Modern cars increasingly have on-board assistance systems that make driving easier. AutoWeek found out how driver assistance systems help you get through traffic jams.
When you order a new car, it is almost inevitable that you can choose from various assistants that partially take the driving of your car out of your hands: dynamic cruise control, traffic sign recognition and traffic jam assistants are striking examples. These driver assistance systems can help you smoothly through traffic jams. Specialist in the field of modern technology in cars Mark Maaskant gives tips on how to make these techniques work optimally for you.
Choose another time
His first tip is to give the driver assistance systems a rest and, if possible, choose a different time to travel. “If possible, work from home first and go to work after the peak of rush hour. Then you won’t be bothered by traffic jams at all, which is of course the easiest.” Or as a variant of this: leave the car at home and take an (electric) bicycle. But that is of course only possible if the distance (and the weather) allows it.
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File Assistant lives up to its name
The traffic jam assistant option is a help system that helps you get through the traffic jam. The electronics help you with braking, acceleration and steering up to 60 km/h. Traffic jams are therefore still no fun, but much easier. If you have it in the car, be sure to use it if you have to deal with accelerating, decelerating and stationary traffic.
Dynamic or adaptive cruise control in heavy traffic
Although you may have to deal with slow moving and stationary traffic, in practice you will see that you often experience heavy traffic as a traffic jam, but that you still maintain quite a bit of speed. Then dynamic cruise control is a handy driving aid that makes your life much quieter. Maaskant does have a comment. “The dynamic cruise control only looks up to the car in front of you. However, as a driver you can see through cars further ahead. If you drive ten cars that all have adaptive cruise control activated and the first one means something, it may happen that the tenth makes an automatic emergency stop because they all react to each other. You then get a harmonica effect. You have to be prepared for that.”
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Use your smartphone
Another tip Mark has is to use your smartphone, especially if it has Android Auto or Apple CarPlay. “It allows you to control various functions with your voice. This allows you to keep your hands on the wheel and your attention on the road.” Use navigation apps that can guide you around a traffic jam. Even if your car has factory navigation, the maps from these apps are often more up-to-date and can better respond to traffic jams that you may encounter in your path. “They usually give a good indication of the speed limit on the road where you are driving. More and more cars have traffic sign recognition, but in many situations that does not work well enough.”
– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl