some people will try and take it as an insult to their skills or some other nonsense! It doesn't show that you don't know what's going on (well, not all the time..), it shows that even though you have checked as thoroughly as you can, you are aware of human fallibilities, failures, illusions, blind spots and false conclusions and are taking action to mitigate that despite what you *think* you know about your environment and situation around you.
You're not just arguing with me, you're arguing against the Highway Code, DSA, IAM, Police, ADI, ROSPA, etc. etc. etc.
If you are capable of thought and are aware of your surroundings (which you certainly should be when you're driving) then knowing when to signal is part of driving.
We're not quote in the realms of autonomous automation and robotic actions yet
If you are capable of thought and are aware of your surroundings (which you certainly should be when you're driving) then knowing when to signal is part of driving.
We're not quote in the realms of autonomous automation and robotic actions yet
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Yep
And chances are that they are indicating incorrectly by auto pilot
And the counter is- you'd be paying attention, and be more cautious, because you have no idea where they are going - so you'd wait and see if they take the exit, or carry on.
If they had been signalling like a robot because "it's habit" - you'd more probably assume they meant it, and wait a little less time to make your move, then when you realise that they had signalled incorrectly, you'd either have to accelerate or brake, both actions have consequences to the traffic around you.
In this instance, because they had signalled (incorrectly) - it raised the risk of an incident.
Human factors in nothing new. It is probably because of human factors that led the Highway Code IAM, Police, ROSPA, ADI etc. to recommend not signalling like a robot, or "out of habit".
It's very simple.
Signal only when there is someone to signal to
or
Where there is a benefit to someone else.
If a driver can't follow these 2 simple rules - what hope is there for them?
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