Which cars provide the best "self driving" aids?

Stubod

I got adaptive cruise control for the first time on my current car, and it is now something I would not be without. It also "holds" speed which is useful for when you are going down hills in 20mph limits in Wales!!

The other main items I would want are auto gearbox and a reversing camera and auto parking brake. I find "lane control" a bit of a pita, particularly with all the potholes you have to drive around....

Johnmcl7

GDB2222 said:

I guess that 'full self driving' is Elon Musk hype, then? And other manufacturers do lane keeping, emergency braking, and adaptive cruise control just as well, if not better? 

The rules for cars are different to the US and Europe so Teslas in Europe have much more limited driving assists than in the US largely for safety reasons.  In the UK, some brands do these features better than Tesla.

Much of Musk's self driving promises are hype given he's been promising it's imminent for years and it's still a beta product that still has a long way to go.

Mildly_Miffed

GDB2222 said:

I guess that 'full self driving' is Elon Musk hype, then? And other manufacturers do lane keeping, emergency braking, and adaptive cruise control just as well, if not better? 

Autonomy levels...
https://www.synopsys.com/blogs/chip-design/autonomous-driving-levels.html

Tesla market FSD as much higher than it actually is, and much higher than is currently legal.

Brie

I've got a budget VW up which has nothing automatic about it (except the transmission)

OH has a big Volvo that has so many things on it I can't remember or list them all.

I've had more near misses in his Volvo than in mine because I don't have to concentrate so much in his.  

So yes his is less tiring to drive but I'm more likely to fall asleep while driving.  

Maybe it's just me.....

Frozen_up_north

Brie said:

I've got a budget VW up

I've had more near misses in his Volvo than in mine because I don't have to concentrate so much in his.  

Maybe it's just me.....

My current car has more gadgets than the previous one and for the first couple of weeks the changed controls were distracting, no doubt about that. After a thousand miles of driving, it becomes less distracting, but controls are just plain awkward, it’s a Seat and the headlight/fog light controls are touch operated… you have to take your eyes off the road to turn on/off fog lights, the older models were a rotary/pull switch.

I think the designers are not drivers!

Goudy

My car came with a "Motorway & Traffic Assistant" pack which is an advanced cruise control system.

It works like the adaptive cruise but will centre the car in between the lines on a lane and keep it there.
So basically it will speed up (to the set speed) and slow down if the traffic in front slows, but also input steering to keep you in lane.

The system needs to "see" the lane lines but most motorways and dual carriageways are well marked these days, so it works most of the time.  When it can't, the system tells you it's lost the lines but that it usually just for a short stretch, plus you cannot let go of the steering wheel for more than a couple of seconds before it warns you.

The car is a dual clutch auto, so it has the ability to slow right down or even stop if the traffic in front stops and set off again automatically when the traffic starts moving within a set time frame (outside this time frame you just touch the accelerator to reinitialise it) and it accelerates back up to the set speed by it's self. 
This makes it a bit more useful on roads other than motorways.

If feels a bit strange and you have to put some trust in it, but once you're away it's pretty smooth and works seamlessly though I believe some systems can be a bit jerky, particularly on the steering side of things.

It does take the sting out of long trips but you still have to pay attention and keep hold of the steering wheel.
When you come off those types of roads and switch it off, you do feel kind of vulnerable for a short while.

I wouldn't rush out and buy it again, but if the car came with it already it's a bonus.

Most new cars come with a suite of safety kit these days, like various forms of crash mitigation and it's getting better all the time. Not only do they sense other vehicles, but most systems can detect cyclists and pedestrians these days.

Apart from those now standard things, one thing I would pay for is blind spot monitoring.
It just works and I think it should be standard on all cars.

Other than that perhaps think about something with a drowsiness alert.

But as mentioned, these are all aids to driving.
At best they mitigate as much as they can, they don't replace you actually driving.

As for needing them, I've never needed a seatbelt yet but I still wear one and if the days comes when I need one, I'll be glad I was wearing it.