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Keeping on the road

Our current car is the third one that has the active lane keeping assistant feature. Over the past decade the development of such assistive technologies in cars has been quite rapid. Looking back at all the cars I have owned prior to those the difference is quite remarkable.

The first one had rather elementary lane keep assistant. It would gently steer the car away from the sideline only when the car was close enough to it. This usually, while keeping the car in lane, caused it to go zig zag between the lines. Not very useful compared to later ones, but it was still a nice safety feature.

The previous one was much better at keeping the car at the center of the lane. No more driving like a drunkard from side to side, it was actually useful and made the driving much more relaxing. Compared to the earlier car it also worked on lower speeds (I think the old one only kicked in when driving over 60 km/h).

The new one not only keeps the car at the center of the lane, but it also reacts to other cars around you. For example if there is a car on the lane next to you it actually steers towards the other side of the lane making a bit more room in between the cars.

I just hope the next one will finally allow me to take my hands off the wheel...