Speed limit warning .

knightstyle

As we leave our local Asda there is a 10mph sign and our Honda then bleeps at us all the way round town which is a 30 limit when we exceed 10mph!

How do these self driving cars cope I wonder?

molerat

Driver hindrance systems rather than assistance. Luckily mine just flashes the small speed limit sign and can easily be ignored. The worst thing is that the regulations insist they are fitted and are not allowed to be permanently disabled.

mta999

I always thought that when entering a new limit, signs had to be on both sides of the road, although subsequent repeater signs can be on either side?

So if the limit changes there should be a sign both sides

oldernonethewiser

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82029033#Comment_82029033

I must have turned the audio alert off on mine at some point so I never have to hear that but for the sign recognition I have to turn that off every time before I drive anywhere.

Fortunately I am old enough to be able to drive without these various "assistance" elements.

Parking sensors are great though.

oldagetraveller1

"Fortunately I am old enough to be able to drive without these various "assistance" elements."

Ditto. I'm glad that my car is 12 years old and the only "driver assist" feature is a reversing camera which I only use to check for any objects/toddlers that might not be fully visible through the rear window and/or mirrors.

I, too, would have liked parking sensors.

Okell

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82029033#Comment_82029033

My car is 14 years old.

Are new cars required to have these "assistance" systems and are you not allowed to disable them?

If your car has some kind of mandatory speed limit recognition "assistance" system, but unknown to you it is malfunctioning, I presume it doesn't give you a defence to a speeding charge, so if they are unreliable (as I'm sure they are) what is the point of them?

As you say, it's driver hinderance rather than assistance.

Now instead of just looking for terminal signs and repeaters and systems of street lighting you have to monitor whether or not your speed limit recognition system is working properly.

Yet another distraction from keeping your eyes on the road.

molerat

so if they are unreliable (as I'm sure they are) what is the point of them?

Exactly my thoughts.

Mine tells me I am exceeding the 20 limit ………… on the side road I have just passed. I was given a lift home in a brand new car by the dealer when my car was in for a service, the thing was pinging all the way through town. The pings can be turned off but reset on each ignition cycle.

My daughter's car has the annoying lane assistance several clicks into a menu and resets each ignition cycle, at least it is a permanent proper button on mine, later versions of her car have it as a button on the cruise control. On many cars now you need a flight engineer to control the systems, I have to go through an on screen menu to change where the heater blows taking my concentration off the road.

I have a self parking aid, I love the idea. On my last car if you spotted a space you could just indicate and press a button as you flew past and it would instantly work it out. On this car you have to spot a space, stop, indicate, three clicks into an on screen menu and creep forward for it to decide if it can get into the space in which time I've done it all myself !

I am pretty sure most car designers and rule makers don't actually drive.

Albermarle

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82029928#Comment_82029928

I have a car with various ' driver assists' . Some can be a bit annoying but usually can be turned off. However one very useful one is 'blind spot monitoring' . If you indicate to change lanes, it warns you if anybody is in your blind spot ( although it can be a bit oversensitive) Even more cleverly if you put the car in reverse, it monitors quite a wide angle and distance around the back of the car for movement. Particularly useful if you are say reversing off a driveway, when there are parked cars in the road. It can sense a vehicle coming down the road before you can actually see it. Plus it senses any pedestrians on the pavement, even if they are not that close.

MattMattMattUK

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82032491#Comment_82032491

Yes, they are now compulsory on all new cars and have been for a few years now. I do not think that they are allowed to be turned off, in the same way as you cannot disable a seatbelt alarm, but I am not totally sure of that. I have the option for audio and on screen warning or just on screen warning, but I cannot turn it all off.

My car (Tesla), has a hybrid system, it reads road signs and also uses the data on maps, so it can account for temporary limits due to signs, roadworks, motorway variable limits etc. and there are only two places it gets wrong, one is a turn where there are 30 and 40 signs on a fork and for some reason it always picks up the 40 when it should be the 30, although it corrects itself 50 meters later because of the map data being slower. The other is in a village where residents have put up fake 20 signs on their properties and it reads those and says the limit is 20 when it is actually 30.

The point is that it is right the vast majority of the time and should therefore reduce speeding significantly, whether it does in real world, or people just put up with the bleeping is probably unknown at the moment. Having it does not stop me keeping my eyes on the road, although I am sure there will be vehicles where it is poorly implemented that cause a distraction.

HillStreetBlues

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82032491#Comment_82032491

I've never really understood it, more a person looks at the dashboard, the less they are paying attention outside the vehicle