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- Feb 24, 2010
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I had to take the blue thing in for yet another repair today (one cannot afford to keep new cars out of warranty) to get a new aircon compressor. When I went to pick it up the salesman suggested I take one of their new 90's for a drive. Just for fun of course.
Well, he showed me the adaptive cruiser control and auto pilot. I did a little sex-wee in my pants.
In traffic it's brilliant. Set it on, set the distance between you and the next car and it starts, stops and matches the car in front speed. Ok, not to fancy so far. Oh, it reads the speed limit signs on the side of the road and does not disobey them.
For driving in traffic, it's very handy.
Then we got out onto the highway. Oh My Me. It steers itself. Doing 70 mph down the A1 with my feet flat on the floor and my hands nervously on my knees is something else. As the road bends it turns. I thought it was the camber but no, it was steering itself. As and when a car approaches it slows down to match the speed. There we sat, doing a shade under 70, following a car at a save 3-chevron distance with me and my hands on my knees. I would have been less nervous if the car in front was not a police car. The salesman was not amused when I held my hands up and said "look, no hands"
So, there we are, trundling along at 70 miles and hour enjoying it and then it happened! We started overtaking a truck on the right hand side and he had a big red 50 on his arse. The car saw this and decided "yurp, must get to 50 post-hast." Scared the bejesus out of the salesman. "A few things to work out" he said...
It's the first time I've driven a "self-steer" car and I'm utterly hooked. I really really want one.
It's marketed as a driver's-aid and only works for 5 minutes with your hands off the wheel. You have to touch it every 5 minutes to keep it active.
It's not that far off when they will be more and more common. For now though, they've very cool but very immature. On a long bend on the A1 it did start oscillating in between the lines of the lanes. Much like a drunk person would. It also decided at some point that it's a bit panicked and disengaged. At that point the car darted over quite sharply and encroached into the next lane because of the poor road.
Still, I want one.
Well, he showed me the adaptive cruiser control and auto pilot. I did a little sex-wee in my pants.
In traffic it's brilliant. Set it on, set the distance between you and the next car and it starts, stops and matches the car in front speed. Ok, not to fancy so far. Oh, it reads the speed limit signs on the side of the road and does not disobey them.
For driving in traffic, it's very handy.
Then we got out onto the highway. Oh My Me. It steers itself. Doing 70 mph down the A1 with my feet flat on the floor and my hands nervously on my knees is something else. As the road bends it turns. I thought it was the camber but no, it was steering itself. As and when a car approaches it slows down to match the speed. There we sat, doing a shade under 70, following a car at a save 3-chevron distance with me and my hands on my knees. I would have been less nervous if the car in front was not a police car. The salesman was not amused when I held my hands up and said "look, no hands"
So, there we are, trundling along at 70 miles and hour enjoying it and then it happened! We started overtaking a truck on the right hand side and he had a big red 50 on his arse. The car saw this and decided "yurp, must get to 50 post-hast." Scared the bejesus out of the salesman. "A few things to work out" he said...
It's the first time I've driven a "self-steer" car and I'm utterly hooked. I really really want one.
It's marketed as a driver's-aid and only works for 5 minutes with your hands off the wheel. You have to touch it every 5 minutes to keep it active.
It's not that far off when they will be more and more common. For now though, they've very cool but very immature. On a long bend on the A1 it did start oscillating in between the lines of the lanes. Much like a drunk person would. It also decided at some point that it's a bit panicked and disengaged. At that point the car darted over quite sharply and encroached into the next lane because of the poor road.
Still, I want one.
). It's pretty impressive when working. 
