Cruise control and traffic sign recognition

[PeteB]

On 4/28/2024 at 11:18 AM, PeteB said:

On a slightly different note, I've adopted the practice of at first setting the CC to 5 mph above the limit, and as it hits the speed I want (e.g. 53 in a 50 limit) I quickly hit cancel then set.  I've done it so many times it hardly seems a chore.

 

On 4/28/2024 at 11:34 AM, Roy124 said:

@PeteB do you need to cancel?  I think Set will do it in one go.

I tried this out this afternoon, but couldn't make it work.

If I press Set without cancel, it just subtracts 5 mph from the set speed, and continues to reduce in 5 mph increments if I hold the Set button continuously.

So for example, if the speed limit (and Set speed) has increased from 40 to 50 and I press/hold + the set speed becomes 50.  A further momentary press of + set the CC tp 55.  As the speedo reaches 53 (true 50 in my car), if I press Cancel then Set, the set speed becomes 53, but if I only press Set it goes back to 50.

[ernieb]

As Pete B above: A longer press on mine will give me the actual speed limit or a short press 1 mph, I think this can be set in the menus although it’s a long time since I played that particular game. I’m just used to how it works now. I find it useful when driving in variable limits, setting to the actual speed limit is in practice below the speed limit so being able to ‘nudge’ it up say 3 mph gets it correct according to the GPS. (53 mph  indicated in a 50 mph limit - I use this feature a lot when on the motorways not on general roads)

[Rod9669]

5 hours ago, philip42h said:

And my 2020 HEV increments in 5s (my 4.4 increment in 1s). At first I thought it a bit of a pain and now I find it perfectly fine and wouldn't want to go back. 5 mph increment for DRCC is just fine - I really don't understand what people are complaining about ... 🙂

because it means we're either speeding or going slower than the speed limit.  Like others, mine seems to read 3mph over.  Might not sound much, but can mean the difference between a speeding ticket or not (I got done doing 71 on dual carriageway in Gloucestershire last year).  3 miles an hour makes a difference when you're driving for around 3 hours at a time

Seems to be those of us with adaptive / dynamic / radar whatever you want to call it are stuck with 5mph increments / decrements and standard CC works at +/- 1 mph

Strange

[ernieb]

@Rod9669  I use ACC and I can still increase the speed in 1 mph increments, using the up arrow in the cluster. Light touch and it's 1 mph heavy touch and its speed limit. So I fine tune up a couple of increments and do the same using the down arrow to decrease. It's the way I have mine set up - I think I could have it in 5 mph increments but as I said it was a few years ago I played and set the car up. (PHEV '21)

[Rod9669]

36 minutes ago, ernieb said:

@Rod9669  I use ACC and I can still increase the speed in 1 mph increments, using the up arrow in the cluster. Light touch and it's 1 mph heavy touch and its speed limit. So I fine tune up a couple of increments and do the same using the down arrow to decrease. It's the way I have mine set up - I think I could have it in 5 mph increments but as I said it was a few years ago I played and set the car up. (PHEV '21)

which arrow is this? I thought there were only the ones on the steering wheel, which whether quick press or long press only goes in 5's (2019 Hybrid)

Wonder if it's a PHEV and Hybrid variance as well as CC and ACC

[Mike2222]

15 hours ago, philip42h said:

I really don't understand what people are complaining about ... 🙂

It's like most things when you reach a certain age (which in my case was about 5, to be fair) - "I don't like change!" 

 

I've had other cars with 5mph increments before, and you get used to it. Likewise, at the present time both cars in our household use 1mph increments, so the idea of having to use 5mph now feels threatening and different 🤪! 

 

Only thing in this particular case that has any validity beyond nonsense instinctiveness is the significant underreading of mph in the Rav. Selecting 75 via CC will actually be a true speed of ~68 (or is that actually 70-71? Can't remember off hand), which isn't terrible, but 35mph would be a true speed of 32mph, which (aside from being technically illegal, and depending on how built up/close to schools etc the area is, dangerous), is far too close to comfort with respect to roaming speed enforcement vans. Likewise, indicated 30mph will actually be true ~27mph, which is just slow enough to potentially prompt an oik into getting impatient and trying to overtake on such roads, to even more danger to myself and other road users. Or at least that seems to be the behaviour round where I live. 

Edited April 30 by Mike2222
Correcting self

[ernieb]

43 minutes ago, Rod9669 said:

which arrow is this? I thought there were only the ones on the steering wheel, which whether quick press or long press only goes in 5's (2019 Hybrid)

Wonder if it's a PHEV and Hybrid variance as well as CC and ACC

[philip42h]

11 hours ago, Rod9669 said:

3 miles an hour makes a difference when you're driving for around 3 hours at a time

About 8 minutes ...

1 hour ago, Mike2222 said:

Only thing in this particular case that has any validity beyond nonsense instinctiveness is the significant underreading of mph in the Rav. Selecting 75 via CC will actually be a true speed of ~68 (or is that actually 70-71? Can't remember off hand), which isn't terrible, but 35mph would be a true speed of 32mph, which (aside from being technically illegal, and depending on how built up/close to schools etc the area is, dangerous), is far too close to comfort with respect to roaming speed enforcement vans. Likewise, indicated 30mph will actually be true ~27mph ...

It is true that the speedometer overstates the true road speed which it is effectively required to do by law. While we don't have any official statement on the extent of this overstatement, the consensus seems to be that it is about 5%. That fits with my experience and is an improvement on the about 10% overstatement that I have experienced on previous cars. The world would be a better place if car manufacturers could get that overstatement down to around 0.5% but there is a limit on how far they can go and still leave sufficient margin for tread depth, tyre pressure and temperature effects.

I am perfectly content to set the speed on the DRCC to the stated speed limit and travel at around 95% of the maximum permitted speed, safe in the knowledge that I can relax and not worry about speed cameras and the like. I am perfectly happy to set-off a few minutes earlier or take slightly shorter rest stops if I am on a deadline. Others may be less relaxed about such things ...

Equally, if I am in a motorway contraflow with a 50mph average speed limit I will likely as not set the DRCC speed to 55 mph (so probably a true 52-53 mph) and then allow the car to follow the stream of traffic trying to do a true 50 mph exactly - because that's what DRCC will do. A set speed of 50 mph under these circumstances really upsets [some] HGV drivers and I don't want to encourage 'truck rage'.

It is quite rare that the roads are empty enough, for far enough, to remain at the set speed for very long, but if I really do want to be travelling at a best guess precise true speed, I'll use the same technique as @PeteB and set it with my right foot.

Each to his/her own - it's just a matter of preference. I find it easy to drop from 70 to 60 with just two presses of the button. If it were ten presses I'd got back to the Cancel and Set approach. But in the grand scheme of things it's not something that I can get as worked up about as some seem to do ... 😉

[Rod9669]

9 hours ago, ernieb said:

Thanks - tried mine again today, short presses increased / decreased it by 5mph, holding either + or - set it to what it thought the current speed limit is

WRT open 50mph, I came home via the Heads of the Valleys, where our Welsh government decided that most of the new section of road should be 50 - not sure why as its a new road (completed 3? years ago) so should have been built to meet all safety requirements if that is their reasoning.  If I set it at 55, she'd creep up to 66 on downhill sections, which is too far over for my liking.  Manually set it at 53, crept up to 54, but kept at 53 most of the time. Perfect

[PeteB]

1 hour ago, Rod9669 said:

Manually set it at 53, crept up to 54, but kept at 53 most of the time. Perfect

My thoughts exactly.  About 4 or 5 times a year I do a 250+ mile round trip, which involves 6-7 hours of actual driving as part of a very long day.  A lot of the journey is 70 mph limit and I set to 74 for that, and for the most part the traffic is light enough for it to cruise at that speed (which GPS shows as 70).  As I get older, long journeys take more out of me despite all the driver aids, so I'm keen to avoid making the driving time any longer than it has to be.

[Cyker]

I have to say the radar cruise and auto-steer have taken a lot of the effort out of such journeys for me and I'm at lot less zombified when I get to the destination   

I like driving, but sometimes you get to really boring bits of motorway which are just a boring dull slog, but those are where the robot mode works the best!  

I do run it at lower speeds though - I find it gets a bit twitchy/wobbly at higher speeds, esp. as it really doesn't know how to change speeds gracefully (Although this has supposedly been improved significantly in the newer versions)

[PeteB]

Same here, but I would add the HUD.  Apparently focusing from infinity down to 2 or 3 feet uses a lot more eye muscle than down to 10 to 20 feet.  It reduces fatigue quite noticeably.

[PeteB]

And one thing I've noticed since the arrival of Radar-Adaptive Cuise control (since 2016 in my case), is that it behaves differently according to whether ECO, Normal or PWR/Sport Mode is selected.

This is amply demonstrated by starting in ECO Mode and hitting Resume below 20 mph with a target speed set to 60 or higher.  As the speed starts to increase, change to the other two options and feel the boost in acceleration each time.

I stay in ECO Mode almost all the time and find ACC behaves to my satisfaction almost all the time.  I do hit Cancel early when approaching obstacles like traffic lights and roundabouts, and let the speed drop naturally as much as possible.

[Cyker]

Yeah that's a good one too! It's one of the reasons I loved the dash in the Mk1 and Mk2 Yaris, as although they weren't HUDs, they were collimated digital displays so it looked like they were in a tunnel that went deep into the engine bay  

After being so used to that I found I just couldn't deal with a normal dashboard any more as, like you say, I'd get an eyestrain headache.

I was so happy when I found out there was a HUD option on the Mk4 Yaris (I still can't believe it's a thing - I can't think of any car this size that you can get a proper HUD on!! Even bigger more expensive and higher class cars don't even get this as an option! But here it is. In a Yaris!  )

 

It's interesting your cruise control reacts differently - I've tried mine in Eco, Normal and Power and they don't seem to affect how it operates at all - Even in Eco, if I do that 20 to 60 thing you mention, it'll initially start building speed slowly, then suddenly launch the car up to 60!   

I've heard the newer MY24 Mk4s react more like yours though, so maybe it's just improvements in the software logic in newer vehicles...

[PeteB]

33 minutes ago, Cyker said:

It's interesting your cruise control reacts differently - I've tried mine in Eco, Normal and Power and they don't seem to affect how it operates at all - Even in Eco, if I do that 20 to 60 thing you mention, it'll initially start building speed slowly, then suddenly launch the car up to 60!     Maybe some of the cost savings came from omitting whatever logic yours has that does it...? 

I had assumed all Toyotas with ACC had the same logic, so it's odd your doesn't.  My 4th Gen Prius, 5th Gen RAV4 and current Highlander all behave the way I described above.

[PeteB]

7 minutes ago, Cyker said:

Yeah that's a good one too! It's one of the reasons I loved the dash in the Mk1 and Mk2 Yaris, as although they weren't HUDs, they were collimated digital displays so it looked like they were in a tunnel that went deep into the engine bay  

After being so used to that I found I just couldn't deal with a normal dashboard any more as...

Yes, I had a Mk 1 Yaris and loved that digital display too.  When I invited friends to pop their head in the car to see it, without fail every single one exclaimed "WOW"!

I also had a 2011 Mk 2 Yaris between my 2nd and 3rd Gen Prius expecting the same fantastic display (especially as a 2010 courtesy Yaris I borrowed shortly before did) but was horrified to find old fashioned dials fitted in the front of the central oval space.  Worse still, it faced straight to the rear, so reading the analogue speedo from the driver's seat gave parallax errors for most speeds!

[Cyker]

Yeah I was very disappointed with the Mk3 especially - It lost almost all the stand-out features from the Mk1 and Mk2 that I'd associated with the name 'Yaris', e.g. the digital dash, the sliding rear seats, the ridiculous amount of storage cubbies etc.  

It's funny as you tend to get a lot of those things in the JDM cars, but I guess they don't think that's in-line with european tastes and omit them.

I still miss those things in my Mk4 - The Mk4 is more like a ludicrously efficient Ford Fiesta than a Yaris, but I'm fine with that   

I was looking at some Kei car reviews earlier and they're mental - Some of them have more internal storage and passenger space than some SUVs despite having the footprint of an Aygo!   The looks are a bit marmite though... if you don't think a box looks good you probably won't like them either  

 

[CPN]

33 minutes ago, Cyker said:

I've heard the newer MY24 Mk4s react more like yours though, so maybe it's just improvements in the software logic in newer vehicles...

(in the 2024 Yaris, there is actually an acceleration setting in the settings and you can set low, medium or high)

[Cyker]

That's neat... but first the secret lumbar support and now this...!

Stop making me want to change my mind about not getting one!!!   

 

[Nick72]

On 4/30/2024 at 9:49 PM, CPN said:

(in the 2024 Yaris, there is actually an acceleration setting in the settings and you can set low, medium or high)

Cruise control acceleration on my R4P is a function of which mode the car is in. If I put it in Eco, Normal or Sport. In sport the acceleration is relatively hard and breaking is left until last minute dot com. In Eco it takes an age to accelerate to the new speed.

[Nick72]

Ashamed to admit it but the best driver display was on my Peugeot 3008 hybrid4 GT 300 (PHEV). It sat above the dinky steering wheel. The ergonomics and displays were great on that car. Shame about the drain train and a host of other major issues!

[PeteB]

1 hour ago, Nick72 said:

... In Eco it takes an age to accelerate to the new speed.

I can well appreciate ECO Mode with ACC won't be everyone's cup of tea, but it suits me most of the time.  Certainly, on the local dual carriageways, when I use it to accelerate from roundabouts or traffic lights to 50/60/70 limits almost everything passes me in the overtaking lane(s), including the likes of 1 litre Aygos!

I do use Normal or Sport on rare occasions in heavy rush hour traffic to avoid causing unnecessary bunching. 

[ernieb]

I use ECO and ACC also for the majority of my trips. Local to me all the roads are 20mph, seriously they are 20mph except the main routes and policed vigorously.

I’ve found that major roads/motorways that once I’ve got to cruising speeds the more relaxed breaking and acceleration makes the trip less stressful.

Maybe if I was working rather than ‘retired’ I might feel different. I still find the acceleration more than enough for the majority of situations.

Normal/Sport is useful going down steep hills and I’ve found I’m using this more frequently of late with the majority of situations hardly needing to use the brakes to maintain a decent speed and control.

i think we can all agree, regard of how we individually use the car there are good options to choose from?

[nlee]

1 hour ago, ernieb said:

Local to me all the roads are 20mph

Like a small annex of Wales, in the Chilterns 😂

[PeteB]

1 hour ago, ernieb said:

... think we can all agree, regard of how we individually use the car there are good options to choose from?

Absolutely.

If anyone is inmetreetsed, the original Mk 1 Prius just had 'B' Mode (Brake) on the transmission for hill descents etc, there were no Drive modes (no EV Mode even).

However, unlike subsequent versions, it did allow B Mode to be used at the same time as CC (ordinary fixed speed CC), which was useful for keeping close to the set speed on undulating hills.