Discovering Increasing Automation in my new car

And is this light system detailed by RSA? Is it on our driving lessons? Does anybody check this?

We're just comfortable that it works, don't question it, can't question it, if it works it's great if it doesn't it's drivers fault.

Yes, the assistance is useful and great for road safety.

And if it kills anybody the manufacturer gets no blame.

Our regulation and guidance pretend it doesn't exist, so it's not tested or regulated.

Am I up to speed yet?

No.

Failure of comprehension is my diagnosis. Inability to read a close second.

You do realise that a blindspot is called that because you can't see anything in it. The correct procedure would be to check mirror first for traffic and if blind post light is on reassess manoeuvre or move in a way to accommodate for a potential vehicle/person being there.

Think of it as a back up safety system same as a parking sensor.

Yes you're very intelligent and important, good bye :)

If we're taking blindspot monitoring specifically, this is required on trucks. I'm not sure if/when it'll be mandated for cars. I did mention the lack of training earlier too, and you dismissed it.

https://www.fercam.com/en-int/blog/road-safety-in-europe--2-2390.html

What you're forgetting here is the human factor. An individual human, can and should check their blindspot every time, but take millions of drivers and you know that you'll have thousands of people who forgot to check every day, and you will be one of them, one day. It's a fact of life unfortunately, and so we implement safety nets.

On my car, the system is passive, just showing a red light if a car is in my blindspot. But if I indicate to change lanes while a car is there, it goes insane, beeping very loudly and cuts the radio so I pay attention.

There is a line where it could become a distraction, yes (I'm thinking Tesla graphics), but the vast majority if implementations are discreet until - until they're not.

This is why AEB doesn't brake gradually, it waits until absolutely the last second and then anchors on - so that you don't become complacent.

That's how it should be, and why I think ultrasonics sensors can be better than a mid quality camera. A camera draws your attention to the screen, but the ultrasonics encourage you to use your mirrors. Going one step further, my old car wouldn't even use a changing tone for proximity, it has a light bar that lit up more as you got closer to an object. It was mounted in the ceiling at the rear, and absolutely forced you to turn your head and look in the mirror.

https://www.mercedesofsalem.com/mercedes-benz-magic-body-control/

More of a comfort feature, and there are limitations of course….

During bad weather, the front assist on my car becomes unavailable. I only know this because the car tells me that the front assist isn't functioning. I don't know for sure, but I'd be very confident if one of the safety assist functions fails on a vehicle, there will be some sort of warning that it isn't functioning.

Have you studied the data, or is it your opinion that these safety systems aren't great, and because of that, no one tested them before fitting them, or ran any testing on them?

Having supplied vehicles to Valeo as far back as 2015, for testing purposes of technology that still isn't mainstream yet, I can tell you that a lot of development and testing goes in to such features.

The mid 00s was the high point in car automation and design. We got abs, electric windows airbags and all that, but not the levels of bings and bongs the new cars have.

i have a 232 Camry platinum, a 241 Rav GR Sport and a 03 Landcruiser. The Camry beats the Rav as it doesn’t have the infernal audible warning for speed, while the Landcruiser beats them all as it just does what it’s told with no fuss.

I don't need to "cherry pick" statistics. These are facts. Unless you're going to argue that mandatory seat belt use did not in fact save lives? Or ABS? Or ESC?

So you didn't watch that video then.

You disagree with its implementation. Which means you disagree with the technology. You can't say that the safety feature is fine, but you don't want to be made use it. That's back to the "I won't wear my seat belt" crap. Just with a newer badge on it.