So... collision avoidance?

[Malcolm McLeod]

It's mostly a matter of personal driving habits ... Would you use it? How long do you plan to keep your car? How much do you drive (:: cost per mile)?

At the moment, adaptive cruise is my pet peeve. There will be a queue of cars 2-miles long in the left lane, all driving as fast as the slow idiot at the front hogging the 'passing' lane. Cruise has 'adapted', so everyone is happy! Que sera.

With all the new sensors, what you are seeing is the opening sprint in the race to perfect the self-driving vehicle. They are the eyes and ears of the CPU that will eventually manage it all. I'll probably never 'fly' in George Jetson's volantor, but I'll bet in 10 years my car drives me to/fm work while I read the paper (on the HUD).

[Mike Null]

I have blind spot monitoring, adaptive cruise control, and collision avoidance. I don't use the cruise control but BSM is very good and helpful and collision avoidance is handy--mostly when parking. Mine does have auto braking but only at slower speeds.

I'm 79 and admit that I'm not nearly as good a driver as I once was so these gadgets have more value for me than for younger drivers. Blue tooth is a must and I use my phone for GPS but it doesn't flash on the screen.

[Chris Padilla]

BMW also offers such things on their cars. I politely pass on them...too expensive and I'd likely turn them off due to annoyance. I have the same issues with automatic lighting and especially automatic brights/high beams. They never seem to go on or turn off when I would like them too so I prefer doing it myself. Now rain-sensing wipers that adjust by reading the amount of rain falling and taking one's speed into account are very very nice! BMW's work really well.

Having a back-up camera, side cameras, and proximity sensors are all very nice and work well (on my BMWs) so I like those.

Google already has automatic vehicles puttering around our streets snapping pics galore!!

[Jerome Stanek]

I've been driving for over 55 years and only had 2 times where I hit someone from behind. One time a brake line broke and the other someone pushed me into the car in front on an icy interstate. Cop almost hit me that time also slid past me.

[Malcolm McLeod]

Google already has automatic vehicles...

...and just have to prove it safe, reliable, legislatively acceptable, insurable, affordable, and finally - - mass marketable! Then it can drive us to work. Yeehaw!

[Steve Peterson]

My wife has collision avoidance on her car and it is quite alarming when it goes off. It is enough to make you jump and possibly steel into a different lane before you realize what the alarm is for. The threshold is set way too far away. Someone can cut in front of you and set it off even though they are accelerating away.

All of the other safety features (lane sensors on the mirrors, backup camera, etc.) are great. I would skip the collision avoidance.

Steve

[Wade Lippman]

My wife has collision avoidance on her car and it is quite alarming when it goes off. It is enough to make you jump and possibly steel into a different lane before you realize what the alarm is for. The threshold is set way too far away. Someone can cut in front of you and set it off even though they are accelerating away.

All of the other safety features (lane sensors on the mirrors, backup camera, etc.) are great. I would skip the collision avoidance.

Steve

Thank you so much. I knew it was unnecessary, but someone saying it is a hazard sends it home.

[Terry Hatfield]

My wife still has a car with all that stuff. She still likes it. So do I. It does take some getting used to. Occasionally I hear the collision warning go off when she calls me. Hands free of course. She never misses a beat with the conversation. I certainly would not call it a "hazard" in her case. Her driving...now that is a hazard. And if I need her to know that I said that I will tell her myself.

[Greg Peterson]

I recently heard that automobile manufacturers have voluntarily agreed to make collision avoidance standard equipment, starting in the next two or three years.
If we are going to have autonomous cars we'll have to start somewhere.

[Myk Rian]

Stick a couple blind spot mirrors on your outside mirrors.
Google it.

[Tim Bridge]

Have any of you driven the cars that self parallel park?

[Greg Peterson]

Stick a couple blind spot mirrors on your outside mirrors.
Google it.

I dislike those fidheye mirrors as they take away surface area from the regular mirror. If your mirrors are adjusted correctly, those fisheye mirrors are not useful.
Regardless, they don't address forward looking avoidance technology.

[Jim Becker]

The electronic blind spot detectors on my vehicle have more than paid for themselves. I drive a lot to business meetings to/from the DC area on the Interstate. I cannot even count how many times some idiot crossed multiple lanes at high speed just as I was about to move to another lane and that extra warning was the difference between being safe and potentially being in a horrible accident. I only have two eyes and even if I cross them a little, I can't be looking "everywhere" at the same time. The add-on mirrors don't cut it in that respect as they only help (minimally) if you can actually look at them.

[Wade Lippman]

Ordered the car today; no collision avoidance. BSM though, as I really need that. In fact, I got a Mazda as it was the only tiny SUV that came with it.

[Roger Feeley]

FYI,
Connecting your iPhone to the car so you can use the iPhone screen and apps is called CarPlay
The same thing is available for other phones and is called MirrorLink.