ericsan13

Just curious...what is the difference between Autopilot and 4RX's DRCC/LKA?

4RX will keep you in lane and let you know if you leave the lane. It is not meant to be hands off driving but it also does not keep you from wandering in the lane. Autopilot will keep you centered and will switch lanes for you.

Dynamic Radar Cruise Control can only be turned on after 25mph and will turn off under 25mph. It does not help you in congested traffic but it will come to a full stop if you have the Pre-Collision System? Autopilot works at all speeds and stops and continues driving for you.

Let me know if I got this wrong.

spwolf

2016 RX has Lexus Safety System +... so it has full speed cruise control and it will do minor corrections with steering wheel to keep you in lane.

They have same sensors though, so autopilot does not know whats on the side or the rear of the vehicle... thats why Tesla says that you have to keep your hands on steering wheel and that they are not responsible if anything goes wrong.

We dont know anything about autobrake systems of both vehicles since they are not tested yet... quality varies greatly. I suspect both should score high but I dont think Tesla's will be properly tested (only Europe and Japan do high speed tests) while RX's will.

Also, RX system costs $650.

ericsan13

I guess I will have to see it in action. I watched a video last week that demonstrated LSS+ and it did come to a complete stop, however it required reactivation of the DRCC when stopped. I am wondering if you need to be over 25mph to start it again, which defeats the purpose of stop and go traffic assistance.

CaliTravel

If you read the manual, which is already available to download from Lexus, it states that 1) there must be a car in front of you to re-engage and 2) you must either tap the cruise control up to resume or tap the gas pedal to resume. Once stopped the car will not automatically begin to accelerate to follow the car in front of you.

I have not driven one myself yet. But this is what my understanding is from what I have read.

offroad200

The 2016 RX has All Speed DRCC, meaning it works at all speeds. As apposed to High Speed DRCC (on some other models) that works above 25mph. The DRCC will bring the car to a complete stop but if it's disengaged, PCS will still do this. Or officially, it will mitigate an imminent collision as there is no thing as a perfect car wreck. The LDA with steering assist will correct you a couple of times without your hands on the wheel. Then it will flash a warning to put your hands back on the wheel. It's certainly not self driving.

sg021

On the hardware side, there isn't a huge difference between Autopilot and other active safety systems other luxury makers have. It consists of Forward radar, forward camera, and 12 ultrasonic sensors that allow it to sense about 16 feet out in any direction. Elon Musk has already stated this probably isn't enough for fully autonomous driving.

Until last week when version 7.0 of Tesla's software was pushed out to its cars, they were not the leader in this arena. In fact, they've been playing catch up since the Model S first came out in 2012 with no sensors. With 7.0 they've rounded out the reactionary features that others have, like lane keeping, auto parallel parking, pre-collision, and dynamic cruise. Now there is autosteer, which nobody else has released. This is what everyone thinks of as "autopilot". When the car senses it can take over, it will let you know. You can then decide to let it fully steer and drive the car. If it decides it can't handle the road anymore it will alert the driver that they need to take the wheel. I would guess a number of other makers could produce a similar product at the moment if they were willing to deal with the liability and possible bad publicity.

I'm not sure if the current Autopilot hardware is able to take advantage of it, but at the very least Tesla has stated that they collect data regarding instances where Autopilot has to give control back to the driver. For the long term, this is really critical. I would assume they collect data about the conditions that caused Autopilot to relinquish control, and what the driver did to handle it. Essentially a deep learning database. With ~50,000+ and counting autopilot capable cars on the road, they should quickly build up a massive amount of scenarios.

How that database is utilized is better explained by the CEO of nVidia at the premiere of Drive PX, which no cars have yet. If you have the stomach for a 15 minute video, it's very interesting. Elon Musk was on stage with him for a portion of this event as well, if you want to read anything into that.

ericsan13

Your post brings up a good point. 4RX has no self parallel or perpendicular park right?

MaxMcGee

Really? Wasn't it Lexus that first debuted that self-parking technology?

Why wouldn't they offer it when you can get it on cars like the Ford Focus?

ericsan13

I have no clue but a search of the owners manual mentions nothing about self-parking. If what you say is true, that is even more disappointing!

Martin321

Disappointing to say the least. Focus has self parking since 11-12, my blind spot monitoring was on Edge sport when others were wondering what that light I had in my mirror in 12 Sport Edge. I told them, It is a blind spot monitoring system and they just drove away.

spwolf

and Prius has it since 2003... it is even introducing all new one for 2016 model.
http://edition.cnn.com/2003/TECH/pte...ta.prius.reut/

However, self-parking is very strange to use and not many people actually end up using it.

AL13NV8D3R

Although Lexus was the first company to offer self parking notably on the LS 460 2007-200? Model years. It was very archaic and very slow in operation. People who drives these cars would either park it themselves, which is quicker or just find an easier parking spot to get into. On top of that many LSs were limo cars and chauffeur cars so owners never really needs that tech.

I am sure there are liability concerns involved that also lead to its demise on Lexus products. Some of my family members owned LSs with this feature but never used it once. If Lexus would evolve this tech with faster processing and better ease of use then this would be a feature I would enjoy in todays Lexuses.

Other manufacters have better implimentation of this tech which is easier to use and way faster. Lexus should follow suit and give its customers this tech.

SnoopyBQ

iTrader: (2)

i guess autopilot is much better at this point?

coolsaber

If you need a full on Beta Self Driving car, yea Lexus has nothing to offer on that front. As lexus has been quoted stating that any self driving tech (full on tech) will not be available before 2020 at the earliest.

However you should not be feeling left out, as really no one offers a full self autonomous system thats fully capable.

Tesla has a beta version thats not yet flawless
Volvo, BMW, Audi, MB have versions of self autonomous that have inherent limitations on speed or road markings.
Toyota with the RX has just gotten to a new level, but again I have not seen a full on demo of the system in its in current guise to determine whether its in the same category as the the aforementioned.

rxgs2011

I don't know how the new Lexus safety system works in the 4th generation RX. If it works anything like the Volvo "Lane Assist" system, that uses a camera mounted behind the review mirror, I would suspect it might be annoying.

When driving recently with friends in their new Volvo, I was told by the driver that the Volvo system wasn't very friendly. The lane assist was constantly "beeping" when it encountered the car drifting too close to the lane markings. On a road that wasn't straight, like a coastal Oregon highway, you were constantly reminded how bad a driver you were. Or was the system just too picky!

The Volvo did not steer itself, it just alerted you to your errors. My friend found the constant beeping annoying and turned the thing off. So much for lane assist.

I'm curious to hear from anyone who has the Lexus safety system, and hear if the lane assist is worth the money. I can tell you the radar cruise control part is worth the money. I have it in my car and it does brake for you all the way down to 25mph. I'm not sure I want to let the car brake all the way to a stop. I'd have to be asleep to let it do that, but maybe that's what it's designed for.