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By
EWAN KENNEDY in Munich
12 May 2008
Fewer and fewer people behind the steering wheels of cars
appear to have any interest in driving these days. As a keen
driver I find this sad. I get a great deal of pleasure in getting
the best from the car and slotting into road and traffic
situations in the most efficient and safest manner. Yet I do
understand why many car owners see their machine purely as a
method of transport, often regarding it as not much more than a
mobile appliance.
So designers are slowly moving towards cars that need less and
less driver input into making them proceed properly. It could be
argued that things like automatic transmission come into this
category, but I’m thinking here of more recent developments.
Like the Volkswagen I tested this week that can steer itself.
The new VW Passat CC (the CC standing for Comfort Coupe) has a
fascinating new piece of automotive technology called Lane Assist.
It uses a small camera mounted just in front of the inside rear
vision mirror to look at the road in front of the car. The camera’s
task it to watch for traffic-lane lines and at the lines at the
edge of the road.
The Lane Assist system then works to keep the car within the
lines. If it senses the car is getting too close to either line it
takes control and steers back towards the centre of the lane. It
doesn’t have to reach the line before it turns, when its senses
it’s getting too close it takes action.
It’s a weird feeling to have the Volkswagen's steering wheel
turn all by itself. Something with which I felt most uncomfortable
for the couple of hundred kilometres I spent behind the wheel, but
presumably extended use would make it less traumatic to the
driver.
The system can detect broken and unbroken lines and is mainly
intended for multi-lane road driving, particularly on motorways.
It would be a real boon on Australian motorways as our low speed
limits do tend to cause driver attention to wander all too
frequently.
However, the VW system needs to have lines of some sort on both
sides of the car, so won’t operate on roads with a centre line
but no side markings. So those unexplained single vehicle crashes
that are the bane of Australian country roads won’t be affected
by the Lane Assist setup.
Safety has obviously been at the front of the Volkswagen
designers’ minds while developing the system. It doesn’t come
on automatically, rather the driver has to make a conscious
decision to use it. And it turns off again when the ignition is
switched off. Also, if Lane Assist senses it’s working too often
it warns the driver to pay attention and at the same time
temporarily turns off.
If the driver uses the blinkers to signal a lane change the
computer realises that Lane Assist isn’t required, so
temporarily ignores the car’s movements. Interestingly, this may
have another safety advantage as far too many drivers don’t use
the blinkers until they have already started to steer for the next
lane without signalling first. In which case Lane Assist may
surprise them by trying to bring the car back into the lane.
Hopefully this will make the driver aware of their late signalling
and make them do it properly in the future.
Lane Assist is set to work at speeds of 65 km/h and above so
drivers aren't tempted to use it in low-speed areas where there
might be pedestrians and heavy traffic hassles.
Combine this new steering system with radar activated cruise
control that keeps the car at a preset time from the car in front
and you really do have a machine that can drive itself.
© Copyright
Marque Publishing Company
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