Some mandatory driving aids, which beep for a yes or a no, can be annoying. Driver vigilance alerts pose a lot of problems, especially in strong winds.
Recent cars are seeing more and more technologies imposed to avoid accidents. The intention is commendable, but the implementation of all these new driving aids is often quite poor. By dint of beeping, we don’t even know what the different alerts received correspond to.
During our recent test drive of the Hyundai Ioniq 6, it was the driver vigilance alert that had unexpected behavior. However, Hyundai is just one example among many, as many such systems are not yet perfected.
When strong gusts trigger the driver vigilance alert
The control of the vigilance of the driver can go through different checks. For some manufacturers, the most successful, this involves cameras that monitor the driver’s gaze and display an alert as soon as the gaze deviates too much from the road or if the eyes were to close. Except that the detection systems are multiple and ultimately not all equal in their reliability. One thing is certain, it is that you will probably find this technology quite intrusive, even annoying, to use.
During the Hyundai Ioniq 6 test drive, the car repeatedly recommended us to take a break, for no apparent reason. She even offered to stop us, when it had been barely 5 minutes since we were back on the road. We confess, we are not always 100% attentive, but from there to being constantly called to order by the car…
We finally figured out why the vehicle thought we needed a break. While the region where we were testing the model was swept by large gusts of mistral, our Ioniq 6 found itself swerving in its lane. The system assimilated the deviations caused by the wind as a possible drowsiness, or in any case a loss of attention on the road. In principle, it’s clever, in reality, it could quickly annoy those who travel in windy regions, because all models equipped with this technology reacted in the same way.
A few months earlier, it was on the MG4 that we were repeatedly reprimanded by the car ordering us to “stay attentive”. Inevitably, between the glances thrown at the GPS to follow the route and the frantic search for locations to take the photos, we can judge that the car is right to call us to order. Except that this same message appeared even though the gaze was riveted on the road. Frustrating!
Permanent pressure on the steering wheel has become necessary
On other models, this vigilance sometimes involves the pressure exerted on the steering wheel and the steering column. This can be observed, especially when the cruise controls are activated. As the law requires you to keep your hands on the steering wheel, you must exert regular pressure on it.
However, you are not immune to having the alerts asking you to hold the steering wheel, while your two hands are positioned on it. We can observe it with the Tesla, but also with other manufacturers. It is then occasionally necessary to exaggerate the movement by squeezing the steering wheel, jerking the steering wheel or pressing on it to signal that you are still holding it. A generally absurd situation, which has something to annoy.
Combined with the line crossing alert, it starts to do a little too much unnecessary alerting
Cars can no longer stand being teased at the ground markings of traffic lanes. On the highway, this may make sense, but on narrow country or mountain roads, this detection quickly becomes an ordeal of beeps or vibrations (depending on the manufacturers). In strong winds, as for our Ioniq 6 test, it is also difficult not to have gaps that make us bite the white lines.
This detection of traffic lanes is mandatory in all new models, because of changes in the regulations imposed by the European Commission, but these alerts can still be deactivated manually, finally to be renewed each time the car is started.
Driving aids that are necessary to obtain the 5 stars in the EuroNCAP crash test
Beyond European obligations, the quest for the maximum score of 5 stars in the EuroNCAP crash test is pushing manufacturers to implement all these driving aids as standard.
If we briefly summarize the trend of recent years, a car emits beeps (or vibrations) if:
- The wheels bite a white line;
- The driver is not fully attentive to the task;
- The car does not stay centered in its lane due to weather conditions (rain or wind);
- The driver exceeds the speed limit detected by the sign reading;
- The driver forgets to turn on the turn signal before changing to pass or fall back;
- The driver wants to overtake when a vehicle enters his blind spot;
- The driver maneuvers to park (well, except on some Teslas);
- An occupant has not buckled up (heavy bags on a seat count as an occupant on some models).
Some of these driving aids are very useful in everyday life, others have become particularly intrusive and annoying, to the point that we systematically try to deactivate them. It will still be possible for a time to manually deactivate these systems, but they could quickly end up being permanently mandatory.
We just have to hope that the manufacturers improve the sensitivity of these driving aids, if we don’t want to have a nightmare of constant beeps even in our nocturnal dreams.
