Self steery-ness capabilities and sleeping while driving…

[eightk]

Only joking about the sleeping but as a potential LC500 owner can I ask how good is the lane keeping and radar cruise etc?

Is the lane keeping a full car-keeping-itself-in-lane-perfectly for 20 seconds type system, hands off the wheel, or is it just a vibrating steering wheel as you head off in to a hedge while replying to a text? I believe there’s different settings for the level of lane keep assist, I’m just interested to know whether it’s Tesla-level hands-off lane keeping (but without the panic braking) or more basic out of lane vibrations and pulling back into lane?

Dealer I asked didn’t know (!) and suggested a test drive to see what’s what, but I’d appreciate real world experience if anybody uses the system on a regular basis. Thanks! 

[Las Palmas]

Enough people drive around half conscious.

Do we need to have sleeping people behind steering wheels also?

[eightk]

As above, I’m kidding about having a doze, but having done 8,000 miles across Europe last year in a Kia with lane keeping assist I’d like to make sure the Lexus is as capable. Resting fingers lightly on a steering wheel that the car is guiding and assisting makes long distance trips a lot easier.

[Flytvr]

The LC500 lane assist is not as good as many other systems. It's a bit ping pong if you know what I mean.

[96spec]

Cant say I have used this function to be honest but the manual gives enough explanation :

[eightk]

Thanks all - that suggests that with radar cruise enabled it’ll self steer up to a point, to a similar standard to the Kia. Ping pong could be annoying though. I’ll have to try it on a test drive. Road surface, white line quality and so on do make a difference to how well my current car copes, but overall on long journeys on deserted toll roads it’s a game changer in terms of stress and driver input. On the M25 not so much…

[Moleman]

5 minutes ago, eightk said:

Thanks all - that suggests that with radar cruise enabled it’ll self steer up to a point, to a similar standard to the Kia. Ping pong could be annoying though. I’ll have to try it on a test drive. Road surface, white line quality and so on do make a difference to how well my current car copes, but overall on long journeys on deserted toll roads it’s a game changer in terms of stress and driver input. On the M25 not so much…

Have to say I have turned it off on my car, it becomes annoying in the end.

[BrettMRC]

The only car I've had where it actually worked well was an X5 45e with the professional driving assistant.

Up until it tried to execute a hard left at 75mph on the M27.

Happy to just stick to radar cruise now!

[Spacewagon52]

2 hours ago, BrettMRC said:

Up until it tried to execute a hard left at 75mph on the M27.

Happy to just stick to radar cruise now!

OMG!

[BrettMRC]

Yep, had I been doing what a lot of people do, (ie no hands on the wheel, or at best a light touch) it would have had me into the side of a bridge parapet.

BMW were astonishingly unhelpful - there's a thread on PH documenting my fun with that car!

[shapiro]

It is at best a gentle nudge to remind you it thinks the lane boundary is approaching. Nothing like auto steer on say a Tesla which is brilliant on motorways and dual carriageways. You absolutely can’t drive hands free, it won’t turn the steering enough to do anything meaningful.

Personally I think this is better this way as others have said, all these systems give you a false sense of confidence and absolutely, and proactively, will be happy to steer into or over a pothole without a care for your lovely alloys.

I leave it off as I find it annoying but the radar cruise is brilliant and smooth. 

[Las Palmas]

11 minutes ago, shapiro said:

It is at best a gentle nudge to remind you it thinks the lane boundary is approaching. Nothing like auto steer on say a Tesla which is brilliant on motorways and dual carriageways. You absolutely can’t drive hands free, it won’t turn the steering enough to do anything meaningful.

Personally I think this is better this way as others have said, all these systems give you a false sense of confidence and absolutely, and proactively, will be happy to steer into or over a pothole without a care for your lovely alloys.

I leave it off as I find it annoying but the radar cruise is brilliant and smooth. 

Guess I am old fashioned in my thinking, that a driver should be awake in order to handle a heavy and potentially deadly weapon (the car) and that all the improvements I would like to see is better visibility, better brakes, better steering and most: competent drivers.

If some of the pseudo improvements and refineries to make driving automatic, are making drivers less alert and partly make them feel that driving is done by the car, these are not improvements at all.

[shapiro]

Agree with the above

[Flytvr]

22 hours ago, Las Palmas said:

Guess I am old fashioned in my thinking, that a driver should be awake in order to handle a heavy and potentially deadly weapon (the car) and that all the improvements I would like to see is better visibility, better brakes, better steering and most: competent drivers.

If some of the pseudo improvements and refineries to make driving automatic, are making drivers less alert and partly make them feel that driving is done by the car, these are not improvements at all.

I see your point.

i think there are two types of drivers, those that will abuse automated systems, and those (such as those that are on this forum) that will welcome anything to assist in safety. As an example, driving down a narrow A road at night, with dazzling on coming traffic, systems like radar cruise act as an extra pair of eyes.

With regards to the better systems, I had a Mercedes AMG GT63 for a couple of months and that was very very good. Next gen on from the LC system.

[Jgtcracer]

If the LC500 system is anything like the RCF then it’s probably designed to stop you straying out of your lane, rather than proactively keep you in the middle of it.  Certainly wouldn’t trust it with my hands off the wheel.  My last FK8 Type R actually had a really good system.

I like to think of the systems as either proactive or reactive and the Lexus system is the latter.

[eightk]

That’s all useful stuff thanks. The back seat of the LC is clearly useless for an adult anyway…